After a really long couple days of traveling, including a missed flight, an unexpected 8-hour bus ride, a delayed flight and sprinting through the Miami airport, we made it safely home to Minneaplis last night at about 11:45pm.
It was an emotional goodbye with all of the kids, including lots of tears from us and them and now we're just trying to readjust to life back home. Keep reading for news of our next big plan...Love you all!!!!
Quote of the night: "Mam I have left 5 sunflower seeds in the bottom of the bag and I'm going to offer them to you in symbolization of the 5 fingers of the hand I'm about to extend to you in gratification of your services."
-Arielle, to our stewardess on our last flight
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Last Day...
Hey Everyone,
It was a really strange feeling waking up this morning and knowing this is our last day at the orphanage. Not only is it the last day at Hogar de Esperanza, but it is our last day of this whole journey. It is truly hard to put into words what it feels like. We have been with the most amazing children for the past 8 months, everyday, in 3 amazing locations. We have been surrounded by love and have been blessed in literally millions of ways. God has been SO GOOD to us and we are so thankful for that.
We haven't been home in a long time, haven't seen our families or friends or been in our homes. We haven't driven a car or even worn a seatbelt since we have left. We haven't had a good piece of meat, milk, or Diet Coke (except once in Haiti!). We have washed our hair with Pert Plus (our hair is now disgusting!) and brought our own toilet paper everywhere we go (they don't just have it in bathrooms). We have worn the same 3 outfits for 8 months, been constantly dirty, and almost always tired. We have also met God's most amazing children in Uganda, Haiti anda Peru. We have made friends everywhere we have gone and have seen some of the most incredible things. We have had soooo much fun and the time of our lives!!! What will it be like for us to go home? Honestly, it's going to be hard. For one, we will miss each other!!! We are such a married couple and after spending 24 hours a day forever together, we still have the BEST times! Second, we will be completely broken-hearted for these kids. Not just the ones we leave today, but for the babies in Haiti and back in Uganda too. They will FOREVER be in our hearts and prayers and we will think of them everyday...literally, we will. We will live and breathe for news about them until we can go work with orphans again. Pray for us as we transition back into American life. Oh, but don't worry, we'll be back in Uganda before we can be too sad!
Keep reading the blog, it's not over yet...
To all of our readers...thank you so much for following us and supporting us so far on our journey! It means so much to us that people are reading our updates and have been nothing but encouraging and supportive- that is another blessing to us!
We'll be in the good ol' U S of A tomorrow night at 10:45pm. We'll let you know we made it home- but probably through tears (FYI: We both (but especially Rachel) don't do well with goodbyes or change)!
It was a really strange feeling waking up this morning and knowing this is our last day at the orphanage. Not only is it the last day at Hogar de Esperanza, but it is our last day of this whole journey. It is truly hard to put into words what it feels like. We have been with the most amazing children for the past 8 months, everyday, in 3 amazing locations. We have been surrounded by love and have been blessed in literally millions of ways. God has been SO GOOD to us and we are so thankful for that.
We haven't been home in a long time, haven't seen our families or friends or been in our homes. We haven't driven a car or even worn a seatbelt since we have left. We haven't had a good piece of meat, milk, or Diet Coke (except once in Haiti!). We have washed our hair with Pert Plus (our hair is now disgusting!) and brought our own toilet paper everywhere we go (they don't just have it in bathrooms). We have worn the same 3 outfits for 8 months, been constantly dirty, and almost always tired. We have also met God's most amazing children in Uganda, Haiti anda Peru. We have made friends everywhere we have gone and have seen some of the most incredible things. We have had soooo much fun and the time of our lives!!! What will it be like for us to go home? Honestly, it's going to be hard. For one, we will miss each other!!! We are such a married couple and after spending 24 hours a day forever together, we still have the BEST times! Second, we will be completely broken-hearted for these kids. Not just the ones we leave today, but for the babies in Haiti and back in Uganda too. They will FOREVER be in our hearts and prayers and we will think of them everyday...literally, we will. We will live and breathe for news about them until we can go work with orphans again. Pray for us as we transition back into American life. Oh, but don't worry, we'll be back in Uganda before we can be too sad!
Keep reading the blog, it's not over yet...
To all of our readers...thank you so much for following us and supporting us so far on our journey! It means so much to us that people are reading our updates and have been nothing but encouraging and supportive- that is another blessing to us!
We'll be in the good ol' U S of A tomorrow night at 10:45pm. We'll let you know we made it home- but probably through tears (FYI: We both (but especially Rachel) don't do well with goodbyes or change)!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Ice Cream Social
Our Peruvian kiddos and us...we love them so much!
When we returned from our little vacation to Cajamarca yesterday at 4:45 am, we felt panicked about leaving these kids. In the 2 days we were gone, we missed them soooo much! We are always busy here, planning and preparing for special events or classroom activities or things we will do with our houses when we are moms, and felt like we needed to do just one more big thing with all the kids. The kids love helado (ice cream) so we decided to do a big ice cream party. We had 2 giant tubs of chocolate chip ice cream and fudge, mini marshmallows, crushed up oreos, and gummy bears to put on top. It was a surprise before homework time so the kids were thrilled to come in and make bug sundaes. The funny thing was they had never made sundaes before so most of them came up to get their ice cream and turned to leave. We had to explain that they could put toppings on...they loved it! All the adults loved the ice cream too and Melva loved the fudge so much she had to come back up 2 times for more. It was lots of fun...we love to spoil these kids!!!!!!!!!
Kindergarten Graduation
We had kindergarten graduation when we returned on Friday. It was more of a "thanks for participating in class" but they all looked so cute in their caps and gowns. You wouldn't believe how proud they were when we handed them their "diploma" and took their picture. Graduations are a big deal here and they have all seen their house "brothers or sisters" wear a cap and gown so it was really fun for them. We had special treats and juice boxes and made each child balloon animals...mostly they were just lame hats or a sword but they loved them. We both LOVED teaching this class and could definately see ourselves doing more of this in the future.
