I've been excited about posting this all day. Silly, I know, but it means that in order to do so, I'd have to take a break from grading, and that is just a really happy thought :)

Yesterday Cassie, Jenny and I met Bernice up at Little Lambs to spend the afternoon with the precious children. I was quite a bit more excited this time since we know Bernice better, meaning we're less like "tourists" and more like guests coming to actually love on the children and start building relationships with them. We got there earlier than any of the adults, so we just sat in the yard talking to a couple of the kids - Mariam and Salome and Dorcas and William and Brian and Jeff - and learning a few new Kikuyu words. It was beautiful just sitting there in the African sunshine on the African grass, enjoying the African breeze and letting Mariam play with my hair... Beautiful :)

After a while, everyone started showing up - the women who run Little Lambs and the children - they all came walking up the steep hill waving at the crazy wazungu waiting to play with them. We just played for about an hour - watched them swing, pushed them in the swings, took their pictures (because they looove it... except for Dorcas...), tickled them (I told them all about how my Daddy used to tickle me mercilessly) and played with little Matchbox cars, some of which were exactly like some of the cars Marty and I used to always play with. Then we played some group games - tag, their version of duck duck goose (but they don't have a word for duck, or goose, or something, so you say other things...), a circly game (haha.. no idea how to describe it), a dancing game, and an "Ask My Lawyer" game... all so fun :)

When there are no seats left and you really want to swing...

Miriam was quite proud of this trick!

"Ask my Lawya"




"I've lost my letta"... "Find it"... "Here it is!"

Afterwards, we listened to the choir, enjoyed a warm cup of chai, sang the same Camp Hope song I taught them a couple of weeks ago (and this time added the teeny tiny voice and big monster voice variations, which was HILARIOUS...), prayed with them, and sadly said goodbye. It had been a good 2 hours or more, but I'm still convinced we could've stayed all day.






Being there this time was so sweet. It felt so much more natural, and I knew that I was building relationships that were going to be continued. I am so grateful to the Lord for giving us this opportunity and for blessing us with Bernice, who has made us feel so much more a part of the community up the hill.

Anyways, mostly I just wanted to post these pictures and show you how precious these kids are...

Bernice's son, Dennis, is on the left.

Salome

Me and Miriam... she loved making faces in pictures... my heart :)

Dennis!! When we visited him last week, he was so scared of us he didn't hardly say a word. Yesterday he was almost always holding hands with me, Cassie or Jenny, and would get a little jealous of anyone who would try to hold my hand instead! We love love love him.

These kids can climb... We called him "nugu," or "monkey."

Brian... I think... either way, so cute...

Like I said, so cute...

Cassie and... Angelica?