We arrive at the main house at 7:00am. The school age children are just finishing their breakfast at this time as they have school to get ready for. Two of us will go help the younger children to the table and begin feeding the ones who don't feed themselves yet. Two of us go to the baby room to change diapers and give bottles to the ones who don't eat solid food yet. The other two will eat breakfast in the first shift. As soon as each person finishes their breakfast, we go find another girl who hasn't eaten yet and take over what she is doing so that she can go eat. This schedule usually works well as it always has a few helping so that all 6 of us aren't sitting down at the same time. That is what we were doing when we first came and at the suggestion of Mrs. Allen we now eat in shifts and it works better for everyone!
After breakfast is over, the children are gotten ready to go outside to play for a while. Sometimes the babies go out now (babies usually refers to 1 year and under) and sometimes they play inside and go out later. Usually two of us are outside to play with the toddlers and two are in the baby room. It is pretty much a constant cycle of changing diapers and feeding bottles in the baby room so there is almost always two of us there. In the quieter times, we love to just sit and hold and play with the babies. They love the personal attention and reward us greatly with adorable smiles and giggles as we play games with them or just talk to them. The toddlers outside will be swinging on the swingset, sliding down the little plastic slides, riding their little bikes or running around in the grass- usually chasing or being chased by one of the workers or volunteers! During this time there is usually a fairly regular stream of them being run back to the house for potty time! It's quite the chore to have 10 or more toddlers all potty training at the same time! =)
At 10:00 or 10:30 everyone comes inside, washes their hands and goes to the dining room for snack time. Then back outside afterwards for the remaining time until lunch. All throughout the morning there is also a constant stream of children getting their baths. They keep the children incredibly clean here! They all get baths just about every day. No small task! Usually there is a time of quiet in the baby room in the middle of the morning as most of them go down for brief morning naps. A little before noon, the babies are gotten up, changed and ready for lunch. The younger ones come in, wash hands and are taken to the dining room to eat. Usually the 2 or 3-year-old and younger ones eat at noon. When the school children get out of school, they all gather in the living room for a short movie before lunch. Their favorites seem to be The Pink Panther cartoons and Veggie Tales! At this point there is typically two of us feeding babies in the dining room, two feeding bottles in the baby room and two more sitting with the kids who are watching the movie. About the time the movie ends, the babies are done eating. As several of us work on getting the little ones back to the baby, toddler rooms for their naps, the older ones are washing their hands and getting seated in the dining room. Again, we eat in shifts so that some are helping and some are interacting with the children as they eat.
Usually by 1:45 everyone has eaten, the babies are down for their naps and the older children are enjoying free time before doing homework. This is when we head back to our rooms for some rest and quiet time. We will either nap, call home, have a Spanish lesson with Emily or get caught up on much needed conversations with the team. We all so enjoy being together and sharing our fun stories from the morning so sometimes we will just gather in one of our rooms and sit around and visit for a while! Sometimes one or two of us will stay out and play with children who are having free time at this point too.
Around 3:30 or 3:45 a group of us will head back up to the toddlers and babies as this is when they are getting up from their naps. Another round of changing diapers and feeding bottles and playing with little ones. Depending on how intense the sun is at this point, we may or may not take the little ones back outside for a while. The older ones are doing homework or playing outside at this point. The babies eat dinner at 5:00 and the older ones around 5:45. More eating in shifts for us! =) After dinner, we begin the process of getting everyone ready for bed. That's alot of pairs of pajamas! They play until 7:00 when everyone gathers in the living room for family time. They begin by singing several worship songs with Isaac Allan playing the guitar. Then Mr. or Mrs. Allen will share a short Bible lesson with them and then pray with them. At 7:30, everyone heads to bed and the house gets very quiet!
After breakfast is over, the children are gotten ready to go outside to play for a while. Sometimes the babies go out now (babies usually refers to 1 year and under) and sometimes they play inside and go out later. Usually two of us are outside to play with the toddlers and two are in the baby room. It is pretty much a constant cycle of changing diapers and feeding bottles in the baby room so there is almost always two of us there. In the quieter times, we love to just sit and hold and play with the babies. They love the personal attention and reward us greatly with adorable smiles and giggles as we play games with them or just talk to them. The toddlers outside will be swinging on the swingset, sliding down the little plastic slides, riding their little bikes or running around in the grass- usually chasing or being chased by one of the workers or volunteers! During this time there is usually a fairly regular stream of them being run back to the house for potty time! It's quite the chore to have 10 or more toddlers all potty training at the same time! =)
At 10:00 or 10:30 everyone comes inside, washes their hands and goes to the dining room for snack time. Then back outside afterwards for the remaining time until lunch. All throughout the morning there is also a constant stream of children getting their baths. They keep the children incredibly clean here! They all get baths just about every day. No small task! Usually there is a time of quiet in the baby room in the middle of the morning as most of them go down for brief morning naps. A little before noon, the babies are gotten up, changed and ready for lunch. The younger ones come in, wash hands and are taken to the dining room to eat. Usually the 2 or 3-year-old and younger ones eat at noon. When the school children get out of school, they all gather in the living room for a short movie before lunch. Their favorites seem to be The Pink Panther cartoons and Veggie Tales! At this point there is typically two of us feeding babies in the dining room, two feeding bottles in the baby room and two more sitting with the kids who are watching the movie. About the time the movie ends, the babies are done eating. As several of us work on getting the little ones back to the baby, toddler rooms for their naps, the older ones are washing their hands and getting seated in the dining room. Again, we eat in shifts so that some are helping and some are interacting with the children as they eat.
Usually by 1:45 everyone has eaten, the babies are down for their naps and the older children are enjoying free time before doing homework. This is when we head back to our rooms for some rest and quiet time. We will either nap, call home, have a Spanish lesson with Emily or get caught up on much needed conversations with the team. We all so enjoy being together and sharing our fun stories from the morning so sometimes we will just gather in one of our rooms and sit around and visit for a while! Sometimes one or two of us will stay out and play with children who are having free time at this point too.
Around 3:30 or 3:45 a group of us will head back up to the toddlers and babies as this is when they are getting up from their naps. Another round of changing diapers and feeding bottles and playing with little ones. Depending on how intense the sun is at this point, we may or may not take the little ones back outside for a while. The older ones are doing homework or playing outside at this point. The babies eat dinner at 5:00 and the older ones around 5:45. More eating in shifts for us! =) After dinner, we begin the process of getting everyone ready for bed. That's alot of pairs of pajamas! They play until 7:00 when everyone gathers in the living room for family time. They begin by singing several worship songs with Isaac Allan playing the guitar. Then Mr. or Mrs. Allen will share a short Bible lesson with them and then pray with them. At 7:30, everyone heads to bed and the house gets very quiet!
I know this was a very long post to get through, but I hope that it helps to answer some of your questions! If I left something out that you are wondering about or if you have any other questions for us, please feel free to leave a comment and ask and we will get back with you. We love it that so many of you are reading our blog and are interested in what we are doing! We especially appreciate your prayers for us while we are here.
2 comments:
Happy Valentine's Day! Great party. Do you remember some years ago, some parties at my house?
Love you all,
Grami
Nicely done.
I guess it would be very rough duty if changing diapers bothered you, eh? So that means even though I'm up to my eyeballs in snow, I'm glad to be here instead of there in Damp Bottom Central.
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