Cake Cake and even more CAKE!!

Birthday Party's seem to be a common occurrence around here at the moment. It feels like cake is being offered to me every other day.

The kiddies love birthday parties It means cake, chips and soft drink. A kiddies dream!!

I always try to make there birthdays special for them as I never know when there last birthday at TLC will be and they deserve a wonderful day where everything is about them... 

I go to the shops pick out there cake decorate it with sweeties pick up there favourite treat and drink then come back and decorate for there afternoon snack/ party with all of there TLC family. 

This month our oldest boy turned 7 ... Hes been at TLC since before my first trip. He was such a cute skinny tall child and honeslty nothing much has changed. I have all the children's birthdays saved on my phone so a few days before his big day I began hyping the day up getting him all excited for the fun day I had planned. I asked him what his dream birthday would be ... his reply was a birthday like Joanna ... instantly I regretted asking that one haha her birthday was BIG.... with lots and lots of people!! A entire afternoon/ Evening of partying food cake and DANCING!!

So .. I had to start thinking how I could make this one as great as Joanna's... thankfully I quickly came up with a plan. Friday was his actual birthday so he would still have to go to school. 

For breakfast I made him his own special food with a hot chocolate ... Inside his school bag I suprised him with his chocolate treat then I kissed him and sent him off for a day with his friends at school. On his return he was welcomed with a party with some of the managers volunteers and all his TLC brothers and sisters. A few ballloons a big cars cake cupcakes and fizzy drink. His favourite person is one of our managers children so I got the all clear to have him stay for the night. I prepared my room for 3 of the boys to have a sleep over. Treats popcorn shortbread and cookies ... cold drink and my laptop... all the kiddies love my laptop and think its incredible when I allow them to watch it .. So at their request I put on Avengers followed by Paw patrol. I was working alone so I finished getting all the other kiddies in to bed and went back to check on them ... turns out it had been a long day at school and the only one still awake was the birthday boy... I tucked him in and kissed him goodnight because I knew the saturday was going to be a long day for him full of adventures...

Saturday morning I had booked for me another adult the birthday boy and his best friend to go Acrobranching ... In the uk its GO APE! Attached to a harness and climbing through obsticals high up in the trees ...

When we had arrived at the adventure place I showed him what we would be doing... he was excited at first because we practiced on the kiddies course. It was fun, short and a learning experience! 

This little boy is strong, brave and full of adventure. He loves to play around with the younger kids at TLC but craves one on one time with the managers kiddies as they are around his age. 

I love seeing his little face light up when I tell him we are going out.. He seems to be pushed to the back of the line as hes the oldest hes always helping with the little ones and underestermates his strength at times. This is why I thought this would be a great activity for him!!

As we walked towards the blue course i could see his face start to change and fill with worry so I encouraged him. The managers son went first then my friend then Birthday boy and finally me!! This way we could keep an eye on the both of them to make sure they were ok and to encourage them every step of the way!! 

We had a few tears at one stage but the lovely team at Achrobranching supported the birthday boy and he finished off strong loving the final zip line after getting his confidence a quater of the way through. We all had a blast of a time the managers son was incredible pretty much tarzan swinging through the trees and going way ahead of the rest of us. Youd think he had done it before haha

After Achrobranching the boys where all exhausted. They asked if we could go for food so seeing as it was the little ones special day I let him choose .. and ... we ended up at MC Donalds ... you really would think its the only place they have been outside of TLC but they love it because of the toy... 

So we drove there and they named all the posh cars they could see driving past they absolutely loved it.... tummys full of food, sore muscles and a blast of a day to remember forever!!

Thank you all so much for making days like this possible!!! 

Its most likely the last birthday he will have at TLC as hes getting to old for our age groups now so thankyou for helping me to put a massive smile on this little angels face!!

 Shattered after 2 days of partying!!

A Change of Circumstances

For around the past 2 months now I have been back on rota with the older kiddies. I work from 4pm to 8am most days with the 12 oldest kiddies. Its rewarding challenging and beautiful all at the same time. I am one of the people they look up to one of the people they come too in times of hurt and struggle. the person they come to when life is on there side and they are having a wonderful day. They break my heart and mend it all at the same time. There gorgous little smiles make me smile.. when there happy im happy. I wish i could give them everything and more ... 