Zuleica with her house mommy, Rocio. Zu Zu has changed so much in the 2 months we've been here. She smiles so much more and is crawling tons.
The madres were sooo excited to see their kids in their graduation gear. They all ran to get their cameras and wanted to pose with their kindergarten grads. This is Sarita with her boys Chito and Jose David. Jose David spent most of kindergarten pushing plasitc chairs around the room, making giant loud echo-y noises. Chito loved books, but his favorite part of class was snack time!
Jhonatan is a little ball of fire! He throws the greatest fits of all time. At least once each day during class he would throw his whole body on the floor and lay on his back and scream...we ask him if he would like to go back to his casa, and through giant gasps for air he'll say, "no, tia." We say are you done crying, "si, tia," and it's all okay again. While it is sometimes a little trying, it's mostly hilarious and it makes us love him even more. 
Our brightest student...Yen. Yen is the only child to correctly name at least 4 colors. Oh, and he can also identify circles. He loves to learn and gets really into crafts and puzzles.
Our class photo...Front row: (L to R) Erika, Zuleica, Jose David. Back row: Tia Rachel, Jhonatan, Chito, Yen, Tia Arielle
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Smiley-cake Breakfast
Pablo's Pancakes! We were up this morning at 5:30 whippin' up pancakes for the whole gang. We got some music going and put on our famous sombreros and, surprisingly, had lots of energy...it was so much fun!
Smiley Cakes! (Banana eyes, orange nose, apple mouth)
Turning the pancakes into smiley-cakes
Pancakes for all the kids at 6:30am!!!
"Tia, Rico! (yummy)" -Yen
The staff after having pancakes...minus the smiles for them.Monday, May 14, 2007
Busy busy busy...taking a final break
We've been soooooooo busy lately, planning event after event after event! We are cramming as much fun as possible into our last week here!
We sent one of the house moms, Sarita, and her husband, Hugo, out on a date the other night. They are the cutest couple in the world and work so hard with their 12 boys. We wanted to do something special for them, so we gave them money to go out to a nice dinner and then stayed in their house for the night. So of course we had to do something special for the boys too. After dinner we brought them all into the chapel and had popcorn, pop and cookies while watching a movie. The boys in this house are so well behaved and sweet but we let them get a little crazy during the movie, running around and making a giant popcorn mess. They were angels though and we had a great night with them. Sarita and Hugo came back beaming after their date together and they even got to see Spiderman 3, which Hugo really wanted to see!
We really love the staff here and have become close with 2 of the house moms, Rocio and Yulissa. We sometimes hang out at night and can communicate quite well with each other through our broken English and their broken Spanish. They came up to our living area and we had chocolate fondue again (which they completely loved) and laughed a lot and watched a movie with them. They crack us up! They always laugh at our croc sandals and Rocio said they reminded her of "Jason" from Friday the 13th, because of his mask...how she made that connection, I don't know, but we all died laughing! We always have such a good time with them, and have laughed more with them than we have in a long time. They are really our true friends, and it will be so sad to leave them as well as the kids. Hanging out with them was after the boys party...after spending all weekend staying in houses. We were exhausted!
We also had the chance this week to visit a 'barrio' (a really poor village up in the sand dunes) with our missionary friends. The village was similar to the ones we have seen in Africa and Haiti in that the houses were made of concrete or mud or garbage bags, but it was very different in that they lived in just sand, like the kind you would see on a beach. Our friends work with the barrio, organizing activities and getting the chidlren sponsered so they can have meals each day, medical care, and attend school. We helped the children make Mother's Day cards and played tag with them in the sand. They were all pretty excited to have 'gringos' (white people) visiting, and we were happy to play with them too.
Anyways, we're off for 2 days to see some 'real' Peruvian culture in the Andes mountains to a town called Cajamarca. We are excited to see the classic Peruvian hats, colorful skirts and of course llamas. We just didn't feel right about being in Peru and not getting up to the mountains to experience a little more of the Peruvian culture. It was hard to decide to go and leave the kids for a couple days, but we just decided to go for it, because who knows when we will be back in Peru and we haven't left the orphanage at all since being here. We leave for a 6 hour bus ride at 10:30pm on Tues night and come home late Thursday.
We sent one of the house moms, Sarita, and her husband, Hugo, out on a date the other night. They are the cutest couple in the world and work so hard with their 12 boys. We wanted to do something special for them, so we gave them money to go out to a nice dinner and then stayed in their house for the night. So of course we had to do something special for the boys too. After dinner we brought them all into the chapel and had popcorn, pop and cookies while watching a movie. The boys in this house are so well behaved and sweet but we let them get a little crazy during the movie, running around and making a giant popcorn mess. They were angels though and we had a great night with them. Sarita and Hugo came back beaming after their date together and they even got to see Spiderman 3, which Hugo really wanted to see!
We really love the staff here and have become close with 2 of the house moms, Rocio and Yulissa. We sometimes hang out at night and can communicate quite well with each other through our broken English and their broken Spanish. They came up to our living area and we had chocolate fondue again (which they completely loved) and laughed a lot and watched a movie with them. They crack us up! They always laugh at our croc sandals and Rocio said they reminded her of "Jason" from Friday the 13th, because of his mask...how she made that connection, I don't know, but we all died laughing! We always have such a good time with them, and have laughed more with them than we have in a long time. They are really our true friends, and it will be so sad to leave them as well as the kids. Hanging out with them was after the boys party...after spending all weekend staying in houses. We were exhausted!
