Forgiveness

I want to share with you a sweet story of forgiveness and learning and grace.  I’m worried that I’m not going to be able to communicate the weight of importance that this story really holds, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

One of the girls from PDE has been staying with me for awhile after her stay in the hospital.  She went back one morning to the girls’ house while I had some stuff I had to get done and apparently they weren’t ready for that.  One of the other girls started in on her saying really terrible things.  But the reaction wasn’t good either and the fine line between defending yourself and attacking the other person got crossed.  Soon they were just being downright nasty to one another and saying things that really you should never tell someone.

The morning ended with two girls who were both sad and broken and ashamed of the things they had said and done.  They both felt terrible and hated by the other.  They felt like it was not reconcilable.  Thankfully, that is not how our God works.

I talked a lot when we got back to the house that day about grace and forgiveness.  Forgiveness when the other person doesn’t ask for it, forgiveness when they continue to be mean to you.  And asking for forgiveness even when its hard and you don’t know how they’ll respond.  We talked about finding our security in who we are in Christ and not having to worry about what others think about us.  And little did I know that Dona Oneyda was counseling the very same thing to the other girl.

That night after church we got out to the car and the first thing I heard was a sweet report of reconciliation and forgiveness.  The Lord brought them to the same place at the same time.  They talked and were both surprised at the other’s apology.  One confessed that she has never asked for forgiveness like this before in her life.  And they forgave each other, they really did.  And I think they are friends… more now than before.

The Lord is sweet in what He is teaching them.  I love watching it.

Thankful

1. Grace and forgiveness
2. Patience
3. An ER doctor who is a friend from church
4. My team and fun hang-out nights with them
5. A relaxing afternoon at the pool
6. People who come into your life and enter in, even when its crazy
7. Skype and good friends at home
8. Spanish worship music
9. Verses that apply right where I am
10. Waffles… comfort food to the maximum :)

a few things

We’re home and everyone is safe and well.  There are still deep wounds and hurts that will take a long time to heal.  We are weary… well, I am weary.  I so badly need a nap that lasts two days.  But the Lord is good and is holding me up.

And life goes on.  Yesterday was Oneyda’s day off so I had the girls all day.  We went to the eye doctor and by way of miracle Y still even got to school on time.  Only one needs glasses, so that’s good, she also needs some expensive jaw treatment b/c they pulled a tooth on one side of her mouth and now she can’t open her mouth to really chew.  But that’s something to worry about next week.  We managed to feed everyone, buy groceries, take naps, make a new delicious fish recipe for dinner, and visit with some friends.  We had some breakdowns and two little ones who didn’t sleep much all night, but life is moving forward and we are learning.

Together we are learning about grace and forgiveness and unconditional love.  We are learning that the Lord does not give us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of self-discipline.  And we are learning to trust the Lord enough to put ourselves out there for each other.

On other news… I’m just going to say it.  We need two more good umbrella strollers.  The one we have is like a tease.  Its this one http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11468610 and its awesome, but it only fits one baby :)  Please consider buying us a stroller and sending it down with the interns or a friend who is coming or a short-term team.  I can tell you who is coming.  I promise we would use it EVERY day!

Hope

The last 36 hours have found me in crisis mode just making it to the next 5 minutes without a chance to process or be sad or just break down and cry.  And I want to… but its just not time yet.  I hate that the effects of sin run so deep.  They penetrate the heart and mind causing anxiety, depression, anger, guilt…

One of my dear girls is in the hospital.  She cried out for help on Saturday night by making herself terribly sick.  She lives under a blanket of guilt and shame and it got to be too much.  She is finally in a safe place with people who love her, support her, care for her, and its in that safe place that she can let go and begin to process her life and its just too much sometimes.  She has been the victim of not only her own sin, but the sin of many others.  She has suffered.

And so we pray for hope, and healing.  For a good psychologist who can begin to work with her.  I pray that I can show her love the way that her heavenly Father loves her and is never giving up on her. 

Please pray with us.  Physically she is fine now, but pray for emotional healing.  Pray for me to have wisdom and discernment.  Pray that this will be a good time of learning for all of us on how to love someone when its hard and show them Jesus in the midst of suffering.  Pray for hope.

