Our Belated Update and The Photo Shoot

The August update has finally arrived! It was sent out well before the 10th "due date", but we were having some problems with email then. When I found myself getting a little impatient, I just needed to remember the amount of work that went into getting the pictures and getting them all to the right families! The Lord allowed me to experience this first hand while we were there.

Although, I participated in helping to take lots of the pictures for this update, I had run to the room to change when Ellie's were taken, so I had not seen them yet (even though I saw her just minutes before and after). I was told that they were not great pics, but they went with them anyway because we had the real thing that week. :)

She is 19 lbs and 27 inches long (5-10th % for weight and below 5th% for height). She is on medication for a cold, but we are told that most of the kids are sick, too. :(

I had an interesting thought. When we would take Ellie outside, she was much more reserved than when she was inside (more like first of the week behavior, rather than end of the week). I know she was outside around Easter for a picture, but other than that, her exposure to the outdoors has been very limited or non at all, which would explain the difference in her personality. The mamas' are very leary of taking babies outside.

Ellie with Gabby from our team (the same Gabriella who picked out Hannah's doll).

Our team was asked if we wanted to help with taking the monthly pictures of the children. I was excited to be a part of the process, because I know how important these pictures are! The home had been getting requests from parents to "see more skin" in the photos, and I can totally relate. I remember looking forward to seeing Ellie's feet, because I hadn't gotten a good look at them in photos that I had. So, they had decided on a beach theme and were trying to round up swimsuits for the kids to wear while posing them next to beach balls on a towel. The older kids have suits, because they take them swimming every so often (the conditions have to be perfect for the mamas' to say "yes" :) )! I had packed Ellie a suit, not knowing if we would take her swimming, but it came in handy for the pictures. We found a few more in the donated items that we had brought and sorted.

Let me just tell you, taking those photos is no easy task! Especially when an ambitious theme is decided on!! The older kids were just pulled to the side while they were swimming with a few from our team (I got to participate in this as well because I was one of the few that had packed a suit.) For the younger babies and toddlers, we set up shop in the office, and I helped "snag" kids to keep the line going. One of our team members, who has skill in photography, took the pictures and two gals staying for about two months, kept track of what kids were being photographed. As the afternoon went on, I discovered that every baby I went to put a swimsuit on, was in desperate need of a diaper change. This involved hauling them from the office, going down the hall, changing the diaper (no wipes, wash cloths), sneaking them past the mamas' with only a diaper on, putting on a swimsuit, then off to find the next kid! Ellie was crawling around the home, so between kids, I had to sneak in a kiss or hug. :)