12 June 2010

Dear Journal

We woke up pretty early got ready went and ate breakfast and just kind of hung out til Paula came back to pick us up, when they came we started heading to the orphanage!!! I CAN'T WAIT! We began our 5 1/2 hour trip, with 3 people on a small pick up front seat, the back of the pick up was full of 12+ bags and 3 girls so we cozied up and set off. I am so excited! I couldn't stop talking about my kids and how excited I am to see each and everyone of them. We stopped by the half way house and bought some banana bread and some drinks, we then continued on the rest of the way - I COULDN'T WAIT!

When we pulled up to the gate and Crazy old Man was the one and guard, he remembered me and was as excited to see me as I was to see him. We then pulled up, parked and got out of the car. Hands came out and said "Hi Auntie Kourtin", I said hi and asked him where everyone else was and he said they were inside and that he would go get the, all we could hear was Hands yelling "Autnie Kourtin is here! It's Auntie Kourtin!" we could then hear the place burst with noise as all the kids yelled "Auntie Kourtin, Auntie Kourtin!" Thinker was the first one that I saw and he literally ran full speed to me and jumped into my arms with a huge hug! He was followed by Rock, Mana, Clown, Obama, Futbol, Mama, Dancer, Hips, Dee Dee, Froggy, Lips, Queen, Mr. Leech, Smarts, Drama, Volume and many more. They all ran to meet Rafiki and Timon. Hello then came out to say hi and brought Bugzy ( the 2 month old baby) for me to meet, the older kids then went and got Simon, Little Rat, Baby Girl and Jump for me to say hi to, they didn't remember me so they were shy but I seriously cannot believe how big they have gotten! I then went in and met Giggles ( also a 2 month old, both of the babies were abandonded).

We then took Timon and Rafiki on a tour of the orphanage- the laundry room ( new and really cool ), the play ground, the kitchen, the girls rooms, the boys dorm, the chickens and the goats. They then wanted to go on a hike up the mountian so Timon, Rafiki, Zazu and Hyena took all the older kids. I chose to stay behind because my back/leg was hurting really badly all day. It was nice to sit and visit with Hello again and to hold, cuddle and love on the new babies and play with my "old babies".

A lady then came with her baby who is a hydrocepth baby and his shunt is not working he is also very malnourished so AP being AP got her clothes, food, and stuff for the baby and her other kids at home. We then went through some of the stuff we brought, fed the kids dinner, and told everyone good night so we could get some rest and get settled in, It is so AMAZING to be back here! It feels like I have never been gone! I love it here! I love these kids so much!

everyone has been given nick names to protect thier idenity


Timon, Rafiki and I in the back of the pickup


Some of my kids!


Hello and Baby girl


The lady and her sick baby

11 June 2010

Dear Journal

This morning after a some what restless night ( I swear there was an army of dogs in a very heated conversation that chose to keep us up all night ). We got ready for the day and went down to eat breakfast before our shuttle came to take us to the airport. We have met some really nice people so we all just sat in the lobby and talked as we waited, while we were waiting the manager came up to us and said that since we had so much luggage just between us that we would have our own shuttle ( at the time it was just Rafiki, Timon and myself) we thanked them and told them about the other large group we had met so they reserved a bus for us. Well since there was 10 people and more then 30 pieces of luggage we ended up using 2 buses, we got to the airport went through security 2 more times, got checked in, got our passport stamped and finally to our gate.
We finally made it to our gate but since we still had a while we went and looked at some shops and used the restroom before actually going through our gate where we had to go through security- you guessed it- yet again. While waiting we learned that our plane was delayed so we waited agian ( man we are getting so good at waiting- I didn't write much yesterday because that's what we mainly did was wait.) Finally an hour and a half late we boarded our plane and took off- let me just say that they definately tried to cram as many seats as humanly possible on this flight, your knees were literally touching the seat in front of you and you had maybe 3 inches of space to breathe ( well maybe there was really like a foot of space between the seat in front of you and your head but seriously!) After about 4 hours on this plane we landed in Harare! HOORAY!! We waited in yes another line to get our visas, we got our luggage and went out and guess who was there waiting with open arms? AP!! I was so excited to see her again, and Zazu and Cars was there also!
They decided to drop us girls off at the Mbizi Game Park the same one I stayed at last time, it was cool to experience it again and share it with Rafiki and Timon. We decided to go on a game drive, we saw Zebras ( we learned that they all have thier own indiviual stipe system like we have our fingerprints, the black stripes soak in the heat and the white ones release the heat causing body temperature regulation also some of them have brown strips that secret body fluids, there are 3 different types of Zebras, they only have one baby at a time as a form of protection so there are more Zebra's to watch the one little one. We learned alot more but I fogot it).
When we got done on the ride Rafiki, Timon and I walked around the grounds then went in and watched some soccer with the workers since it is the World Cup in South Africa right now, we then ate dinner ( super delicious!), desert and tea. The whole time Zazu and I had been talking about the kids, who is still there, the new kids, who has left and the new manager ( AP hired a manager and Zazu thinks him and his wife are prefect for the job!), things that have changed and other things that still need to change. We talked so much about the kids! I CANNOT WAIT TO GO SEE THEM!!! It will be so amazing to be reunited! I also learned that more kids are gone then I thought 4 total but that we have 3 new one and I cannot wait to get to know them as well. I cannot wait to go see my kids! Tomorrow can't come fast enough! We are all headed to bed now, I am so blessed! I AM SO BLESSED! I AM SO LUCKY! I AM LIVING A DREAM COME TRUE!!


