What a rough night in the clinic. Between Josecito and Elena, I needed to give meds every hour on the hour. Sometimes it seemed to take forever to wake them (especially Josecito) out of their sleep. On one occasion it took me 22 minutes to get medicine into his system. I don't know if he was having bad dreams or what, but no matter what I tried the boy would just not wake up enough to realize he had to take his meds! After I was relieved from the clinic at 6am, I headed straight to the little girls house for breakfast & dishes. When this was done, I went back to the apartment to take a shower and upload the blog and then had to head back to the little girls house by 10am to begin making tortillas.
At some point during lunch (I think I had just started doing dishes), Bob and Andres stopped by to get the keys to the apartment so they could change, get some $, etc. They said they had been painting all morning & were going to the tienda. I said I'd be there when dishes were done. When I walked over to the tienda, they weren't there, so I headed back to the apartment to find it locked up. I thought I'd take a walk around Emmanuel (it's a long, hilly walk) to see if I could find them...& didn't see them. By now I was pooped and the tiredness from not sleeping the night before had set in, AND I was very thirsty because it was a super hot, sunny day. A neighbor gave me a glass of juice to drink, but I had clinic duty from 2-4:30 & I was exhausted! Around 3:15, I saw Andres & Bob coming back up to the apartment (the clinic is only 3 buildings away from the apartment), so I called for Andres to finish my shift in the clinic. I was asleep by 4pm.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Bitter-Sweet Day
This morning I showered and then finished packing. Kimberly is heading back to the States this morning (the "bitter), but Bob is coming down to Emmanuel this afternoon (the "sweet"). Katja is moving Bob, Andres & I into an apartment here at Emmanuel. It's a very "cozy" (yep, I'm referring to how a realtor back in the States would call it) apartment with 2 bedrooms, 1 with a double bed and the other with a set of bunks, a "cozy" kitchen, a "cozy" bathroom, and a nice living room area. It is a quaint place, part of what we'd call a quadraplex, the apartment is much smaller than the duplex that they put Jenny, Andres & I in 4 years ago...but I really like it!
This morning Kimberly invited me to do a morning Bible reading with her while sharing some coffee. We decided to just "open up the Bible" and read, and then discuss what we've read. Of course when she did that, she came to Isaiah 53 which is about The Suffering and Glory of the Servant...they're talking about Jesus of course. What was really neat was that many of the verses we read through, I had memorized throughout my childhood...but the one that stands out as the most memorable was Isaiah 53:5, which says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are heald." I recommend that you read the entire chapter like we did, and just absorb all that Jesus did for us! He was the ULTIMATE servant!
Kimberly & I headed our separate ways as we left the house...she went to the little girls house to do circle with them and say her goodbyes, I headed for my 4-hour shift at the clinic to watch over Elena, who is still sick. Josecito was brought in due to a fever while I was there. He's a bit younger and has a LOT of energy! (Please keep them both in your prayers as I type this 24-hours later, they're still in the clinic and still pretty sick, but I'll chat more about that tomorrow.) Clinic duty entails showering the kids for the morning and making sure they get dressed & brush their teeth, changing all of the bedding that they've used and washing it along with their clothes and putting it away, sweeping and mopping the clinic and washing the dishes if it happens to be mealtime. When there's only 1-3 children here, it's not too terribly over-bearing, but when I had the chicken pox outbreak 2 years ago and there were 12-15+ kids in there...it was an ALL DAY affair!
When I came back from the clinic to the volunteer house, I had a good chat with Zue. She wanted to hold a volunteers meeting this evening, to ask everyone to be a little more responsible in the care of the house. Sometimes keeping it clean can get out of hand, and between Zue & I, we've done a lot of dishes that weren't ours. For the time being, it's out of love and caring for one another, but you know how that can end up...and she just wanted to make sure that during her year here that everyone's pitching in so she doesn't begin to feel like she's being taken advantage of.
I went to lunch & did dishes once again at the little girls house and came home to do devotions & upload my blog. When I was finished with that, Andres stopped by to check in on when we would be moving into the apartment, so I told him to meet me there at 3:15ish. I walked part-way back with him and stopped at the tienda to buy a bunch of juices for our family (especially for Bob), and I bought Andres an 1.25 liter of orange soda. Here that costs L$20 (20 Lempiras, or the equivalent of 1 U.S. dollar).
