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Wednesday, November 29, 2006
New Baby
On Nov. 16 we received a newborn baby girl. She still had her umbilical cord attached and was probably the worst smelling baby I have ever held! She had not had a bath after birth and had then traveled many hours (without a car seat!) in a small open taxi to get to the orphanage. She came with a cute little outfit and a bottle of rice water. Rice water is used among the poor as a substitute for formula. Unfortunately, it contains none of the nutrients and fat that a newborn needs. Our 56th child was quickly given a bath and warm bottle and snuggled into her new bed.
We have named her Sara, which means princess, she is doing well and getting adjusted to her new family. Sara's mother died during childbirth. Sara has two older siblings still in the village. We are thankful for the chance to take care of this child, please pray for our staff that now has more work with the baby. When we told our nursery ladies, that they were getting another child in addition to the eight they already take care, they clapped and smiled wanting to know the details. We must have the best staff ever.
posted
by Colleen at 10:31 AM
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Ronald is a busy Dad
(from left to right) Nobien, Colleen and Ronald. The two boys are brothers.
Ronald, who is in the 12th grade and studying for his HSC exam has had a busy week. His chickens hatched 5 chicks and today his guinea pig gave birth. He has been rearranging and cleaning cages and watches over all his animals very carefully trying to protect them from natural predators. Over the last 2 months he raised 3 chicks. He started with 10 chicks, but 7 died from mishaps with ponds, crows, dogs, or rats. He was able to take 3 roosters into market and got about $8 for them. Written By Sonia Driscoll and
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by Thomas at 10:30 AM
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Generator
We have had the diesel generator for a little more than two months now; it runs great and makes little noise. Since we installed the generator it has ran for 350 hours, which translates to 15 full days. You can see how little and how irregular our electric supply is! In order to save money and diesel we do never run the generator at night from 10pm to 8am. We are so happy and thankful for the generator, it has made such a difference in the lives of all of us. Like many of you know, we live in a tropical climate where we have a room temperature of 90F for about nine months of the year. To be able to use the fans all day is a great relief.
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by Thomas at 11:54 AM
Thursday, November 23, 2006
From Chittagong, Bangladesh:
some of the kids we celebrated with, are seen below
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by Colleen at 12:53 PM
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
"Uncle, what happens if I push this key?"
The office is always a place the kids like to visit. We could keep the office filled with kids (but then I wouldn't have any time to blogg!) who want to play checkers, store, board games, watch us on the computer or just play the international favorite game of "Touch Everything"...
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by Colleen at 8:00 AM
Monday, November 20, 2006
Progress on High school
The large 3 story high school that is being built on APAB land next to our elementary school is nearing completion on the outside. These schools are all in the near vicinity of the orphanage. The pretty brick facade of the high school makes it look so official. This coming January the new school will open, but just for middle school. The first year they will hold only 6th and 7th grade in the new building and hope to gradually add more teachers, students, and facilities as time goes on.
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by Thomas at 8:49 AM
Saturday, November 18, 2006
English class
Priscilla and Sonia have started an English class for college age students, including three boys from the Boy's hostel. The kids are all keen to learn more spoken English.
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by Colleen at 12:15 PM
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Roadside Barber
Who says you need a mirror, lights and clippers to have a barber shop? This man has a mobile barber shop that he can set up anywhere, all he needs is a chair, razor and scissors! The going price for a haircut and shave is about one dollar. I get my son's hair cut for 50 cents! Of course for that price you must figure in the nerve factor of having a crowd standing around you staring...
They use the old fashion long handled knife-like razors to get around the ears and for a close shave. My Dad collects those as antiques! There are barber shops in the city that have air conditioning, t.v./music and nice chairs but those are not nearly as interesting!
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by Thomas at 10:16 AM
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The Nursery
Our nursery is a busy loud place during the day but very quiet from 1-4pm when all the babies are napping! It's nearly irresistible to not hug and smooch the little ones when we pass by their room. Of course you cannot only hug one but must speak with and love on each of the 8 in the room! Many of the babies are growing into toddler hood and when they see us they point and say, "Auntie!" or "Uncle!"
