My Busiest Summer Yet

If you had asked me last year what I would be doing this summer I never would have guessed that I would be gearing up to spend two months in Pretoria, South Africa. But isn't that the beauty of serving an all sovereign, all powerful God? I may not have known to be preparing for this amazing opportunity, but God knew this. Now I am sitting in a coffee shop in a mall in Pretoria, SA typing this blog post, crazy huh!?! I know I have not posted like I said I would, I apologize, I had no idea that we would not have Internet where I am at (although we are working on it!) Lord willing, we should have Internet at some point this week (I hope so !!!) In a way, although not having Internet has been an inconvenience, it has also served as a way to really commit this trip to the Lord. I think God is trying to prove to me that He is the only one I need to survive, and reminding me that my strength comes from Him. He should be my strong hold. I think in this modern world we live in (even in South Africa) we have become very comfortable with having the world at our fingertips, it is kind of a shock to all of the sudden not have that luxury. Although I will be very glad to write more frequent blog posts and email my boyfriend and family, who are probably quite uneasy about not hearing from me as regularly as we had hoped, I know deep down that this short time of separation is good. Quickly allow me to give you all a bit more of an update while I have free wi-fi handy! We have four babies right now  Aya- 4months (F) Piso- 2months (F) Seekanisso- 3months (F) and  Themba- 18months (M) Please be praying for patience for me, these crying screaming babies are harder to love than I thought (although I do love each one dearly!) .and things are more difficult here than I thought (like not having Internet or a hot shower my first couple of nights...;) but I fel very blessed to be here serving alongside these great people! Today is grocery shopping day so we just exchanged my money (which feels awesome btw!!) I exchanged $1000 in American money and got back over R8,000 (south African currency) the exchange rate is high right now. It used to be about $7.5 per 1rand and right now it is $8.3 per 1 Rand! Talk about feeling rich! I am going to try my hand at making south African food (try is the keyword there! ;) So far what I've had is pretty tasty! Although if I tried to spell it or even explain it to you Im sure I would butcher it! I will try my hand at explaining certain foods at another time ;) Today intern número dose flies in, her name is Kylie and she is coming from CA. She just graduated college and primarily wishes to study HIV so she will be spending her weekends with us at the baby home but during the week she will be at Lambamo Hospice which takes in HIV and AIDS Babies and provides the proper medication for them. We picked up a little boy, Themba, from Lambamo on Froday, actually. He is 18months and is HIV positive. Deffinately be praying that we can find him a home,, being that he is so "old" and many people are afraid to adopt a child with HIV. With the mess that he is on, as long as he keeps taking them regularly he will grow up to be a very healthy child :) Tomorrow I will take Aya and Piso to the clinic with One of the nannies for checkup and shots, that will be an experience! At this point I need to stop writing however, I know there is sooo much more to tell! But unfortunately I need to eat and in order to do that, I must buy groceries! Until next time! Thank you all for your prayers! Rachael