Things Are Starting to Come Together..

"Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great things among you'" (Joshua 3:5).

The view of the Parroquia from Instituto Allende, a nearby art school

End of week three! Thanks again to everyone for your support and your prayers. It has been so wonderful to be able to stay in touch with everyone through amazing technologies like Gmail, Skype and Blogger--and also through mainstays such as telephone and snail mail. I feel as if you all are my "great cloud of witnesses" cheering me on in all that I do.

This week started out a bit bumpy--stomach problems adjusting to the food and the water here, and the kids acting up a lot, fighting, making messes, being disrespectful and creating an environment of chaos. And yet, by today, something changed! My stomach problems have resolved (Pepto Bismol tablets have seriously saved me) and by the grace of God the past two days have been much more manageable with the boys.

L to R: Fernando, Ángel, Dayron, Erik, Jair and Juan Pablo

Mondays the kids wear all white and gather in the patio area to salute the Mexican flag, singing the national anthem. This is done all through elementary school through high school. White, though? Perhaps not the best color for two year olds to be wearing. Needless to say, it's a good thing that every day before they're picked up we change the kids into a fresh pair of clean clothes, use a wet wipe on their faces and gel up their hair. :)

Get more of a flavor of the craziness

I am learning that each day is different, and you just have to roll with the punches. The kids each bring their own temperaments and you never know how it's going to go. On Tuesday, right off the bat I knew it was going to be challenging. Isaí, the man from the orphanage who drops off the boys, said that in the van Erik, Ángel and Fernando were fighting. They were like bulls waiting to enter the stadium. Needless to say, I came home that day and soundly fell asleep, absolutely exhausted and wondering how I was going to get through the next two months.

Ángel and Fernando looking out of the classroom window to the patio

And yet the past two days have been completely different! As I've been praying through feeling frustrated with the boys' behavior and being overwhelmed at how incredibly mischevious they can be, getting into nearly everything possible, I really think the Lord has provided me the love I need for each day when I ask him--enough love to be able to be more lighthearted, to laugh away the spilled drinks and thrown tortillas, and to take joy in the boys.

Juan Pablo and Fernando at Juarez Park

Today, like two weeks ago, we went to Juarez Park. Erik, pretending that piles of sand were cinnamon cakes, actually tried to ingest some. Luckily, Marisol caught him and had him spit it out. "¡Uácala!" (the equivalent of "ick," from what I've gathered) she exclaimed as grit mixed with spit dribbled down his chin. Juan Pablo and Fernando "rode" the turtle statue, headed towards Juan Pablo's house. Ángel commenced in peeing in broad daylight rather than holding it in until we made the trek back to the daycare.

The other day I came across Joshua 3:5, and I've decided that it's going to be one of my theme verses for my time here. I want to keep in mind that each day--whether it be a crazy one or a 'manageable' one--holds its own blessings from the Lord in the form of fleeting moments. I am trying my hardest to treasure up each of those fleeting moments, whether it be a big ol' grin from Fer when I tease him, kicking a ball back and forth with Juan Pablo, or a hug and a kiss from Dayron at the end of the day. I am doing holy work in a holy place--holy because the Lord is there, holy because the Lord is at work. God is working, doing great things among ALL of us, and in all places. We just need to pray for him to help us see!

Sightseeing Photos and Prayer Requests

End of week two! Whew!

Sightseeing

Sunday I took a bus ride out to el Santuario Atotonilco with one of the other American volunteers, Jennifer, who is going to be down here for another couple of weeks. Since there is so much tourism in these parts, many of these holy places have been turned into corrals of people with cameras in hand, talking amongst each other. I was hoping to find a place nearby to pray, but looks like that might not be the case! Oh well.

Today, after venturing to the Jardín in the center of town to pick up a copy of Atención, the local newspaper, I happened upon el Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramirez (a.k.a. Bellas Artes). It was empty and tranquil, and some students were practicing classical guitar and piano upstairs. It's located next to the church called "Las Monjas" and used to be a convent, but now offers art classes and opens its galleries to the public for viewing. It was definitely a "find"--it just transports you to another place, away from the barking dogs and the noise of trucks barrelling through.

Hogar de los Ángeles

With nearly all the kids at the Santa Julia location out with varicela still, I've decided to just stay at the original center with Marisol's two-year old class. This week has been a lot less glorious and a lot more 'real'--poop on the floor, two puking episodes, peeing of the pants, food fights.. It's actually been pretty exhausting, and sometimes I feel at the point of losing patience. How do parents do it? :)

L to R: Ángel, Fernando, Erik

Although most of the children come from single-mother, working families, the above three boys are an exception. All three live in Casa Hogar Don Bosco, which is an orphanage run by Dominican nuns.

Ángel: Ángel, as a baby, was found abandoned by the highway, and to this day has an acute fear of cars. Early on I noticed signs of delayed development and symptoms of what might be mild Tourette's syndrome: muscle twitches, arm flapping, always having something in his mouth, screaming for no reason and limited verbal expression and affect. Later on I found out that he is really five years old, but in the two-year old class. Marisol described him as torpe (clumsy), and many times he has spilled things, hit or harmed others on accident. However, he is a very happy child, laughing. His favorite thing to do is make clear which things are his and which things belong to others, "Mío. ¿Es tuyo? ¿Tuyo?"

