Movie Magic & More

The other day as I finished dinner preparations the kids all filed into the dining room for their dinner. I don't think I can properly convey the noise that 23 preschool children fresh off the playground can make as they file into a cement building. Let me just say it is LOUD.

In the midst of all this chaos Johnny walked up to the counter that divides the kitchen and dining room. He called over to me as I chopped vegetables at the island.

I could barely hear him over the din:

"Mommy, I wanna something something lucky dips."

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I wanna something something looby pips."

"What?"

Finally I asked Johnny to come into the kitchen. He stood next to me and I leaned over to hear him better.

"Mommy, I wanna give you love's true kiss!"

Awwwww!

"Ok, sweetie, how about I give you a hug?"

Any guesses which movie he's been watching?

***********

The other morning I was looking after the twins during shift change. It was early in the morning and a few of the children were gathered around the cradles with me.

Luke was fussing a bit so I was settling him down.

Peter said, "Look, he's like Spiderman!" I tried to figure out what he meant by that.

Then he showed me:

"His hands are like this!"

A moment later Peter said, "Now he's a bad guy".

"See?"

"His hands are like this!"

********

Even Jasmine has been picking on poor Luke. She pointed out that he looks like a comic book entity called The Watcher.

What do you think?

Poor Luke is gonna develop a complex if this keeps up.

Exactly Two Years Ago: My Girl Can Kick Your Tail
Exactly Three Years Ago: Super Story part two

Santa Does Cosplay?

Cosplay = Costume Play

One of my favorite traditions that we're starting this year is to have a box full of wrapped Christmas books. Each day a different child gets to choose and unwrap a 'new' story for me to read to them just before dinner.

A few days ago, Lizzie unwrapped Arthur's Christmas. Remember Arthur the anteater from PBS?

This particular story involves Arthur trying to find a present for Santa. He goes from store to store and keeps seeing Santa in different locations and particularly notices Santa in various restaurants. He eventually gets the idea that Santa obviously LOVES to eat, so he makes a few different dishes which he has cooked himself (with dubious success) to leave out for Santa. The ending of the story has him finding a note left by 'Santa' thanking him for the food, and mentioning his awesome sister, D.W.

I had forgotten how this particular story went and so as I read it I wondered how the kids would handle the idea that there could be more than one Santa.

I'm not a huge fan of perpetuating the myth of Santa although I do love the ideas of St. Nicholas and giving and sharing.

However, my husband and teenagers love the magic of Christmas and the fun that kids can get out of it all.

It's a fine line we walk.

Anyway, back to the story. So, the kids had noticed that the Santas in the story all had slightly different outfits. They wanted to know why the clothes were different. Then when one in particular was quite skinny they wanted to know why.

At the end when 'Santa' leaves a note, Johnny's eyes were big as he asked if Santa had really left the note. We talked about how D.W had been really nice to help out Arthur. But, they weren't ready to give up the idea that Santa had really been in Arthur's house.

When they again brought up the fact that the Santas in the story had worn different clothes I decided to discuss it a bit. I asked the kids if Santa was real or a character from a story. A character from a story they all agreed. (I'm not sure they actually understood what those words meant though)
 Then, I asked, when Peter dressed up like Obi Wan, or Chola dressed up like Batman at Halloween, were they really those people or just wearing a costume? They laughed and agreed they were just dressing up.

So, I said, sometimes people like to dress up in costumes.

Johnny's eyes got huge. I was ready for the penny to drop, and truthfully not sure I wanted it to.

"So, Santa likes to dress up like Santa?!?"

Ummm, yeah......that's it. Story time's over!


Exactly Three Years Ago: A Christmas Card

We Love Babies of All Shapes and Sizes

As I said in yesterday's post, we deeply care for all babies no matter the type. The other day Tom came into the office and said there was a problem with two of the babies. I had to ask him to clarify: human or animal--like a funny game of 20 Questions. It was animal this time. Two of the baby goats had disappeared during in the night. We didn't know if they'd been left behind after the day's time of grazing up our hill, or been stolen, or what? Turns out, since they are so tiny, they had wandered into the storm drain.

Real

One of our mother goats gave birth to triplets. Right away Tom noticed that the smallest kid had been rejected by its mother. We waited a day or two to see what would happen, but finally we decided to help nature out a bit.

