more babies and books

Tuesday and it's already been a busy week. With good reason.

The group I work with have an extended HIV/AIDS community, and recently one really sick woman gave birth to her 3 pound son. This family has virtually nothing. They live in a little bent and broken shack built with some wood and a tin roof, largely exposed to the elements. The father a drunk, the mother too sick and stricken with AIDS to hardly even take care of herself, and they have brought this beautiful new baby boy into this torn up world. He's about a month old now, and just this week Pam, Jenna, and I have been taking care of him. Many of our friends, and even the Dr mentioned this child will die if he continues to live at home.

We named him Samuel, or Sam - this tiny, precious boy is a fighter. Yeah, he screams, pees (on me and Pam), and is finally starting to poop as well, but we are happy for all these smelly bodily functions because it means he is getting stronger and healthier. He's just skin and bones, so we are determined to get him good and F-A-T. Although it's meant 11 hours or so a day of looking after him, I come home pretty tired and I haven't been sleeping well either, so I'm lucky to get nights to relax (full time mom, not happening for quite some time... a long time). I am still impressed with this little baby's will to fight and live. A woman came by today who is probably going to look after him, hopefully it turns into a permanent situation, and I realized I'm already going to be sad when he leaves. I'll leave out more gushy details but I swear he smiles at me, and makes the funniest faces.. for such a small little one, boy can he belch! Love my Sammy.

Also, lately I have rediscovered my love for reading. I am breezing through my summer books for class. Perhaps it's because they are terribly interesting (I love non fiction), but I love coming home to read or finding some downtime at work (lately, it's been while Sam is nestled in my arms).
It's the simple things.
I am excited to rekindle the fire I have for reading, and have already bought some good classics from a secondhand bookstore here.

I've been curious to see how the summer folds out over here. Not knowing what to expect, my tasks and day to day jobs have proven me to prepare to expect the unexpected. But I wouldn't trade it for anything... God knows what we need, better than ourselves, and I really do believe he has put people and situations in my path because he knows and heeds to what I need, not what I want.