Hola, everyone! :)
Well, as I start this e-mail, anyway, I have sweet little Fabiola asleep next to me on my bed...which means that there is a good chance I'll get interrupted and have to finish later. :) As I told a friend, I'm pretty sure I'll go through "baby withdrawals" when I get home; living with 3 "baby babies" and 3 that are 8 months old (the triplets!) has spoiled me. :)
For the most part, life is falling into a routine here, so I'll just kind of fill you in on the few things outside the norm and then maybe "introduce" you to some of the kids here. You know, besides Jhosie. :) Also, FYI, there are a few pictures up on Facebook; the internet here is really slow and my computer has issues, so I'm trying to get more added but it happens slowly. And just so you know--I can't post names with photos, you might have to guess at some of them. Only not in a comment, because I'd have to delete it. :) OK, moving on...
We were able to finally call home and talk to our family on Thursday...that was the first time in my life I'd gone 8 1/2 days without talking to my family!!! I'm not a big fan of it, either (going that long without talking to them that is). :P So it was soooo wonderful to hear their voices and catch up on some of their news.
Amber got almost lost in Cochabamba Friday morning. There's a new volunteer (her name is Kaley...and yes, that's how she spells it. This could get interesting... :) ) but she's staying with a family in Cochabamba. She got here Thursday, Elena (the volunteer who runs House 2, with the older kids) picked her up, I guess, and took her to the two homes and such, but somebody needed to go get her today. Jennifer thought it would be a good idea for her to learn to use the trufis (public transportation--there are buses and trufis), so Amber was going to go get her and help her with that (since Kaley doesn't speak Spanish). Except Jen told Amber the wrong trufi to take to GET there. So here at the house, when Amber had been gone about an hour and a half and we hadn't heard from anyone, Savannah called the family Kaley is staying with and found out that nobody had gotten there yet. So, we got in the car to get Kaley and try to find Amber. While we were on the way, Jen called Savannah (or maybe Savannah called Jen?) and she was on the line with Amber and Jen told Savannah that Amber was there at the house. When we got there, though, there was no Amber...so we started to drive around and spotted her pretty quickly. Turns out, after realizing that Jen told her the wrong trufi and getting back to the right street, Amber had gone to the right house, but before she could knock or anything a lady standing at a shop nearby told her that "they" had already left; we're still not sure what that lady was talking about, because Kaley and her hostess were there the whole time!! So anyway...then Amber ended up going straight back out to meet Jennifer at the bridge for a soccer game that Jen's kids were playing. (apparently, they beat the winners of the last championship; a team that usually stomps their opponents 5 or 6 to 0.) So she had a long busy day!
Saturday, 3 of us volunteers took the 7 oldest kids to a park for the morning. This particular park is more than just a playground; it also had a sort of mini-aquarium (which the kids LOVED!! :) ) and a roller coaster (which we couldn't get any of them to get on) and who knows what else. They had a blast, we all came back tired, fed them and laid them down for a nap. (I took a nap, too...with Fabiola. She's such a precious bundle to snuggle and rest with!)
Sunday, Amber and I took four 2-year-olds (Pedro and Angel [twins], Esteban, and Carla) and Fabiola with us to church. Jennifer brought another of the babies, Santiago, with her. Corraling 4 two-year-olds was a bit interesting, but they went to the playroom after the singing (which they all enjoy) so it really wasn't a big deal. Esteban was hilarious...not only would he clap and "dance" through each song, at the end he would clap real loud and yell "bravo!" quite loudly. One of the pastors came over and teased Jennifer about her kids needing to go to a Pentecostal church. :) I thought it was adorable. What was really interesting was taking them out to lunch...the stares we got from people! You could just see people wondering how 3 gringas came to have 6 Bolivian children, all very close in age... :)
On the way back from church, we went by the bridge, so it was rather late when we got back. We got all our kids changed and in bed, and then Amber, Fabiola, and I went to the store to get stuff for icing for the cookies we made the night before. We got back in time to make the icing, get ready, and get the 5 oldest kids up and ready to go. Then we headed to House 2 where we created joyful chaos for a while decorating the cookies. :) It was fun, and the kids had a blast. They all did a great job of just decorating their 3 cookies without eating any cookie or icing, and then we let them each decorate one more to eat.
Then, after very quickly feeding them all supper, we took 8 of the older ones (one of the girls fell asleep before we left, so we left her there) and our 5 and headed to church for a special "night of praise". I can imagine we made quite a sight, 5 adults (4 volunteers and Vico, Elena's boyfriend) and 13 children arriving and sitting in the second and third rows on the far side. Of course, I bet it was even more interesting when said 18 people tried to quietly sneak out before it was over because Elena had to get back before 9pm so the tia at House 2 could leave... :) And actually, we were pretty successful. The kids were great and just quietly followed us out, but there is NO missing that event (and it IS an event!), especially with where we were sitting!
