Friday 12/17/10

It's 8:10 a.m. and breakfast is over. Nichole made yogurt and we had corn flakes with it for breakfast along with coffee and cookies. Nichole is always taking care of her large family; making sure the meals are always prepared and everyone is fed. When we went grocery shopping Wednesday, she brought home gifts for the children here; pretty tops for the girls and shoes for big Manuel (his boots had holes in them).

Speaking of Manuel, he got into trouble yesterday. He seems to have been keeping a low profile, but yesterday something must have happened. He started down the driveway (Jason and Nichole were in town) and Jasmine hollered for him to come back. I told her to ignore him and, and sure enough, he came back within 15 minutes. A little while later, he started down the other driveway and he was gone awhile longer this time. He came back, though, and apparently, did something he shouldn't have. Jason wanted to discipline him but the grandmother wouldn't let him. She interferes with Manuel all the time. He doesn't come eat with everyone else, she saves him food and he comes whenever he wants. Anyway, the grandmother said they wanted to leave and go back to the streets and Jason and Nichole told them they would take them and give them money for the bus ride. Everyone was getting ready to go to church nearby and the grandmother apologized and asked forgiveness, so they are still here. J

Meanwhile, I wasn't feeling too chipper, so I stayed back and Sed stayed with me while everyone else went to church about 6 p.m. Carla, Erasmo and Julia also stayed behind and were taking showers. After they were done, the boiler (you make fire in it to heat the water for showers) caught on fire and lit all the wood on the ground somehow and the fire crept up the wall and caught some electrical wires on fire before Sed noticed it. He put it out and then came to check on me. Sed has a very sweet young man. He came and told me what happened, asked me if I needed anything, offered tea twice and just wanted to make sure I was okay. When Nichole got home she said that it was good Sed stayed back or everything would have went up in flames.

They brought Anna (the little girls Dassi wrote about) home last night from church. She was there with her Uncle's family and asked to come spend the night, so she is staying till Saturday. She seems to be doing well and Jasmine has taken her up as they are good friends. Jasmine is a little servant. She is 9 and does whatever her mother tells her. When the old woman was here, she would feed her and check on her, she sees everything that goes on around her and carries the burden of it when her mother is gone. It is quite something to see her try to tell the "ninos" what to do!

All the women here are always busy and working; doing laundry (all by hand), cooking (over fires making dozens of tortillas), cleaning (trying to keep the mud and dirt at bay), giving children's baths (not an easy task if you remember the early days at Hadashah!). Carla (a wee bit of a thing no bigger than Anna Pom) has the two little ones and in the evening, before dusk, she starts the fire to heat up the water and then washes one, runs him up to the cabin, runs back, washes the other, runs him up to the cabin and dresses them both. The other ladies only have one child each. Julia has Luis (1) and her husband is Erasmo. Luis is not his child but Erasmo is Christian and treats Luis as his own. Julia is very beautiful and is Carla's older sister. They had a horrific childhood and it is a process of God healing them. I am wanting to share my background (since I had two boys out of wedlock to two different fathers) with the girls and Nichole said that it would be a good idea. Maybe Saturday.

Manuel's grandmother is a very hard worker, on her feet all day cooking, cleaning and doing laundry. She doesn't have a lot of teeth in the front and she is very wrinkled all over (I will get a picture of her for you) but she has a very sweet smile and disposition. Everyone is warming up to us now and the little ninos even let us hug them when they shied away before. The ninos love to play and are always trying to joke with us and speak English.

We are also getting ready for children's church. When we were in town, Wednesday, we had to buy everything for the crafts we had planned all over again because we had to leave it all in the trailer at Raymondville. We bought colored card stock to cut large hearts out and we'll put hole punches all around the edges so the children can lace them with the ribbon we purchased. Then they will copy a scripture from the chalk board onto the heart with crayons. We also bought candy and small bags of chips and balloons to put in individual bags for all the children at children's church. They will have a heart and bag to take home with them. Mala is also planning one of her famous skits for the children. J

Just got news we were going to be able to get to town to post our blogs! I'll write more about each one here next time.