I have been trying to drill into the girls’ heads for weeks now that the Lord loves us and his love is faithful.  It is not based on what we do or don’t do.  He loves us because He decided to love us right where we are in the middle of our mess.  I pray that right now they will see and know this truth like never before.

Consistency

Still reading Joshua today and just thinking about the Lord’s perfect balance of consistency in discipline, grace to give us what we don’t deserve, justice, and mercy to give us forgiveness.  It was just so matter of fact… the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and lost a whole generation because of their sin and disobedience.  God is faithful to His word and he follows through with what He says.  And yet in his mercy He still gave the promised land to the next generation.

I long to find some kind of that balance in my life.  I want to know what it looks like first of all to receive all of this from the Lord.  I actually love rules because I love order and things that make sense.  And grace and mercy just don’t always make sense and its hard to believe sometimes that they really could be true.

But I also want to find this balance in how I love others and how I parent those who have put under my responsibility for the time being.  How do I show them such consistency with rules and order and discipline while at the same time showing them grace and mercy?  Its tricky, that’s for sure, and I err on the side of discipline and rules.  I have a lot to learn.  But its got me thinking and I think that's good.  I’m ready to listen and follow and trust the Lord to show me how this looks in real life.

Be Strong and Courageous

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

I’ve been reading through Joshua recently and its crazy how the Lord makes new things jump out at me every time.  Of course I’ve read these verses before, but I don’t think I’d ever noticed just how many times it says… be strong and courageous.

They were about to walk into the great unknown.  I mean, they had no clue what was waiting for them on the other side.  And the Lord was preparing them for that, fortifying them for that, giving them all the strength that they needed to be ready to face what HE knew was coming.  It’s a good kind of peace to know that the Lord knows what is ahead for us even when we don’t have a clue.  And not only that, He gives us the strength we need to face it.  And He promises to go with us so we don’t have to do it alone.  Over the past couple weeks  I have really needed reminders of those promises.

Sometimes I feel like I’m in over my head.  I thought we would have 4 girls and at the moment 3 girls and 3 babies is more than enough :)  They have a new kind of need every day… emotionally, spiritually, physically… reminders to take their medicine, getting them to buy school supplies, spending time with them to remind them that Jesus loves them, whatever.  I LOVE what I do, but I had no idea what I was getting into :)  And then I have some semblance of a personal life outside of that to try and figure out too.  But today I don’t feel overwhelmed, even though there is just a lot going on.  I have been praying that I would be able to trust the Lord.  Just trust Him.  And rest in that.  He tells me to be strong and courageous, to not give up, to let Him walk with me, that He is preparing me.  Okay… I get it… today, I’ll try to rest.

a Garden

I’ll have to go take a picture soon… but today the girls are planting a garden!  Isn’t that fun?  Yesterday we bought flowers and seeds and dirt and today they’re putting them in.  I told C that for every pepper she grows she can afford to buy a box of jello… since its her favorite, that was very motivating :)  I love seeing them do new things, so this is really fun!

In other news…

Door removal.  Caused major crisis in the moment, very heart-revealing.  But has been exceptionally effective :)  I have seen some really sweet changes in Y this week.  And Doña Oneyda gave a good report on her on Monday for the first time.  Y’s whole face lit up when I told her!  She is talking about the future and dreaming with me and going out of her way to be helpful and kind. 

She loves trying to talk to Amy and she keeps telling us that she cares for both of us and loves one of us and we can just keep guessing which one it is.  ha.  She is ridiculous.

Also, we went to the beach on Saturday to celebrate Mother’s Day.  What a sweet day.  I’m so thankful for Kate and the way that she loves on these girls with me.  I’m thankful for Amy who is here just walking along in life beside me for a little while and doing her best to speak Spanish.  I also may be a little jealous of her language skills, she learns SO fast.  And I’m thankful for my new pastor friends who were here visiting from the states and went to hang out with us.

