the news in pictures

Hi loved ones! How are you? First let me say, I miss you and think of you and praise Jesus for you all of the time. I am honored that you would take time to peek in on my adventure. Thank you for your prayers and support and emails and facebook comments. At times living here is like a dream come perfectly true and other times it can be completely distancing and lonely. Knowing that I am loved and missed holding hands with God's calling on this season of my life is what pulls me through those times, so thank you!

I thought I would base my updates around some pictures, so here goes nicolie's news in pictures:

I had the privilege of being apart of introducing two of our babies to their forever families these past few weeks. One of the little girls in our house left us two weeks ago. Their family had already adopted another little girl from South Africa, were incredibly sweet and teary-eyed and they are coming for a visit to our home tomorrow! This is the little lady a few weeks before she left us:

Last week I had my first official "handover". This is adoption speak for: "you get to literally hand the baby you've cared for and loved for however long into the arms of their parents" and it is wild! You share with the family a book you've created to help them get to know there new baby with pictures and a schedule and such. The little one I handed over was one of my itty-bitty tiny babies from Baby House 1. I was there the first day he came home to us from the hospital weighing less than 4lbs and was able to hand him to his mom for the first time. Surreal really. To see something you pray for come to reality before your very eyes. Talk about faith affirming and prayer courage building. This is my little man when he was just brand new:

We've had a lot of that this week considering today was the day that one of our longtime littles met her family for the first time today. She was one of littles who we were able to say "yes" to after so many people had said "no". I've only witnessed the last leg of her journey and let me tell you: God has a big plan for this little lady! Sickness, trial, pain or strife will never be able to extinguish the plans the Father has for His children. Beth and I got to see her this week:

One of the best/worst thing about serving at DOH is getting to meet (and then have to say goodbye to) so many precious women from all around the world. We've had to say goodbye to some of these marvelous ladies the past few weeks. Thank you girls for serving and loving so well, we miss you very much! Here is a pic of us at Monte Casino for a group goodbye night out:

Amanda (from Sweden who lived in LA for a year and sounds like a Californian) is going to get to be in San Francisco before I will. How unfair is that!!! She is leaving us on Wednesday, flys to LA and then gets to road trip it up to San Francisco. I am very jealous but she is bringing me some of my love. I am going to miss her hugs and smiles. This is us at Cafe Moyo trying to get a picture of us and a really cool lamp:

I am really enjoying living with the girls I am living with. I feel like each week we are getting to know each other better and being able to encourage and support each other in new ways. I am grateful to be able to share a room and nightly debriefing chats with Lisa. I've also LOVED the training that I've been embarking on with Beth. She is a wealth of helpful, funny and encouraging knowledge and stories. I am going to soak up everything the last 2 & 1/2 years of living in Jo-berg and working at DOH has taught here. Here are the three of us at Cafe Moyo:

Speaking of Beth, last week she brought in these adorable fabric masks and hats into Starfish. Here is one of our Starfishies looking dapper in his mask. This little King loves to dress up:

The weather has begun to turn towards fall here in Jo-berg so we've been getting the kiddos our as much as possible. Here is me and my little dude chilling in the sunshine:

Jackson. SIGH. I just love him so much!!! He is so adorable these days, talking and smiling and GIGGLING! That's right folks, Jackson has officially added giggling to his repertoire of tricks. His smile is just so precious I had a hard time finding a picture that I could actually share with you guys, you will just have to imagine the smile that takes over his whole face that goes with these chunky little legs:

I have to JET! But please know that I love you and I am praising our Jesus for each of you!

Hugs and kisses from Jo-berg!