Well - we have all had a wonderful day.

We successfully cooked for 65 guests and all had a good time. Even Santa Claus came to the Baby Home and brought gifts for everybody! Yohana hasn't stopped smiling all day.

A big thank you to my Dad for building, preparing and cooking a wonderful BBQ, to Eleanorer my cook and to all my other staff and volunteers and friends who made today so special for the Baby Home children.

I am now going on holiday for a week with my children and family and am leaving the Baby Home in the very capable hands of Chloe, my Assistant Manager.

Thank you everybody and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Well, the BBQ is built (Thanks Dad and Cosmos), the chickens are defrosting, the jelly is made and the fruit crumbles are cooking ...... so I think we are almost ready to have Christmas Dinner for 68 people tomorrow!

The children are all very excited and although they do not really understand about Christmas - they know we are having a big party and that is good enough for them!

Bed time calls....Happy Christmas to all of you - friends, family and supporters of Forever Angels.....thank you all so much for your support - financially and emotionally, during these past few months of setting up the Baby Home. It really is a wonderful place and it wouldn't be possible without the support of so many of you. From the bottom of my heart - Thank you.

Oh - and I just spent the day with Mark and Jo and Baby Bethany (Asha) and they are all so natural together you'd have thought they had been a family unit for months. It is truly wondeful to see.

Happy Christmas All!

Mark and Joe Topley with their Little Angel

Mark and Jo Topley have been visiting Baby Asha every day for about 2 months now. They had hoped to have her placed with them before Christmas. But a problem with paperwork last week caused much upset as they came to the realisation that it would be another few weeks before they could take her home.

Today though, unexpectedly, Mrs Misana, our local Social Worker, worked wonders! She made lots of telephone calls to the Commissioner in Dar es Salaam.....and at 2pm this afternoon, she gave Mark and Jo permission to take Asha into their home as their foster child. In 3 months time they will start the official adoption procedure to make her legally their child.

Mark and Jo are such wonderful people. I couldn't have selected a couple more loving and caring to adopt Baby Asha. I always thought that this 'goodbye' part of my work would incredibly sad - but today I just haven't stopped smiling. I am not sad to see Asha go because, as wonderful as I believe Forever Angels Baby Home to be - it is no substitute for a family - and my greatest dreams for all of the babies in our care - is a loving family.

Asha is a very lucky little girl to receive such a doting and loving Mum and Dad. It is the best Christmas gift for all three of them - and for me too. This is what Forever Angels is about. This is what I have dreamed about and this is why the Baby Home exists.

Amy giving Asha a goodbye cuddle

Mark and Jo currently live and work in Mwanza and they hope to be here for a couple of years - so I know we will see lots of Asha as she grows up. During the last few months, they have also become very good friends of ours and I hope we will always be in touch so we know how our first adopted Forever Angels Baby gets on as she grows.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Mark and Jo, for being wonderful people and for giving the best gift of all to Asha. She is very special to us all at Forever Angels and she will be truly missed, but I couldn't want any more for her than what she received today - a Forever Family.

From now on, Asha will be known as Bethany - a name which suits her beautifully.

So I'd like to say a huge "Congratulations" to Mark, Jo and Baby Bethany - and a big thank you to them both for making it so easy to say goodbye - we truly wish the three of you all the happiness in the world.

Well - time is flying past me....I can't believe it is almost Christmas already!

I have been trying to organise the Baby Home Christmas Dinner - I have invited all my staff and their families - and the families of the Forever Angels Babies - plus my own family and some friends - so I think we will be cooking dinner for about 50 people!

My Dad is busy building a BBQ to cook it all on as we are still having poor power out here and can not guarantee an oven working!

We have crackers and party hats and gifts for all the children and staff - so a big thank you to everyone in the UK who organised that. I am sure it will be a wonderful day for our children and one they will always remember.

Haji went to the HIV Clinic today and has finally started on his ARV's. It is a very strict medicine regime so we will just have to see how he gets on....his first dose this evening ended up all over me as much as in his mouth but we will just have to perservere.
He is actually a lot better these last couple of days - he is eating well and sitting up to play a lot more. His father is still visiting every week and understands how sick Haji is - but like all of us, is hoping and praying he will get stronger.

Poor Asha has got malaria - but it was caught quickly and she is on treatment and she is actually quite fine in herself.
Her adoption is unfortunately hitting some stumbling blocks due to the beaurocracy of Social Welfare....but her new Mum and Dad are coping well with the frustrations and are visiting her daily. They have bonded so well and Asha adores them. They have actually changed her name to Bethany which really suits her - but which is taking me some time to change in my head!

We took Yohana and Rama to the beach on Saturday and they both had a wonderful time. They are both such easy going and happy children.

My parents are having a great time out here. My Mum actually flew home yesterday but she was very impressed with the Baby Home and fell in love with all of the children.
My Dad is busy building a Banda (a thatched shade) in the Baby Home garden as well as a BBQ and doing several DIY jobs that we have been putting off.

I think that is all the news for now. Take care.....

Today was a lovely day at the Baby Home - we celebrated Yohana's 4th birthday and Sarah and Yunisi's 2nd birthdays.

We started by decorating the Christmas Tree (which none of our children had seen before) Yohana took charge of this and enjoyed telling everyone where to hang the decorations!

The children all dressed up in Christmassy clothes and Yohana spent the entire day with a Father Christmas hat on!

Then we had party food and cake and presents and then the children spent the afternoon jumping on the bouncy castle and playing with balloons. They all had a lovely day and were exhausted by the end of it!

Poor Haji was the only one who didn't really join in the celebrations....he has a fever again and is really struggling to eat now. It breaks my heart to see him looking so sick and lethargic. We are going back to the hospital with him tomorrow but part of me thinks he is just too tired to fight now.
Life just isn't fair......

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of entries recently - things have been really busy here!

We had an Official Opening at the Baby Home last week which was attended by about 150 people. It was a lovely afternoon and gave people in the community a chance to look around Forever Angels and meet our children.
Thank you to all those who attended.

We attended a fundraising evening in conjunction with the 45 Years of Tanzanian Independence celebrations. Forever Angels was nominated as one of three local orphan charities to receive funds and the evening was a great success.

We have got a new child. 18 month old Daniel was found abandoned on the streets so we do not actually know anything about him or his background. He is a happy little boy though and settled in quickly.

Haji has been sick again this week. He had a low count of malaria which I think he has maybe had for a long time. He is now on treatment but he has not had a good week. He has also got oral thrush making it painful for him to eat - so he has lost some weight. The poor little thing is on so much medication I sometimes feel cruel giving it all to him. Never the less - he is a well loved little boy and when he can manage it, he still has smiles to give.

We are having a joint Birthday Party on Wednesday for Sarah, Yohana and Yunisi as all their birthdays fall in December. We are going to have cake and soda and balloons and a bouncy castle so I am sure a fun day will be had by all.

Our UK Trustees (Dave and Val Lithgow) are currently staying with us and visiting the Baby Home. Dave is busy doing DIY jobs that need doing and Val is busy cuddling babies and giving us lots of medical advice. It is great to have them here to finally see what they have helped to create.

We have received a DHL parcel with Christmas gifts for the children in and we have bought a Chritsmas tree so will be decorating the Baby Home at the weekend. The children have no idea about Christmas or Santa - but we will still celebrate!

All in all - things are running smoothly. All the children are happy and, except for Haji, very healthy. I think we may soon find that there is not a lot we are able to do for him except give him lots of love......life can be very unfair.