Heart Issues

Disobedience always has a root, but sometimes its hard to tell what it is.  When the almost 2 year old throws her toy for the third time maybe she is tired, maybe she just wants to be in control, maybe she is looking for attention.  When the 22 year old blatantly disobeys and goes to see her mom on Mother’s Day after being told not to, there is a lot more going on than just a nice visit at home.

I started by telling her that I get it.  She doesn’t have to give me excuses because I understand the pull and power that her mom has over her on an emotional level.  It didn’t come from one guilt-trip conversation.  It is the product of years of emotional manipulation that have instilled fear in a daughter’s heart to make her mom upset or angry.  And she is terrified.  She excuses her and tries to make it not sound so bad.  And yet every time she sees or talk to her she ends up in bed with a migraine so bad that she can’t lift her head up.  Clearly it affects her.

So we’re cutting ties.  Not forever, but for awhile.  You can pray for me as I go this coming week to go talk to this mom and try to explain to her why she won’t be hearing from her daughter for quite some time. Pray that the Lord will open her heart to be able to really love her daughter and know that this is the best thing.  And pray that out from under the pressure of this relationship that this daughter will be able to really rest and receive healing from the Lord.  The good thing is, she says she trusts me, or rather, trusts Jesus in me that this could really be a good thing for her.  I think it feels like it could bring freedom, but she is just so scared!  Praise the Lord that He is the Lord of hope and healing and we long for her to experience that.

Tuesday

It was a rough morning.

I’m “that” mom.  The one that takes off the bedroom door because today disobedience looked like locking it just one more time.  The one that believes that only big reminders will stick with you enough to maybe, just maybe, have an impact next time you are trying to decide whether or not to obey.  And when 16 year old Y tests the line every time I turn around, I just have to do something.

She is a threatener… “I’m going to leave.  Then I’m just not going to eat.  Well, I didn’t want a door anyway.”  Fine then.  So after the door scenario she started with the normal… “Susana, I’m leaving here.”  Okay Y… where are going?  Thinking she was joking around like normal or just frustrated with me for actually doing what I said I would do.

But sitting in the living room I heard furniture moving around and went back to check.  Her whole room was getting thrown piece by piece into a suitcase and she was sobbing like I’ve never seen before.  This wasn’t a show.  This was real, heart-level pain.  This was guilt and shame and despair and depression.  She wanted to stay but felt like she just couldn’t.  It wasn’t about the door, but that was the catalyst.

When you’ve been told for your whole life that you’re worthless and that you are disobedient and that you’ll never change, when you’ve been hit and yelled at, you don’t know how to accept discipline and how to accept love.  She was convinced for those few hours that she would forever make life hard on everyone, that she would never be able to change, that leaving J with us was a better option that trying to be her mom, that she really didn’t want to even be alive anymore.

So yeah.  It was rough.  We prayed, a lot.  And we talked.  And she didn’t believe much of what I said, but I get that.  She was so overwhelmed and just so sad.  But in the end I didn’t have to call Mike to come sit in front of the gate.  She calmed down and is okay now.  But oh how we need the power of Jesus to bring change and hope and joy.  Please pray for her to know and really believe the love of God and feel the freedom of that.

We work with people

“Its okay because they are people and not migratory ducks.” – Mike Pettengill

This weird and outlandish statement was made by Mike yesterday upon Kate’s lament that she drove around all afternoon and only found one of her street kids, but I love the sentiment.

We work with people.  Its not a pattern, its not a schedule that you can make or a formula that you can stick to.  They are people and they surprise me every day.  Sometimes they make it easy.  Its fun and we laugh and they learn and listen.  Sometimes it is just not easy at all… they complain and whine and ask for more things.  And sometimes I haven’t spent as much time with them as I want to or given them the attention that they need or the one-on-one conversation that I wish I could give them every day.  Sometimes its overwhelming.

So… I don’t think we’ll end up naming the street children’s center… “no son patos” (they aren’t ducks), although it was seeming like a good option yesterday, especially b/c it sounds kind of like “no zapatos” (no shoes) when you say it fast and it just has this cool double meaning ring to it :)  But I do want to remember the point… they are people and we need to love them right where they are!

People series #6 - Kevin

Kevin doesn’t know when his birthday is, so we decided he could share mine.  We also don’t know how old he is… maybe 10?