Zazu on the game ride


Rafiki and Timon on the game ride


Zebras


Zebra

10 June 2010

Dear Journal

Well yesterday started extremely early since I had to be to the shuttle by 5:45 so J Dawg was nice enough to drop me off. I got into Houston by 7:30, I checked in and went through security, since I had 4 hours til my plane left I sat around, read, called and texted a few people to say good bye. I then got to Washington DC where I had another layover and I waited for Rafiki and Timon to get there since we were on the same flight the rest of the way. While we were waiting we got dinner, while we were eating I told them all about the orphanage, my kids and everything, I think it has finally hit me that I am going back!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! We then boarded our 17 hour flight to Ethiopia- very uneventful- we slept, read, ate, watched tv and talked. On the way we had to stop in Rome ( man I wish that was the place that we were staying over night in, then I could sight see!), we then continued the rest of the way to Ethiopia once we got there we had to go through immigration, customs, get our luggage, and find out about our hotel. We then boarded the shuttle bus ( 20 bags + 10 people into a small bus = VERY CROWDED) Once we got to the hotel we unloaded our stuff and got our rooms. They gave us 3 rooms but the 3 of us + 10 bags decided we would room together for a cozy night! We then went down ate dinner and are now going to be to do it all over again tomorrow.. I CAN'T WAIT


Rafiki and Timon


Rafiki and I

Getting ready to go

D and I emptied all the boxes and bags that were full of donated items for me to take with me, after going through everything, sorting the piles, staying up til 5 am packing we were able to fill my suitcases with 180 pounds worth of items!! Thank you so much to all of those who donated, seeing the faces of those who received stuff was the best! Thank you for all of those who helped in one way or another!

This wasn't even half of the stuff, D's house was covered in stuff!!!

Buffalo River Canoe Trip

The first week of June I went with a good group of people up to Arkansas where we canoed down the Buffalo River. It was a lot of fun! We spent the first day driving the 10 hours to get there then setting up camp, the second day we packed up camp and started our trip down the river, we canoed about 14 miles this day then stopped again and set up camp... we had a couple minor accidents the first day, one kid knocked his front tooth out while jumping from a 90 foot cliff and our "leader" busted his elbow open by slipping on the ever so slippery rocks so we ended up leaving a night earlier then planned but it was so much fun... so day three we pack up again and canoe about 7 miles to the end where we load up in the cars to start the 10 hour ride back home. The water was pretty shallow so we kept getting stuck on the rocks and had to get out and push and of course many of us kept running into trees or rocks and tipping the canoe. It was such a fun trip and we had the best people go! I hope they make it a tradition and we go again next year!


Entertaining ourselves on the drive, we were the life of the car!


Stopped for a look at the view


E, M, M and I out on the river


Taking a break for lunch and swimming


The pretty river


The gorgeous landscape


We are gonna jump


L, G and I


The girls before we all jumped in unison

I am back

I have just gotten back and I will update and put pictures on like I have promised. I will start from the very beginning of the summer and work from there, so join me as I go back in time