Picture of final product

With the help of all my boys and attempted help from my baby girl, we got our first packages made. I have also made a page on the tabs above of pictures of the whole process if you would like to see more.

Our first boxes of supplies!

The first boxes have arrived! The journey took two weeks longer than I anticipated for them to both arrive and get cleared/taxed by customs, but I finally got the call to come get them. A grand surprise was to find that the sunday school class that were sending us hats they had made, also sent receiving blankets! My friend who's children made hats, had also purchased with their own money, diapers, washcloths, and blankets.  I now have all the items needed to go for our first visit. Please keep this in your prayers that we will be well received,  have grace with the hospital staff, and most importantly that God will use this as He chooses.  

Baby soap and water bottles

One must learn the art of finding great joy in little things. As I have continued my quest on providing packages but making the most of any donations that come my way, I turned my attention to the baby wash. Wow, a small sample is $1.00 .  Then I began researching "baby soap" which lead me to the idea of just making some. As I  researched on I  read that making homemade soap could be "As easy as baking a cake". I stopped to consider my fame as a cook which can be summed up by one of my multiple kitchen magnets. "The last time I cooked, hardly anyone got sick". So, I did hesitate for a moment.  But as I read on I realized that this may be just the answer I was looking for. And what's more, I have on hand the best ingredient: Goats milk.  My venture began and I made hot process soap to not have to worry about curing time. I purchased some cute duck and carriage candy trays. So far so good . Yes, it is much more work than just buying but I enjoy it and it is better for the babies and for the pocketbook. Not to mention that the two weeks we have been using my homemade soap it has been wonderful for our own skin.  Now for the water bottles. I had finally come to the conclusion that If nothing else I would put a plastic cup with a straw in the packages because I wanted to make sure that these moms have something to drink water out of. While I still wanted to be able to use a water bottle, I realized that  that money was better spent on diapers than on the $1.00 water bottle.  While walking around town I went into a plastic store...yes, that is what it is called. I was going to buy the bags for the packages. Here you can buy plastic bags of all size by the kilo. I had never gone into this particular "plastic store" before. It was quite busy so after I took my number waiting to be attended I started to look around. What a fun store. If you need any kind of plastic item you could most likely find it here. And then I saw it. Empty water bottles with the pop up top. While I had seen theme online for less than the collapsible bottles, I had ruled them out because I knew that by the time I paid shipping and taxes I was better off just buying an actual water bottle at my local grocery store.  But there there were at an ever cheaper rate that I had found them online!  I made quite the scene as I hollered "Hey, look! Water bottles! Water bottles!", across the store to my husband who was busy picking out  a funnel.  A funnel which, much to his dismay, seeing as he was equally excited about finding his funnel as I my water bottles,  has since been confiscated  for my soap making. But no worries, I will replace it when I return to  "Mundo plastico" (Plastic world) of which I am hopeful to become a "cliente frequente" (frequent customer).  So, there you have it. Finding joy in baby soap and water bottles, and apparently plastic funnels too.