A Day in the Life

Today was a pretty typical day for me here at Lighthouse...well, except for the fact that I accidentally set my alarm for 7:30pm instead of 7:30am. Fortunately, I woke up on my own at about 8:30, ate my bowl of Special K Red Berries, and was out the door of my flat by 9.

I would normally start out in the baby room since they are just waking up around 8 and need to be fed. But today I headed straight over to the toddlers since I usually make my way over to the toddler/preschool room around 9 or 9:30. I walked in the door, and Joshua (see picture) came flying at me yelling, "MAAA!!" The caregivers were all laughing. I feel like everyone should be greeted like this first thing in the morning.

All the other kids joined in and grabbed hold of my legs and feet. This happens every single day. The kids all pile around me for a few minutes hugging on my legs and talking to me all at once and begging to be picked up. They know whoever gets to me first gets picked up, and everyone else just gets stuck with a leg (see picture).

When they finally detached, we played with blocks and toys for a while. Then I helped them eat their morning snack, which was little bowls of guava. It looked kind of like tomato, but I guess it tastes different. Some of the littler ones that are only 12-20 months old need either to be fed or need some help using the spoon.

Then it was time to play outside. By then it was around 10:30 and had warmed up! I pushed Lebogang and Thabo on the swings, helped some of the 3 and 4 year olds to go down the slide, and "protected" a bunch of the kids from Monty the dog. Once the kids were sufficiently covered in grass and dirt, it was time to go inside and clean up for lunch.

I ran back to my flat for 10-15 minutes to eat some grapes and get a drink of water. By the time the kids finish their lunches, I am really hungry, so I always try to have a morning snack.

Lunchtime works in shifts: first, the 12-18 month olds are fed their lunches, and then the older toddlers and preschoolers sit down at their little tables to eat lunch (see picture). When I got back from my snack, I fed Lebogang her bowl of baby squash and managed to get very little on my clothes (which is not the norm...she likes to play while she eats!). Then I prayed with the older kids and broke Grace and Sheila's sandwiches into bite-sized pieces for them. I ended up feeding most of the pieces to Gracie because I've spoiled her and she likes it when I make the pieces like airplanes flying into her mouth. Once the kids finish their sandwich, they receive a glass (or sippy cup) of milk. So I traded lots of empty plates for cups of milk.

Next I fed Gomotsegang (pronounced ho-mote-say-hahn), who is one of our special needs kids. I fed her some baby squash with a towel draped over my front (which is a good thing because we got a whole lot of baby squash on that towel). She tends to eat a spoonful and then spit it all out again. It gets very messy.

Now it was time for my lunch. The kids were all going down for naps, so I ran back to my flat and made a turkey and cheese wrap. When I finished eating, I grabbed my Bible and found a nice sunny spot to read on the Lighthouse property. I've been reading about 5 chapters of Psalms each day (so that I'll finish the book by the time I come home in August). And I also read Proverbs 19 since it's the 19th day of the month and there are 31 chapters in Proverbs. I borrowed that idea from my friend Renee and have been doing that for several months now.

Next I spent a couple hours in the baby room. I met 3 local high school girls who were in there volunteering today. I spent most of my time in the baby room holding and rocking Gontse (see picture), who is 9 months old and has a nasty cough. He hasn't been feeling well this week and just needs some extra love and attention. I also gave a bottle to Tsolofelo, a sweet little one month old girl.

Around 3pm I came back to my flat for a little break. I took my camera into the office and uploaded some pictures I had taken onto the computer and saved them on my flash drive. Then I put some of the best ones on Facebook.

After my short break, I headed back to the toddler room. I popped in a Kids' Worship DVD, and several of the kids came and sang and danced to it with me. Sheila (see picture) runs around randomly singing the line, "I'm in the Lord's Army!" It's so cute. So today she got to hear the song on the DVD and got so excited!

At dinnertime, I fed Gracie and tried to coax the others to eat. I also helped to round up the littler ones and put them in their cribs. Lebogang cried and cried, but I didn't give in this time and she finally settled down. (Those of you who are parents, I don't know how you do it!)

Next, it was back to my flat where I made some pasta (on the stove!) for dinner and cut up a pear. I also had some African fruit juice, which is amazing. I really want to bring some home with me!

So that was a pretty typical day for me. Now I'm updating my blog, checking my emails, and probably getting on Skype to chat with my mom. Then later I'll read, maybe do some knitting, and head to bed!