Refreshed

Last night was the first night we actually got a good nights rest! We woke up this morning feeling very refreshed and ready to start the new day. We made ourselves some breakfast while the girls ate their lunch. The plan for the day was to take Loveness to Rotterdam (the nearby grocery store) so she could have some Ice Cream. When Annie and I were getting ready to leave, Happy and Maurine were "getting in trouble" by Ksusha for not listening so just Mataya was allowed to come with us, while the other two girls went down for lala time (nap time). 
Side note: Annie and I both would just like to recognize the amazing job Ksusha is doing with these 3 little girls along with her almost 3 month old baby Alim. At times during the day we are exhausted and this is only our 5th day here! 
Now back to the day… Annie and I drove Small Steps car to Rotterdam, which was definitely an experience that will be remembered forever.  The drivers are crazy...along with the rocky roads that are filled with huge potholes! On top of that we had to adjust to the steering wheel being on the right side while driving on the left side of the road (TZ was originally a British colony) We arrived safely and Love and Mataya thoroughly enjoyed their strawberry Ice Cream! 
When we got back Mataya joined the other girls for lala time while Annie and I took Loveness out for a photo shoot. I gave her my jacket and Annie gave her one of her headbands so she was all ready to model! Loveness has a contagious smile and her beauty shines from the inside out! She loves making silly faces and joking around but then makes sure to tell you that you are beautiful and that she loves you and to never forget that God loves you too! When she gets older she says she wants to help people…we need more people like her in the world to share the love of Christ with everyone she comes in contact with. 

After our photo shoot the little girls woke up from their nap and we all prepared to head to dinner at Ally’s (Ksusha’s husband) parents house. On our way we had to drop Loveness back to her home at Havilah because she is still in school (it is winter here). For dinner we had a delicious traditional African meal (chapatti, lentils, potatoes, salad, fish) and we all sat on the floor and ate with our hands. It was a really cool experience and so great getting to meet Ally’s family! 
By the time we got home the girls were exhausted and ready for bed but first we read the story of Abraham and Sarah to them.  Then to finish, each of the girls said their precious bedtime prayers. They each gave us our very treasured goodnight hugs and kisses and then went down to sleep....Lala Salama (sleep peacefully).

God's Spectacular Creation

Last night we got the opportunity to visit Havilah Orphanage, and see our good friend Loveness! It was an extremely happy reunion for both Love and Corrinne and such a treat for Annie to finally meet her big bright smiling face!

 

Loveness guided us back to Small Steps through the beautiful, green, grassy trails, and we were even able to watch the incredible sunset during our walk. Upon our return home, we ate a quality meal of hot dogs and rice, followed by bed time stories and prayers. Unfortunately jet lag still has us both struggling to sleep well at night, so after a short two hours of rest, we gave up and started our morning off with some coffee and oatmeal, ready to climb Mount Kilimanjaro!

Corrinne, Loveness, and I met up with the group from Orphan’s Heart at 5:45 AM, and made our way to the mountain. Unprepared for the cold, rainy weather, we began what we thought would be a treacherous hike up (especially considering our little amount of sleep), until we became quickly distracted by the phenomenal scenery that soon surrounded us!

The vivid green plants that towered overhead, chilly mist that came down, mahogany dirt below and cloudy sky above were all refreshing reminders of God’s spectacular creation. I think what most evidently portrayed this creation was the waterfall we passed by… we stood in awe at the sight of something so fresh, pure, and beautiful. It was nice to be able to spend quality time admiring more of Tanzania’s amazing land, and definitely made me even more grateful to have this opportunity to visit such a perfect place! The hike ended rather abruptly seeing as though the group had to catch a plane to go home.

It was nap time once we got back to Small Steps for everyone except Corrinne and me. We had to force ourselves to stay awake in hopes of a better night’s sleep tonight by drinking soda, making food, and possibly eating some candy too!

Took the girls for some ice cream!
 

Once our three precious girls woke up, we came to realize that taking care of three toddlers was not as easy as we thought. Attempting to make dinner (basically sleep walking) while trying to keep the girls out of trouble was a difficult task to say the least, and putting those sweet faces in time-out was definitely a struggle. I guess you could say exhaustion didn’t contribute anything too great in our situation. Well, for now the girls are tucked away in bed again, and we are most definitely excited to finally get back on track so we can be our full selves tomorrow! Can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for all of us.

Finding Our Purpose

Today was a very eventful and exciting day for Small Steps for Compassion! We had the ground breaking ceremony for our new home! The local moms and children in the community came out to participate along with all the hard workers who are currently in the process of digging to pour the foundation. The ceremony consisted of Ron (partner with Orphan’s Heart) making the introduction, me, Corrinne (Small Steps representative), explaining how much this ceremony means to us, and the purpose of Small Steps for Compassion here in Tanzania. Juma (Small Steps Director of Operations) also spoke to the community, then Ron and I broke the ground along with the workers, which was followed with a beautiful prayer by Annie (Small Steps volunteer).

 

 

There was a reporter here from Arusha Times that will be publishing a story on today's events here and it will be on the news next Saturday! This day marks many years of hard work and passion finally becoming a reality as the building of our new home began. I could not be more excited to be a part of this and share it with this amazing community. The building is more than just a house; it is a home where we will share the love of Jesus to the children who will live here and their community. Our purpose is to share the love of Christ, as He first loved us. Getting to see the gratitude and appreciation of the community for what we are doing here made all the hard work, time, and tears worthwhile. This is my passion and I can’t imagine living for anything other than the purpose God created me for. It is here that life starts making a little more sense. Whether it is the sounds of joyous laughter, seeing precious smiling faces, or getting goodnight kisses, it reminds me what I was created for.