We also had the chance this week to visit a 'barrio' (a really poor village up in the sand dunes) with our missionary friends. The village was similar to the ones we have seen in Africa and Haiti in that the houses were made of concrete or mud or garbage bags, but it was very different in that they lived in just sand, like the kind you would see on a beach. Our friends work with the barrio, organizing activities and getting the chidlren sponsered so they can have meals each day, medical care, and attend school. We helped the children make Mother's Day cards and played tag with them in the sand. They were all pretty excited to have 'gringos' (white people) visiting, and we were happy to play with them too.
Anyways, we're off for 2 days to see some 'real' Peruvian culture in the Andes mountains to a town called Cajamarca. We are excited to see the classic Peruvian hats, colorful skirts and of course llamas. We just didn't feel right about being in Peru and not getting up to the mountains to experience a little more of the Peruvian culture. It was hard to decide to go and leave the kids for a couple days, but we just decided to go for it, because who knows when we will be back in Peru and we haven't left the orphanage at all since being here. We leave for a 6 hour bus ride at 10:30pm on Tues night and come home late Thursday.
Girls Fondue Party!
We had a party just for all the girls last night. We were house moms for one of the houses and had planned on doing another party for them, but decided it would be fun to include all the girls and have a big party in the chapel here at the orphanage. We did chocolate fondue and the girls went crazy for it! Of course there isn't a real fondue pot here, so we melted chocoate on the stove and kept it warm by putting the bowl in warm water. The girls got to dip bananas, grapes, vanilla cookies and marshmallows into the chocolate and many just enjoyed taking big spoonfuls plain. We set it up so there were 3 different tables so it wasn't just chaos, and each girl got a place setting with all of her food at her spot. After we finished with the fondue we danced on the chapel stage for a while. We did our pizza party dance for the girls again becuase they have been asking and asking and then we all danced together. The night ended with the girls snuggling up in front on the big tv to watch "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" in Spanish. We passed out popcorn and pop and believe it or not, everyone stayed awake for the whole movie...except for our youngest party guest, Zuleica. The party ended at 10:30...well after we told them it was time to calm down and get in bed. We all had such a great time and it was so fun to just hang out with the girls. We both agreed this was one of our best memories so far here. Of course every kids event has to have at least one fit and one spill- the fit of the night goes to Vanesa and Carolina for having an all out fight with a giant clump of hair coming out of Vanesa's head in the end. The spill goes to Karina who was handed a full glass of lemonade only to spill it all on her and Maria's laps just 2 seconds later. Luckily it was an all girls party, so the girls were comfortable to just take off their soaking wet jeans and sit under a blanket. The girls had such a great time and begged for the party to go on longer. Back at the house that we were working at, Karina picked up the invitation to the party that we had made and pretended to read, "Oh Tia, Fiesta! A la 7:30 hasta 11:30pm! (Auntie, Party! Starts at 7:30 and goes til 11:30!)" She was dead serious trying to convince us, but we immediately cracked up and she laughed too, going off to bed, pouting a bit, but still being happy with all the fun she had.Speed-air-mon Tres
We took 13 children to see Spiderman 3 in Spanish on Saturday while we were being housemoms. Eleven boys, ages 3-13 and a bonus of two girls, because Caroline (12) cried when we told her we were leaving next Sunday night, so we couldn't resist bringing her and a friend. We brought popcorn, juice boxes and chocolate covered cookies for everyone and took up over 2 rows between all of us. We spent most of the movie taking kids to and from the bathroom, but the kids really liked it and had a blast!
The pics are of the boys in the van on the way to the movie.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Poops to my mom! Love, Arielle
Happy Mother's Day Mom!
In honor of your day, I decided to make a list of just a few of the ways you have been the greatest mom ever over the last few years:
1. Waking up early, buying muffins, bagels, and juice, driving it all the way to Northfield, just to leave it on the porch with a balloon attached so my housemates and I could have a surprise Saturday morning breakfast
2. Staying up late into the night sewing random costumes for elementary school plays including a wizard, a bear, and a prairie girl dress
3. When I told you foods that sounded good to me in Africa, you brought them ALL to Chicago for me
4. Participating in the Senior Skit, complete with large grandma tourist hat, loud and proud Hawaiian print shirt, and bright red pants
5. "Rallying" for garage sales last summer and leaving at 5:30 in the morning with me to help work them
6. Putting together packages to send me while we were in Uganda and Haiti
7. Genuinely enjoying a homemade card or present just as much as store-bought, even when given by your 22-year-old daughter
8. For having my Easter basket, complete with Cadbury mini-eggs and other essential Easter candy ready and waiting for me when I get home
9. For not particularly enjoying sarcasm as a form of humor, but accepting that it is (probably a little too often) my humor of choice, and loving my anyways
10. For being nothing but unconditionally loving and supportive of me during the past 8 months- you have been so wonderful and I wouldn't be able to be doing what I'm doing right now without you!
I wish I were spending the day with you to show you how much your love, support, and encouragement means to me and how lucky I feel to have you as my mom, but know that I am thinking about you and loving you from Peru!
I love you, Grandma (I just thought you might need to get used to hearing it...!)!!!
Love,
Arielle
In honor of your day, I decided to make a list of just a few of the ways you have been the greatest mom ever over the last few years:
1. Waking up early, buying muffins, bagels, and juice, driving it all the way to Northfield, just to leave it on the porch with a balloon attached so my housemates and I could have a surprise Saturday morning breakfast
2. Staying up late into the night sewing random costumes for elementary school plays including a wizard, a bear, and a prairie girl dress
3. When I told you foods that sounded good to me in Africa, you brought them ALL to Chicago for me
4. Participating in the Senior Skit, complete with large grandma tourist hat, loud and proud Hawaiian print shirt, and bright red pants
5. "Rallying" for garage sales last summer and leaving at 5:30 in the morning with me to help work them
6. Putting together packages to send me while we were in Uganda and Haiti
7. Genuinely enjoying a homemade card or present just as much as store-bought, even when given by your 22-year-old daughter
8. For having my Easter basket, complete with Cadbury mini-eggs and other essential Easter candy ready and waiting for me when I get home
9. For not particularly enjoying sarcasm as a form of humor, but accepting that it is (probably a little too often) my humor of choice, and loving my anyways
10. For being nothing but unconditionally loving and supportive of me during the past 8 months- you have been so wonderful and I wouldn't be able to be doing what I'm doing right now without you!