When we are following there afternoon/ evening rota I have to remember to sit back enjoy every second and watch how much they have all grown with the help of TLC. We try to make everyday new and exciting whether thats going on a walk around the block or just to the monkey tree... whether its playing with a hoola hoop or a football... bouncing them high in the sky on the trampoline or giving them areoplane rides... Its these moments that will forever be stuck in my head... Its these times I hope they never forget where there smiles beam from ear to ear as we laugh and play together and enjoy time as one big happy family 

During the day when Im not "working" I drive people to different appointments, children to the court dates, mothers hope program to there baby scans but some days I just relax.. get out my pushchair pick one of the children from the nursery and go for a relaxing peaceful walk around the block. This one on one time helps to slow everything down and is wonderful to get to know the child and there likes and dislikes. Its 30 minutes to an hour out of my day where i can take it slow breath and reminise about all the wonderful times that ive been able to spend with these beautiful children. 

 

Since arriving one of the gorgeous little girls went to her forever family. It was a mentally hard time Id known her since she first came through TLC gates and now i was watching her leave with her wonderful new parents. I know thats what is supposed to happen but it doesnt mean its easy. I see her as my baby and the kiddies see her as a sister. Its nice to know how much love and attention she is getting now she is exelling massively and in love with her new family. Her parents are so sweet. 

Winter is REAL

South Africa is hot they say.... no such thing as winter ... it wont be cold ....

These are all things that ive heard international people say to me. When you think of south africa you think hot weather sun beaming down on you and your skin burning from the blue sky and flaming hot sun. however the reality is ... they still have WINTER ... 

Man oh man does it get cold.. mid day is beautiful hot summer weather but currently the evenings and mornings have a real chill to them and winter is defiently on its way... 

A few of my kiddies go off site to school as they are old enough now. I went through there cupboards to find warmer clothes for them but I came up empty handed. So me and one of the managers children rushed to the shop that day and picked up a few warmer outfits and a coat for the older ones as they leave TLC bright and early in the morning when it is biterly cold. They are very appreciative of there new warm clothes and ask to wear there coats nearly every morning. Its nice to know that they aren't freezing for school anymore. We even treat them with a breakfast hot chocolate on the icy cold mornings and they love this ... they are so grateful it melts your heart. None of this would be possible without all of your genorosity so thankyou from me and the kiddios.

Not only is it cold when the kiddies leave for school but also in our cottages. Ive woken up on many a night in my tracksuit hoodie fluffy socks and two blankets with numb frozen feet. Our cottage is made of wood and as of yet hasn't been insulated so it feels like your outside. Thankfully I have people who love me this side who made me a bean bag for the microwave so I can stay warm for a bit longer. Waking up in the morning is such a struggle when you have to get out of bed. But we do it for the kiddies because we all love them sooo much. 

The wet season has decided to continue this side by the sounds of things... I thought english rain was bad but its jsut a drizzle in comparrison to SOuth african rain ... The rain is heavy cold and the majority of time hail stones appear with it. Its like a light switch one minute sunny blue sky and the next evertyone is running for there lives hahah makes our days a bit more interesting ... 

we levelled out the ground at TLC then the heavens opened for a few days so as you can imagine a few cars saw the worst side of the muddy ground...

50th birthday

Joanna is our manager of the CYCC and recently she had her 50th birthday. 

We had planned things the whole week for her surprise Braii party on the Saturday with her family and friends and it was all coming together, the weather had been rough all week raining hard but Saturday was sunny warm and beautiful. 

Friday evening I was on shift with my 12 kiddios so I finished their evening routines and got them to sleep in their beds it was surprisingly easy that night ... I think God knew how tired I was already so he was giving me a easy night with the kiddies... 

