Our first day of therapy at The Haven

5/19/14

Today was life changing! We had so much fun and really did learn so much! I will give you a rundown of our schedule. We got up at 7:50 and rolled out of bed. Breakfast was at 8:00 and then we ate and got ready. Then we started our half and hour walk to the Haven at 9:00 o'clock.  From 9:30-10:30 we played with the children from Haven 3 on playground. I was assigned a boy probably around 2-3 years, who they suspect is on the spectrum. He loved dirt, so for the post part that hour was me socially engaging with him and working on imitation. Then from 10:30-11:00 I had individual therapy with Maureen. She also goes by Maurie, but recently her and her twin Memory have made up their own names. Maurie now goes by Beep-Beep-Bibitee-Beep-Beep. After individual we went and played with the babies from Haven 1 on their veranda from 11:00-12:15. I held Annie for the most part on the veranda. I am not for sure how old Annie is, but she is what I would consider infant, if not preemie size. She just cuddled up and looked at me the whole time. We got to practice some infant massage, and I only got to her legs before she was out like a light. She loved it and was so relaxed! Then we walked back to where we live (I actually decided to ride the bus on this occasion) and we had lunch. Lunch was good, as per usual we had chicken spaghetti with rolls!! After lunch we have a little time to digest and decompress while the kiddos are taking their naps at The Haven, so I of course took a nap in my bed as well :) It was much needed, it's amazing how tired you get when its so hot. We went back to the haven at 2:30 and until 3:30 we played on their playground named "the boondoos" by the children. I played mostly with Memory, who is Beep-Beep-Bibitee-Beep-Beep's twin. Then from 3:30-4:15 we got the child in the age group that we preferred. I told you in my last blog that I would share the name of my child but I actually can't. She is a little bitty baby, and I am not for sure of her story but her and her twin are both at the Haven right now, but the family hasn't named them yet. So I have one of the baby twins. :) And she is so cute! I can't wait to take pictures of the babies and make Joyce so jealous that she is not in Africa! 

When we got back from the Haven we had an excellent dinner of potato soup and PB sandwich. After that we went over to Mrs. Mono's house where I purchased more than my fair share of souvenirs. Mrs. Mono sews almost anything and everything and all of the money that she makes she uses to send her kids to college/school. I bought a backpack, wallet, a rug and some headbands. I also talked to her about making dresses for the two girls that I babysit back home and she is going to make a quilt cover and some skirts for me too! She is going to be a very busy woman! All of her stuff is made very well and is actually really affordable. I am really excited to use a lot of her stuff for gifts for people when I get back! 

Then another awesome thing happened! I was stopped by the land cruiser that we affectionately refer to as Cackie Jackie. As I have said before B.Weave is our fearless leader and she usually is the person who drives us all around. Well tomorrow she is taking that big bus to Livingstone to pick up some SLPs from Abilene Christian University that are coming to work with us. So myself, and Ashley the only two who know how to drive a stick shift have been put in charge of getting everyone from point A to point B tomorrow with all of our therapy supplies. I am so excited!! So I got to take a test run today that I will share pictures of today! Woohoo!! 

I guess that's all I have to share for today. It was an excellent start to our therapy adventures! I know that there will be more stories to share soon!!