Sele Enat

We all made it through our first night together. Grace doesn't sleep through the night, but she goes about four hours at a time. I have no complaints though. She is seven months old and still a little under 14 pounds. The girl needs to eat and grow!!!

We got up nice and early, and stared to get ready for our first day out with a baby in a while. The whole bottle thing definitely adds some extra steps. It makes me even more of an advocate for breastfeeding. Convenience is king!! Grace loves to be on her tummy, so she can push up her shoulders and take in the world. She was absolutely fascinated with the TV. Even the basketball game in some foreign language didn't dampen her spirits. Of course,by the time we were all ready to go, she had worn herself out, and had settled in for a nap.

We were picked up by Dawud (one of the drivers from Layla House). He took us over to Layla to meet up with a wonderful volunteer named Betsy. She is a feisty old lady from Denver, that is here to help with the kids for a month. We headed over to Sele Enat. That is the orphanage where Grace was abandoned., andd spent her first month in care. The director, Hana, was wonderful. She remembered Grace right away, and made sure to show us the room and bed where she stayed when she was there.



Betsy had planned an activity to do with the kids, but since we were there, she had us take over. Will read a big book about an ENORMOUS watermelon and some Mother Goose characters. Thechildrenn didn't seem to understand everything, but they definitely understood what was happening when Betsy brought out a real watermelon. The oldest boy at Sele Enat helped to cut it and served the younger children. He even made sure they all got napkins and threw away their trash. The children all drew pictures of a watermelon, and then I took there photo with their new artwork. They were so proud!! Before we left, the children all decided to give us their pictures. I was touched. These kids are great!!





We stopped back by Layla House to drop off some supplies that we carried over for them from the US. We had a chance to meet a couple more volunteers and a film crew that is here making a documentary about older children being adopted from Layla House. Every volunteer seems to know Grace. They say that she is their favorite, and that she is the "Star" in the baby room. Everyone comments on how pleasant she is, and they are going to miss her very much. We are so blessed to be chosen to parent such a sweet girl.