Dear friends,

The Salsido family (Fi, Jose and little Gabby) were blessed with a new baby
Sophia Grace born last Saturday afternoon! There was huge rejoicing amongst the
team when the good news came through. We visited the baby this evening, to take
some digital photos for the Salsidos to send back home and she as cute as they
say, with dark skin like Gabby and a quiet temperament unlike Fi or Gabby :)
Mother and daughter are doing well. Gabby and Jose are very pleased. Sophia also
marks a milestone for the team over here, being the first Crossroads baby!
[good thing this update is coming late or you would have had to wait until the
end of the week to hear the news]

It was a week of little lives it seems. Walking from the ferry to the team
dinner on Lantau last Wednesday evening we ran across a litter of very gorgeous
little puppies who were living in under a bench outside a disused butchers'
shop. The little ones must have been only a week or so old. Adelaide was in
puppy heaven as they cuddled up to her and radiated their irresistable puppy
cuteness. There was no mother or father in sight but we could only assume that
one of the local dogs was taking responsibility for them. They did seem in quite
good health. After significant inner turmoil we left the youngsters to fend for
themselves. This was made more possible by the arrival of some of our friends
(also walking home) who took our place playing with the soft little furballs.

A dog's life on Lantau is pretty good in general. It seems to be the perfect mix
between domestic and free for many local mutts. There is plenty of space to roam
in and those without owners don't go hungry for the food that local restaurants
leave out the back for them to munch. There is lots of space to play in, plenty
of people to offer a pat and plenty of other dogs to sniff. We get to see first
hand the stereotypical dog behaviour in action. Cruising the streets in small
posses of friends, chasing the numerous cats and giving birth to puppies under
benches outside the butchers'.

In other [non-baby related] news, Saturday was a public holiday this week on
account of the Full Moon/Mid-Autumn festival. We didn't ever really find out
exactly what it was all about, but we did manage to partake in some of the
revelries. We walked down Silvermine Beach and admired the feast of lights from
lanterns, candles stuck in the sand and the ubiquitous glowsticks. Families set
up their spot on the sand and the kids worked on making their little plot the
most impressive with the various light-emitting devices. It looked great! We
also found when we returned to our village that there was a huge street party
going on with lanterns strung up overhead and everyone out having fun.

This week the Kenya shipment will be sent out. We will give you more news about
this one in the next update, as well as some incredible photos from the hospital
in southern Kenya who will be receiving the shipment.

Till then, that's all for the bumper baby edition! We will attempt to send
photos of Sophia Grace soon.