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!