This morning "Circle" was held in the Comedor. With all of the rains, I am guessing this will become a bit more common. Felipe talked about who God is, and when he posed the question a child came forward to answer that He is the Creator of the universe. Felipe said that was good, but that God was so much more! So he continued to ask who God is. When no other children wanted to answer, Dunia volunteered and recited verses she knew where God said He is the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End, and continued on with a more in depth description of who God is so that all could absorb His Being. After the lesson, Andi played the guitar and led the orphanage in praises to God.
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| The Big Girls reciting their verses (David - "Papi" is in blue) |
After breakfast, I walked with the toddlers to their house to spend time with them before school started. We were in the sala and the TV was on as we waited. Brithany came over to sit next to me and a few others came and left, so we enjoyed taking a few pictures together before heading to the school. The 10th graders have their big math test today, so I will be interested to find how how they did.
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| Mateo, Camila and Me |
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| Mateo, Brithany (tongue out), Abi and Me |
When the toddlers were all situated in school, I headed back to the Girls Volunteer House, but met Graciela along the way. She told me that she was frustrated with the girls in the house she is in charge of...the big girls. That last night, the tia kept calling her because the girls would not settle down and they were throwing things, even their sandals to the point that they had broken just about all of the light bulbs on the first floor of their house. They are constantly misbehaving, and she is at a loss about what to do because there are limitations on punishment (jsut like there are limitations in the States with foster children). Honestly in the moment, I didn't have any ideas for her and I could only listen...but I did tell her that if I could help her in any way, she just needed to let me know. Little did I know in the moment that she would take me up on that offer later in the day.
I saw that Noah was over at the hotel working again, so since I didn't get pictures yesterday, I decided to head over to get pictures so that those who are interested in seeing Emmanuel's "hotel accommodations" could get a glimpse on the construction progress.
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| Coming into the hotel |
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| One of the bigger hotel rooms |
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| Bathroom under construction |
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| Bathroom under construction |
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| A smaller hotel room |
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| Living room area of the hotel |
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| Dining area of the hotel |
I decided to get more steps in and walk the "long way" back to the Volunteer House, and I saw some decorations down at the elementary school on my way, so I decided to stop in. They were having a science fair. Nora was there (she spends the day in the elementary school helping out the teachers in any way she can since she is going into early childhood education). We chatted for a bit and then Raleigh came out and asked me if I would like to be a judge for the science fair...I was pretty excited to oblige! I was given an official folder as well as a scoring sheet to work through as I saw each experiment being presented. There was a group from each grade (1-6) that participated with their experiment in the science fair. They had to introduce us to the members of their group, to their experiment, tell us the materials they needed, and then report the process as well as carry it out. Each group had a poster with all of this information on it. The first group to judge was 1st through 3rd grade, and the interesting part was that the 3 of us judges (Raleigh, the kindergarten teacher and I) had all picked a different grade to win, so we added our total points and the 2nd grade class ended up being the overall winners. For the 4th through 6th grade competition, the 3 of us judges were unanimous in picking the 6th graders as the winning science fair experiment. At the end of the science fair, we were presented with official judging certificates!
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| Elementary School Science Fair |
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| My official judging folder |
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| Judging scoring sheet |
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| The elementary school children waiting for the science fair presentations |
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| 2nd grade - winners of lower elementary school fair (Raleigh is in black to the right) |
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| Poster and presentation for 5th grade |
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| 5th grade experiment |
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| 6th grade experiment (Lava Lamp) |
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| My judging certificate |
While in the Comedor for lunch, Graciela came over to ask me to do the Ensenanza (Bible study) this afternoon for the big girls. I knew she was stressed and she said that if she were to do it, her anger might come through in the lesson and that would definitely not be a good way to go through Ensenanza. I let her know I'd be happy to prepare a lesson for the girls, so I spent the afternoon working through a lesson on obedience and self-control. I had the girls read the following verses: Eph.6:1, Col.3:20, Ex.20:12, John 14:23, Lev.18:4 and 2 John 1:8. We talked about Martin Luther's
"What Does This Mean?" to the commandment "Honor thy father and mother so that it shall go well with you", which is "We should fear and love God, so that we do not despise our parents or superiors (others in authority), nor provoke them to anger, but honor, serve, obey love and esteem them." That Graciela is doing all that God charges her with...working hard to raise the girls in this Big Girl House in the ways of God, and they are called to honor that. We talked about decisions, that the girls being teenagers are at the point where they are wanting to make their own decisions and know the difference between good and bad...meaning they will have to either reap the benefits or the consequences of their decisions/actions. And as parents, we have to give out the consequences or the rewards to various decisions our children make. To encourage positive behavior, at the very end of the lesson, I gave Graciela a bag of the Mexican chili-coated suckers in front of the girls. And I told the girls that this can be ONE reward that Graciela gives out, perhaps only one at a time, probably not any time soon...but as time goes on as she sees good decisions being made. Maybe they don't get one today, or tomorrow. Maybe it takes 8 months. Maybe in that time Graciela eats them all herself. That would be completely up to the girls and the decisions they make.
These suckers are something the kids have come to know over time. I began bringing them down in 2008 and have brought them down every year since. You cannot get them down here. The kids enjoy them so much that as my own kids came down, I turned handing them out over to my kids. The only place where I give suckers out is in the school as prizes for games we play every once in a while. So Graciela having an entire bag of 40 suckers (I only brought 3 bags down this trip) is a BIG DEAL. Will the girls from her house get them? Will she give them out to others? Who knows? Only time will tell.
When it was time for supper, I went back to the house to grab the socks and underwear and bras I had brought down for the grandecitas, grandecitos, and pequenos houses. I turned them over to the ones in charge of that house to distribute as needed. Orphanage Emmanuel has their own website...they have had an online presence since before I began coming in 2008. And always on their "We need" list, is undergarments and socks. Sometimes that can be an "after thought" for many who send down clothes, so there is always a shortage. Feel free to head to their website to see a list of needs if you are thinking of sending things down on a container. If you are not quite sure how to donate, ask me and I can get you hooked up!
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| Typical meal at Emmanuel in the Comedor |
After supper, Anna and Olivia headed to the Small Girls House to do a sleepover. Their days are winding down (headed back on Monday), so they want to make the most of each day and night. And I used the time to chat with Nora for about an hour before we both turned in for the night.
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