I'm Terrible at Updates

Okay, I admit it.  I'm terrible at updating this blog.  No excuses, I'm just bad at it.  Good for you if you're still checking up on it, and let me know that you're still out there!  You probably all know this, but my email address is Amanda@tlc.org.za.  Drop me a line-I'd love to hear from you.

 

I'm guessing you all want to know what is going on in my life here at TLC.  To start with the day-to-day stuff, things are really good!  We have a nursery full of 42 babies, which ties the record high for TLC.  Baby boys "HH" and "GG" arrived today, and are now comfortably settled into the Nest.  We had a pretty significant bug go around last week, and although only a few of the babies got sick, it took out nearly all of the volunteers for at least a time.  There are 21 volunteers at the moment, and all but two got sick-not fun at all.  I spent the last two days either in bed or in the bathroom vomiting, but I'm now feeling better, and I'm headed back to work tomorrow.  It's funny how much I miss those babies when I'm out of the nursery for a few days!  On Tuesday, I was made the new Fledgie/Grub section leader.  The woman who proceeded me, Jennifer, is nearing the end of her year here at TLC, and I'm really excited that I was chosen as her replacement.  Although I'm just beginning to understand what my duties are, I'm looking forward to the added responsibility.  Here at TLC, the volunteers are in charge of almost all of the daily functioning of the nursery.  The office staff and the Jarvis family are in charge of the many other logistics of running TLC, and as section leader, it will be my job to be the connection between the office and the nursery.  Additionally, I'm the person who knows each of the babies in my section particularly, so that I can see that each baby is getting his or her individual needs met.  It's exciting and humbling to be trusted with this responsibility. 

 

It seems that lately, every time we've had a baby go home with his or her forever family, there has been a baby waiting to come into our nursery.  However, we have been told to expect change over the holidays.  In South Africa, the entire government shuts down for the holidays between mid-December and mid-January.  Because of this, we don't expect to complete any more adoptions this year, so we won't have any babies going out until the third week in January.  (We're hoping to get one more little girl out…keep your fingers crossed!  Unfortunately, it won't be Hannah.  She'll meet her family at the end of January.)  Babies don't stop coming in, however, so we're expecting between six and eight more babies before the courts re-open, which would bring us way over our current record of 42 babies.  Wish us luck, because we're not sure exactly how this is going to work!  On that note, I'm going to say a fond farewell.  I hope you're all enjoying your holiday season, and that you realize how lucky you are to have wonderful, Northern Hemisphere weather at Christmas time!  Love and miss you all,

Amanda