I wish I were spending the day with you to show you how much your love, support, and encouragement means to me and how lucky I feel to have you as my mom, but know that I am thinking about you and loving you from Peru!
I love you, Grandma (I just thought you might need to get used to hearing it...!)!!!
Love,
Arielle
Poops to my mom! Love, Rachel
Dear Mommy,
Happy Mother's Day! Celebrating Mother's Day this year with children who don't have moms has really brought more meaning to the day. Thank you for being truly the best mom in the whole world. You have loved me unconditionally and have given me the greatest gift in the world- an amazing childhood filled with happy memories and a strong foundation for who I want to become. You have shown me how to live a life full of compassion and have helped me gain the courage to follow my dreams. You have supported me through absolutly everything and because of your encouragement, love and awesomeness I am where I am today. You are the best mom anyone could ever dream up and I can only hope and pray that the children I have met this past year find a mom who is even half as good as you. My biggest goal in life is to be a mom and I want to be just like you! I know some people can say things like this to their mom, but how many can truly mean it? I mean it from the bottom of my heart and I think you are the greatest. I appreciate you so much and can't wait to be home having a blast with one of my best friends in the world, my mom! I have so much fun with you and am so excited for our dinners at CPK, our shopping trips, and our (my) favorite thing- watching MTV together! Just think...if I was home I would probably sing to you today (you know the songs, mom). I love you, mom, and am thinking of you today!
Love,
your child (and lets be honest, your favorite one),
Rachel
P.S. I still think all of these things despite the Goofy hat disaster in 1st grade!
Happy Mother's Day! Celebrating Mother's Day this year with children who don't have moms has really brought more meaning to the day. Thank you for being truly the best mom in the whole world. You have loved me unconditionally and have given me the greatest gift in the world- an amazing childhood filled with happy memories and a strong foundation for who I want to become. You have shown me how to live a life full of compassion and have helped me gain the courage to follow my dreams. You have supported me through absolutly everything and because of your encouragement, love and awesomeness I am where I am today. You are the best mom anyone could ever dream up and I can only hope and pray that the children I have met this past year find a mom who is even half as good as you. My biggest goal in life is to be a mom and I want to be just like you! I know some people can say things like this to their mom, but how many can truly mean it? I mean it from the bottom of my heart and I think you are the greatest. I appreciate you so much and can't wait to be home having a blast with one of my best friends in the world, my mom! I have so much fun with you and am so excited for our dinners at CPK, our shopping trips, and our (my) favorite thing- watching MTV together! Just think...if I was home I would probably sing to you today (you know the songs, mom). I love you, mom, and am thinking of you today!
Love,
your child (and lets be honest, your favorite one),
Rachel
P.S. I still think all of these things despite the Goofy hat disaster in 1st grade!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR AMY!!!
Birthday cake Ugandan style...we love you Ugandanbffski.com! Some of our best memories to help you celebrate...
1. Jesus take the paddle!
2. Jimmy's "hello?" and Isaac's "Are you feeling goofy?" "You shu-ah?"
3. Floating feather...
4. Paw-paw shuffle, chqu-rem chquar-eh-mel (Suzwanne P style at Para Lodge)
5. De-ah Jejush
6. You look skinny and pretty!
7. Jumi says Happy Birthday
8. BBHS top 10 funnies including the pyramid, Kelly Rowlans and the GIANT mirror
9. Mac n Cheese Nights
10. Bedtime Bonding
Love,
Us
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Super Hero Training Camp
Our preschoolers have learned how to be superheroes this week. They are all officially obsessed with Spiderman so our theme this week in class was all about superheroes. We made stick puppet super heroes, decorated capes, pinned Spiderman's webs on our villian "Malo (mean) Miguel" and put together our homemade Batman puzzles. We learned about foods that make a superhero strong and played some good vs. evil games. Today was a highlight for the kids because we gave them all capes and masks with their initial on the back. They were pumped and spent the last hour of class 'flying' around the yard in them. That's right, we did sew them ourselves...even Rachel who has never sewn before. Tomorrow we learn about the biggest superhero...our man JC.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Past lives...
The pictures go in the same order as the stories...
Italo and Abel (7 and 5)
The boys' mother was a prostitute. Each day she would dig a hole in the dirt in her home and put Italo (who was an infant) in it and covered him so he would "stay safe" while she was at work.
Both boys are in our language therapy program that we do in the afternoons. They make sounds but do not speak. They are incredibly sweet boys who are very far behind developmentaly and socially.
Arnold (8)
His mother and uncle, who are both deaf and mute, raised him until he came to the orphanage at the age of about 7 or 8- no one really knows how old he is. Arnold was caring for his several younger siblings and his uncle was abusing him. He had never been to school before. Arnold is one of the sweetest, most polite children you will ever meet. He is super smiley, caring, affectionate, cute and a wonderful friend.
Kevin (13)
Kevin has lived at the orphanage for several years. His parents tried to drown him and then abandoned him on a bus. He is really sweet and loves attention, and needs lots of affection. He is developmentally behind and acts more like a 7-year-old. He is a great helper to his house-mom and is a great kid. Kevin is up for adoption.