 

Funny

We've been bringing Billie (Tom wanted to name her Billy, but she's a girl) into the house to get her bottle 4 times a day. The first day we did this, after Tom fed her, she began to wobble around the living room. She is very curious and wants to climb on every elevated surface she can find. In fact, one morning I was trying to do my Wii Fit workout but Billie kept climbing up on the little Wii Fit platform, which completely messed up my stats. Silly goat had to be shut up in the office with Tom for a while. 

Anyway, the first day she came in we lost track of her after a bit. We couldn't find her anywhere. Then we noticed something out of place under one of the chairs.

Hello there, little bitty, baby goat! Now when she disappears we know just where to look.

Happy

 
This picture makes me so happy because this is exactly what we want for the children growing up in our care--the chance to look after animals on a farm and thereby learn compassion and responsibility. Johnny looked after Billie one afternoon and kept her fed and happy.

Billie is doing so well now and is getting stronger every day. Whenever Tom goes out to the goat yard carrying the bottle of milk, Billie comes running up to him bleating and crying. She knows just who her 'mother' is.

I'm happy to be linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter again. It's been too long!

By the way, don't forget to check out yesterday's post. The contest is still on!

Lawyered

Yesterday as all the children gathered in the dining room in preparation for Children's Church, Tom noticed Johnny and Peter in the corner, huddled together, looking at something.

As he drew closer he saw that they were playing with Jasmine's new iPod touch. It had been left on the table and now sticky little fingers had found it.

Looking more closely, Tom saw something very funny: Johnny was using Peter's fingers to move things around on the screen. 

Having seen enough, Tom said in his best and most gruff voice, "What's going on here?" 

Johnny jumped back and said, "I never touched it! My fingers never touched it!"

That kid has a future. I just don't know in what exactly........

Little Hunters

When chatting with Tom the other day via Skype, he told me that he had gone hunting with the boys for frogs. After catching some, he did what any good hunter does and taught them how to fry and eat the frog legs.

I panicked a little about whether or not the frogs might be poisonous. Then he said this all took place two days before. Since no one died (aside from the frogs) I guess that rules out poison. So good to know.

Johnny looks a little sad. Maybe he has a tender side that mourns the loss of a frog's life.

                                         I'm not sure why Elias' eyes are closed....

I'm so glad the kids have the ability to explore and learn boyish skills--not that there's anything wrong with girls learning frog hunting--one of the many advantages to living out in the African Bush. They've all also been taking P.E classes and beginning Shotokhan. I'll try to share pictures of that with you soon.

Exactly One Year Ago: Look on the Bright Side of Life

Exactly Two Years Ago: Easter Photos  

Johnny's Adventure in Town, Part Two

When we left off yesterday, Johnny had won his first ever grocery-store battle and was a happy little boy.

As they left the grocery store loaded down with shopping bags, there was the regular, large group of ne’er do wells gathered outside. Young men that have nothing really to do, stand outside the grocery store selling plastic bags which are better quality than the store issued bags. Since each bag sells for only a couple pennies, and there are at least a dozen boys gathered outside, it’s a hard life. Their big hope is to be hired for a small one-time job which could earn them a dollar or two.

Because these boys have so much time on their hands, and they are nearly all abusing alcohol and drugs, small squabbles and fights are common. Most of the time, it’s nothing more than some minor pushing and shoving but it always draws a crowd and gets rowdy.

Of course, as Tom and Johnny exited the store, one such fight was going on. Johnny got very upset and began yelling, “Hey, you! Stop that right now! Fighting is not good!” Everyone in the crowd was so shocked to hear a child speaking up in such a manner, the fight stopped. Johnny left feeling good about having done something toward good and  justice in the world.

Later on, another fight broke out in a different parking lot, and even though it was taking place about 100 feet away, Johnny didn’t let that stop him, “Hey, you! Fighting is not good”!

Something else that made a big impact on him was mannequins. When he got home and told me about his day, he made sure to tell me about ‘the mannequins which are statues in the window so that people will buy clothes’. “They only have legs. Their arms are broken”.  He absorbs so much information of what you tell him.

Public toilets were also a big deal with all the new rules:  We have a septic system and need to use wastebaskets, but in public it’s OK to put tissue in the toilet bowl for instance. When Timmy helped him wash his hands, they noticed that the sink was broken and the tap couldn’t turn off, so Johnny dove under the sink and turned off the main valve.

He was also very polite to everyone they came in contact with and shouted a ‘Thank you, Mr. Policeman’ at every checkpoint when the barrier was opened.

I’d say his first venture into town was a roaring success. I can’t wait to see how some of the other kids handle it.