Around 3pm, I began moving my stuff over to the apartment. As I was unpacking, Andres showed up. It wasn't long before we heard the bus coming up the road to Emmanuel. I peeked out the window and saw that we needed to hurry to get over to the team house. I quickly changed clothes, to pants since the weather was cooling down, and Andres & I headed over to the team house. Andres saw Bob quite a bit before I did...but when I got there, he gave me a big hug (not as sweaty of a hug as he had promised, lol) and I introduced him to David. We got his luggage over to the apartment, and as he unpacked I made some pasta and guacamole. I served Bob & Andres first, since I have my sore throat and really wasn't very hungry. I did eat what was left over later in the evening, when I gained a little bit of appetite back.
Bob wanted to walk a little bit, so we walked down to the fountain in front of the church. He was looking for tarantulas!...didn't find any. When we came back to the road, Doris came up the road with Yasmine (Danny's daughter). She hugged Bob first (which made Bob really happy), and over the next 1/2 hour to an hour, Yasmine became Bob's good friend! Bob said that he wasn't sure why I wasn't bringing 2-3 kids home each year just like her...well, the answer is obvious...if I did, Bob wouldn't let me come down so often because we'd run out of room at home!
When we came back to the apartment, we chatted for a bit before Bob fell asleep. I knew he's be super-tired when he arrived, so I arranged to spend the night in the clinic with Josecito and Elena...so that Bob would have the double bed all to himself, to get a better night's sleep.
Zue had her meeting at 7pm, and Andres went to the clinic so that the volunteer there could be part of the meeting. There's actually a new volunteer there as of this afternoon when I moved out - her name is Lauren. She took Kimberly's & my room, so she'll have a room all to herself. Zue talked about the importance of keeping the girls volunteer house clean and Emilie mentioned the details of the community fund money, so that all knew how that worked. It seemed to go really well.
After the meeting, I headed to the clinic so Andres could go back to the apartment and get some sleep. I closed the windows, washed the supper dishes and I had to make sure that every hour through the night I was waking either Elena or Josecito up to take their medicine. Some hours were more "trying" than others to get them to take their medicine. It was an all-nighter for me! I will have to be sure to find some time to rest tomorrow!
This morning Kimberly invited me to do a morning Bible reading with her while sharing some coffee. We decided to just "open up the Bible" and read, and then discuss what we've read. Of course when she did that, she came to Isaiah 53 which is about The Suffering and Glory of the Servant...they're talking about Jesus of course. What was really neat was that many of the verses we read through, I had memorized throughout my childhood...but the one that stands out as the most memorable was Isaiah 53:5, which says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are heald." I recommend that you read the entire chapter like we did, and just absorb all that Jesus did for us! He was the ULTIMATE servant!
Kimberly & I headed our separate ways as we left the house...she went to the little girls house to do circle with them and say her goodbyes, I headed for my 4-hour shift at the clinic to watch over Elena, who is still sick. Josecito was brought in due to a fever while I was there. He's a bit younger and has a LOT of energy! (Please keep them both in your prayers as I type this 24-hours later, they're still in the clinic and still pretty sick, but I'll chat more about that tomorrow.) Clinic duty entails showering the kids for the morning and making sure they get dressed & brush their teeth, changing all of the bedding that they've used and washing it along with their clothes and putting it away, sweeping and mopping the clinic and washing the dishes if it happens to be mealtime. When there's only 1-3 children here, it's not too terribly over-bearing, but when I had the chicken pox outbreak 2 years ago and there were 12-15+ kids in there...it was an ALL DAY affair!
When I came back from the clinic to the volunteer house, I had a good chat with Zue. She wanted to hold a volunteers meeting this evening, to ask everyone to be a little more responsible in the care of the house. Sometimes keeping it clean can get out of hand, and between Zue & I, we've done a lot of dishes that weren't ours. For the time being, it's out of love and caring for one another, but you know how that can end up...and she just wanted to make sure that during her year here that everyone's pitching in so she doesn't begin to feel like she's being taken advantage of.
