Can you believe it’s already time for another newsletter? These days, I feel like I’m constantly trying to catch up on these updates. It’s been a busy month, and so many amazing things have been happening!
MBH+ABH Outing
We were able to get together with all the ABH babies this month and had a really great time together at the park. While most weeks are quite busy, we have tried to make this a monthly tradition with ABH. We spent the morning swinging, going on all the spinny things (which was a favourite!), and eating a lot of snacks. Many of the babies haven’t had the chance to play in the grass yet either, and so watching them explore this new environment was a real experience. Some of them loved it, while the others did everything in their power to avoid it. I’m so grateful for these fun times we can spend together, and the special memories we have been able to create.
Some Goodbyes
Towards the middle of the month, baby G left to join her forever family. It is such a huge blessing to see her in her own family , loved by her own mom, dad, and big brother. I have really missed her sweet face and belly laugh. She is so precious, and it brings me so much joy to see her being loved so well. Please pray for her as she continues to grow up, that God would save her and that she would come to know the love of God as her Father.
We also had to say goodbye to Jo, our intern from Texas. We loved having her here! She worked so hard, especially in regards to the babies’ development and language skills. It was fun watching her teach them how to eat, sing, walk, and speak. We are so grateful she chose to spend her Summer break with us.
These are some pictures I took at her farewell lunch. L and S has the most fun I think, as they got to try pieces from everyone’s food. S was living her best life, enjoying her chips and tomato sauce. 😉
Our final goodbye was for Mama Linda, one of the caregivers at MBH, who retired at the en of August. She has been working at MBH for almost 10 years! She has loved the babies at MBH so well, getting up multiple times at night to feed a newborn, changing many, many nappies, and so on. Whenever I would visit the home, Mama Linda would usually be singing with the babies, teaching them to clap, or making them laugh. She certainly made MBH a fun place to be, and made even the smallest of tasks fun for the babies. The space she has left will be deeply felt, and we will seriously miss her!
MBH Caregivers: Jael, Gertrude, Patricia, Linda, Debra, Vimbai, Idelheit (MBH volunteer)
An Exciting Update
In my last newsletter I mentioned our difficulties in renewing our Form39. After some back and forth communication with the DSD, we discovered that our form was already approved in November, last year. Due to the delay, they have extended our form for another year. Thank you for praying about this issue! God is so kind to us!
Within days of picking up our form, we were asked to take in a month old premie. I am so thankful that, in God’s sovereign timing, we were able to take this little guy in. He weighed just about 2kgs when we got him. The photos don’t do him justice; he is to tiny and cute!
Some Personal Thoughts
This month has been a real learning curve for me. I have been learning to rely more and more on God’s grace for each new day as I have often been reminded of my finite-ness. I have also been considering the emotional side of working at a place of safety. A few people have asked me how we avoid getting attached to the babies we work with and care for at MBH.
Every time I give the same answer. We don’t. There is no option but to love them and to love them well. This always requires getting attached to them. The sadness of a baby leaving is far outweighed by the privilege it is to love them with your whole heart, as well as the joy of seeing them with their own forever family.
The fear of pain of loss does not stop you from letting them crawl into the deepest parts of your heart again and again and again. Because, ultimately, loving each one is so worth it. In connection with this, I have also considered how God loves us with the wholehearted, “all in”, love of an ever-present Father. Love that has no limits, no bottom, no shore. Love that sees the very real pain, but does not shrink back in fear. Love that is willing to suffer, to hurt, to die.
In response to this amazing, beyond description, kind of love, I desire to grow in loving others more deeply and more fully. I want to shower others in a vulnerable love, just as I have been showered in never ending love and mercy. As I work at MBH, I do not want my heart to grow cold or become disconnected from the pain of living in a deeply broken world.
Rather, I want my heart to soften, to become more compassionate, and to feel things more deeply, regardless of how painful the journey may become. This is my prayer for myself and every other Christian, as we wait for the return of our King who will renew all things and make them breathtakingly beautiful.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:4-5
To The Heart 