New Neighbors

Today is Friday!  That means it's time for Big Circle.  I was hoping that Alina, Noah and Kaylyn could enjoy big circle (it would be Kaylyn's first time), however they were not ready by the time it began, so they got the same treatment as children here...they were locked into their room and had to listen to it through the window.  Big Circle happens right outside of our room since there's a big open space for all of them to have a morning worship and devotion together...all the children from Emmanuel come this way, so I told our children that when they hear kids coming, they'd better be out front of our room as soon as they heard the 1st group arriving, because I would not allow them to be the last ones out front since they "live" the closest to where it happens.  I don't think they were happy with me about being locked in, but perhaps next Friday they will be ready on time.

Since I didn't have classes today and don't really have to prep for classes until early next week, I spent the day with the toddlers just like Alina and Kaylyn do.  The morning (after breakfast) was difficult for me.  We spent the entire morning in the chosa and sitting on the hard tile floors for 4.5 hours was tough on my "old" body.  I stood multiple times to stretch, but it was difficult.  The toddlers play a lot during this time and I played with them some.

Noah told me that he spent the morning painting a "garbage holder" (his words).  It's a wooden boxed in area to hold the garbage can, I'm assuming so that the dogs don't tip the garbage over in the middle of the night when they like to go through garbages.

After lunch, we went back to the room from 12-2pm.  This is when the toddlers nap, so I definitely decided to get an hour nap in too!  Alina napped as well, while Kaylyn did some word searches and read a book.  At 2 pm we went back to the toddler house to wake them up, get their shoes on and then take them to supper.  After supper, the toddlers get showered and into their jammies.  They went on a walk. 

Before they left for their walk, Mary Beth (a member of the staff here at Emmanuel) stopped by to chat with me about Luis David and how well he's doing here in the kitchen, and in general.  We chatted for quite a while and as we walked back to our houses, we actually saw Luis David coming back from playing soccer.  He was wearing the uniform I had sent him for Christmas!  Wish I would have had my camera because I would post it here.

When I got back to the room, Alina told me that Tammy had arrived...meaning we now have neighbors.  Tammy has a ranch back home, so when she comes this way, she works with Chino to help him improve what's going on here at the horse barn.  She was the one responsible for designing and helping get this new horse barn all set up.  I'll be excited to chat with her over the next few days.