I went to lunch & did dishes once again at the little girls house and came home to do devotions & upload my blog. When I was finished with that, Andres stopped by to check in on when we would be moving into the apartment, so I told him to meet me there at 3:15ish. I walked part-way back with him and stopped at the tienda to buy a bunch of juices for our family (especially for Bob), and I bought Andres an 1.25 liter of orange soda. Here that costs L$20 (20 Lempiras, or the equivalent of 1 U.S. dollar).
Around 3pm, I began moving my stuff over to the apartment. As I was unpacking, Andres showed up. It wasn't long before we heard the bus coming up the road to Emmanuel. I peeked out the window and saw that we needed to hurry to get over to the team house. I quickly changed clothes, to pants since the weather was cooling down, and Andres & I headed over to the team house. Andres saw Bob quite a bit before I did...but when I got there, he gave me a big hug (not as sweaty of a hug as he had promised, lol) and I introduced him to David. We got his luggage over to the apartment, and as he unpacked I made some pasta and guacamole. I served Bob & Andres first, since I have my sore throat and really wasn't very hungry. I did eat what was left over later in the evening, when I gained a little bit of appetite back.
Bob wanted to walk a little bit, so we walked down to the fountain in front of the church. He was looking for tarantulas!...didn't find any. When we came back to the road, Doris came up the road with Yasmine (Danny's daughter). She hugged Bob first (which made Bob really happy), and over the next 1/2 hour to an hour, Yasmine became Bob's good friend! Bob said that he wasn't sure why I wasn't bringing 2-3 kids home each year just like her...well, the answer is obvious...if I did, Bob wouldn't let me come down so often because we'd run out of room at home!
When we came back to the apartment, we chatted for a bit before Bob fell asleep. I knew he's be super-tired when he arrived, so I arranged to spend the night in the clinic with Josecito and Elena...so that Bob would have the double bed all to himself, to get a better night's sleep.
Zue had her meeting at 7pm, and Andres went to the clinic so that the volunteer there could be part of the meeting. There's actually a new volunteer there as of this afternoon when I moved out - her name is Lauren. She took Kimberly's & my room, so she'll have a room all to herself. Zue talked about the importance of keeping the girls volunteer house clean and Emilie mentioned the details of the community fund money, so that all knew how that worked. It seemed to go really well.
After the meeting, I headed to the clinic so Andres could go back to the apartment and get some sleep. I closed the windows, washed the supper dishes and I had to make sure that every hour through the night I was waking either Elena or Josecito up to take their medicine. Some hours were more "trying" than others to get them to take their medicine. It was an all-nighter for me! I will have to be sure to find some time to rest tomorrow!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Sick!
So last night didn't go so well for me...I woke up every 1.5 to 2 hours completely stuffed up. I realized that I forgot to write that it rained through the night the night before last and most of the day yesterday...I'm wondering if that didn't stir up some pollen? I had not had many issues with allergies since my college days, but this spring they came with a vengeance. Kimberly gave me her bottle of antihistamines (Benadryl), for which I was very grateful. I took them all day, with little relief.
I started my morning with devotions, breakfast and then doing dishes alone since Kimberly had committed to working in the clinic this morning. As the number of volunteers dwindles down, the hours at the clinic get longer. I'm still thankful that the hours for me are not nearly what they were the 2 past years, but if that's what is needed, I'm okay with putting in quite a few hours too.
After breakfast I headed to the office with Bob's flight information written down, and gave it to Katja. I asked Katja if perhaps Kimberly could head into town one last time and she said that should be okay, so we headed in to town from about 10:30-noon. Kimberly bought coffee and solid dish soap, as well as a few other items to take back to the States. I focused on getting a few groceries for when Bob comes tomorrow, so that he has something immediately available if he doesn't get over to a house with Andres to eat. This is Kimberly's last big bit of exercise while here, so we walked back to Emmanuel (now that they have the taxis in town, many just take them, but I'll still prefer to walk).
We put our purchases away when we got back to the house and then made our way over to the little girls house for lunch. They were already seated, but we took care of the dishes and then I had to head to the clinic for the next 3 hours. By this time, I was very congested. I could feel the congestion going to my head and a lack of ability to focus when people were talking to me. I read in the clinic, but at points I felt myself drifting off. I knew that Emilie was looking for someone to spend the night in here, but just knew that I would not be able to take tonight.