Carolina (8)
Carolina is now at the orphanage for her second time. In the past year she was adopted by a Peruvian woman. A few months after she went "home" the woman brought her back to the orphanage, saying Carolina was misbehaving. It turns out Carolina was being abused by this woman. It is hard to believe from hearing her past, but Carolina is one of the sweetest girls here. She loves to give hugs and have her picture taken. She is smiley and is content just to sit near you. Carolina is up for adoption again.
Karina (9), Araceli (6), Dani (5), Yen (3), and Zuleica (17 mo.)
These 5 siblings are also at the orphanage for their second time (excpet Zuleica who is here for the first time). They have at least 3 different fathers. One of the fathers was extremely abusive so their mother decided to flee their home in the jungle to protect them. Out on the streets, their mother heard about the orphanage and brought them here. They were able to go home to their mother within the past year but were taken back to the orphanage again. Yen was severely malnourished, his belly sticking out, skin and bones, with parasites. The others had parasites and flee bites. A new baby came tool; Zuleica, who was being severely abused. Despite their horrible past, these 5 kids are incredible! Smiley, funny, energetic and sweet. They are no longer able to move back with their mother and are up for adoption.
There are 30 more of these stories at this orphanage alone...
It is truly amazing to see the way these kids have seemed to persevere through their hard times. These are just some of the stories these kids have. They have lived in complete poverty, been neglected, abused, hurt, abandoned, etc. yet they are lovable, affectionate, adorable kids. They have seen some of the worst things, but are some of the best kids in the world. They listen to their madres, they help with chores, they work hard in school, they are good to their friends, they are eager to love. How are they able to trust and love when they have seen the things they have? Some of them became orphans at the ages of 10 or above and while they may have problems further in life, they are healing here and doing wonderful. God has protected these children and has carried them through some of the most horrible things. They are His kids and He has a special plan for them.
The boys' mother was a prostitute. Each day she would dig a hole in the dirt in her home and put Italo (who was an infant) in it and covered him so he would "stay safe" while she was at work.
Both boys are in our language therapy program that we do in the afternoons. They make sounds but do not speak. They are incredibly sweet boys who are very far behind developmentaly and socially.
Arnold (8)
His mother and uncle, who are both deaf and mute, raised him until he came to the orphanage at the age of about 7 or 8- no one really knows how old he is. Arnold was caring for his several younger siblings and his uncle was abusing him. He had never been to school before. Arnold is one of the sweetest, most polite children you will ever meet. He is super smiley, caring, affectionate, cute and a wonderful friend.
Kevin (13)
Kevin has lived at the orphanage for several years. His parents tried to drown him and then abandoned him on a bus. He is really sweet and loves attention, and needs lots of affection. He is developmentally behind and acts more like a 7-year-old. He is a great helper to his house-mom and is a great kid. Kevin is up for adoption.
Carolina (8)
Carolina is now at the orphanage for her second time. In the past year she was adopted by a Peruvian woman. A few months after she went "home" the woman brought her back to the orphanage, saying Carolina was misbehaving. It turns out Carolina was being abused by this woman. It is hard to believe from hearing her past, but Carolina is one of the sweetest girls here. She loves to give hugs and have her picture taken. She is smiley and is content just to sit near you. Carolina is up for adoption again.
Karina (9), Araceli (6), Dani (5), Yen (3), and Zuleica (17 mo.)
These 5 siblings are also at the orphanage for their second time (excpet Zuleica who is here for the first time). They have at least 3 different fathers. One of the fathers was extremely abusive so their mother decided to flee their home in the jungle to protect them. Out on the streets, their mother heard about the orphanage and brought them here. They were able to go home to their mother within the past year but were taken back to the orphanage again. Yen was severely malnourished, his belly sticking out, skin and bones, with parasites. The others had parasites and flee bites. A new baby came tool; Zuleica, who was being severely abused. Despite their horrible past, these 5 kids are incredible! Smiley, funny, energetic and sweet. They are no longer able to move back with their mother and are up for adoption.
There are 30 more of these stories at this orphanage alone...
It is truly amazing to see the way these kids have seemed to persevere through their hard times. These are just some of the stories these kids have. They have lived in complete poverty, been neglected, abused, hurt, abandoned, etc. yet they are lovable, affectionate, adorable kids. They have seen some of the worst things, but are some of the best kids in the world. They listen to their madres, they help with chores, they work hard in school, they are good to their friends, they are eager to love. How are they able to trust and love when they have seen the things they have? Some of them became orphans at the ages of 10 or above and while they may have problems further in life, they are healing here and doing wonderful. God has protected these children and has carried them through some of the most horrible things. They are His kids and He has a special plan for them.
Can Someone Say '80's?
Today was a busy day of having fun with 8 of our girls. They have known that they were going to have an outing since earlier in the week and have been talking about it nonstop. When we went to go get them from their cassitas, they were all ready to go...purses (empty bags) in hand , of course. Vanessa, one of the biggest characters/drama queens you will ever meet, came running down the stairs in a great outfit she had chosen that looked like it walked straight out of the 80's (red outfit in pics). Karina, Araceli, Carolina, Brigitte, Vanessa, Fiorella, Genesis, Alondra and us climbed into the big orphanage van with our driver, Elias, and went to Rocky's. The girls played on all the play equipment and played some video games until lunch arrived and then sat down to chicken, fries, salad and Inca Cola. They ate tons of food and played some more until we started our 80's craft of making huge, loud scrunchies. You can see some of the girls modeling their scrunchies in the pictures. It was a great craft for them because they could actually do it all themselves, axcept 4-year-old Brigitte who needed just a little extra help. They all thought they looked beautiful and even Arielle and I wore 80's scrunchies to match our girls as we walked down to Merpisa for ice cream. The girls each got 2 scoops and played in the playground and it was time to come home. The girls were pumped to show off their scrunchies when they got home and had a great day!
