Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Babysitting Noah

I've mentioned that one of the things I get to do while I'm here is watch a baby while his parents are in language class. Since this is really my biggest responsibility, I thought I might elaborate a little bit. :-)

Nick and Krista are a young couple who are in their first year here as full-time missionaries. As with all who come full-time, the first thing that must be done is to get a handle on the language. Up until now, Nick hasn't been able to take a class because he's been filling a need elsewhere and Krista has been able to go only seldom because there has been no one to watch Noah. But God has perfect timing! At the same time that I'm here and can take care of Noah, someone else is able to help with the need that Nick has been filling.

Noah is about 8 months old and has almost never been away from Krista. She warned me of this right away. I'm glad she did! I would have been sadly unprepared otherwise. Poor Noah...he and I had a rough time those first few days. It had to have been traumatic for him - new house, new person, away from Mom for 3 hours, messed up schedule - and he let me know it. :-) It was hard for me because I can usually figure out what's wrong with a baby and comfort him somehow, but Noah was absolutely inconsolable. Nick and Krista and I discussed it and kept our hopes high that once Noah got used to the new routine, he would be ok.

Yesterday was...wonderful!! At least, comparatively. Sure Noah still cried some, but what baby doesn't? For the most part I was able to keep him distracted if not happy. I'm certain that this is almost entirely due to the huge amount of praying I did all morning. Monday had been the hardest day so far and I was at my wits end. So thank God that He answers prayer!

Please do pray about this for me. Patience isn't something that I have a huge supply of, and I feel almost frantic when I can't seem to help Noah. I really, really want our time together to be pleasant...for both our sakes as well as for the sake of whoever will end up watching him when I leave in April.

2 comments:

abc said...

No comment here for a week... so I'll go first! I know you have already been a wonderful blessing to Nick and Krista. God's timing was perfect for them and their work, and He will use this experience in your life to grow you in patience and faith (two things we can never have "too much" of). Hope Noah continued to settle into the routine this past week... looking forward to "hearing" all about it in your next post.
Love, D

EJ said...

:-)