After clinic, I headed back to the house and set my alarm to rest for about an hour & 15 minutes. I knew that Kimberly wanted to celebrate her last night here with a good dinner, and I had bought groceries to make guacamole, so I woke up to do that. She made tortillas to eat with some refried beans and crema. She also fried a vegetable (I didn't catch the name of it from Zue) which when fried with salt & pepper, sort of has a green bean taste. The kids don't much care for this vegetable in their lunch soups, but fried up it wasn't so bad. As Kimberly cooked, Emilie & Christina shared their testimonies, which were really amazing!
Nazhita decided to take the overnight shift, so Zue & Kimberly took her a plate of food (so that she wouldn't feel left out). We chatted for a while over the kitchen table before Kimberly and I headed back to the room to pack...her for her journey home tomorrow and me to head to an apartment that Katja is setting aside for when Bob comes tomorrow.
I started my morning with devotions, breakfast and then doing dishes alone since Kimberly had committed to working in the clinic this morning. As the number of volunteers dwindles down, the hours at the clinic get longer. I'm still thankful that the hours for me are not nearly what they were the 2 past years, but if that's what is needed, I'm okay with putting in quite a few hours too.
After breakfast I headed to the office with Bob's flight information written down, and gave it to Katja. I asked Katja if perhaps Kimberly could head into town one last time and she said that should be okay, so we headed in to town from about 10:30-noon. Kimberly bought coffee and solid dish soap, as well as a few other items to take back to the States. I focused on getting a few groceries for when Bob comes tomorrow, so that he has something immediately available if he doesn't get over to a house with Andres to eat. This is Kimberly's last big bit of exercise while here, so we walked back to Emmanuel (now that they have the taxis in town, many just take them, but I'll still prefer to walk).
We put our purchases away when we got back to the house and then made our way over to the little girls house for lunch. They were already seated, but we took care of the dishes and then I had to head to the clinic for the next 3 hours. By this time, I was very congested. I could feel the congestion going to my head and a lack of ability to focus when people were talking to me. I read in the clinic, but at points I felt myself drifting off. I knew that Emilie was looking for someone to spend the night in here, but just knew that I would not be able to take tonight.
After clinic, I headed back to the house and set my alarm to rest for about an hour & 15 minutes. I knew that Kimberly wanted to celebrate her last night here with a good dinner, and I had bought groceries to make guacamole, so I woke up to do that. She made tortillas to eat with some refried beans and crema. She also fried a vegetable (I didn't catch the name of it from Zue) which when fried with salt & pepper, sort of has a green bean taste. The kids don't much care for this vegetable in their lunch soups, but fried up it wasn't so bad. As Kimberly cooked, Emilie & Christina shared their testimonies, which were really amazing!
Nazhita decided to take the overnight shift, so Zue & Kimberly took her a plate of food (so that she wouldn't feel left out). We chatted for a while over the kitchen table before Kimberly and I headed back to the room to pack...her for her journey home tomorrow and me to head to an apartment that Katja is setting aside for when Bob comes tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Wednesday
I know...probably a boring title. This day was a simple day, waking up so that I could make it to the clinic by 6am to be with Joche & Elena. I got them up & showered, bed sheets changed, swept & mopped the clinic and all was good by 7:30, when I had to go to the little girls house to wash up the dishes.
When I got back to the volunteer house, I took some time to do my devotion for the morning and then had a really long, good chat with Zue & Kimberly that lasted quite a bit more than an hour. Kimberly & I headed back to the little girls house to prepare for lunch and get dishes done, then I headed back to the house to upload my Blog from yesterday.
On my way to ensenanza, I stopped in to see Katja (who had told Danny that she wanted to see me today). There were a few small things that needed to get cleared up: Bob's arrival information, Kimberly's flight information, etc. From the office, I went back to the little girls house to translate for Jodi and Norm for the ensenanza that they had prepared. Their activity today was much simpler than Monday's activity...just coloring some teddy bears, although the girls are still in the process of learning how to share.
After ensenanza, Kimberly & I helped with supper and then with baths and finally sat out in the courtyard of the girls dorm combing for lice. This has been a daily routine for us for a while now. I went to chat with Andres about my meeting with Katja and then headed to the big girls house for their ensenanza in the evening, since there was no church tonight. Zue gave her testimony and it was very powerful. I'm glad that I was able to make it there!