Kevin has the cutest smile I may have ever seen.  He will jump into my arms or snuggle up with on the couch and his always good for surprise kisses that catch you off guard.  He is a kid, for sure.  He tries to be grown up and pretend like he is mad or doesn’t care, but he does and you can see it in his face.  He is excited about everything, loves singing “waka waka” and will even dance if he doesn’t know you’re looking.  Recently he’s been staying out too late and its just not safe.  After a couple times of running away from me, he came and sat in my lap and let me tell him how much I love him and how worried I am about him.  Now he has a watch… we’ll see if he gets home on time.  He loves school, especially the computer lab, and always wants to play on the ipod, well, they all do. :)  Kevin will wag his finger at us and say “no puedo, no puedo” (I can’t, I can’t) but is always good for a laugh when we do it right back (yes you can, yes you can!)

Newsletter May 2012

If you want to get my newsletter with pictures, please email me at ssinnes@gmail.com to be added to my email newsletter list! May 2012 blog

People series #5 - Ever

Ever is 11, or maybe 13.  His mom swears that his birthday is not what his birth certificate says.  But her name is actually not on his birth certificate either, so there is actually no telling.

Ever went to school this year for the first time EVER!  And he loves it!  He is more on the shy side and keeps to himself.  He was ashamed to report that he got in trouble one day for talking in class, surprisingly out of character for him, but I don’t think it will happen again.  He has the sweetest servant’s heart and gives me hugs every time he walks in the door.  He loves us and loves being at our house.  And we rarely have any problems from him.  He is more of a follower, so when the others misbehave he can follow right along behind.  But I think he’s learning to stand more on his own two feet, I hope so.  He loves coming to church and accepted Christ about a month ago.  I am praying that the Lord grows him up and really changes his life.  He likes to go to Sunday school until Kevin says he doesn’t want to go :)  He’s a sweet kid for sure.

oops

So the refrigerator at the girls home stopped working 4 days after the warranty ended, about 2 weeks ago.  Awesome.  The motor was dead… alas.  At least it wasn’t a dead rat, which seems to be another common appliance problem!  Anyways, called the guy, got a used motor, and got it fixed for $100… not too shabby.

Two days ago the refrigerator wasn’t cold.  Again.  I went and rescued the meat and started calling my appliance friend from Tel Aviv to tell him he had to do something for us.  8 calls later he finally answered… “okay, I’ll call the repairman”.  12 calls and 2 days later I haven’t heard back from him, or the repairman.  So I call C…

“C, has the repairman come to fix the fridge?”
”No Susana”

So I pump myself to let them have it and drive over to the store.  Boss man who speaks English isn’t there so I start letting the girl have it about the situation in Spanish and how all the food is going bad, etc. etc.  Well the repairman said he came and so now she calls him and calls him a liar and he’s upset and she’s upset and I’m upset.

Then I think, I should make sure.  I call Oneyda.  Oh yeah, he came yesterday and everything is working fine.

How embarrassing.

People Series #4 - Jeffri

Or his name could be spelled Jeffrey.  He tells me something different every time :)

I’ve known Jeffrey since last summer.  He is a full-fledged teenager at the age of 15.  He has an attitude that is hard to contain.  He loves to shake his head no while saying yes or vice-versa so you never know if he is being a jerk or agreeing to do what you asked.  And he thinks its terribly funny.  You know how teenage boys are before they get their sense of humor figured out?  That’s him :)  And he would do anything for us.  He comes by sometimes just to say hello.  He’s still a kid and loves sneaking into the play place at pizza hut to play soccer with the younger boys.  He is doing GREAT in school, working hard, and staying motivated.  He is turning into an adult before my very eyes.  He is responsible and will run errands for me if I ask.  He cares about his family and I love seeing him with his little brothers.  He wants what is best for them and is clearly out to protect them.  He comes to church faithfully and I think at this point is actually listening to the sermons :)  I want him to be in a youth small group, but it will have to wait until after he’s done with school at night.  Pray for a man who could disciple him.