I began my cleaning of sweeping mopping tidying the kitchen washing up drying cleaning the sides laundry tidying kiddies bedrooms and preparing there clothes for the big party day 

And then it was the monster challenge of blowing up 50 balloons by my mouth... It was a challenge but it was only for a while and I knew once it was done I could go to bed. 1am in the morning and I realised that my bed was actually covered in balloons so I moved to the couch for the night did potty training then fell fast asleep. That was until 5am anyway hahah.... I woke up put my laundry on and tidied my kiddies garden and began moving furniture around before making the kids breakfast and completing their morning routine. Once the weekend lady was here to look after the kiddies I had a quick shower did my hair and jumped in the car to go to the shops. We blew up the helium balloons brought veg for salads and collected the birthday cake. Everything was coming together perfectly. We began the decorating process hanging up balloons decorating the different rooms covering the tables and making everything look pretty. 

we started of with 50 balloons and by the time Joanna arrived there were about 15 haha the wind was strong and I think we all had a mini heart attack every time one exploded. At one point I was ready to go stab them all and pop them myself so i'd know when it was going to go BANG!!!

Joanna arrived and we had a dance party... speeches, presents and a looot of foood!!! The guys did the Braii which was incredible then we had a South African food called Pap with lots of different salads and pasta and bread. It was a lovely spread of foods that went down a treat. 

The kiddies loved the party it was a big thing with lots of people so to start with they were a bit scared but they quickly got used to it and enjoyed every second of it. They also loved being able to help themselves to sweets, chocolate chips and cake without being told off. Yoh they ate sugar ... and lots of it!!! 

I was worried they would be buzzing but once the party finished and everyone left they had a snack and watched a movie and all fell straight asleep once they got into their beds. It was a long fun exciting day for everyone and i'm pretty sure Joanna loved it too xxx

Month 4

Month 4 - I was in the car with my friend yesterday looking at my hectic calender for the week when i noticed it was already basically May - well it will be by the time i'm probably able to post this. As I said before power electricity and water are a big problem here when the country turns off the power supply to save money things can get rough very quick especially because we are in a children's home. 

We have to change up routines just to make sure they can bath and wash so they are clean in bed otherwise it could be a while before they are clean again. My age kiddies have a TV and at the moment are in love with the movie Encanto. They can tell you that movie word for word and know all the songs - but we don't talk about Bruno ... 

So they had spent the whole day at preschool and recently its been 100% English weather here.. its been rough. First world problems but all my shoes are destroyed and caked in mud haha. So because of the weather they haven't been able to go outside. They either watch a movie or play in there bedrooms after school. It was such a relaxing evening everything felt so chilled. Then I realised I hadn't turned my Whatsapp notifications on. This is how we communicate about everything TLC related. When I realised there was a message sent earlier in the day saying loadshedding from 6pm. At this point it was 5:45pm 

Ahhh I had a mini freak out laughed to myself and told the kiddies to run to the bathroom. 3 in the bath 3 in the shower and then all over again with another bunch of kids. It was one of the funniest bath times we have had because it was so hectic but everyone was happy and laughing. 

After bathing they went to go eat dinner, this is when the power went out. I turned my phone upside down put my torch on with a glass of water on top ... makes the perfect light... 

And they all ate without messing on themselves. 👏 we tidied up the tables and chairs and had an hour long dance party.... i'm not sure who was more exhausted afterwards me and the other caregiver or the kiddies... 

It was a magical evening the kiddies laughter was contagious it was pretty dark in the room without the power on but it was relaxing. We were one big happy family with the small newbies on our backs to make sure they weren't trampled. Everyone was smiling and joyful. 

It was such a beautiful evening. Its days and moments like this that make all the hard times worth it. I wont lie the past month has definitely had its ups and downs. I've been exhausted from work and sickness but it's these special times that make you think back to day one and the reason I chose to come to TLC in the first place. The kiddies being relaxed and smiling brings so much joy to my life. 

Something so simple that we all take for granted in England is power and electric but maybe just try a few hours without it. It can be one of the best things you do to take a break from the normal in life just light candles and relax without your phone or laptop. It can get hard without it - no power means no water here so once we run out of our jug water that's it. It's finished and we have to make a plan. Once our phones have run out of battery we are running the kiddies back and forth to the toilet in total darkness but you just have too. I love cleaning once we have eaten but here I had to learn its not the end of the world if a few dishes stay dirty for the night the kiddies are my priority and as long as they are enjoying life that's all that matters.