When I got back to the volunteer house, I took some time to do my devotion for the morning and then had a really long, good chat with Zue & Kimberly that lasted quite a bit more than an hour. Kimberly & I headed back to the little girls house to prepare for lunch and get dishes done, then I headed back to the house to upload my Blog from yesterday.
On my way to ensenanza, I stopped in to see Katja (who had told Danny that she wanted to see me today). There were a few small things that needed to get cleared up: Bob's arrival information, Kimberly's flight information, etc. From the office, I went back to the little girls house to translate for Jodi and Norm for the ensenanza that they had prepared. Their activity today was much simpler than Monday's activity...just coloring some teddy bears, although the girls are still in the process of learning how to share.
After ensenanza, Kimberly & I helped with supper and then with baths and finally sat out in the courtyard of the girls dorm combing for lice. This has been a daily routine for us for a while now. I went to chat with Andres about my meeting with Katja and then headed to the big girls house for their ensenanza in the evening, since there was no church tonight. Zue gave her testimony and it was very powerful. I'm glad that I was able to make it there!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Andres' BIG Misunderstanding
Today started out with clinic duty once again. I got Joche showered, dressed, fed, the clinic swept & mopped, and the sheets changed & washed. Once again I got to the little girls house to wash the dishes and walk the girls to school. While I was finishing washing up dishes, Verenice asked me if I could chat with Doris today, so I let her know I'd come to school during "recreo" (recess) to chat with her.
Recreo happens from 10-10:15am, so I headed over to the school and "walked around the halls" with Doris as she chatted with me. She asked me to stop by after supper so we could walk & talk (she's had a lot going on lately). I agreed and let her get back to class.
I headed back to the volunteer house for a bit, did some spot cleaning and then headed back to the little girls house for serving lunch and doing dishes (with Maria because Kimberly had her shift at the clinic during this time). Lunch & supper also came quickly. After supper I headed back to Danny's house with her and we chatted with Doris for a bit before Doris, Jasmine (Danny's daughter) and I went on a walk. Jasmine wanted to go into the boys' area to see her dad, but I was unsure of doing that, being that it was after supper and the boys & girls areas are separated for a reason. So while Doris took her in that direction, I guessed Andres was up at the team house and I decided to go share with him some information I had discovered during the day.
Apparently the rumor is right now that Andres has been telling a girl he's falling in love with her! As the incidents were told to me, I realized that Andres used a Spanish phrase that to most Americans simply (and literally translated to English) means "I like you", however when you use it with Latinos...in their language and culture, it is more of a "I am falling in love with you" kind of thing...a VERY STRONG "I like you". So I had the chat with Andres, who then understood what was happening and hopefully he doesn't use that phrase again, unless he REALLY means it!
I spent a few hours back at the little girls house just chatting the night away with Doris before heading back to the volunteer house. I was very dark on my way back. When I got back, I pretty much changed & headed to bed, but not before I saw a little gecko crawling down the wall in our room, heading towards our clothing shelves! With that...good-night! :-)
Recreo happens from 10-10:15am, so I headed over to the school and "walked around the halls" with Doris as she chatted with me. She asked me to stop by after supper so we could walk & talk (she's had a lot going on lately). I agreed and let her get back to class.
I headed back to the volunteer house for a bit, did some spot cleaning and then headed back to the little girls house for serving lunch and doing dishes (with Maria because Kimberly had her shift at the clinic during this time). Lunch & supper also came quickly. After supper I headed back to Danny's house with her and we chatted with Doris for a bit before Doris, Jasmine (Danny's daughter) and I went on a walk. Jasmine wanted to go into the boys' area to see her dad, but I was unsure of doing that, being that it was after supper and the boys & girls areas are separated for a reason. So while Doris took her in that direction, I guessed Andres was up at the team house and I decided to go share with him some information I had discovered during the day.
Apparently the rumor is right now that Andres has been telling a girl he's falling in love with her! As the incidents were told to me, I realized that Andres used a Spanish phrase that to most Americans simply (and literally translated to English) means "I like you", however when you use it with Latinos...in their language and culture, it is more of a "I am falling in love with you" kind of thing...a VERY STRONG "I like you". So I had the chat with Andres, who then understood what was happening and hopefully he doesn't use that phrase again, unless he REALLY means it!
