Blessing the Babies

The baby room is a busy place at Noel.

So, I'm sure you could all guess where most of us spent hours every day. :)

Well, maybe not hours. But, we certainly all found our time to cuddle the precious babies at Noel.

There are so many of them, and there are so many needs in this room. But, there is also so much love to give and get back in this room too!

And, some of my favorite pics are when our team and these babies are face to face, talking and cooing at each other. These babies need this kind of contact so much, and I love seeing the expression in their eyes as they respond to the love.

It always amazes me how God just draws each person to a certain baby, who basically becomes their own by the end of the week.

I know that has happened for me on both trips to Noel, and now Vestine and Louisa are forever in my heart. They are prayed for daily. They are missed dearly. And, they are squeezed and loved and sung to every day while I'm at Noel!

And, this wasn't just me. Every single person on our trip became attached to a baby or two.

And, I can't help but think God does that for a reason...so that in a small "baby" way, they can attach to a smiling face, and feel loved, knowing somehow they are KNOWN individually.

We were also able, once again, to have a true impact on their lives, through generosity of all kinds.

Two sweet patients of the doctors on our trip crocheted baby hats, and the mamas LOVED putting the hats on all the babies!

There were many sweet babies modeling the onesies from The Hills VBS, along with some adorable bows that we passed out to the whole room!

And, many of you (especially kiddos from The Branch VBS!) raised funds for formula for the babies. We were so happy to go shopping for cans and cans of formula, with more coming EVERY month for these little ones!

So many helped to shop, load, unload, and pack away the formula, all with huge smiles on our faces, as we recognized what a wonderful thing this was for the little ones we all loved.

Sara, who was diligent in finding out which local formulas offered the most calories and nutrition was happy with the results!

And, so were the Noel staff!!

Then, one of my favorite baby projects was the new baby mobiles.

Just weeks before I left for Rwanda, I had the pleasure of speaking to my mom's Ladies Bible Class about the work we are doing in Africa.

I guarantee you I was more blessed than they were, because following my time of sharing, they fed me lunch AND worked hard on these baby mobiles that we were planning to bring to Noel.

My friend, Stephanie, was the creative mastermind behind these mobiles, and helped me to come up with a plan on how to make each one.Then, these sweet women cut and traced and ironed, getting them all ready for packing!

When we got to Noel, we realized some tweaking must be done for the mobiles to be hung like we had hoped. So, that is when "the boys" got to work designing a new system for hanging them.

After all the different people spent time designing and working and hanging, the end result was AWESOME!

I can't even TELL YOU how much I love these mobiles.

The color they add, the stimulation they bring, and the happiness they share...

Probably the only thing I love more than the mobiles, are the faces that lay below them.

They were all amazed and entranced by the flowing circles above them, and I couldn't hold back the tears as they kicked their legs, flapped their arms, and even cooed and talked as they saw them for the first time.

AMAZING TRANSFORMATION. And, all with some fabric circles and ribbon. And, lots and lots of laboring love. :)

Blessing the babies was so much fun. Those little faces and smiles are so addicting.

Many of us are in constant prayer for the future of these little lives, and we beg you to join us. At this point, they are so overwhelmed with the number of babies at Noel, they have had to turn little ones away for the first time. It breaks my heart. These little ones deserve so much more. They deserve to know the love of a family. They deserve to know they are special and created for big purposes in life. We're praying hard for all of that and so much more.

God, bless these babies in all the ways You know they need it most. Thank you for allowing our teams to be changed by their sweetness, and reminded of Your love for each one of them. You see them, and You know them. And, we trust You.