People series #3–G & E

Its only been about 3 weeks since G&E came to join us.  G is the oldest at 22 and E is 18 months.  They came straight from a really hard home situation in a shack by the river where they struggled to have enough to eat.  They came with what they were wearing and that’s about it, but G trusted me, and that speaks volumes.

By far the most thoughtful and sweet of all the girls is G.  She has a strength and maturity that can only come from the Lord.  She has been through so much, but has come out of it without being hard and bitter… that’s a miracle.  She is kind and a gift-giver with a servant’s heart.  She is thankful for everything.  Even now, she doesn’t understand grace and free gifts.  She wants to work to pay me back and that mentality applies to her relationship with the Lord also.  It has been sweet to be able to be a picture for her of the good gifts that the Lord has for her in His grace.  Last week she started 5th grade for the first time and will hopefully graduate from 6th grade in November.  Then she can pursue other skills classes, like sewing and cooking and beauty school.  She is independent, but so good at living in community.  She’s more of an introvert and needs her space.  She has another sweet son that I got to meet who is 4 years old and lives with his dad for now.  She has the utmost respect for her mom and treats her with kindness that is far more than her mom deserves.  She is a quiet soul.  I love seeing her smile and knowing that she feels safe and secure for the first time in a long time.

E is a bundle of energy.  This child cannot sit still, except for a short book every once in awhile if he gets to turn the pages!  He loves being outside and throwing things.  Pure boy.  He will eat anything and is pretty obedient most of the time.  And he cries, a lot.  He has some understandable separation issues and if he can see his mom, he wants her holding him.  He has a killer smile.  He loves the ocean, the sand, puppy dogs, chickens, and often falls asleep in my arms.  He goes hard and then just crashes.  He’s a chunky deadweight when he’s sleeping, but I love it :)

People series #2–C & W

C & W came to us second after living for a year at a different children’s home outside of the city.  C is 18, has graduated from high school and just took her entrance exam for university.  W is the youngest of the babies at 6 months old.

C is good at everything.  Its true and kind of sickening :)  She can draw, paint, sew, cook, sing, learn guitar, etc, etc, etc.  She is so bright and a quick learner.  And she loves technology, TV, ipod games, whatever she can get her hands on.  She also loves to read.  It was a treasure to my heart when she read “Redeeming Love” and after every chapter would summarize the story for the others so that they could “read” it too!  She is organizing, motivated, and on top of things.  She wants to learn English and is working really hard at communicating.  So far she can sing “You’re Amazing Just the Way you Are”, I mean, we have a ways to go :)  She’s a little more sly in behavior and is the one who will find a way to sneak around the rules.  She is my personal Spanish tutor and isn’t afraid to kindly correct me.  She is a great mom and loves W so well.  She really loves Jesus and her life is changing as she grows in Him.  She’s the first to make connections between what we’re studying and her daily life.  A couple weeks ago she shared the Gospel with her aunt spitting out everything that we had been talking about, it made me so proud of her and all that she is learning and soaking up.  She wants to learn to drive my car which isn’t happening anytime soon :)  She is full of energy and a total extrovert.  And she painted my mom Eeyore, how cute is that?

W steals the hearts of everyone we meet.  He just has that cutest baby ever look about him and people fall for it every time.  He loves to be held and sometimes screams if you don’t oblige.  We’re trying to teach him to love the stroller and to fall asleep on his own, he’s not really going for it.  He just got his first two teeth and eats anything within his reach.  He crawls a little bit and is super ticklish.  He will never lack for cute shoes, as those seem to be his mother’s weakness :)

Wedding

This weekend my dear friend Cassie got married.  She has been one of the people in my life who has taught me the most of grace and forgiveness.  It is only the hand of God that we are friends after some of the things that we have walked through together.  She knows me in all my mess and I know her the same.  She loves me even though I was a passive aggressive jerk of a roommate sometimes in college and have had moments of being a less than stellar friend since then.  She is a constant in my life, a sister, someone who is going to point me to Jesus even if I haven’t talked to her in months.  We walked through college together, through doing youth ministry, and are able to just be that person for each other that you can tell anything b/c they don’t live nearby :)  I’m so incredibly thankful for her.  I am so excited for this new beginning in her life as she begins to walk alongside John and know life and ministry married to him.