Jennifer picked up a pizza on her way home from the church (she was playing keyboard, so she couldn't exactly leave when we did). Since she's a vegetarian, you can imagine it was a kind of interesting pizza...mine ended up being cheese, pretty much. :) Then the four of us here at House 1 played Phase 10...Jennifer won, thus sealing Amber's statement that "Jennifer always wins this game!"
Which brings us to Monday when Amber and I took Jhair (one of the 2 oldest kids here) out. He goes home with his dad every night and on weekends, so he ends up not getting to go a lot of places because they can't be sure they'll be back before his dad picks him up. So Amber had promised him that she would take him somewhere at some point. We took him to a park and then out to eat and he was sooo happy. He's an absolutely adorable little guy with the cutest facial expressions and he absolutely LOVES Amber. Me...well, evidently he feels the need to look out for me. At the restaurant, we ordered our food (it's kind of a fast food style restaurant, complete with an indoor playground) and sat down to wait and Amber decided to take him to the bathroom to wash his hands. When they came back, she said Jhair kept telling her they needed to hurry so I wouldn't cry. Then I went to wash my hands, and when I got back Amber said he kept asking her if her "hermanita" ("little sister", or just the endearing form of "sister") was OK, should he go with her?, and was I going to cry? I'm not real sure what that was all about, other than the fact that I somehow seem to inspire protective instincts in guys of all ages and varying nationalities... :)
OK, so maybe life is not as routine as I thought... :) Since you've already sort of "met" a couple of the kids, I'll just throw one more in here and be done.
Brayan (pronounced like "Bryan") is 3 years old and ALL boy. He's a smiling bundle of fun with a whole lot of mischief thrown in, and he stole my heart the first day when he met us at the door with a huge grin, a hug, and an "hola, tia!" as if we were the very people he'd been waiting his whole life to see. He can definitely be a handful (it seems like we hear or say "No, Brayan!" an awful lot...) but he's a sweet, loving child and he loves to dote on the babies. He also loves to repeat everything I say, so I've taught him to say "copycat". Only he says it with an accent, so it's really cute. :)
So, that's pretty much life so far. And lo and behold, Fabiola is STILL asleep (though I think she may be starting to wake up). :) I do believe she prefers sleeping on her side to sleeping on her back (note to self...). But, the other kids are all already done with supper and I can hear them playing outside, so I think we're going to go join them.
We love you all! God bless!
Well, as I start this e-mail, anyway, I have sweet little Fabiola asleep next to me on my bed...which means that there is a good chance I'll get interrupted and have to finish later. :) As I told a friend, I'm pretty sure I'll go through "baby withdrawals" when I get home; living with 3 "baby babies" and 3 that are 8 months old (the triplets!) has spoiled me. :)
For the most part, life is falling into a routine here, so I'll just kind of fill you in on the few things outside the norm and then maybe "introduce" you to some of the kids here. You know, besides Jhosie. :) Also, FYI, there are a few pictures up on Facebook; the internet here is really slow and my computer has issues, so I'm trying to get more added but it happens slowly. And just so you know--I can't post names with photos, you might have to guess at some of them. Only not in a comment, because I'd have to delete it. :) OK, moving on...
We were able to finally call home and talk to our family on Thursday...that was the first time in my life I'd gone 8 1/2 days without talking to my family!!! I'm not a big fan of it, either (going that long without talking to them that is). :P So it was soooo wonderful to hear their voices and catch up on some of their news.
Amber got almost lost in Cochabamba Friday morning. There's a new volunteer (her name is Kaley...and yes, that's how she spells it. This could get interesting... :) ) but she's staying with a family in Cochabamba. She got here Thursday, Elena (the volunteer who runs House 2, with the older kids) picked her up, I guess, and took her to the two homes and such, but somebody needed to go get her today. Jennifer thought it would be a good idea for her to learn to use the trufis (public transportation--there are buses and trufis), so Amber was going to go get her and help her with that (since Kaley doesn't speak Spanish). Except Jen told Amber the wrong trufi to take to GET there. So here at the house, when Amber had been gone about an hour and a half and we hadn't heard from anyone, Savannah called the family Kaley is staying with and found out that nobody had gotten there yet. So, we got in the car to get Kaley and try to find Amber. While we were on the way, Jen called Savannah (or maybe Savannah called Jen?) and she was on the line with Amber and Jen told Savannah that Amber was there at the house. When we got there, though, there was no Amber...so we started to drive around and spotted her pretty quickly. Turns out, after realizing that Jen told her the wrong trufi and getting back to the right street, Amber had gone to the right house, but before she could knock or anything a lady standing at a shop nearby told her that "they" had already left; we're still not sure what that lady was talking about, because Kaley and her hostess were there the whole time!! So anyway...then Amber ended up going straight back out to meet Jennifer at the bridge for a soccer game that Jen's kids were playing. (apparently, they beat the winners of the last championship; a team that usually stomps their opponents 5 or 6 to 0.) So she had a long busy day!
