Week 2

As I sit here and relfect on the past week I think about the boys who live here, and the lifestyle they are living at home, and I wonder what they are doing. The must be back in time for church at 5:00, but many of them are often late. This past week the children have been bouncing off the walls ready for school to be over.

On Monday I got to visit my first Mexican Health Clinic, and no it was not for me. I wanted to go with Alejandro to get his stiches removed from his eyebrow, (he fell on the corner of a step at school, because he was not lisenting to the teacher, when she told him to stop playing in the line) and just to get out of the house for an hour or two. And so Sandi, Alejandro, and I made the trek to the Clinic. Of course we had to wait two hours, and bedtime was getting close for Alejandro, plus we did not want to sit and wait in their much longer, although Alejandro enjoyed it because he got to watch t.v. which he does not have the luxury of at Casa Hogar. Anyway Sandi told them we were from Casa Hogar and Alejandro had to get home to go to bed. Once they were aware of his situation they instantly took him back to the room where he would get his stitches removed with Sandi. But then Sandi suddenly came back to the waiting room to wait to do all the paperwork. And 10 minutes later Alejandro walked back into the waiting room and sat on my lap with the stitches removed from his eyebrow. I could not imagine being 6 years old in a hospital all alone with getting my stitches out. But he acted as if if was no big deal, and to me it was so sad, that he did not have anyone back there to hold his hand, and he didn´t need anyone. But this is just one of the many stories that I must endure. And that day Alejandro taught me how to be brave.

This past week we also had to deal with another boy in Chicos A who did not return from home till Wednesday and he missed 3 days of school. They are very strict about going to school because it teaches the children disciple, and then his mother failed to pick him up, and he was forced to stay here this weekend. I feel so horrible for these children, and often so helpless at times. Because I am not their parents, and techniqually I am not a volunteer here until August when my year starts. But it is hard not to form a bond with all these kids. My pray time has grown since I moved here, becuase sometimes it is the only way to get through the hour or day.

On Wednesday we combined half of Chicos B into the dorm with Chicos A, because TJ and Maribel have left for their 3 week vacation where they will be visiting another Orphnage in Gomez. But Sandi cannot handle all of Chicos B so they youngest ones of the group came to us, so now there are 23 boys in the dorm and it is crazy. But all in all the older ones are really a huge help because they remember the rules and are a great role model for the younger ones, who somehow forget the rules on a daily basis.

My Español is coming along nicely, I am starting to understand the kids more and more each day, especially the older ones. While Gladys was teaching me some of the words in Español one of the boys came to me and said, "Her Spanish is not that good and neither is mine" but he said it in Spanish and we all just laughed. The little boys are hard to understand because half of the time they are not speaking correctly, but somehow I manage to figure out what they need or want. I cannot believe I have been here for two weeks already, the time really has flown by. I am sure my year here will fly by quickly as well.

We are about to have our weekly Sunday meeting, and then we are having hambugers, and I am so excited, because I have been eating quesadillas and Mexican food for two weeks and I miss American food so badly. God Bless