In other news.....

So...it was a crazy week. Due to very interesting circumstances, it was brought to our attention on Monday that the information regarding our newest child, Machu, was not true. The uncle that brought him was in fact his father, and there was no grandmother that recently died. Instead, Machu was staying with his father during the school holiday (he has been raised since birth by his aunt), and the father brought him here to try to give him a good education. When the father never returned the child to his aunt, she came looking for him, and found he had been brought to an orphanage! It was the strangest situation we have had yet, and we learned to investigate MUCH more closely. Machu, however, was thrilled to go with his aunt and waved goodbye to all of us, smiling out the truck window!

One day later....baby Joy was brought to us. Joy was born Sunday, May 28th, at 4am. Sadly, her 16 year old mother died just one hour after giving birth. Her father is unknown, as the young girl returned from a trip to the capitol city pregnant. We did a few days of investigating and meeting with Social Welfare and on Friday we received full custody of Joy until she is 19 years old! Teacher Diana has been a huge blessing in caring for Joy in the afternoons and at night, and we have hired someone (and are using our summer volunteer teams!) to care for her during the day until we have a more permanent caregiver! (Our goal is to keep Maggie and Joy away from the orphanage side of New Day for at least 2 months as they build their immune systems.)

She is SO tiny, especially when compared with 7 week old Maggie!

Teams have also been busy working on getting the roof up on the church!

Laston getting sugars from Papa Ron!

Unbelievable that we have a 7 week old and 6 day old!!!

Hanging out at the soccer game!

A little relaxing on Sunday afternoon to watch the Survivor finale!

Love these two 7th grade scientists who blew up a volcano for all the students to see!

Sometimes it's hard to focus in church with 31 kids all vying for your attention!! ;)

Happy 12th Birthday to Caedmon!

Yesterday we celebrated Caedmon's 12th birthday!! Oh my this child has a heart of gold. He is kind, and honest, and loving, and spends time in the Word every day, and is loyal, and encouraging, and just all around a great kid! We love our Caedmon Luke so much! We had a great week celebrating - Blu planned a coming of age ceremony for him with Wes, Dad, Mulenga, and Paw (via proxy) attending. They ate chicken wings and chips, drank cokes, shot the BB gun, and then Caedmon was presented with a shield where every part is symbolic of a character trait. It was amazing! Blu was amazing to plan that, and I know it meant so much to Caedmon when each man shared the advice they would give their 12 year old self!

Then it was on to his birthday morning, where we got up early, opened presents, and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast! He got lots of fun gifts - giant playing cards, Beanboozled, Watch ya Mouth, Pie in Face, Minion movies, American candy and Corn Pops cereal, cologne, art supplies, a spy book, etc! He was also blessed by Aunt Staci, Teacher Debbie, and Diana with cards and spending money for the USA!

After school, a soccer game (where we WON 3-1 AND Caedmon scored a goal!), it was time to get ready for his Minion party! We had Minion punch, food sacks (filled with homemade corn dogs and chips), cupcakes, and 4 games: Pin the Goggles on the Minion, Minion balloon darts, Minion 2 liter Ring Toss, and Beanboozled!

The boys spent the night and had a great time watching movies (except for Caedmon...who went to bed at 9:30pm!!). It was a great day to spend celebrating our Caedmon, and we look forward to what God has in store for his future!

And finally...I have to show the annual "Look how much they've grown" sleepover picture!! 2012, 2014, and 2017!