Also got to hang out with this sweet friend…

Aimee is moving to San Diego with her husband and cute kiddos to serve Jesus in campus ministry there.  I am so encouraged by how they follow Jesus in whatever he asks them to do.  I do not see her enough, that’s for sure :)

I got to spend a little time with my parents too, which was really fun.  Frisbie golf at the park with my dad, dinner at Outback, board games, Target, Chickfila… you know, all the important things.  And I got to rest, which I didn’t realize that I needed so desperately.  Thanks for getting married Cassie :)

Happy Shannon Day!

I know… I’m being an overwhelming blogger today.  But just now, with 36 minutes left in the day, I realized that this is my one year anniversary living in Honduras, and that’s kind of a big deal :)

This was me, a year ago today.  Weak with the stomach flu, totally annoyed by the woman at TACA who I swear changed the baggage rules right as I walked up the desk, and so sad to have left my friends in Costa Rica.  I had no idea at the time the adventure the Lord had in mind for me in the upcoming year.  If I did, I may have chosen to fly back to NC instead :)  No… I’m totally kidding.  I wouldn’t trade the last year here for anything!  It has been a wild ride, but I have seen the Lord’s faithful hand carrying me.  But back to the title, Evan Clow deemed May 1st forever Happy Shannon Day b/c it’s the day I arrived.  So thanks Evan for giving me a holiday… now how shall we celebrate?

Recap…
I arrived in May and started meeting with Kiyomi and IHNFA but I didn’t speak enough Spanish to understand anything they were saying.  In June my brother arrived to stay for two months and I loved every second of having him here.  The summer brought heat and summer teams… it was a struggle because I still didn’t feel like I had a place here or a clear purpose and I felt like being so busy with teams hindered being able to pursue that.  Also my car broke down.  A lot.  September brought lots of changes as Bethany left and I didn’t have any friends.  Then Heather moved to La Ceiba and is now my roommate!  Caitlin moved to Ceiba.  We started getting involved in the church and making friends.  Then I got stuck out of the country for a month, stupid yellow fever shot.  I got trained in pavement project.  Kate moved to La Ceiba and our roommate dynamic changed again, but for the better.  And somehow in the midst of that, our paperwork was done and I could look to rent a house.  How amazing is God?  We rented a house and my dad and Rick came and built us beds.  My family showed me countless times this year how lovingly supportive they are and I am SO grateful for them!  I met girls, interviewed potential staff, made contacts, and then God gave me people who wanted to work with and for me and wanted to live in the house.  Again, incredible.  So we moved in 3 girls and 3 babies, hired a house mom and started to deal with the reality of a day-to-day, life-on-life ministry.  I had lots of visitors, people got married, and the Lord gave me a sweet community here in Ceiba and grew my team closer together.  My team has been so supportive and I don’t know what I would do with out them.  I’ve cried, a lot.  And laughed, a lot.  I’ve said a lot of goodbyes, but also a lot of hellos.  I’ve admitted defeat, but also kept on.  I’ve started doing things I’m bad at on a daily basis.  Oh, and in that vein, we started paperwork to open a small business.  I think I need to take a nap, or a hibernation :)

The theme of this year…

Great is Thy Faithfulness oh God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
All I have needed, Thy hand hast provided
Great is Thy Faithfulness!  Lord unto Thee.

I have seen God’s provision every time I turn around.  In finances, volunteers, teammates, girls, lessons of grace, lessons of forgiveness, friends and fellowship, leadership, medical care, and SO much more.  I never want to forget this season of walking in trust and faith because there is absolutely NO WAY I can do this on my own.

