This week was long and very busy. There is always a lot of work to be done here and not enough time to do it! But Tuesday was a really good day overall, so let me share about that day. We started with our homeschool time, and that went well. All the kids are doing individual research projects so that is interesting to me, as I learn about the topics with them. (That is in addition to their normal subjects.) After lunch, we were planning to head to Rosarito. Word got out that I was going, because before I knew it, I had a list of things to take/remember to ask about …
1. $300 for a staff member
2. DIF (children’s services) papers for a new kid
3. A package for a kid from his sponsor
4. A request for a report card from the school out there
and
5. The new kid himself (with all his stuff).
6. And by the way, bring back a jackhammer.
Ok, no problem. The new boy’s name is Sergio and he is 10. He had been at Soler just for a few days, but had hit it off with Liam, so he sat in the back with Liam.
Well, we had only gone a few minutes down the road, when I heard a sound from the back. Liam said, “Uh, Mom? He just threw up.” And sure enough, all over himself and the van seat. He proceeded to throw up two more times, making a huge mess… but I was already on the highway and not sure what to do. There was not really a place to stop, I didn’t have anything in the car to clean him up with (Used all the wipes last week when another kid got into the car with dog poop on his shoe and we had to clean that up!), so anyway, I just kept on going. We finally found a gas station where I paid who knows how many pesos for napkins and wipes and was able to clean him up a little. Liam was quite a trooper, and did not even complain! When we got to Rosarito, we took him to a staff member, who cleaned him up and then he was off playing. So it was either nervousness or carsickness, or maybe a combination of both. Anyway, cleaned up the car, delivered all the items, and then rounded up the 5th and 6th grade girls for a small group time.
That was fun! Kiersen and I used to do a Bible study/girls group with a few of her friends back at home and she really misses it, so we decided to do one here. One of the girls knows enough English to translate for me. The girls named their group “The Super Pandas”, and played my stand-by ice breaker game, “3 truths and a lie”, where everyone has to guess which of the 4 things about you is a lie. (They all were able to guess my lie- that before I married Gabe I had 25 boyfriends. Hmmm. Am I that obvious? Made them all giggle, which was the point:) We read a bit from our biography of Amy Carmichael (In Spanish) and then shared prayer requests. Most wanted prayers for family members who are not with them. Understandable. A few chocolate candies each, and then our time was up!
Here is the group!
After we finished, the staff asked me if I would take a different girl back to Soler, as she was in trouble and needed to see Martha. While we were waiting to for her to get her stuff together, Sergio realized we were leaving and came and just sobbed! That is what makes me think he really just was nervous about being there… he had only known me for 2 days, but that made me the familiar one. I just hugged him for a while. I am sure he will be ok, but I did feel bad for him.
Anyway, once Lupita was ready,we put her in the car with her stuff and her papers, and took off… only to get a ways down the road and realize I forgot the jackhammer! So went back, had the staff person load up the jackhammer, and drove back to Soler. There, we were lucky that dinner was late and we were just in time to deliver misbehaving child and the jackhammer… and had time to clean up the car after dinner. 🙂
It was a good day because unlike some days, when I only get to work on the computer with child sponsorship stuff, this day involved a lot of more intentional facetime with the kids. The language barrier is so frustrating at times… yes, I can understand a lot, but I still am not good at conversing, so I often want to talk more to the kids than I can. But I hope by serving them (whether that’s a hug or cleaning up sickness or spending time in a group) that I can build up trust, so that gradually, I can talk to them more, and really listen to their stories and encourage them. I do love the kids here so much! And truly, life here is NOT boring!