Music to Our Ears

Yesterday, Thursday July 11, was a very relaxed day here at our home in Tanzania. The Orphan’s Heart group that is here did vacation bible school for the children in the community, while Annie and I helped Ksusha out and played with our three precious little girls. Jet lag hit us hard and we both were quite exhausted but still enjoyed every second of playing with the girls and taking walks around the property. The sound of their laughter that fills the home is true music to our ears. Waking up to little voices singing or jumping on us with huge smiles is something we will treasure forever.

The Journey Begins - A blog by Corrinne Pickle and Annie Farley

We started off our journey at 6AM on July 8 at the Bagel Shack in San Clemente, CA. Arriving at the LAX airport we soon discovered that our plane was delayed to Boston, which made us nervous that we might miss our connection to Amsterdam.

After the 5 hour flight, from LAX, we landed in Boston to discover that our next plane to Amsterdam was delayed as well; which meant that we would probably miss our connection to Tanzania from Amsterdam...just our luck.

As we finally boarded the plane in Boston and got comfortable in our seats, the pilot announced that the weight of the plane was unbalanced and must be redistributed…we returned to the gate only to find out that there was also a “fault in the engine,” that resulted in us being stuck on the plane for 4 hours before even taking off. Twelve hours of screaming babies and horrid body odors, left us very anxious to get off our plane!

We missed our connecting flight to Tanzania and we were rebooked for the same flight on the following day, which meant we had a day to spend in the city of Amsterdam! Definitely was not a bad place to bestranded. On our way to the hotel we stopped to buy some clothes since the airline had our luggage. Excited and freshened up we headed straight to the train station to explore the city.

Our lack of speaking and understanding Dutch led us to the wrong train, but thanks to a mystery man wearing a green shirt, we safely made it to Amsterdam Central. First stop was to get some koffie and dinner. It didn’t take long to discover that “coffee shops” in Amsterdam are not exactly what we were looking for!  As we continued along taking in the sights and smells of Europe, we stopped to have dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant.

So enthralled by what this unique city had to offer, we spent the majority of our time walking alongside canals and taking pictures. Our curiosity put us in “quite a bind” as we unknowingly began to wander into the Red Light District - the one place we had been warned by our parents NOT to go to… whoops! Once we realized, we quickly got out of there!  After this we decided it was probably time to get our weary traveling selves back to the hotel for some rest. 

5 hours of sleep later, we woke up very ready to finally reach our destination! We sat in our seats, which just so happened to be next to the emergency exit - more legroom for us! We also made a German friend named Timo (he said his parents couldn’t quite pick between Tim and Tom, so they just mixed them together). He attempted to teach us German, and kept us entertained during the flight.

Greatest memory of this specific flight: 
     Annie: Corrinne that’s your foot right?
     Corrinne: What are you talking about?
     Annie: We were totally just playing footsies?!
     Corrinne: Uhh no… check out the old man behind you…

We have now safely arrived in Tanzania, picked up by Ksusha at the airport, and ready to get a good nights rest so we can wake up and see what tomorrow will bring! We are so Thankful to be here!

Market Day

I decided to take the girls with me to the market. Market here in Usa River (pronounced Oosu) is crazy. There are hundreds of people and the ground is just dirt, which often turns to mud with even the littlest amount of rain. The girls enjoy the mud though. I often let the girls take turns helping me shop and choose different items. We came to one of the stands to get cucumbers, and Maureen was the one choosing and talking. She felt like she was so grown up.
When we were done at the stand I turned around to get Happy and Princess. I was nervous for a second to see Happy, but not Princess. Then I looked to a shop on the side and there was Princess eating some food, but with a person I didn’t know. I was horrified and went and took her immediately! I found it strange and weird the look I got from the lady that was in the shop. Later on I talked about my experience in the market with some of my local friends and colleagues, and I was told that for kids to go over to a person that they do not know is totally normal in Tanzanian culture. In fact if the child doesn’t go when called by a stranger it is considered very disrespectful.
So there it is. I am not sure when I will take the girls to the crazy outdoor market day again, but I know for sure that girls enjoyed walking in the dirt, talking to strangers (while making me nervous) and getting some food for the house. What a different culture I am living in, here in Usa River, Tanzania.

Scary but in a Beautiful Way

Right now, here in Africa, it is a bit cold and rain is coming every day. I wish it was just rain though. With rain comes thunder and lighting. In the beginning the rains were just during the day, but now it comes at night also. Here in Tanzania lighting is very different, than what I was used to in Florida.  It is much brighter and much scarier, but in a beautiful way. Thunder here is like a huge pounding on top of your head, so loud so powerful.

Now imagine three little girls sleeping at night through that. Saturday night, we all were asleep and then the storm came. The girls woke up and started crying.  I woke up scared as well, and started walking through the house. I kept thinking, “I am going to get struck by lightning!” It was terrifying but I still had to.  I couldn’t just leave the girls to cry in the night. Fighting my fear I went in to the girl’s room and found them standing in their little beds crying. I picked up each and every one of them one by one; assuring them that it was all okay, that it was just nature doing its wonderful works. I told them that God had created this powerful scenery for a reason, to remind us of His great power. After I assured them that no matter what I was there, they felt better, and it aroused my feelings of love for them. Feeling needed, feeling loved, the best feeling in the world is being a mom to my girls here. It reminded me how much these three little girls depend on me. I would not change that for the world. We prayed together and then we all went back to sleep, relaxed knowing that everything was okay.