"For when I am weak, then I am strong"

Today was a hard day for me. I really struggle with my second grade class. They are difficult to teach and, at times, hard to like. Today I just didn't have the energy for them. I felt like a horrible teacher and that they all hated me. The hardest part about this class is that three of the five kids we look after when school is out are in this class. I have been afraid teaching this class was going to strain our relationship and I worried about it even more today.

On top of all of that, I started to get a migraine headache in that class. I barely finished out my classes today, but I forced myself to since I have already been sick twice. When I walked back up to my apartment after my last class I just felt worthless. I was not able to go back out and take care of the 5 kids, which is my favorite part of the day. I just rested and tried to sleep it off.

When I finally got up, I sat on our step and watched from afar as Dave played with the kids outside. I was (and am) so proud of him. He never stops with them. It is like he has all the energy in the world. I really started to get down on myself and wonder what the heck I am doing here. I started to tell myself that I wasn't making a difference at all and if anything the kids are just liking me less. I began to doubt myself and my role here.

After a while, Dave came up and I started to make dinner. Then there was a knock on our door, it was Marili. I was out of the room so Dave told her to come in (which means stand at the bottom of our steps since we live in a loft). Dave told me she was asking for me. She doesn't speak much English so I have to speak Spanish with her. I asked her if she needed anything or wanted anything, she said "no." She just stared at me with her beautiful eyes and in her own way was just saying, "I just wanted to know where you were." We talked for a little bit and I asked her to come up. (The kids rarely ever come up to our place, I think they have been told not to). She came up and hugged me and we talked for a little while longer.

Then there was another knock. It was Yeny. She walked in and said "Can I pass?" We said of course, and she came up with Brenda following behind her. None of them wanted anything but just to spend time with us. Normally, if one of the kids comes to the door it's because someone needs something. Today, it was just to spend time with us.

Soon, they left for dinner. I felt comforted after their visit. I know God was reminding me that He is in control. I cannot make a difference. Only He can. We most likely will have no idea what God's overall purpose in bringing us here is, but I do know that I trust Him. He is always faithful.

Dinner for Five

(From left to right: Carlos, Marili, Jeffie, Steven, Gerson)

Dave and I have decided to start having the five kids up for dinner once in a while. We told them on Friday after school and they were so excited. They all said thank you right away and wanted to know what time dinner was. From then until 6:00 we never heard the end of it. We were told to be careful about having kids up to our apartment because they may steal from you. We thought we would just have them eat on our balcony and then they would never be in our place.

That plan did not work! At about 5:30 they all starting streaming in one by one wanting to help make the pizza. If you look at these kids faces you can understand how hard it is to say no to them! They looked in our refridgerator, cabinets, and even the trash. They actually found an apple in our trash and almost ate it! Dave caught it and at least washed it off and cut it up for them. They all helped to make the pizza and set the table.

They were so well behaved. They waited patiently as we served them their food. They made sure to say thank you for everything and even helped to clean up. I think they would have kept eating as long as there was food! We talked about doing this again and they all gave their ideas on what kind of food they would like to have. Tamales, pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, "Pollo Campero" (the Guatemalan version of KFC, supposedly Guatemala's pride), and coca-cola were all suggestions.

They best part was actually the next day. In the morning I went out on the balcony to get our clothes and saw Steven playing and he yelled to me, "Hey Katie, do you remember last night?" I saw Jeffie later and he said, "Do you remember last night?" In the afternoon I was talking to Marili and she said in broken Engish, "More pizza tonight?" They were still excited about it the next day and wanted to make sure we thought it was special. We will definitely be doing this again!

Toast in a Frying Pan

So, after a month of being here I started to think that maybe I was such a healthy person that I wouldn't get sick. Boy, was I wrong! Dave and I spent most of the day on Saturday and part of the day on Sunday in Antigua this weekend. We love going here because it seems like such a safe place. We don't worry too much about getting robbed, where we are going to sleep at night, and most importantly the food we eat.

