Bitter sweet

This morning was our final walk to the Haven (insert: tears). We got there early to finish our CAPSTONE research. Lacey and I stopped by Eric's House, which is across from the Haven. This is where the Merritt's live and they started Eric's House in order to take in older children off the streets and give them a place to live.

They have made a beautiful set up for these children including a lovely home and outdoors area with a basketball court. Lace and I needed to talk with three more kiddo's for our research on the age acquisition of prepositions in Africa compared to those in America. The final three we saw today were Charles, Benji, and Lukka (absolutely adorable!).

Charles and Benji with Lace and I


Taking some data while Charles (left), Benji (right), and Lukka (behind me) sit patiently
Quick "snap" with Weston and our props: banana and a cup

Today we spent the majority of the morning doing our assignment for Dr. Weaver, where we were to choose a child to observe to see if they have reached their developmental milestones. I, of course, chose Shawn to "shadow" for the day. Naturally, I took a lot of pictures because this was my last time seeing my 'lil man.
Working on walking; he found my bracelet he decided to chew on
Shawn was apparently hungry so he stole Ross's bottle (poor Ross!)
No words for the love I have for this little boy.
haha imitating each other
I can handle one go around with being peed on, but nope. Homeboy here decided to do it twice today....not cool Shawn.

Believe it or not, I also took time to see the rest of the babies at Haven 1 (not just Shawn!), however, the majority of the kiddo's were sick. So a lot of the group sat in the living room of the haven with the non-sick infants and played/held different babies. You could tell each of us had the same thought of not wanting to ever let go of these babies; wishing we could take all of them back with us.

Miss. Darcie with Beatrice (an auntie) had a bath after feeding time. This girl is a messy eater, never fails!
Jaime with Teeger's
My "family" who I WISH AND WISH I could take home with me! (Darcie is in the chitnege, she was a little tired today).

Jason and George sportin' Aggie gear "Gig 'em"! (Shout out to my family thought of yall!)

We did manage to take time out of our one on one baby time to take a quick picture in our TOMS while having a baby chitenged to our backs in order to send it to the TOMS website. The way TOMS works is you buy a pair of shoes and they send another pair to 3rd world countries for a person to wear. They insist on those who wear their shoes to take pictures of "How I wear my TOMS". We thought this was fitting.

"We wear our TOMS in Africa with babies chitenged to our backs"

Lace forgot to bring her TOMS this morning, but we still wanted to get her in a picture with us girls and our chitenged babies. I had a sleepy Darcie, B. Weave was holding Hunter, Sarah and Rachel had the twins Elias and Bester, then Lace was carrying Megan.


The morning flew by (naturally) and soon we were back at the Hamby house eating lunch then getting ready to head back to the Haven for "Auntie Appreciation"! Leonard had baked three cakes for the aunties at each haven. We wanted the aunties to know that we believe what they do is so important at the haven and they are such a blessing to these babies.

Aunties from Haven 2

After the aunties were given their cakes and hugs we all ventured to different havens to spend more time with the babies. Catherine, Meghann, Caroline, and I had made extra "Auntie Ed." material for the aunties to keep on hand if new babies came to the haven so we handed those out and checked in with how they feel about the new educational materials. We also left behind some different nipples for them to use for the infants' bottles and a few chewing toys as well as spoons for feeding. While we were in Haven 3 I was able to get a few "snaps" (as the Africans call it) of the babies...

Precious Catherine and Christi

I am holding sweet Shelby and Lacey has her Matty; we figured they should be friends!

Oh my boy Seth here was dressed in ALL denim today. He looked like a little farmer and he's loving life (as usual)!

Don't let Kurt's sweet smile fool you. I walked in on this kiddo trying to "escape" from his crib! He kind of reminds me of my brother Kurt, behind his sweet smile there usually is trouble :)

Meet Memory, she recently returned to the haven after having heart surgery. Today was my first time seeing this precious little face.

Once I was finished making my rounds at haven 3, I walked back over to haven 1 to spend my remaining time holding on to Shawn (insert: lots of tears). When I first spent time with Shawn 4 weeks ago he was quiet and didn't smile at all. Now, this boy is babbling up a storm, making verbal/nonverbal imitations, and he makes the CUTEST noises (one resembles the Zenia warrior call). We haven't quite mastered the skill of walking but he is pulling up on his own and walks around with assistance. When the final hour of our time at the haven came I could not stop crying. I walked into Shawn's room and said a little prayer with him. Miss. Pauline (an auntie) came in and gave Shawn and me a hug which was definitely needed. I just pray that each infant remains healthy and continues to grow strong each day and for the good Lord to watch over them and their caregivers each and everyday. Coming to Zambia to do my summer clinical practicum was the BEST decision I have ever made. No regrets. I have developed a strong bond with my group as well as with each infant at the haven who I will miss EXTREMELY.

Tonight after dinner, Catherine and Rachel (our Grad. Assistant's), informed us that a "G.A. Silly Olympics" game was happening when we returned to our house. I had no idea what to expect but these girls put so much thought into this game it was SO much fun and so needed after such an emotional day. They acted as our hostesses for the hour and presented us with each activity that we would be participating in. The first competition was "Longest Leg Hair", which six girls had previously agreed to not shave since the last time we were in Livingstone (three weeks ago?) yeaaaa real hot. haha This definitely took dedication girls! Love it. Those who were not in the competition were able to be the judgers.

The winner was....CATHERINE!

Next, we had a "Sock Slide" competition because our floors in our house are super waxed we constantly slip and slide around. This activity was very fitting. The winner of this competition was RACHEL. I do believe it was the running stance that got her the furthest :)

We had a chitenge race (who could put their chitenge on the fastest). I ALWAYS have Jaime or Sarah help me put mine on, so I was no contender for this one. Sarah was the winner in the end!

However, our professors were not far behind in the race!

The G.A's then had us work with our roommates in the "Pile on your clothes in 40 seconds". The winner of this competition was....
Yours truly and Lace with 24 items of clothing on all together. "Same Page"

The final two competitions were "Unlock the door" which we had to unlock the gate then the front/back door the fastest. A little note: the door's locks are like Harry Potter castle style and I never unlock the door. I always get someone else to because it's always a situation! Sarah also won the Gold for this competition with a time of 13.6 seconds (woot-woot!) and surprisingly I won the Silver with the time of 15.1 seconds :) "Chug the Bottle" was the last activity in which we had to chug water from a baby bottle and Lace face won that one hands down!

The G.A.'s had three different "stands" (two different foot stools and a book) for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze overall winners.
Sarah won the gold medal chitenge, Lacey won the silver, and I the bronze. B. Weave so kindly provided an Olympic Torch, which Sarah is holding (the lighter)!

Tomorrow we are heading to Livingstone until Tuesday. We have a lot on our agenda such as: tea time at sunset, a safari, sunset cruise, trip to Victoria falls, and shopping! We were unable to get an elephant back ride booked, but it is still going to be a fun filled four days.