Boys, boys, boys

I am like a monkey. I like to run. I talk really fast. I stand on my head. I hate shower time. I play with my friends. I don't like homework. I like to help out in the garden. What am I? A boy!

Fernando with the octopus on the pool

I have spent a lot of time with the boys these past two weeks. Do girls exist anymore? I miss playing outside with the girls or being in the houses braiding their hair. One of the volunteers has been in the Tesoros house (boys) for about a week and a half now. Each house has a casita assistant that helps clean, do laundry, and help out with homework. Since she is in the house I have become helper. I, with Kevin, go in the mornings and do laundry, sweep, mop, clean bathrooms, and many other things. In the afternoons I help out with more laundry and then homework and bath time. I think there was one day where all I did was laundry. It has been a challenge for sure.

Franklin and Piero they are so precious

This past weekend I was in the Amigo's house Saturday am - Sunday am. They are a much better house than the Tesoros, but they are still wild. They had visits in the morning and those who didn't couldn't go out to play. I had to put some kids in their rooms. Later after lunch I did more laundry and cleaned the house some. I tried to get them all outside to play because it was so warm and beautiful, but it is really hard to get 12 boys outside. One would think it wouldn't be, that they would jump right up and run at the opportunity to go out and play, but they are weird. Later that day two of the boys got into a fight so I sent one to his room and the other had to plant the rest of the seeds in the garden for me. I need to find another punishment because the boys enjoy gardening way to much! We had a good talk about family and why we do bad things. He told me that he was abused and so was him mom. I was so sad for him because I was so blessed to grow up in a good family situation. Before dinner I tried to get them to all take showers, but the water was too cold. Poor Sebastian and Paul had to take freezing cold showers, and I got soap in Paul's mouth. After dinner they didn't want to go to bed so they played with some toys and watched TV. A few others decided to play indoor basketball. I probably shouldn't have let them, but sometimes I just feel like things like that are ok because they were having so much fun and being boys. After what seemed like forever they finally were quiet and went to bed. It took some threatening to get another Tia but they fell asleep. All except Pedro. He wandered into my room and asked if he could read the Bible. Well of course I said yes. So he came in and sat on my bed and read and I let him listen to some Spanish Christian music on my iPod. He was so precious (let me tell you that he is a rambunctious, wild, crazy kid). He would read some from one book and flip to another and then tell me to read some. He asked me if I had ever read the book of Matthew and then proceeded to tell me that it was the most beautiful book ever. My heart was so touched. A little boy the age of 9 was sitting there wanting to read God's word. But also it was a stab in the heart. I felt God saying you should have faith like this child, you should yearn for me and want to learn so much more. I feel like children know so much more than we as adults do. I wonder what happens while we grow up. So he finally went to sleep and I couldn't sleep. I had that new mom feeling. Worried about all my kids and were they sleeping alright, and so on. I had to wake Paul up to go to the bathroom twice and then twice I had to pick Sebastian up off the floor when he rolled out of his bed. Then 5 am came. Time to get up and take showers because they didn't get done the night before. Oh it was a long morning, but we all made it to church nice and clean! I slept just about all afternoon! I think I would definitely cover that house again.

Samir playing with his trompo (top) it is a favorite pastime for most of the boys. I still haven't been able to conquer it.

Boys are such interesting beings. I do not think that girls will ever understand them. I thought that because I grew up with so many and have so many guys friends that I knew them pretty well..WRONG! I am not even close. They can be wild and crazy, mean and ugly, and then out of the blue they are sweet, loving, fun to play with. No entiendo. Hmmmm, I bet they think the same about girls. One thing I do know is that working with boys from the ages of 4-14 makes you really tired. I think it is time to go to bed. :)

Please pray for Samir. He is going through some really hard things right now that we don't understand. Pray that God would break him down and that he would want to cling to God. Pray for his heart that there would be a MAJOR change. Pray that he would listen, obey, and respect those in authority of him and also respect his housemates.

Love you all!

I cut a boy's hair for the first time tonight! They all asked to get theirs cut after I finished with his!