A Day in the Life of...Aggie!

A day in the life of Agnes! Here's what she did last weekend...

Agnes LOVES all things musical and really enjoys listening to ringtones on my cell phone. She can seriously sit in my room for about an hour doing nothing but this...

No, she's not speaking Swahili...she's just babbling. But I know what she's saying - "please change the song!"

"Let me just take this call outside..." I don't think so Agnes! Hand it over!

And now a little bit of swinging and sunshine!

One of her baby smiles. Sometimes she looks so grown up, but here - she is just a baby!

No reason to get off the swing for biscuits. One in the mouth and one in each hand...

 Getting her hair done....

Where's Aggie?...

....there she is!

All finished!

Time for a little clapping and singing! With a handful of keys and a sippy cup close by...

 Since the fashion show on Talent day at the village, the older girls have been dressing Aggie up in various styles to practice her moves....here she is wearing 4 t-shirts: one underneath, one as a dress, another layered on top of that, and one on her head as traditional African headwear.....

Here's where I'm supposed to post a picture of her sleeping, right?? If she ever falls asleep, I'll take a picture and post it. Ha! She actually sleeps really well, but almost every night, I can hear her all the way across the house for a solid hour - talking and singing and sometimes just yelling mom! mom! mom!...But I can't help but love this girl! She's a blessing straight from God.

New baby!

 Meet Elisha Kipkalya! This little one is about 1 month old, and was found abandoned in a maize field. He has now found a loving home at Open Arms and has settled well in the baby home with his 5 brothers and sisters! 

 Sweet baby! These were taken on his first day at the village! There will be more soon!

Mosquito Nets

The kids were recently given some very nice new mosquito nets as part of a government outreach. Here are some of them showing off their new nets!

Deborah

Grace

Mary

Ronny

Ian

John

Feeding Program

Here are more pictures from the Open Arms Feeding program in Kambi Teso slum. It's so humbling to watch these kids eat. They stand in line, get their food, eat every bean and every grain of rice, then return their dishes to the truck, without spilling one bite of food. The older kids feed their younger brothers and sisters, even just spooning broth into the ones too small to chew. 

This picture gives you some idea of how small the kids are - most of them aren't even as tall as the tires on the truck.

Felix!

I was about to take a picture of this little girl, and this adorable boy ran and slid on his stomach to get in the picture. So cute!

Growing up!

Agnes catching a ride from her big sister Rachel!

 Agnes has moved into Tumaini house and she is really growing up! She is loving all the attention that is constantly showered on her by all her new housemates. The small girls have quickly adopted her into their clan, and she has easily settled into the Tumaini routine. 

Eating spaghetti - I love this look!

 Dinah and Diana are putting on weight and getting more and more interactive each day! I still get them mixed up but the baby home staff have methods for telling them apart. They definitely have very different personalities!

Grace is growing so fast! She's crawling really well now and pulls herself up to stand. She can even walk if she has hands to hold. She has the sweetest laugh and she is smiling all the time now!

 Benson is still the darling of the baby home. He is a sturdy walker now and can get around the baby home in the blink of an eye! He also says "baby" "hi" and "bye".

 It's hard to tell from these photos, but Mark really IS starting to grow some hair. The last time we took him to be weighed at the baby clinic, they asked, "what are you feeding him? His weight is shooting up!" Handsome boy!

Chepkit

These pictures are from a hike to Chepkit water falls in June. It is about a 30 minute trek from the village - uphill both ways! It's a beautiful hike, one of the coolest places I've ever been! While we were all gathering at the gate getting ready to leave the village, Abraham found a gecko!

Joseph with the gecko. We tried to get it to sit on his shirt and change colors, but it liked his hand much better!

The river, on the way to the falls. The first time I took this hike, we got to this point and I thought we had arrived. Not yet!

View from the top

Ruth and Abraham on top of the viewing platform. 

Hiking down to the bottom of the falls. (This is what makes it uphill BOTH ways!)

Chepkit!

Still going down....

Joseph and Kelvin taking a little rest on the rocks. =)

It was really fun climbing across the rocks at the bottom, with the sound of the water raging on the other side!

The bottom of the falls is so flat the water is hardly moving in some places. 

Robert

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. 
Psalm 19: 1-4