So much about being here seems so 80'sish. Mostly the clothes- people of all ages sport the classic 80's styles. The hairstyles, music and decorations are also very great and 80's. It is literally like stepping into a new decade. It's hilarious though and adds to the charm of Peru.
There's that God again!
As soon as we got back to the albergue from taking the girls into town, we quickly got Josue, Jesus, and Isaias ready to leave. A volunteer who was here in the fall started a tradition where at the end of the month all the kids who had birthdays in that month get to go out and do something special. Since she has been gone, she still sends money each month for the kids' special day. In April, Josue turned 12 and Isaias turned 5. Since there is such an age difference between the two of them, we told Josue he could bring a friend and so Jesus came along as well. The boys were really excited because Spider Man 3 just came out in theaters here and they really wanted to see it. Poor Isaias must have been overly excited all day because 5 minutes into the cab ride, he was in a deep sleep! Before heading over to the movie theater we had our taxi driver drop us off at Merpisa, the new favorite store around here, for some movie treats and a little pre-movie icecream! Isaias has had a bit of a cold lately and so the other two boys were concerned that the really cold icecream would make him even sicker, but he happily settled for a large cup of jello. With pop, juice boxes, chips, candy bars, and gum in hand, we walked the five blocks to the movie theater. As we got closer, we saw a really long line forming for something, and soon realized it was the ticket line for the theater. We had a moment of panic, thinking we had really blown it, but were relieved to see that Spider Man 3 was showing on multiple screens and there was another one starting, in Spanish, at 7:15. Since it was only 6:00, we would for sure make it, right? Wrong. When we finally got to the front of the line, we were told that the next available showing was at 10:15! Thanks to Josue who knew the phone number for the albergue and the pay phone across the street, we had gotten permission to keep the boys out until 10:00, but we were fairly certain no one would appreciate us rolling back in at 1:30 am! We tried to talk our way in, saying it was just 3 young boys and we were celebrating their birthdays, but the woman behind the counter made a good point when she said that she could sell us the tickets but we wouldn't have anywhere to sit. After talking to the boys we decide to just see the Mr. Bean movie that the girls liked so much. No such luck. Apparently when Spider Man 3 comes out in Peru, it is shown on ALL 5 screens of the theater. Again, tias panic. Here we are, massive amounts of movie theater food in hand, with 3 extremely excited boys, and no movie to see. After some quick thinking and holding up the ticket line for just a little while longer, we decide that we will just have to have one of us bring the boys back to the theater tomorrow afternoon while the other attempts being a house mom solo for a few hours (we're subbing for the madre in the boys' house again tomorrow). Thankfully, we had some of the most mature kids I've ever met with us and while we expected huge disappointment, they took it really well. This was helped, however, by telling them that we could go anywhere they wanted for dinner. They chose pizza (again!) and we went to a very nice Italian restaurant right across the street. It was a very nice restaurant even for us, so I'm sure thought it was super fancy. As soon as we sat down, Josue and Jesus asked what the bright yellow cloth things sitting in the middle of their plates were and we told them they were napkins. Rachel tried to convince them that they were the kind you tuck in your shirt and wear as a bib but, after trying it themselves, they weren't convinced. While we figured out what we wanted to eat and ordered, Isaias kept himself entertained playing with his silverware and flashing us one of his adorable smiles every once in a while. We all had a great time talking, laughing, and taking pictures. We also couldn't get enough of watching Isaias eat his pizza. He insisted that he cut it himself, but having never really used a knife before he didn't quite understand what to do and so just kept running the knife back and forth over the top of the pizza. I kept asking him if it was "yummy?" and so half-way through the meal when I looked over at him with a smile on my face, he must have known what I was about to say and quickly beat me to it by saying "yummy" through a mouthful of pizza. Even though it wasn't what we had planned on, it turned out to be a really fun night and a bonus for the boys since they would be seeing the movie the next day!
When we went to ask for the bill, the waiter tried to tell us something but, like always, we couldn't understand. He took us back over to the table next to the one we had been sitting at, where two men and a woman had sat down halfway through our meal. One of the men told us that they were taking care of our bill. We stood there looking back and forth between the table, the waiter, and Josue for a while to make sure we were understanding correctly because he was speaking in Spanish. We thanked them and politely asked why they wanted to do this and, again, the language barrier was a bit of an issue, we got the idea that he saw what we were doing with the children and this was something they could do to contribute. After endless thank-yous, we left the restaurant and I couldn't help but tear up. Here are these people who have absolutely no idea who we are, what we are doing here, and why we are at a fancy restaurant with 3 Peruvian boys, and without even needing to know the details, pay for our meal. I can't even tell you the sense of gratitude and amazement I had standing there talking to them. It's one of those moments where you just have to say, "There's that God again". For real. During the past 8 months we have been blessed time and time again by the people that have come into our lives, whether for short periods of time like the people tonight, or indefinitely. We have received acceptance, support, encouragement, and love all along the way and met people who will forever have an impact on our lives. In Uganda, we fell in love with the people and culture there but were also brought together with our Ugandanbffski.com, Amy Francis Marigold King. She is one of those friends that you have for a lifetime and we will be joining her back in Africa- we can't wait! Also, we have gotten to know some of the adoptive parents from Amani and they have been so encouraging and supportive, following us throughout our time in Haiti and now here in Peru. Sarah and Kelly, two adoptive moms that we had the opportunity of meeting in Haiti, have been two more blessings that have entered our lives. We quickly became friends and they, too, have been nothing but supportive of us. They have two of the most incredible hearts and have been such good examples of the goodness people can possess. And now here, in Peru, we are constantly meeting people who open up their lives to us, inviting us to join them for church, attend a family function, or spend the night in their home. Randomly meeting Danell and Mike, and their daughters Skylar and Nicole, at Rocky's a few weeks ago, at the exact moment we needed them to enter our lives has been yet another blessing. They are such an amazing family and have gone to great lengths to help us. More importantly, they have been great friends and made us feel so welcome and very much at home. And now, tonight, having complete strangers pay for our meal with no questions asked. Just being more than happy to do it regardless. We both feel so fortunate for all the wonderful opportunities we have come across during the past 8 months and none of them would have been the same without all the amazing people that we have gotten to know.
