The night before life goes on....

I can't believe our time at Cradle of Love is over. It seems like yesterday when we were the new volunteers just trying to learn all the names of the babies and nannies and now we are leaving family. I tried to savor every moment of our last night with them. The last time we would give them their nightly bath, the last bedtime story, the last time we would watch them run around in their matching pajamas doing the hokey pokey. And the last time I would lay my sweet Neema down in her crib. My heart literally aches when I think of how much I am missing them already...

Some of my Favorite Memories:

Stepping out of our apartment and coming down the stairs with the children in the backyard chanting our names.

Taking one or two of them with us down to the street shop and letting them be adored by all the people that passed them on the street.

Going out at night and passing the window to the kitchen where the nannies would sit around the table after the kids are in bed and they would "Ohhh and Ahhhhh" because they were so used to seeing us in scrubs.

Picking berries and fruit off the trees and hearing all the little voices "And me..." "And me..." because the two fist fulls were just never enough.

Our gaurd forever trying to teach us kiswahili by making us tell him where we were going every time we left the gate.

Singing the blessing before every meal and how the babies would clap their little hands and shout "yayyyy."

I could not have been more blessed by my experience these past three months. Despite the fact that there is a little hole in my heart as I move on, I am so grateful that I am getting to live a life that is so rich that it can evoke emotions as deep as this one has for me. I will never forget these little people or the incredibly strong women who care for them on a daily basis.

To all of you who have contributed to my being here, I am eternally grateful. I can't wait to see what God has in store for my next few months! He is ALIVE and humbles me daily! Thanks for walking with me through this amazing journey...

Joshua at bath time...loving it!

You have no idea how hard it was to get this picture. I must have taken 20 and this one the only one I got where where they were all in the frame. They thought it was so funny to keep running around. Such hoodlums....Love them!!

From Left: Big Maria, Rachel, Salimu, Joshua, and Neema

The day these sweet nannies presented me with a traditional African Kitenge (cloth)

Nanny Neema who took especially good care of us. I will miss her so much.

Baby Hope and Baby Lawrence in their bunk cribs. Look at those little eyes!! :)