I spent a few hours back at the little girls house just chatting the night away with Doris before heading back to the volunteer house. I was very dark on my way back. When I got back, I pretty much changed & headed to bed, but not before I saw a little gecko crawling down the wall in our room, heading towards our clothing shelves! With that...good-night! :-)
Monday, August 6, 2012
The Wish List
This morning I started the day with devotions and doing laundry. Caroline left today (along with the Maryland team), so I said a quick "goodbye" as I ran out to the clinic. Joche will be in the clinic all week. There's something going on with his eye, although I didn't understand what exactly. Our job is just to make sure he's not touching his eye until his stitches come out later on in the week. When I got to the clinic, the night lady had already made sure he got a shower and his eye patch was changed, so I quickly got to work with changing the bedding and washing it, and sweeping & mopping the clinic floor. With just one child in the clinic, the duty seems to be much more manageable than in years past when there were many more children in with me there.
At 7:30, Emilie came to relieve me at the clinic, so I headed to the little girls house to help with dishes again. I saw Kimberly holding little Elena (Doris' sister) who had a 102-degree temp. She didn't look like her normal self, so I didn't even need to see the temp to see that she was sick. Elena generally gives this cute, sweet little smile to me every time I see her, and she definitely didn't do that this morning as she lay pretty limp in Kimberly's lap. I got to dishes, Maria helped me so I could walk the girls to school.
Back at the house, I wrote up my blog, swept, did dishes and then read for a bit. I was tired, but didn't want to nap because when I do, I find that I can't go to sleep as early in the evenings. I headed to the school to ask Robert if he had a list prepared for Bob of technological items he was hoping for, whether tangible items or needs that Bob could repair, update, etc when down here. Robert wrote everything down for me, including a "special wish item" and I took it back to the volunteer house to immediately email to Bob. I got a fairly quick response that most everything would be coming down with Bob on Friday.
By that time it was lunch, so back to the little girls house to help with lunch & dishes. When I got back to the volunteer house, I decided I really needed to rest. Must have been the little sleep I had gotten the day before or the hot sun, or a combination of the two. I made it back to the little girls house for ensenanza (Bible study), and I had been asked to translate for Jodi who is part of the remaining team. She wanted to help the girls make some prayer books. All-in-all it turned out pretty good (you have to imagine almost 70 girls asking for help at the same time). We got them fed, showered, combed for lice and taken care of after that before they headed for bed.
The evening ended back at the volunteer house with a really good chat with Emilie!
At 7:30, Emilie came to relieve me at the clinic, so I headed to the little girls house to help with dishes again. I saw Kimberly holding little Elena (Doris' sister) who had a 102-degree temp. She didn't look like her normal self, so I didn't even need to see the temp to see that she was sick. Elena generally gives this cute, sweet little smile to me every time I see her, and she definitely didn't do that this morning as she lay pretty limp in Kimberly's lap. I got to dishes, Maria helped me so I could walk the girls to school.
Back at the house, I wrote up my blog, swept, did dishes and then read for a bit. I was tired, but didn't want to nap because when I do, I find that I can't go to sleep as early in the evenings. I headed to the school to ask Robert if he had a list prepared for Bob of technological items he was hoping for, whether tangible items or needs that Bob could repair, update, etc when down here. Robert wrote everything down for me, including a "special wish item" and I took it back to the volunteer house to immediately email to Bob. I got a fairly quick response that most everything would be coming down with Bob on Friday.
By that time it was lunch, so back to the little girls house to help with lunch & dishes. When I got back to the volunteer house, I decided I really needed to rest. Must have been the little sleep I had gotten the day before or the hot sun, or a combination of the two. I made it back to the little girls house for ensenanza (Bible study), and I had been asked to translate for Jodi who is part of the remaining team. She wanted to help the girls make some prayer books. All-in-all it turned out pretty good (you have to imagine almost 70 girls asking for help at the same time). We got them fed, showered, combed for lice and taken care of after that before they headed for bed.
