Royal Part 3

Sorry it has been awhile since I sent an update out. It has been a busy few weeks. The lady that was suppose to start with Royal never ended up showing. However a new lady named Fryness started this last week. She is definitely a blessing, she is learning very quickly and Royal has made an instant connection with her. I am very excited about her continued work with Royal and how he will progress. I am much more at peace knowing I am leaving in just two weeks now that God has brought the right person for Royal.  Royal is improving each day and has even more strength. I think he will be crawling soon he is trying really hard. So keep the prayers coming.
Baby Evelyn is so beautiful. I have had the honor of babysitting a few times to give Loveness  a much needed rest, as you mom’s know I am sure not much sleep with a newborn. I babysat on my birthday and got to hold a baby all day, so you can’t really have a better birthday than that. I will attach pictures of her.

Preschool is going pretty good. The children are really catching on to English pretty fast. There are two of them Friday and Evelyn that really understand and interpret for the other children it is kind of cute. I think they see me struggling trying to get the others to understand so they help me.

So here is your crazy story for this update. I was inside my home and I thought I smelled smoke but that is not to strange because people burn here all the time so I didn’t think too much of it. So I go outside after a little bit and literally about 15 feet from my front door there is a huge grass fire that had burned right outside my door and I didn’t realize it. Then that evening I hear the kids yelling and I thought hmm I wonder what they are doing so I walk outside and I think it was around 8pm which it is very dark here because it is winter time and there was another big fire on the other side of orphanage. This time the moms had the boys set it because there was a big fire to the west of us and they were worried it would come overnight when we were sleeping. So the boys in the orphanage set what we would call a controlled burn. They are putting it out with branches from nearby trees. I have to say it was one of the most crazy things I have ever seen. There is a reason I was a police officer and not a firefighter, fire freaks me out.  Not really sure how my sister does it, but God bless her and the rest of the firefighters.

Then to top it off Rita one of the mama’s said to me the snakes are running(those of you who know me well know I can’t even look at snakes on tv). I said are your kidding and she said no. They will be trying to leave because of the fire. I said don’t you worry about them biting one of the children. In case you didn’t know I think something like 8 of the most deadliest snakes are here in Africa. She said with the most conviction ever God has authority over this land he will protect the children it is okay. What a lesson in faith.

I said have you seen many snakes here she said many times. I said here at the orphanage and she said yes in the rainy season last year a cobra ate another snake right in front of one of the houses. I am pretty sure I did not need to know this information, why did I even think it was a good idea to ask. I am pretty sure she saw the look of fear on my face and could hear the thoughts in my mind of I am not coming out of the house the rest of my stay and she said they are usually in their holes in the cold season. So pray they stay there or they go far away.

Unfortunately one of the fires burned the fence around Justine’s garden that Justine and Ernie worked so hard to finish. It is about half burned. Justine has been working hard to repair it and praise God so far the cows have left the garden alone and have only been drinking from the water. So prayers for encouragement for Justine would be much appreciated.

So to my brother who is freaking out right now because of the fires, we are completely safe there is a line all around the orphanage and we have burned on all sides so no chance of fire coming our way.

There is a lot more to say but since this update is already pretty long I will save some of my stories for when I return. I hope everyone is doing well. I come home two weeks from today. I am excited to see everyone but I am so attached to the children it is going to be very hard to leave.

Please keep praying for the children and my work here in Zambia as my stay comes to an end.

Miss and Love everyone.

Love, Janelle