Saturday, 3 of us volunteers took the 7 oldest kids to a park for the morning. This particular park is more than just a playground; it also had a sort of mini-aquarium (which the kids LOVED!! :) ) and a roller coaster (which we couldn't get any of them to get on) and who knows what else. They had a blast, we all came back tired, fed them and laid them down for a nap. (I took a nap, too...with Fabiola. She's such a precious bundle to snuggle and rest with!)
Sunday, Amber and I took four 2-year-olds (Pedro and Angel [twins], Esteban, and Carla) and Fabiola with us to church. Jennifer brought another of the babies, Santiago, with her. Corraling 4 two-year-olds was a bit interesting, but they went to the playroom after the singing (which they all enjoy) so it really wasn't a big deal. Esteban was hilarious...not only would he clap and "dance" through each song, at the end he would clap real loud and yell "bravo!" quite loudly. One of the pastors came over and teased Jennifer about her kids needing to go to a Pentecostal church. :) I thought it was adorable. What was really interesting was taking them out to lunch...the stares we got from people! You could just see people wondering how 3 gringas came to have 6 Bolivian children, all very close in age... :)
On the way back from church, we went by the bridge, so it was rather late when we got back. We got all our kids changed and in bed, and then Amber, Fabiola, and I went to the store to get stuff for icing for the cookies we made the night before. We got back in time to make the icing, get ready, and get the 5 oldest kids up and ready to go. Then we headed to House 2 where we created joyful chaos for a while decorating the cookies. :) It was fun, and the kids had a blast. They all did a great job of just decorating their 3 cookies without eating any cookie or icing, and then we let them each decorate one more to eat.
Then, after very quickly feeding them all supper, we took 8 of the older ones (one of the girls fell asleep before we left, so we left her there) and our 5 and headed to church for a special "night of praise". I can imagine we made quite a sight, 5 adults (4 volunteers and Vico, Elena's boyfriend) and 13 children arriving and sitting in the second and third rows on the far side. Of course, I bet it was even more interesting when said 18 people tried to quietly sneak out before it was over because Elena had to get back before 9pm so the tia at House 2 could leave... :) And actually, we were pretty successful. The kids were great and just quietly followed us out, but there is NO missing that event (and it IS an event!), especially with where we were sitting!
Jennifer picked up a pizza on her way home from the church (she was playing keyboard, so she couldn't exactly leave when we did). Since she's a vegetarian, you can imagine it was a kind of interesting pizza...mine ended up being cheese, pretty much. :) Then the four of us here at House 1 played Phase 10...Jennifer won, thus sealing Amber's statement that "Jennifer always wins this game!"
Which brings us to Monday when Amber and I took Jhair (one of the 2 oldest kids here) out. He goes home with his dad every night and on weekends, so he ends up not getting to go a lot of places because they can't be sure they'll be back before his dad picks him up. So Amber had promised him that she would take him somewhere at some point. We took him to a park and then out to eat and he was sooo happy. He's an absolutely adorable little guy with the cutest facial expressions and he absolutely LOVES Amber. Me...well, evidently he feels the need to look out for me. At the restaurant, we ordered our food (it's kind of a fast food style restaurant, complete with an indoor playground) and sat down to wait and Amber decided to take him to the bathroom to wash his hands. When they came back, she said Jhair kept telling her they needed to hurry so I wouldn't cry. Then I went to wash my hands, and when I got back Amber said he kept asking her if her "hermanita" ("little sister", or just the endearing form of "sister") was OK, should he go with her?, and was I going to cry? I'm not real sure what that was all about, other than the fact that I somehow seem to inspire protective instincts in guys of all ages and varying nationalities... :)
OK, so maybe life is not as routine as I thought... :) Since you've already sort of "met" a couple of the kids, I'll just throw one more in here and be done.
Brayan (pronounced like "Bryan") is 3 years old and ALL boy. He's a smiling bundle of fun with a whole lot of mischief thrown in, and he stole my heart the first day when he met us at the door with a huge grin, a hug, and an "hola, tia!" as if we were the very people he'd been waiting his whole life to see. He can definitely be a handful (it seems like we hear or say "No, Brayan!" an awful lot...) but he's a sweet, loving child and he loves to dote on the babies. He also loves to repeat everything I say, so I've taught him to say "copycat". Only he says it with an accent, so it's really cute. :)
So, that's pretty much life so far. And lo and behold, Fabiola is STILL asleep (though I think she may be starting to wake up). :) I do believe she prefers sleeping on her side to sleeping on her back (note to self...). But, the other kids are all already done with supper and I can hear them playing outside, so I think we're going to go join them.
We love you all! God bless!
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