People series #1- Y & J

I wanted to start with Y & J because they were the first two to come to Puerta de Esperanza.  Y is the youngest mom that we have at 16 years old.  J is about 20 months and the oldest of the babies… see some irony in that? :)

Oh Y.  I say that all the time.  She is unpredictable and stubborn as a mule.  She loves to test the boundaries and has figured out exactly how to push my buttons.  I told her one day that I know she annoys me on purpose and she just smiled.  grr.  Last week I threatened to take her door off of her bedroom since I’ve asked her not to lock it approximately 1000 times and she still does it.  Her response: Fine then, I’ll just never close it.  That’s fine, solves my problem :)  I love how she thinks that it will punish me somehow.  She just has to have control over something.  She is in beauty school, but the first time she turned on the hairdryer it scared her to death :)  We spent the next 15 minutes laughing so hard we cried!  She is full of unexpected compliments and when she’s not telling me how mad she is at me, she is telling me how pretty I am.  She says I love you and she really means it, although she doesn’t believe that I really love her, although maybe more now than before.  She does dishes without being asked, does all the laundry by hand b/c she doesn’t trust the washer, and sometimes gets so tickled that she can’t stop laughing for a half an hour.  She is hilarious, honestly.  She tells me everything about her day, her friends, her life before now, and it is always so funny.  She is gut-level honest and you never have to wonder where you stand.  She wants to love Jesus more but gets stuck in her temper and her rebellious heart, but she always apologizes and never stays mad and then she humbly asks us to pray that God would change her.  She wants to be a good mom and dreams big dreams for her daughter.  She is exceptionally thoughtful, although sometimes you would never know :)

J has her mom’s stubborn nature.  She just pretends she doesn’t hear you if she doesn’t want to do what you’re asking :)  But she has learned so much in three short months.  She doesn’t talk much, but understands everything.  She is TINY and trying to recover from pretty severe malnutrition.  She will always eat bananas, but not always much else.  She thinks that any drink with ice in it is coke.  Her hair looks just like mine and people almost always think that I am her mom.  She loves toys that make noise and baby dolls.  She loves to sit in my lap and read books and snuggle.  She doesn’t cry much, goes to sleep without fussing, and loves helping.  She also loves to stand in front of the refrigerator when the door is open, I don’t blame her, its like her own personal AC! 

People series

So, I really want you all to know the people that I work with the way that I get to know them.  They are amazing girls and babies and kids and I wish you could all meet them.  I want to remember them forever, their sweet smiles and their personalities, the things they like and the funny things they say.  So I’m going to try to introduce them to you one at a time, or maybe two at a time :)  We’ll see how it goes!

Birthday

This is what I woke up to on my birthday…

That’s right… sapo verde eres tú… you’re a green frog.  Thanks C! :)

I spent the night at PDE Monday since I was leaving for the states early Wednesday morning.  It was so fun to wake up and be with the girls on my birthday.  They were so excited and sang to me for about an hour… with guitars, which they can’t play yet.  HA!  It started as birthday songs and then digressed.  But even E got in on the action.

And then Emanuel came over… the babies were testing his guitar skills and really wanted to help.

Then I had lunch with friends…

And then went with Ashley, Kate, and some church friends to see “The Hunger Games”

Great birthday :)

Learning new things!

Here’s where I know that my blog is for me and not just my readers.  But one day, I’m going to want to remember all these things, so here’s to catching up!

Mom and Cheryl brought a sewing machine and taught the girls to make skirts!  They loved it :)

Then they learned pillowcase dresses, and now J has two!  From then on, they’ve been on a roll… pillows, purses, little baby shorts… who knows what they’ll have ready when I get home.  I’m proud of them!  They are definitely beginners, but they’ll get better.  And from it all I learned that G wants to be a seamstress, so that’s progress towards her future.  YAY!

Content

Last Monday night we went to the beach at sunset.  Its only about a mile from the girls’ house and now that we have strollers, we can go for walks!  Did I mention that mom and Cheryl brought strollers?  Look!  (p.s. these strollers are awesome, lightweight, and perfect for taking on and off the bus… if anyone would ever want to buy us another one, they come from toys r us:))

Anyway… the beach, at sunset…

 

I got some time to just talk to G while the other girls took pictures.  And then we all just walked together, joking around, talking about family, life, church, Jesus.  I could not have been happier.  At one point I just stopped and asked the girls if they knew why I was so happy… because they were acting like sisters, like family :)  A little bit of poking fun, some encouragement, lots of laughter… and it felt good and healthy and made me so excited about what the Lord has in mind for them.