When we went to ask for the bill, the waiter tried to tell us something but, like always, we couldn't understand. He took us back over to the table next to the one we had been sitting at, where two men and a woman had sat down halfway through our meal. One of the men told us that they were taking care of our bill. We stood there looking back and forth between the table, the waiter, and Josue for a while to make sure we were understanding correctly because he was speaking in Spanish. We thanked them and politely asked why they wanted to do this and, again, the language barrier was a bit of an issue, we got the idea that he saw what we were doing with the children and this was something they could do to contribute. After endless thank-yous, we left the restaurant and I couldn't help but tear up. Here are these people who have absolutely no idea who we are, what we are doing here, and why we are at a fancy restaurant with 3 Peruvian boys, and without even needing to know the details, pay for our meal. I can't even tell you the sense of gratitude and amazement I had standing there talking to them. It's one of those moments where you just have to say, "There's that God again". For real. During the past 8 months we have been blessed time and time again by the people that have come into our lives, whether for short periods of time like the people tonight, or indefinitely. We have received acceptance, support, encouragement, and love all along the way and met people who will forever have an impact on our lives. In Uganda, we fell in love with the people and culture there but were also brought together with our Ugandanbffski.com, Amy Francis Marigold King. She is one of those friends that you have for a lifetime and we will be joining her back in Africa- we can't wait! Also, we have gotten to know some of the adoptive parents from Amani and they have been so encouraging and supportive, following us throughout our time in Haiti and now here in Peru. Sarah and Kelly, two adoptive moms that we had the opportunity of meeting in Haiti, have been two more blessings that have entered our lives. We quickly became friends and they, too, have been nothing but supportive of us. They have two of the most incredible hearts and have been such good examples of the goodness people can possess. And now here, in Peru, we are constantly meeting people who open up their lives to us, inviting us to join them for church, attend a family function, or spend the night in their home. Randomly meeting Danell and Mike, and their daughters Skylar and Nicole, at Rocky's a few weeks ago, at the exact moment we needed them to enter our lives has been yet another blessing. They are such an amazing family and have gone to great lengths to help us. More importantly, they have been great friends and made us feel so welcome and very much at home. And now, tonight, having complete strangers pay for our meal with no questions asked. Just being more than happy to do it regardless. We both feel so fortunate for all the wonderful opportunities we have come across during the past 8 months and none of them would have been the same without all the amazing people that we have gotten to know.
Pizza Fiesta!
Hey Everyone!
First, these pictures aren't the best of the party, but we were too busy working and playing to take a bunch. Also the lighting in the dining hall is bad. Anyways...
We had our pizza party last night and it was a riot! The kids had a blast and were so happy- it really was everything we had hoped for. Our missionary friends who we met a few weeks ago here in Trujillo, Danell, Mike and their 2 daughters Skylar and Nicole (in a pic with Arielle) ordered the pizzas for us, picked them up and came to help at the party. They are so great and helped out soooo much. It's been awesome having our own little family here. The party started at 6:30 with all the kids coming into the dining hall that we had decorated with balloons. It really got going with a really freaking sweet dance that Arielle and I did. We used this pop style Spanish music and jumped around and made fools of ourselves. We weren't sure how it would go over but the kids (and especially the adults) cracked up the whole time! Arielle wore her Ugandan outfit and since I didn't bring mine to Peru I had to shop in the kid's clothes closet and found a really ugly large apron and a disgusting 80's vest. We topped it off with giant sombreros and eye masks. Here, instead of saying "cool" the kids say something that sounds like "ah-zoo." We thought it was the ultimate compliment when even the older boys shouted it out when we came out to dance in our crazy costumes. We started serving up pizza right after our dance. We needed about 15 large pizzas to feed all the kids and "chorizo" (kind of like pepporoni) was the biggest hit. We bought plates, cups, napkins, etc. so there was no work to be done for the cooks, house moms or kids- this meant everyone was relaxed and could just sit and enjoy the party. The house moms are usually pretty careful about what the kids eat, but last night they all got as much pizza and pop as they wanted. After pizza we brought out a surprise giant cake and sang 'Happy Birthday' to one of our favorite workers, Deysi. She is a part-time housemom that works so hard and is so good with the kids. She turned 2o and is the sweetest girl in the world. We talk with her a lot, even though she doesn't speak english. She was so surprised and excited. It was also Melva's birthday a few days before, so we sang to her as well. They are shown in a pic with us.
Next came the games. We did a relay race with animal masks, the crab walk, jumping with a balloon between your legs and running. Luckily we had our missionary friends, Skylar and Nicole (11 and 8) translate for us so the kids could understand what to do. Everyone was jumping and cheering and especially the little kids looked so cute trying to move with the balloon stuck between their legs. After that we played a game where you tie a balloon around each child's ankle and you run around and try to pop everyone else's without having your own popped. The big kids especially liked that one! We finished off the night by eating our cake and listening to music. The kids all had so much fun!
This morning all the kids told us they loved our dancing...and even wanted us to do it again, ha! Are you kidding, of course we will! The bigger boys wanted to brag to us about how many pieces of pizza they ate and what kinds. We were just happy to know that everyone was still excited about the party and that everyone had such a good time.