In the nursery we have one lady, Sumita, which lives with the children in the same room and takes care of them completely. She does have one day a week holiday and travels into the city to see her relatives and take a much needed break. Sumita is a widow and has a real golden heart for babies. All of the little ones love her so much.
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by Thomas at 9:44 AM
Monday, November 13, 2006
CAMP!!!!
The older girls all went to camp in October. They all were so excited and left in their best clothes. Camp is not a place to wear shorts and yucky t-shirts in this culture. Our daughter Hannah also went for the first time. She was the only foreigner among 80 Bengali girls. Church and devotions seemed so empty with almost all of the older girls away. They had a great time and protection on the roads. They were away for five days.
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by Thomas at 11:56 AM
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Reflections of a MK
Sonia Driscoll who is home schooling our son, Ruben along with her two daughters recently talked about hair color in class. When she asked what color Ruben's hair was, he replied confidently, "black". When asked what color his eyes were again he answered, "black". I guess Ruben thinks he looks just like all his friends. Good thing he doesn't use a mirror very often, he might get a surprise!
posted
by Colleen at 7:30 AM
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Nissan Frontier
Joyfully, we would like to announce that we have received the money to buy a Frontier Nissan pick-up. With the generous help of small and large donations all of the money has been given. Thomas went to Dhaka last week to look at a truck. He gave a down payment and it is supposed to be delivered sometime. We hope to be able to pay the rest of the money this coming week, the transfering of money internationally takes time! Then we will work on the licensing and insurance of the truck. It was so encouraging to pray and see God work on this project. It has been a great journey, thank you for praying and hoping with us. A special thank you to all who helped us financially.
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by Thomas at 12:18 PM
Friday, November 10, 2006
The early kid gets the snail!
It was a race to see who could collect the most snails at the bottom of the pond that was recently emptied so that a new building could be built in its place. Some of our boys were the front-runners bringing in buckets and buckets of snails. The children had the snails for dinner and were delighted with their fruitful catch. Many of the neighbors were also out collecting snails. One man had made a makeshift net out of mosquito netting and bamboo. He was looking for shrimp and crabs on the bottom of the muddy pond. The pond was emptied in order for the land to dry out a little before the construction starts on a new hospital. Our Korean colleague Miss Cho has long dreamed of this vision becoming reality. We will keep you updated on this new project.
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by Thomas at 10:31 PM
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
English class
During the Ramadan and Eid holidays our high school kids had a lot of free time and so we started an English class. We tried to make it lots of fun with just small bits of grammar, spelling but a lot of conversation. One day we pretended to make new rules for HOL, those included being able to watch T.V. all day, allowing 5 students per year to go on an overseas visit, etc.!
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by Thomas at 10:55 PM
Monday, November 06, 2006
With a little time to spare before 6pm, which is when all children are supposed to be inside the building, the girls and I decided to have some fun having a jumping contest!
Soon, the staff and the boys formed an audience betting on which girl would be end up as the best. They about died laughing when Kuehn-Auntie jumped the bamboo stick and nearly fell in the mud!
As always written by Colleen and
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by Thomas at 11:38 PM
Friday, November 03, 2006
Welcome to Priscilla!
We are glad to welcome Priscilla on our staff at the Home of Love. She is planning on staying for about nine months and is helping in many different areas. Presently she is tackling the big job of organizing the library.
She is diligently filing the books with a color-coded system and then will do some library classes with the kids teaching them how to take out and put a book back in its place. Most of the kids do not know how to put a book in right side up and so the place has been a zoo for the last months! Thank goodness for orderly people like Priscilla!
Priscilla is also spending a lot of time with 2 year old John, who I have often written about. John has really taken to Priscilla and has started jabbering to her in a baby Bangla. Priscilla has taken over the therapy on John's legs which has been a real help to me and the other staff. As always written by Colleen and
posted
by Thomas at 10:59 AM
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Organic swimming
Ruben does not seem to mind that there isn't any chlorine in his pool. He might have other interesting things in there but at least it is chemical free...
posted
by Thomas at 12:55 PM
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