The evening ended back at the volunteer house with a really good chat with Emilie!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Farewell to Caroline
This morning I decided to wake up an hour later, so didn't get up until 5:30am. Normally I have to be out the door by 6am to head to the little girls house, but church doesn't begin until around 8:30, so I had plenty of time to get up and get ready. I actually had to be at the clinic to watch Joche from 7:30am until 9am, so I read my devotion for the morning, showered, got dressed, ate a little bit and made sure I was completely ready to head straight to church from the clinic (without stopping back at the volunteer house).
When I got to the clinic, Joche was already up, showered, dressed, and fed. That meant it was my job to sweep & mop the clinic, and to change the bedding and get it in the washer and the washer started. When I was caught up with the morning clinic chores, I sat down and read the Bible to Joche. My Bible is in Spanish, so he sat very quietly and listened intently. After about a 1/2 hour of reading, we colored pictures together before Kelsey came to relieve me.
Like I mentioned above, I was all ready to head to church, so hurried there and they were just finishing up singing praises. The power had gone out before I had went to the clinic, and was still out...so all instruments were being played "naturally". They were using the piano rather than the keyboards, the guitars were all acoustic rather than electric. The did not have the projection system to help those of us who might not know all of the words to the Spanish songs (or help the children who can read, but may not know the words to the English songs). But it was all good and sounded well nonetheless! Andres gave me a hard time for arriving late, but I let him know that I KNEW I'd be late because I wasn't scheduled to get relieved from the clinic until 9am (when church starts between 8:30 and 8:45). So I had a valid reason for "sneaking in" after the start of church.
After church, I returned to the house and we discussed the needs for groceries for throwing a farewell dinner for Caroline this evening. It's been pretty common over the years I've been here for the girls to get together and have a big dinner when a volunteer who has been here a while leaves, especially if they've had a big impact on the other girls in the house. I don't know exactly how long Caroline's been here (most of the summer?), but she's just an AWESOME girl with a heart completely for Jesus! I am glad that I had the chance to meet her & get to know her. I'll get back to the dinner in a bit.
When my "grocery list" for this evening was written down, I headed out to watch the Maryland volunteers play soccer with the big girls in the yard just beneath us. Andres was the goalie (he's been playing a lot of soccer this weekend, and I've been praying for the strength of his knee because he left his brace back at home). I don't know how the score ended, but the teams were fairly evenly distributed. One of the big milestones of today was that Nicole remembered my name! Nicole is a special needs child who tends to only say her name to others with not much other conversation. I was excited that she said my name out loud without prompting. :-)
I headed to the yard on the other side of the volunteer house where the little girls were playing and asked Danny if I could treat Rosalinda, Yensi and Coco to a soda at the store because it was their birthday. She agreed, so I took them on a walk to the store. For the most part they behaved pretty well. Rosalinda turned 12 on Friday and Yensi & Coco will be 11 on Monday.
After the store, I headed home and worked on Saturday's blog. The electricity was STILL out, so I checked the power on the laptop to see if it was sufficient to use the laptop without the cord. It said there was about 27% power to the battery. I quickly typed up the blog and posted the link to Facebook. Within 30 seconds of posting to Facebook, the computer died. WHEW! About 10 minutes after that point, the power came back on. This electricity problem is pretty common here, but is the first time it's happened since I've been here this year, so we've been pretty lucky. I can still remember back to one of the first years I was here when it was out the morning I had to pack & leave. It's not fun packing in complete darkness & HOPING you've got everything!
I noticed that the Christian fiction book series that I started last year was on the shelf...not the books that I had actually read last year (they were gone), but what was on the shelf were the books where I had left off. When I went back home last year, I continued reading through the series (by Karen Kingsbury) and then life got pretty busy with working as a full-time teacher, a part-time adjunct instructor and all of the other events that popped up along the way (Andres tearing his ACL, etc). But like I said, the books that I still haven't read...IN ORDER are sitting on the shelf right now!...and just at a time when my the last book I bought is finishing up.
After reading a chapter or two, I began making the guacamole for supper. When that was ready to go, I set it aside and began the huevos rancheros. Kimberly made the tortillas that she worked so hard to learn to make last week. Zue made an awesome rice. About 7pm, Brandy came over with little Lydia and we sat down to eat. I got so many comments on the guacamole (Caroline LOVED it!) and on the huevos rancheros (it was probably the crema that Kimberly had bought to put over it). We all had a great time and we all overate tremendously. We ended up staying up until around 10pm or slightly later chatting and saying our goodbyes to Caroline. We'll miss her!
