almost

ok, so not a whole lot has been happening since the crazy days of VBS. I´ve restarted Spanish tutoring at a different school. I´m now there 3 days a week and working mostly on remembering what I actually already know. Its just lost somewhere in my brain.

Last week I was ALMOST run over by a bicycle, remember, pedestrians have no rights whatsoever on the roads. Anything that has wheels has the right of way. I ALMOST took out a motorcycle with the door of a trufi, though I could swear I looked over my shoulder first... they appear out of thin air it seems. I also was ALMOST robbed on a trufi (this would have been the second time, the first time I lost my camera). However, I am proud to say that I have learned a thing or two in the last 9 months. I figured out quickly that something just wasn´t right. I put my hand to the latch of my purse to find the man next to me´s hand in my purse (not an easy task, my purse is hard to get into). When I looked at him and said ¨SEÑOR¨ he immeditaly took has hand out and got off the trufi. I checked and he didn´t take anything, didn´t have enough time before I caught him. So praise the Lord for that!

The rest of life continues on as normal. I´ll soon be preparing a special day to teach the kids about dirt and germs and the importance of washing their hands, ect. Having come from the street, our kids normally put any food (or anything for that matter) in their mouths that they find on the ground. Even after living in a good place for months, they still have this habit. So thats the next project. I´ll let you know how it goes!

The new kiddos

ok, well, on top of everything else last week, we had two new children arrive in our orphanage in Villa Isreal. Also known as home #2. Here they are, in all of their cuteness.


Their story is a sad one. The older brother will be 6 years old in September. His name is Elion (I don´t know if that spelling is right). The baby is 2 1/2 years old, his name is France (again with the spelling). The little guy doesn´t respond to the name France but to the name ishmeal. But we do have their birth certificates and that is his name. They are not completely orphans. Their mother died of an epileptic siezser (I am sooo sorry about my spelling!). Their father is an out of control alchoholic. They have old siblings but none are able to take care of them. It is hard to try to comfort them, talk to them because they don´t speak spanish, only Quechua. They are both extremely small for their ages and terribly malnourished. The little guy is worse off then his brother. In the 6 days they have been in the home, he has been to the doctor every day, some days twice. He has a skin infection and resperatory something that needs in office treatment. They both needed several shots to get rid of stomache bugs.

This is sadly the story of nearly every child that comes to us. In a few short months the children will be much healthier and adapting to their new home and family. Please pray for this home and the house parents. There are now 9 children living there (8 boys, 1 girl) and the parents have one child of their own who is often sick.

During our VBS days at the home, the older boy kept saying something to me in Quechua that I couldn´t understand. Ana, the only girl, translated for me into spanish. She said that he was saying that he missed his family. That was his first day. It was all I could do not to go to tears right there. It broke my heart! I just got down on my knees and just held him. And he didn´t respond, that made it even worse. ok, I gotta quit now or I´m gonna cry in the internet café!

VBS

ok, deep breath. Last week was a little crazy in my life. ¨Little¨ being an understatement. My team and I held a VBS for our kids in home #2. Keep in mind, that home is on the complete opposite side of the city from where we all live. 30 mins in a car (if your lucky) and 1 - 1 1/2 hours in a Micro (bus). Well, things got intresting when neither of the two vehicles owned by our team were working. Yep, both were at the mechanics. So we all were traveling in Micros. Not bad per say, its just long travel time.

Even with the travel complications VBS went very well! And I took plenty of pictures so here you go. As I´ve mentioned, I was preparing 3 days of puppets. Here is Day 1, Jonah and the whale. Taking the styrofoam on the Micro was quite a trick! With a little team work, it survived the trip.


I had chosen a theme verse for each show. Here is a friend helping to teach the verse and the kids standing up to recite it from memory.


The each day we had a craft time as well. A friend made a fishing game and others had drawing and coloring crafts for the kids to do.



I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend with the kids during VBS. I feel like I have finally connected with them and they accept me as part of their lives. After the final puppet show they were chanting ¨una más, una más¨, I guess they wanted an encore :) Finally, here are just some cute pictures of our kids.


Check back soon for information on our two new arrivals, pictures too!