Johnny's Adventure in Town

So, today we had only a few hours of electricity and those hours were not all at the same time.

On top of that, I have a dreadful cold. It started yesterday and is progressing very quickly. That may be a good thing, but at the moment all I know is it hurts to breathe.

Lest this stop being Amy’s Assorted Adventures, and more Amy’s Assorted Angst I will now share another story in the Oh, Johnny series.

Today is our usual shopping day. Obviously I was in no condition to go (tiny whine there), so Timmy accompanied Tom and we decided that Johnny should go as well. As I wrote recently in a post, most of our kids have never left our tiny village and hardly even venture much out of our large property. We want to begin showing the kids a ‘whole new world’.

Johnny got up bright and early—all dressed up in the “new pants that Mommy gave me”, and an aura of excitement shimmering from him.

As soon as they began driving, his eyes were wide open and he chattered up a storm.

First, they saw an ant hill.

“What is that, Timmy?”

“That is an ant hill. Termites live in them”.

Right after this, they drove down a stretch of road where there were anthills every few feet.

For about ten minutes it was non-stop: “There’s another one! And another one! And another one!” Timmy said it was like the dog from Dr. Doolittle in the car, “Line…..line….line….line”

Then they hit pot holes! When our Landcruiser goes through potholes it sounds like the car is going to fall to pieces. Every screw and bolt shakes, rattles and rolls. 

“What was that?!?”

“That was a pothole.”

“I don’t like that noise!” 

Of course that didn’t magically make the road smooth, and every time they hit a pot hole Johnny complained, “I don’t like that sound”!

Timmy asked him to just sleep. “But, I’m not tired!”

So, Timmy did the next best thing and went to sleep himself.

Finally they reached Mansa. The potholes and termites were done for the moment but the chatter continued unabated.

**********

At one of their first stops at a hardware store, Johnny noticed trash piled up in the road.

"Why is that trash there? Why isn’t anyone cleaning it up"?

Tom explained that no one wants to do it. 

So, what does little Johnny do? He hails a passing stranger—“Can you clean up the trash?”

When the man just walked on by, Johnny turned to Tom with a completely disappointed look, “He didn’t do it”. 

“I know”, replied Tom, “he’s selfish”.

“Well, then tell the police to make the selfish people clean up the trash”.

***********

After this they went to the grocery store. Here he behaved very well, or at least like a normal kid. He helped load things into the cart—even things we didn’t need--and everything went smoothly.

To make the day more special, Tom took Johnny to the toy aisle and (perhaps foolishly) told him he could have anything he liked. Johnny looked around and almost immediately spotted….a bow and arrow!

Tom tried his best to dissuade him—what about a set of marbles? (No thank you. A bow and arrow) a new truck? (no, just a bow and arrow) a nice set of army men? (no, I’d like the bow and arrow) And so, that’s what he walked out with.

Tune in tomorrow for part two of Johnny's Adventure in Town.

You won't believe what he did next!

Exactly One Year Ago: Fab Friday Foto (aka Everything is Not as It Seems)

Also, Exactly One Year Ago: Your Questions Answered

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

SIMC: Birthdays, Birthdays, and more Birthdays!

With 21 kids in residence, it's bound to be someone's birthday nearly every week. We had a team of volunteers out here this week so I asked them to bring a few presents for four of the kids so we could hold a joint party for them. 

With all we had going on we didn't get to hold a proper party but we did serve cake after dinner one night. 

For reasons that I'll have to tell you about another time, our cake turned out lopsided. We began calling it a Dr. Suess cake. Then since we had some colored sprinkles provided by our visitors and it began looking better. Then we pulled out the birthday candles (also sweetly provided by our guests) and by happy coincidence they were perfect for the cake. Starburst candies (also provided by....yep, you got it!) gave the finishing touch.

 Peter was first up--he turns 2 on August 27. He was so excited he kept patting his cheeks and grinning from ear to ear. After I helped him blow out his candle (we lit one for each of the kids), he was presented with the little tow truck from the movie Cars. He loves cars and trucks (I'll have to tell you a story about that soon) and so he loves, loves, loves his new toy.

Denny was next. He turned two on August 11. He was quite uncertain about it all. I helped him blow out his candle and he also got a Cars character. He got the race car--Lightning McQueen, I think.... Afterward he went and sat down and let Nathan play with it. I think all the singing and excitement was a bit much for him.

