Chocolate-Covered Frozen Bananas (with Sprinkles!) on a Stick

This morning officially began our month of working at Orphanage Emmanuel.  We have to leave our room by 5:30am in order to make it over to the medium boys house by 5:40.  Their schedule has changed since last year and their day begins MUCH earlier.  The boys have also changed houses, so the medium boys are no longer in the dorm next to the dental clinic (the farthest dorm from us), but they are in the newest male dorm, which used to be the dorm belonging to the grandecitos (boys ages 13-15).  Alina headed to the toddler house to begin her day since she is a teenage girl and it is not really appropriate for her to be with us and the boys.  She has been working on her own for the past 3 years, since Noah has been here.  I thank God that she has shown herself very trustworthy and as a hard worker.

After circle, we all walked to breakfast in the Comedor (dining hall).  Since Alina is with the toddlers this year, she also goes to the Comedor, so we will see her for each meal there.  When she was with the babies the past 2 years, they remained in the baby house, so we rarely saw her during the day.  After breakfast, the children no longer go back to their houses...they go straight to school.  School begins around 7:30am now (instead of 8:30).  When they went into their classrooms, Noah headed out on errands with Moncho and I headed back to our room to do some final preparations before heading back to the school to teach calculus at 9:20.  The hour and a half lesson was on definite integrals and went fairly well.  After math class, we headed back to the Comedor for lunch.

On Wednesdays, volunteers are allowed to go into town for groceries or any other things they may need to buy (more time/GB on their phone chips, etc).  We headed into Guaimaca with Chris and Rebecca Miller to stock up on some groceries.  I felt like our list was not that long, but the heavy load that we had to carry on the way back to Orphanage Emmanuel said completely the opposite.  For the past few years, we have generally stopped at a store which sells various treats, including my kids' favorite - chocolate-covered frozen bananas with sprinkles on a stick.  I've included a picture below of what they look like (although these were not actually their bananas). 

When we got back to Emmanuel, we put the groceries away and then I had to take about a half hour nap before working on the math lessons for tomorrow.  In no time at all, it was time for supper in the Comedor and then time to go to church.  A man from the Georgia team gave the sermon about Jesus stepping in when we really need it and basically saying, "Don't worry, I've got this."  After church, the 3 Miller children (actually they're teenagers who are Alina and Noah's age) came over to play games with Alina and Noah in the kitchen.  Then we headed to bed.

A picture of the church at Emmanuel - taken by Noah