Fernando: Fernando is also old to be in the class, four instead of two. He comes from a family of five children, all in the orphanage system because their mother is an alcoholic and cannot care for them. He is still being potty trained, and has had three accidents since I've first met him. At times he can be very disobedient and grosero (rude), throwing his socks at me during changing time, lifting his hand up to hit peers or teachers when he doesn't like what is being said to him. Yet, it seems to me that what he needs most is some TLC, some uplifting words and a gentle touch. "Todos necesitan cariño. Todos," (They all need affection, all of them) Marisol said to me today, when telling me more about the three.

Erik: Erik, I have to say, has been one of my favorites from the get-go. For awhile his grandparents were caring for him, but they got too old so they had to put him up for adoption. His younger sister lives in the girls' orphanage, Casa Hogar Santa Julia, and goes to the other daycare, but it seems like he does not get to see her very much. I would say that Erik is the most well-adjusted of the three, interacting well with his peers and on-track developmentally. He is just too cute! I can recognize his voice from far away now or if I'm in another room.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for Ángel, Fernando and Erik--for their adoptive situations, that they would be cared for well, that they would grow up to be strong, healthy, happy boys.

Please pray that I would be able to love and treasure these children in a way that would please the Lord. There are definitely trying moments, though, so this is no small task! I want to see my time with these kids as a gift, and to appreciate every little thing, every little blessing.

Please also pray that I would be able to connect more with the mothers of the other children and earn their trust. One of the biggest things I wanted to do was to be able to get to know the mothers--not just the kids. Please pray for opportunities to talk with them!

Thanks again for all of your support! I love hearing from all of you.

Hoy fuimos al parque

A week has already flown by! Above is a picture of the main patio area and classroom of Hogar de los Ángeles in Colonia San Antonio. It's only a block away from where I live! There are two daycare centers--(1) the original in San Antonio and (2) the new center in Santa Julia, which opened in 2008. My work this summer will be split between the two.

(1) Mondays and Tuesdays I will be at the old center in San Antonio. The class that I volunteer in houses the two year-olds (who, thankfully, are all potty trained, save one) with Marisol--a warm and welcoming woman who has been working at the center for three years. It's a fun, rambuncious little group of eight boys and one girl. It's been awhile since I've worked with such young kids, so I wasn't anticipating so much fighting and crying. ¡Él me pegó! (He hit me!) is a commonly used phrase by the kids. The victim, who often cries more for the attention than because of the pain, is often consoled with No llores, no pasa nada. (Don't cry, nothing's going on.)

(2) Wednesdays and Thursdays I will be at the new center in Santa Julia, also working with two year olds. The teacher I am assisting is named Lola, and she has been working at the daycare since it's beginning ten years ago. She is a seasoned veteran, very good at what she does. The kids there I haven't had the chance to get to know as well. This Wednesday a boy named Chema started showing signs of maricela (chicken pox) and by Thursday, all had contracted it as well and were sent home with their mothers.

(1/2) Fridays I alternate with the two centers, accompanying them for field trip day, which brings me to today! Today the San Antonio daycare made the trek out to Parque Juarez, where the kids seemed to have a grand old time kicking around plastic inflated balls and enjoying the play toys.

Although it's only been a week, the personalities of each child have all come out. Let me introduce you to one!

Juan Pablo

Juan Pablo made an impression on me since day one. Every Monday the children wear all white in honor of the bandera (flag). They conduct a ceremony, saluting and singing songs about it. Well, given that these are two year olds, mind you, all the kids in Marisol's class managed to get pretty dirty before lunch was even served. It was decided that the kids needed to be changed into new clothes, but the trick was that Marisol had to go around to the classrooms scrounging for spare clothes that were around. As I mentioned earlier, the boy-girl ratio highly favors boys, so it happened that some of the boys had to wear girls' clothing. Juan Pablo was one of those boys. For the rest of the day he wore a bright hot-pink t-shirt with white overalls with small flowers decorating it. Every time I saw him playing I just cracked up a little inside; since he's got such long eyelashes, those clothes really brought out his feminine side.

My favorite thing about Juan Pablo, though, is when it's changing time (Tuesday through Friday the mom's pack a spare change of clothes to put on before pick-up). To make sure the kids stay still, Marisol puts in a movie (all week long it has been the same one: Mulan dubbed in Spanish). The kids are sitting in a line in their little metal chairs, finishing up their agua (melon, mango or pineapple blended with water and sugar) after lunch. I just could not get over how captivated Juan Pablo was by the movie. That's him in the second picture, eyes wide and unblinking, mouth open. As I lifted his shirt over his head to put on his clean one he didn't take his eyes off the screen. Man, it's hilarious.

There's so much more to say, but I'll leave it to another day. I leave you with a clip of two of the boys, Erik and Emilio, playing around as they wait to get picked up. You can hear the voice of Marisol saying No, no peleen (No, don't fight)--another handy phrase.