july 14th, 2006

Bare with me. Two more weeks and I will go back to my normal slacker style of blogging. Though I do have fun ideas of "a picture a day" posts... We'll see. Trying to post every single day is more difficult than I had imagined. I think it is getting hard with my Africa posts because this is the point in the trip where things were getting difficult for me. Pity parties for feeling left out. Which was totally ridiculous on my behalf.

July 14th, 2006
"We went to Mungassa today and worked on the grass for the roof. We aren't finished yet, but only have 10 more bundles to do. 10 bundles of tied grass can easily be done in one day. Our team is hoping to finish the roof on Monday. We only have a few more tasks to complete and then it will be done! I liked tying grass at first, but now I can't stand it. I think it is a combination of the heat and no water and the sun and humidity. By the time we finish at noon, I feel light headed. When we finished our tied grass bundles today, I helped carry them to the house we are using for storage. The bundles weigh over... 50 lbs each!*** [Speaking of ASEM, the older orphanage] "Joanna found me right away and clung to me for the longest time. While walking up to the ramada, Luisa and Dote ran up to meet me - which is when a little fight started. Joanna and Luisa started pushing one another; fighting for my attention... The activities were pretty good. Tables were pulled out for doing bracelets. A mass of kids rushed to any possible corner of the table for space to make their bracelets (or necklaces). Stacy and I passed out beads - and surprisingly it wasn't crazy. The children were very well behaved... I sat down with Dote and Luisa. With Aaron's help, I was able to tell them the three of us should make matching necklaces. We divided the beads evenly and strung them on our strings. Just as we took a picture, Linda came to ask if I would be willing to give mine away to a girl who didn't get to make one. I was kinda sad, but I knew she would appreciate it.

That last picture is of me and Lindy. Lindy was born in Mozambique and lived there the first few years of her life before being adopted by the family that began Care for Life. She is FULL of energy and personality. It was so much fun playing with her in Mozambique.