We are still careful and make sure not to drink the water and only drink out of glasses with ice cubes that have holes in them (for some reason those ice cubes are safe). We have actually sat down at a restaurant and left after seeing how the food is cooked. We haven't been stupid. But, you cannot control everything.

We got back to our place in the early afternoon on Sunday and I felt fine. We ate a really light lunch before we left Antigua and got so busy doing other things that we didn't even think about eating dinner until about 7:30. We both heated up some leftover lasagna, but my body was telling me not to eat it. Good thing I didn't! From about 8pm last night until 5:30am I was waking up about every half hour. I won't go into details, but it was an awful night!

There are a few things that my mother has given me since childhood to eat and drink when I am sick. I continue to need those things now as an adult! I need ginger ale, campbell's chicken noodle soup, and toast. Well, it's not like Dave can just go to the grocery store and get me ginger ale, plus I don't think they even have it here! I had some noodles and chicken broth, so I thought I would just cook the noodles in the broth and make due with what I had. I thought that canned goods don't expire, but something was definately wrong with my chicken broth. It was black and smelled horrible! So, ginger ale and chicken soup were out. Toast was my only option, except we don't have a toaster! I resorted to cooking toast in a frying pan. It did not turn out to be the comforting food I had wanted it to be. Toast in a Frying Pan just doesn't hit the spot when you are sick!

Steven

So we thought, in order to give you a better take on our experience here, that we would do a short description of each of the kids we've been asked to concentrate on. They are the five youngest in the home, and Steven is six years old, the youngest of the five. He was left in the hospital by his mother as an infant. When Steve and Pam went to court, his mother was there and relinquished parental rights, claiming she couldn't take care of him and his father didn't know he was born.

Look at this guy's face. I can't tell you how much joy this kid brings us. I have him in my first grade classes, too (English, Science, and Math), so I get to spend a lot of time with him each day, and consequently, I attached to him pretty quickly. He's such a nice, sweet kid, but very ornery and mischevious, which I love about him (when we're not in class anyway). He's the kind of kid that's disobedient in class because he's ambitious and curious, not because he wants to be disobedient. When he realizes he's being disobedient, he shrugs his shoulders and says, "Sah-ree," with a big grin. About once a week, he draws me a picture in class, and labels it, "to: Deybid". And much more often than that, he reminds me that I'm crazy, although it comes out more like, "Yer crdacy."

After school, we make sure the kids do their chores. It rotates based on a point system between picking up trash and dog poop, taking out the trash, sweeping different parts of the complex, and some chore in the evening that Katie and I aren't around for. Steven's chore this past week was picking up the trash and poop. It's a bit difficult to get him to focus, and when we find poop, he tries to pick it up with two sticks.

Another part of our responsibilities with the five is to supervise baths. Steven's definitely a shower singer. He usually sings, "Quiero mover el bote," which I believe translates, "I want to move the can." It's from the Spanish version of Madagascar when they sing, "I like to move it, move it," if that helps you put a tune to it. He also does this hilarious dance where he clasps his hands over his head and moves his hips back and forth.

About a week ago, Jeffy was taking a bath, so I was sitting on the toilet lid while he was washing, and Steven bursts through the door, exposed and pinching it off already. When he saw I was in the way, he got all panicky, and wide-eyed he started yelling, "I gotta go, I gotta go." Except before he actually said anything pee started spraying everywhere. There was no stream to avoid because he isn't circumcised, so it was like buckshot. I wanted to be mad but I couldn't; it was so stinking funny. I was a little grossed out, though.

After bath time, Katie and I get to basically hang out with the kids. Sometimes we read with them, or I'll play soccer with the boys. They were on a swing fix for a couple weeks, and after I showed them the underdog, all I heard was, "Dave, can you do me the underdog? As higher you can!"

Well, I hope you guys can get an idea what Steven's like, and I wish you all could know him. He's such a special kid, and I'm sure you all would love him like we do.