Next, Elias had his birthday song. For his present, he got a supply of art things--markers and pads of paper to nurture his artistic side. Look at Johnny pursing his lips--practicing for his turn. :)

In the middle of singing 'Happy Birthday' to Johnny, the power went off but we lit his candle, sang to him and then lit more candles so we could see to cut and eat the cake. Just a normal day in Africa.

Now, hop over to Unknown Mami's blog and see what's happening in other cities around the world.

Oh, Johnny!

Johnny is one of our brightest children. He is quick and intelligent and really picks up on things around him. You've read about him before and I believe he will be featured again. He's that kinda kid. :) Because most children in this culture have the curiosity beaten out of them, we love that the kids we are raising here at the orphanage are free to grow and develop naturally.

Unfortunately this can also make for some funny or awkward moments.

We have a team of volunteers from West Texas visiting with us this week. A couple of the ladies are....let's say well-endowed or curvy. Johnny walked right up to one of them and said, "You're very fat!". She took it well and just said, "Well, yes I am".

One of the projects the ladies are working on this week is Vacation Bible School for 100 children from our village. We have never brought this amount of children into the property before and the kids who live here have been pretty isolated. We divided the children into two groups--one group of 50 for the morning session and the other group of 50 in the afternoon.
The first day when all the kids came pouring into our courtyard Johnny looked around and said, "Who are all these dirty people? and why are they all speaking Bemba*?"

We are glad he has learned right and wrong--clean is good--and has confidence to ask questions. We now have to teach him compassion for others and tact. Definitely tact.

*Bemba is our local language and all the kids speak it fluently with their nannies but speak English with us. Johnny couldn't understand why the new kids weren't speaking English with the American visitors. It's been good for the kids here at the orphanage to interact with the community more this week. We hope one day to have a chapel on our property so we can open our doors for church and the kids living here will have more of a chance to give and share what they have with others.

Exactly One Year Ago: Chola in the Big City

Sundays--The Three Stooges Edition

Yesterday I was still down for the count. So I stayed in bed almost completely still. One of the problems with malaria is you feel a bit better during the day and so you get up and move around and then relapse so recovery takes longer. 

Anyway, that little tidbit of information is my way of stating that I had nothing to do with what went down yesterday.....

Every day our kids have a 30-45 minute video viewing time right after their afternoon nap and snack. Yesterday, Tom was excited to share one of his favorites with them--The Three Stooges.

It was met with decidedly mixed reviews.

The nannies enjoyed the fishing episode because Kazembe is very much a fishing area.

Jennifer, however, started weeping the moment the video began playing. She eventually had to be taken from the room.

Chola sat with his eyes covered the entire time. He really didn't want to watch it.

In the middle of the video, the electricity went off, but came back on after just a few minutes. Tom cheered, "hooray, now we can watch the video again"!

Chola was not happy and did not want it turned back on again.

Johnny was really impressed by the cannibals who had bones in their noses and wanted to eat Larry, Curly and Moe. He talked abut them all afternoon and wanted to know if they were the 'bad guys'.

I think it's safe to say that The Three Stooges will not be in the regular selection of afternoon videos.

This is what was happening in my 'city'. Join Unknown Mami by clicking on that button above and see how others are spending their Sundays.

********

Please continue to pray for my full recovery. I'm moving around a bit more today but it still leaves me breathless and in a cold sweat. I have to force myself to rest completely today so that I can try to get work done tomorrow. Tomorrow morning will mean 9 working days only before we leave for the U.S.

Exactly One Year Ago (yesterday): Fab Friday Foto

Normal Kid or Criminal in the Making?

As I left the playground the other day I saw Johnny (4 years old) at the corner of the residential building. I knew that he had just gone to the bathroom and he looked to be heading back to play with the other kids. He was using his t-shirt to wipe his mouth that was covered with white crumbs. I was in the middle of reminding him that his shirt was not a napkin when the penny dropped and I wondered why there were crumbs on his mouth. I noticed he was chewing something also. 

When I asked him what he was eating, he pulled a small piece of roasted cassava from his waistband. Since we haven't served cassava I wondered where it had come from. He said he had found it on the ground and pointed to the ground right next to him. I knew immediately that he was lying and insisted he tell me the truth. He then said he had found it on the floor of the bathroom. I had him show me exactly where. He pointed it out. Since it was such a small piece of cassava I thought it was entirely possible that one of the nannies had dropped something in there. I lectured him on eating things off the ground and then let him go.


