Sweet Helpers!

Jose struggling to stay standing while carrying my bag!

Amos!

Ochieng carrying Sarah's bag :)

Christine, Maria and Ruthie all eating sweeties!

The kids at Smile continually amaze me. Knowing where they come from yet every morning I see a multitude of smiles and receive an abundance of hugs.

One act of kindness I have received several times from kids, is cleaning my feet. I obviously am in Africa and I am not sure if you've noticed from my photos but the dirt here is a reddish color and sometimes I think that's why I look so tan, haha! But anyways, my feet are constantly dirty.  Several times when I've been sitting with kids a child has washed off my feet either with their hands, water, or their clothing. What a humbling moment they have been for me.  It reminds me of the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet every time. I only sit back and go wow God!

The above photos are of kids that LOVE to help us out! The first is of Jose, my buddy, I put my back pack on him because he really wanted to carry it across the field to the gate for me. When I put it on he almost fell over backwards! haha, it was really funny.  I helped him walk to the gate and we made it!
The next one is of our sweet little Amos! Amos is 5! He was brought to Smile Africa Ministries (SAM) as an infant but they weren't able to take him at the time. Pastor Ruth found a different orphanage he could go to in Jinja. Because he turned 5 and has not found a family, he had to leave that orphanage because children can only stay until they are 5. They called Pastor Ruth and she welcomed him back!! We are so glad he came to Smile! We can't imagine Smile without him yet, he has only been at Smile for a little over a month! He is such a delight! He is intelligent, friendly, and has such a servants heart already! He LOVES to laugh, play, help us in the baby room, fetch water for us, bring lunch to the baby room for us! He is always willing, which is rare in a 5 year old!

The next photo is of Ochieng (O-cheng)! He is quite a crazy kid! He loves to sing, jump, dance, laugh and play. He is a lovely kid but gets into quite a bit of mischief! For instance, I was sitting with some kids by the clinic one day and he brought over a bottle with 'Maji' (water) in it. He asked me if I wanted a drink but I said no thank you and he asked, Itebet another girl sitting by me. She took a drink and instantly spit it out! Ochieng ran away and as he was running away she was yelling, 'Ochieng, su su!' Meaning, Ochieng peed in the bottle! Let's just say he got in trouble for that. Not going to lie, it was quite funny. One of the songs I taught him is 'Trading My Sorrows' and now he comes to me everyday and sings a phrase, meaning I want to sing this song! haha. He is a very precious child in need of much love!

The last photo is of 3 very sweet ladies! Christine, Maria and Ruthie. Ruthie's little brother Richard is in the baby room so I have gotten to know him quite well and he is growing so fast, and his personality is starting to come out. He has quite the sense of humor! These three came over to me one morning after they had eaten breakfast and wanted to wash the clothes of our day babies. I was not about to turn that offer down, ha! So they willingly washed all the clothes and hung them up. I brought them inside and gave them each a piece of candy cane! They LOVE SWEETS! It was such a blessing!