We want to thank everyone again who helped out with this party. It was really perfect and so great for everyone to be together. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Friday, May 04, 2007
Girls!
Our weekend and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday have been filled with being house moms. We worked our first time in one of the girls houses and had a blast. They were so much better than the boys! The girls did their chores, listened, and were really sweet. May 1 is a holiday here in Peru for some reason, so there was no school on Monday or Tuesday. On Tuesday all of the staff and children went to a big party at a church. It was an Olympics theme and they had soccer and volleyball games all day. We were there for 8 hours, being moms to the girls, which turned out to be a really long day. The kids all ate junk food all day and had fun though.
At bedtime on Tuesday the girls tried to stay up as late as possible, even extending the time by insisting they have a devotional and prayer time. The oldest girl, Yamelit, read a Bible story and then asked the girls questions and made them even raise their hands to give answers. They sang 'Jesus Loves Me' in Spanish and then wanted us to sing it several times in English too. Tuesday was Rachel's night in their house and it was quite an eventful night. Vanessa wet the bed 3 separate times during the night! This means new pajamas, new sheets, new blanket each time. Brigitte, age 4 was up in the middle of the night calling out, "tia! tia!" and after a long time of trying to figure out what she needed, she fell asleep in bed with Rachel. Poor Zuleica coughed and choked all night from her cold. Then of course the girls have to get up at 5:30 for school.
On Wednesday night we had a party for the girls. They cleaned their whole house while we got ready and were so excited about the little party that some of them got dressed up in skirts. We painted their nails with bright colors and had lots to eat. We had popcorn, crackers, cookies, lemonade, apples, and the most important part...peanut butter. The kids love peanut butter, but never get the chance to eat it here, so we brought in a tray full of things to have PB on. They were shocked that we would put it on apples, but loved it when they tried it. At first, Yamelit tried to tell all the girls to only take a tiny bit, telling us that while we eat a lot of PB in America, they can't do that here. She is such a little mom to all the girls (earlier in the afternoon when some of the girls were watching TV, she told me to make them turn the channel right away because "the programma es ugly)!! But after a few minutes, they all let go and the girls went nuts on the PB. Yamelit was still dipping her spoon in well after the others were finished. Also, little Zuleica went crazy with the popcorn...eating handfuls and insisting she hold the big bowl in her lap. Arielle and I had so much fun at the little party with them. They love when we are silly so we spent most of the time dancing and making up crazy moves. We were worried some of them would barf like they sometimes do from too much sugar, but we were successful and everyone was just fine.
After we cleaned up the mess from the party we spent time in the girls rooms singing songs with them and tucking them in. They love when we sing in English and know a bit of 'Jesus Loves Me' in English so they had fun singing along with us. Arielle had them that night and in the morning they all made her french braid their hair before school...how fun for her.
By the time kindergarten was finished yesterday and we were relieved by their house mom in the afternoon we were exhausted!!! Being a hosue mom is much harder than it sounds, especially when we don't speak Spanish and everyone is hyper because we're there! It's fun though and we are the first volunteers to do sub-ins for the house moms and we have loved it so much.
Tonight...pizza party!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
"Do you guys ever fight?"
Many, many people have asked us since we've been gone if we ever get sick of each other or fight. The answer is always, "no, we don't really have a choice though." The truth is we are more like a married couple. We eat all of our meals together and share money, even a bank account at one point, we do our laundry together, take turns washing dishes, talk about really lame things and know pretty much everything about each other (including the way we feel about Cher's comeback song in 1999). We are all each other has and thankfully its been nothing but great. We really are great friends and have the most fun together. We spend most nights cracking up and talking about anything and everything. We have spent every single minute of the past 8 months together and have had the best times of our lives. We have never really faught at all. Here is a conversation we had a couple days ago though...
(scene: a couple girls were watching us dancing around our their window. the girls LOVE to watch us be goofy and dance, so we decided we would go around the corner and make up a little 30 second dance to show them)
Rachel: Ooooh let's do this! (showing a dance move) And then this!
Arielle: Okay!
Rachel: No you have to go this way.
Arielle: Oh, okay.
Rachel: Sorry you know I get bossy sometimes. Am I being bossy?
Arielle: Yeah, kind of. It's okay though.
Rachel: (extremely crabby tone) Well fine, you make it up then.
Arielle: No, Rachel if you have an idea just do it.
Rachel: No, you said I was being bossy, I don't want to be bossy to you.
Arielle: No, you said you were being bossy, I just agreed. Just keep going.
Well, we had to stop making up the dance because that was the closest we have ever been to a fight. We hopped on the incredibly fun old classic teeter totter that we love and in 5 minutes it was all good again.
Tonight we made up a sweet dance for our pizza party tomorrow with NO fighting and not too much bossiness at all.
(scene: a couple girls were watching us dancing around our their window. the girls LOVE to watch us be goofy and dance, so we decided we would go around the corner and make up a little 30 second dance to show them)
Rachel: Ooooh let's do this! (showing a dance move) And then this!
Arielle: Okay!
Rachel: No you have to go this way.
Arielle: Oh, okay.
Rachel: Sorry you know I get bossy sometimes. Am I being bossy?
Arielle: Yeah, kind of. It's okay though.
Rachel: (extremely crabby tone) Well fine, you make it up then.
Arielle: No, Rachel if you have an idea just do it.
Rachel: No, you said I was being bossy, I don't want to be bossy to you.
Arielle: No, you said you were being bossy, I just agreed. Just keep going.
Well, we had to stop making up the dance because that was the closest we have ever been to a fight. We hopped on the incredibly fun old classic teeter totter that we love and in 5 minutes it was all good again.
Tonight we made up a sweet dance for our pizza party tomorrow with NO fighting and not too much bossiness at all.
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