When I got to the clinic, Joche was already up, showered, dressed, and fed. That meant it was my job to sweep & mop the clinic, and to change the bedding and get it in the washer and the washer started. When I was caught up with the morning clinic chores, I sat down and read the Bible to Joche. My Bible is in Spanish, so he sat very quietly and listened intently. After about a 1/2 hour of reading, we colored pictures together before Kelsey came to relieve me.
Like I mentioned above, I was all ready to head to church, so hurried there and they were just finishing up singing praises. The power had gone out before I had went to the clinic, and was still out...so all instruments were being played "naturally". They were using the piano rather than the keyboards, the guitars were all acoustic rather than electric. The did not have the projection system to help those of us who might not know all of the words to the Spanish songs (or help the children who can read, but may not know the words to the English songs). But it was all good and sounded well nonetheless! Andres gave me a hard time for arriving late, but I let him know that I KNEW I'd be late because I wasn't scheduled to get relieved from the clinic until 9am (when church starts between 8:30 and 8:45). So I had a valid reason for "sneaking in" after the start of church.
After church, I returned to the house and we discussed the needs for groceries for throwing a farewell dinner for Caroline this evening. It's been pretty common over the years I've been here for the girls to get together and have a big dinner when a volunteer who has been here a while leaves, especially if they've had a big impact on the other girls in the house. I don't know exactly how long Caroline's been here (most of the summer?), but she's just an AWESOME girl with a heart completely for Jesus! I am glad that I had the chance to meet her & get to know her. I'll get back to the dinner in a bit.
When my "grocery list" for this evening was written down, I headed out to watch the Maryland volunteers play soccer with the big girls in the yard just beneath us. Andres was the goalie (he's been playing a lot of soccer this weekend, and I've been praying for the strength of his knee because he left his brace back at home). I don't know how the score ended, but the teams were fairly evenly distributed. One of the big milestones of today was that Nicole remembered my name! Nicole is a special needs child who tends to only say her name to others with not much other conversation. I was excited that she said my name out loud without prompting. :-)
I headed to the yard on the other side of the volunteer house where the little girls were playing and asked Danny if I could treat Rosalinda, Yensi and Coco to a soda at the store because it was their birthday. She agreed, so I took them on a walk to the store. For the most part they behaved pretty well. Rosalinda turned 12 on Friday and Yensi & Coco will be 11 on Monday.
After the store, I headed home and worked on Saturday's blog. The electricity was STILL out, so I checked the power on the laptop to see if it was sufficient to use the laptop without the cord. It said there was about 27% power to the battery. I quickly typed up the blog and posted the link to Facebook. Within 30 seconds of posting to Facebook, the computer died. WHEW! About 10 minutes after that point, the power came back on. This electricity problem is pretty common here, but is the first time it's happened since I've been here this year, so we've been pretty lucky. I can still remember back to one of the first years I was here when it was out the morning I had to pack & leave. It's not fun packing in complete darkness & HOPING you've got everything!
I noticed that the Christian fiction book series that I started last year was on the shelf...not the books that I had actually read last year (they were gone), but what was on the shelf were the books where I had left off. When I went back home last year, I continued reading through the series (by Karen Kingsbury) and then life got pretty busy with working as a full-time teacher, a part-time adjunct instructor and all of the other events that popped up along the way (Andres tearing his ACL, etc). But like I said, the books that I still haven't read...IN ORDER are sitting on the shelf right now!...and just at a time when my the last book I bought is finishing up.
After reading a chapter or two, I began making the guacamole for supper. When that was ready to go, I set it aside and began the huevos rancheros. Kimberly made the tortillas that she worked so hard to learn to make last week. Zue made an awesome rice. About 7pm, Brandy came over with little Lydia and we sat down to eat. I got so many comments on the guacamole (Caroline LOVED it!) and on the huevos rancheros (it was probably the crema that Kimberly had bought to put over it). We all had a great time and we all overate tremendously. We ended up staying up until around 10pm or slightly later chatting and saying our goodbyes to Caroline. We'll miss her!
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