The House of Giardia, Love, Laughter, and Smiles

 It’s been about 48 hours since I last posted but all is well!

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the clinic getting everyone tested and checked out.  This was quite an undertaking.  Try drawing blood from Dorothy and Nelly, it took 4 adults!  Alliness took it like a champ.  The kids had never been to a doctor and everything was new. They didn’t understand how to stand on a scale.  The xray machine blew their minds.  We got great reports back but we do have quite a few kids with Giardia.  We got lots of lectures from the doctors how it can be spread to others very easily and as one doctor told me (he had a major lisp too) “We must attack now” or else all our kids will have it.  But it is not as bad as having Gonorrhea which is what I accidentally posted on facebook that our kids had!  We have a few fungus and ringworm issues but that’s it and pretty common for a compound kid!

I took Jennifer and Lucy (housemoms) to buy groceries for a few weeks for the home.  We were purchasing meal by meal and it was killing me.  You know how moms complain about always going to the grocery store,  I get it now I truly do and I sympathise.  I told everyone we were putting a stop to this and buying everything we needed for a while.  And WOW that is alot of food.  It took two carts.  I pushed one cart and walked behind them as they picked out items.  It was impressive.  Did I mention kids are expensive?!  Did I mention Armond and Alliness aren’t fully sponsored?!  Wanna help us? 

Go HERE and sign up!

I also saw a “Christmas Tree” for sale at the grocery store:

After we got the kids home from the clinic yesterday we had dinner and talked about our day.  We are working on manners and speaking up at the table.  We are talking about silverware and how to set a table.  I needed a refresher myself sadly on some things.  They are having to learn about what goes in a refrigerator and not.  For example silverware can stay in the drawer.  For the first time last night the kids caught on about eating seconds and eating to be full, not just to survive.  They are learning that they will always have food and as much as they want.   And they are eating SO much.  It is absurd to see how hungry they are.  We have also been talking about eating slow and having time for things to digest.   They loved the salad we had.  We also had rice and meat.  Meat is a HUGE treat to have and it was so interesting watching each child eat all their rice and save the meat for last. 

After dinner the kids did devo time and went to bed.

This morning Megan took everyone to get fitted and purchase school uniforms. Each child got two uniforms, raincoat, and mud boots.  Its rainy season and they have about half a mile to walk to school. 

We still need belts and school shoes but did I mention that KIDS ARE EXPENSIVE!?!?!

After uniform fittings everyone headed home and did some gardening.  They worked with Jeffrey our gardener and learned to weed and other important things that they will know well.  Then we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and playing with the things in the library.  I brought over some magnetic letters for the fridge and this was a major hit!

I sat with Brian and Armond and worked on their ABC’s.  They were enamored.  I didn’t think their attention would last long and they didn’t want to stop.  We worked on spelling their names and what letters were.  I am working on teaching Armond the ABC song.  He was SO excited and begging to learn more.  He would get books from the library and hand them to me and say “Please read” and we would sit and read forever.  They are wanting to learn their letters and reading so badly.  I wish I had alot of people to help tutor!  Megan is going to call some teenage American School kids we know to come over and help us out.

The boys also love to play cards

We received a phone call today from our US Embassy that is guarded by US Marines.  They were wanting to come by tomorrow and drop off toys, books, clothes, and shoes for the kids.  We were beyond grateful for this.  As much as we want this experience we are a bit concerned with our kids being exposed to so much all at once.  Another issue is the materialism and helping these kids understand it.  We already have some pretty good Christmas presents for them so we talked to the Marines and the US Embassy and came up with a plan. 

Tomorrow at 1PM the Marines will come (in their full uniforms) and deliver the presents.  We are allowing each child to pick out one item for themselves.  Then we will take all of the remaining gifts and have the children deliver them to a children’s transit home that we know of.  We want to make sure our children understand the importance of being blessed and passing it on.  The Marines loved this idea and were so understanding.  We are so so so thankful for those who are helping us. 

As I write these blog posts I am overwhelmed with the excitement and seeing the kids in our home.  We have worked so hard for the day when kids are running around and smiling and safe.  We have finally come to those days.  It is fun to pull up to the house and it be loud with laughter, lots of screaming, and soccer balls flying everywhere.  It is fun to see so many smiles and the kids excited about a new pair of socks they receive. 

But as we are so happy for our children and our home, we also are all fully aware and have heavy hearts for the tragic shooting in Connecticut last week.  The news spread quickly across the world and all of our staff has been talking about it.  We have mentioned multiple times that as we have such excitement this week we can’t help but think of the parents who are having to cope with loosing their children.  Our hearts and prayers go out those families and the community of Connecticut. 

And did I mention that kids are expensive and Armond and Alliness need sponsors?!?!

In Him,

Alissa Hollimon