I then walked with him back to the playground and asked the nannies if it was possible that they had dropped cassava in the bathroom. They said no, but that they had left a few pieces behind in the little unfinished room where they do their cooking on a little brazier. 


I knew then that Johnny had lied (again!) to me because where I found him initially was right next to that room. I called Johnny over, and took him to the staff kitchen. After first denying it twice, he eventually confessed to taking the cassava from the room. I started telling him how naughty it was to steal and lie to me and as I explained everything I reminded him how he had hid the cassava inside his waistband when lo and behold I discovered that it was full of even more cassava. He had been smart enough to only produce a small amount in his first confession so that he could keep the mother lode.


After an explanation of his wrongdoings I asked him to apologize to me for lying and then to the nannies from whom he'd stolen the food. By the time he was finished apologizing to everyone one by one, he was sobbing--whether from true remorse or because his stash had been discovered, I'll never know. I do know that it made an impression on him.


Johnny is one of our brightest and smartest kids and it shows by him being one of the first to try such a big crime.


Tom remembers stealing a toy at about 5 years old and hatching a plan to hide it in the bushes so he could 'find' it on a walk with his mom that evening. I guess that sinful nature and 'normal' kid behavior is truly universal.

Sundays in My City

 After writing about our plans for the children's education on Thursday, we received some surprise guests and it completely proved what I had been saying.

We've made some new friends! --A lovely family from Belgium who are traveling around southern Africa for a whole year. They were referred to us by another Belgian family and they popped in unexpectedly on Thursday afternoon. They have 2 little boys (10 and 7 years old) and our foster children have so enjoyed having them with us.

Johnny (4 years) has especially enjoyed having new playmates. He has been wrestling with them on the trampoline, kicking the soccer ball around or sitting quietly and drawing with Seppe (10 years) for nearly an hour. It's a joy to see!

Now, get out and tour the world along with Unknown Mami and her band of merry women.

P.S I was able to update this post about our upcoming trip to the States. It has photos now thanks to the help I received from Housewife Eclectic. If you've been struggling with Blogger and adding photos, go read this post. It will help. In the meantime, go look at the photos I added.

It's Their Party!

As promised yesterday, here are the pictures from Queenie and Theresa's birthday party. They both turned or are about to turn 4 years old.

Henry--2 years old

We started off the party with some fun balloon play. 

Elias--3 years old

Then the kids moved to the floor for cake and singing "Happy Birthday"

They did really well. I thought there would be jealousy about two out of fourteen kids being honored alone but there were no problems and the kids were just excited to be having a party. Even little baby Lizzie joined in. This was the first time I'd seen her sitting up by herself.

The Birthday Girls! Theresa (left) and Queenie (right)

Blowing out the candles was a new experience and took several tries.

It didn't help that Tom had picked out the kind that re-lit themselves over and over.

Moriah--20 months
Mmmm! Yummy cake!*

After cake we moved the party outside for playtime to help burn off the sugar high.

Silly string time!

Johnny (left)--3 years & Chola (right)--4 years

The kids tried their hands (and feet) at Twister but I think they need to grow a bit still.

After Twister they played Limbo (no pictures, sorry) and even the nannies joined in. 

It was a really fun afternoon and sure (definitely!) to be just the first of many.

*We do have tables and chairs for the kids but the dining room was being used that afternoon.

Older Brothers--Who Needs 'Em?

We have a large dog. Harley is a Boerboel which is a South African breed in the Mastiff family. She is huge but a complete wimp. She's scared to death of the baby stroller, the Christmas tree, loud noises. Tom turned on the tractor a couple days ago and Harley ran into the house to crying to me.

Even though she is a complete wuss she is still pretty huge. She's as tall as the little kids and they have had trouble learning to get along with her. It doesn't help that the nannies are terrified of almost all animals. We've had to work hard with them about accepting animals and using knowledge and caution--rather than fear--to protect yourself.

The kids have made huge strides in learning to love and play with the dogs. Or we thought they had....

The other day all the kids were walking up to the dining room in a big group. Harley, excited about seeing so many playmates, galloped across the grass toward them. 

Johnny--3 years old

Johnny picked up little Moriah and held her up in front of him saying, "Here Harley...Moriah!"

 

Moriah--16 months old

Now, tell me, does this look like the face of a dog who would eat children?

That's a turkey bone--I promise!

I didn't have a big brother to torment me. I was the oldest so I did the tormenting.

What about you? What are your thoughts on big brothers?