I remember my brother David jovially warning me that my blog better not be one that never gets updated. I'm afraid I've lapsed a bit, Dave. It's been a long month, and I'll do my best to sum up the highlights as briefly as I can.
It all started with New Years. I think we had about thirty bottles of champaign to uncork that night, which was my favorite part. When it turned midnight, the area fireworks were so ferociously loud that it sounded like the Fourth. Jenna and I sang the Star Spangled Banner just for kicks, while everyone else was running around lighting firecrackers. It was quite memorable.
I enjoyed a week-long vacation in the beautiful, peaceful hills of Samaipata, a few hours away. Jenna, Carmen, I, and the nearby SLM’s Margaret and Michelle rented a nice little cabin and spent our time cooking, reading, talking, laughing, and sleeping. We did some hiking, found some epic waterfalls, and I went horseback riding for the first time. It was extremely fun and relaxing and we all want to go back and repeat the week for our next retreat.
We returned from vacation to twelve new girls in the Hogar, five of which I had in the Jugue. Quite precocious little girls, they had a rough beginning with us and tested my patience quite a bit. Things got better after a couple weeks, especially now that school started this past Monday. The energy that filled the Hogar this first week has been great! The girls had been getting stir-crazy from two months of free time in the Hogar. School was a welcome change for all. I’m especially loving the new Kindergarten class – thirteen kids, all ours from the Jugue! An unexpectedly high number, but it’s working out well. Jenna and I had a hard time seeing our little ones go off to their classes, so confused and scared on Monday. By Tuesday, they all were loving it. Because now they miss out on their afternoon nap, we’ve been asked to have them nap in the morning - something we’d never attempted before. I have to admit, seeing them sleep like little angels for us makes up for all their mischief. Just look at them! Ah, they are my life.
I’ve been wanting to introduce Nora to you for a long time now. She stole my heart early on with her beautiful eyes…she would look up at me with a tranquil smile, and not say a thing. A nice change from the others’ squabbling and tattling. Nora has a baby brother here named Fernando. I love that she is very possessive of him. When another kid tries to play with him, she makes sure to say warningly, “Es mio” – “he’s mine!” Nora reminds me a lot of myself when I was a kid. She’s pretty quiet, but she can be bossy. Her maternal instinct is very strong – I suspect that she had to care for her baby brother before the two were removed from their horrific home situation. She loves to take care – of little kids who can’t swing, of water that has been spilled, of babies that need diapers. As a 4 year old, she can do this incredibly complex folding of cloth diapers which astonishes me. She gets such a satisfied look when she knows how to help out. She also gets picked on a lot, which kills me. But she still seems pretty happy, and she seems to really like kindergarten. She’s grown up so much in just these five months! I know for certain I will never forget that look she gives me, with those loving, purely innocent eyes. I just want to take her home with me. And her brother too, why not?
That's all for now! It's past my bedtime. Hope all is well back home!
