Precious Moments

I haven't written about the past a few days, because they have been quite uneventful. Don't get me wrong, every moment with the children is a gift from God, but nothing huge has happened. Madre Ivonne took some of the staff and the older girls to the water park, so it has been a lot more peaceful around here as well as a lot less dishes to clean. I have been helping out in the kitchen, preparing and cleaning up with the girls who stayed behind. They gain so much discipline from washing the dishes by hand, in front of a fully funcional industrial-sized dishwasher. I have had many a great conversation over the soap and water.

I have taken advantage of this time with the little ones. Juaquin and I have been having "english lessons." Today we did animals. This is a video of him sharing his knowledge of colors in english (with preteen comentary, one being his sister).

Due to inclement weather here in Guatemala City, we have been watching movies for the past 3 days straight. Balto, Sleeping Beauty, Chavo (my nephews in Ecuador loved Chavito!!), Barbie's the princess and the pauper (the songs are hilarious in spanish), and Narnia. I observe the kids more than watch the movie myself. It is a great way to see the children's personalities. For example, when we watched Narnia, some of the boys were lions, and others were really into the war scenes--maybe a little too much. It was thundering and lightening out, and little Edgar curled up in my arms to be sheltered from the storm; he is so precious. It was fantastic discussing the religious symbolism in Narnia with Azlan and the 2 women, etc. with a few of the older girls. When we watched Barbie, I asked a lot of the girls who they liked better Erika or Anneliese. Most said they liked Erika better because she worked hard. These are 6 yr olds telling me they would rather be a hard-working regular girl than a princess! Of course if you sit on the floor, you have set yourself up to be a bean bag chair. The little ones have very little attention span, and a lot of energy, so they were climbing and jumping all over me. This is the way they love...can't complain. It was cute though, once they calmed down, I had three of them on top of me, one in each arm and the third in the middle, all three holding on to each other. I wish I had a picture of that.

I played lots of games this morning. Monica, another volunteer, some of the girls, and I played some intense fooseball. After what seemed like 100 rounds, I played Monopoly-tourist edition, memory, and their version of connect 4 (all of which I was humbly defeated). It is amazing how creative these children are. We played with foam letters that are intended to be used for arts and crafts. We played this sort of bananagrams with it. Then because we couldn't find an "L" one of the girls gave me an "R" because I have an r in my name haha.

I have been spending a lot of time with a little boy who is diagnosed with a disease (perhaps cerebral palsy--thanks to Emily Eisenberg to scratching her brain 'til she helped me remember. TE QUIERO MUCHO) that affects his brain as well as his mobility. God bless him, the doctors didn't expect him to ever walk, but lo and behold, the kid gets around! So many miracles take place at the hogar! It has been interesting learning his language so to speak. If you put your hand out to him, he will take it, and sometimes squeeze, giving his fingers a break from always being twisted together. He has such a heart-warming smile that just makes me melt (of course never on cue with a camera), when you play with him. He may not play and speak like the other children, but he is a child of God who loves and deserves to be just as loved as all the rest. Here is a picture of him and missionary Gina from the day we went to the hot pools. He had a great time!

Anya and John, relatives of my parish priest and matushka back home in Stroudsburg, arrived last night. They will be here with me until the end of the summer. Anya has been here several times before, and has a good repoire with the nuns and the children. It was great to see the kids smother their old friend in hugs and kisses.

I look forward to Madre and the girls returning. I like it better when its loud inside and the walls are filled with laughter and chattter rather than focusing on the outside where you can hear every gun shot and honking horn. We haven't had any communal prayer either--just personal prayer in our individual rooms. I miss it. I miss getting up at 8am (I usually eat oatmeal in my room instead of a big breakfast of beans and rice) to the sound of the hammer against the semantron hailing us to the church. I miss the echoes of the children's communal thanks to God. I miss everything about it...and to think they have only been gone 3 days; what is it going to be like when I go back to Huntingdon where there is a service once a week! May God give me the strength when that time comes.