We may have made a speed record for commercial travel today, even with our 250lbs of baggage! We left our house at 6:15 this morning and were greeted by the energetic babies and their scissors by 2:00PM this afternoon.
Scissors? We thought they might be making some sort of craft, but no they were just taking care of the small patch of grass that had grown up in their play area. So we helped move some of the playground equipment so they could all furiously snip back the well-watered grass.
Rachael saw Danni and reintroduced herself as Raquel, to which he replied “y Nate?”. I’m very glad that we’re highly recognized as a pair!
I walked into one of the babies’ rooms, looking for Rachael only to find her reading with Alejandra on the floor. It was good to see them jabbering away in Spanglish and to see Alejandra soak up some cuddle time.
Near the end of our day with the babies, we pulled out John & Emily’s gift of a digital photo frame, pre-loaded with 200 pictures of the babies and Americans together. This is what happens when someone generously gives a great gift:
Nice work John & Emily!
We got a cell phone and 130 minutes for $18 (it was more difficult than you’d expect since words like “reloadable” and “charger” weren’t previously a part of our Spanish vocabulary) before going out for a nice relaxing dinner. When we got back, Don Pedro had made up the room at the office that has been used for preschool; so we have a room to ourselves for the week and the interns who are here don’t have to be more cramped in their last week here!
One last fun story to pass along: Juan Pablo (John and Emily’s son) has decided to change his diet. When presented with the normal tortillas and beans, he refused to eat saying,” I’m an American and we don’t eat tortillas and beans.” To which Abi (the house mother) said, “You’re from Guatemala. Eat your tortillas and beans.” But that didn’t stop Juanpi, “My mommy and daddy are from the United States so that makes me an American!” So true, so true, JuanPi! We look forward to him coming home to be with Mami and Papi and discovering that even Americans have to eat their tortillas and beans.
Pray that we would manage our time here well so that we can show these kids love and communicate it well back to all the people who are praying for and loving them back home!
So pumped you arrived safely & got to dive right in with the kids, & their scissors & yard clipping. Always an adventure, right? Praying for your requests this morning. God is providing as we pray.