Answered Prayer, Swine's Flu, and Dirty Feet

OLD and NEW pictures:

Domingo and his birthday cake (10 years old!).
Chuy on a seat he found in the playroom...Nutrileche milk boxes!
Ian, Johan, and Kedric using the wireless on the front porch...our Internet cafe.

Digging the well.

Lupita and with Alejito's 4-month "birthday" cake.

Sunday morning, I had another headache. But I felt much better than the week before. I got ready for church. I was sitting inside on a church bench, waiting for people to arrive when Janessa came rushing in, all excited. "Lupita is here with Alejito!" she told me. I was surprised...although Lupita (Vanessa's sister) had said she would come for the service (you just never really know when they are serious or want to pacify you). So I jumped up and greeted them in delight. Sitting with them during the service was an answer to prayer. Thank you to all who have been praying for that family...please continue to pray. After the service some of the girls fought over holding Alejito and exclaimed at how beautiful he was. Lupita felt proud, I think. After the service, I found that my headache was mysteriously gone, PTL. I went prayer-walking. It was good physical and spiritual exercise; I haven't had time to do it for quite awhile. When I got back I took a nap until it was time to leave for San Pedro. Rod had to drive a sick lady to El Fuerte and so 12-year-old Caleb led singing. Caleb, if you're reading this, you did a very good job. On the way back, Loren dropped me off at the orphanage to spend the night and all day Monday while Lenn, Debbie, and family had their day off in Los Mochis. Roxina was excited to see me and immediately wanted me to sit down and read a Bible story to her. My mind was tired and I had zero energy. The result was not good; I stumbled over nearly every word. Then we prayed together and I must insert proudly that I made it all of the way through a [short and sweet] prayer in Spanish.

Monday morning I was rudely awaken from blissful sleep. I can't say that I was surprised, just disappointed. Chuy threw a fit from 5:00-6:00 a.m. Nothing I did was good enough for him. Every time I thought he was settled and crept back to my bed, he would start up again. Finally I fell into a wary sleep until he decided he was done sleeping at 6:45 a.m. I smelled him before I even saw him. He had poop everywhere. I heated his bath water and tried to get ready for breakfast in my spare time. Breakfast was a quiet affair without the Millers. I started laundry, first soaking all of Chuy's clothes. Miguel walked up and looked in the bucket and exclaimed, "Asco!" (Gross!) and then retreated to the safety of the house. Laundry went fast without trouble. I even managed to get a lot of it folded before lunch. Chuy pooped his clothes again. During my time off, I tried to sleep, but Chuy was sleeping in the same room and the fear of hearing that screaming little voice kept me on the edge. Instead, I read my book. When he got up, I took him outside and fed him guamuchiles. The boys came down for soccer and some of the neighbor boys came over. Maria took over the Chuy-watch and I sat with Teo on the front porch and told him a story in Spanish. He tried to reciprocate by telling me a story in English, but switched to Spanish pretty quickly. Domingo told me that he had "siete mas dias" (seven more days) until his birthday and then was delighted when he found out that it was only "seis mas dias" (six more days). The Millers got home after dinner. Lenn and Regina took me home on the moto. I walked to my room to unpack and found chocolates and Cheetos on my pillow from the Millers as a thank you. Yippee!

Tuesday was a long day, but not a bad one. I made cookies and lunch. I only had to run to the store three times for the ingredients. Hmmm...I guess I have officially become a Mexican. Marlen came and hung out at our house for awhile. Johan came and sat on the front porch. Some ladies came, wanting to look at clothes to buy. Alma and her dad came; she stood at the window and talked with me for awhile. Loren came in to tell me about a man in Mochiqui who has just accepted the Lord. A lady from Mochiqui and all of her children came for water...water..."MAS AGUA, POR FAVOR!" (More water please!). I'm amazed at the amount of water they drink! We sat down to eat lunch without Loren or Donna. I ran into the kitchen to get the dessert and saw Salvador outside on his bike, waiting for water. I asked him: "Cuando vas a cortar tu pelo?" (When are you going to cut your hair?) Note: I think I ask him this almost every time I see him. He answered: "Cuando quieres" (When you want to). I was shocked. He told me to go get a scissors and I obeyed quickly, afraid that he would change his mind. He held out his long strand of hair and I whacked it off with a decisive snip. I called the others to come and admire my handiwork. Just then, Donna came home, and I asked if she noticed anything different about him. She exclaimed, "He cut his hair!" But I prize that stunned expression she gave me when I held up the scissors. "YOU cut his hair!" His long strip of hair in the front has been bugging me ever since I've met him, but no more...at least until he grows it back. I did up lunch dishes and then caught up with e-mails. I also wrote a letter home, assuring them that no, I have not caught the swine's flu. This week looks pretty boring...large groups of people are discouraged from meeting together which means doing practically nothing until May 6th. No tract distribution, no prayer meeting, no visiting the prison, no Children's Day celebration, no Saturday school, and maybe no church. I wrote some songs out on poster-board for the San Pedro Kid's Club. Then a helped a little with dinner then retreated to my room to sweep the floor and sort my laundry.

Wednesday morning, I woke up early. Donna teased me about getting up earlier on my days off than on a normal weekday. She's right, but I always make long lists for my days off. I was doing my laundry before 8:00 a.m. I worked on the computer most of the day...trying to get e-mails and a "homework" assignment from Ian finished. I had respites of Cheerios and chocolate and yogurt. I love days off. I called home and then went for a walk. On my walk, I met up with lots of people that I knew and/or wanted to talk. I got home just before sunset. We didn't have prayer meeting because of the swine flu virus which has yet to make its presence known in Choix, Sinaloa. The whole day was pretty uneventful and we were all feeling restless; it's like a snow day in Illinois.

Thursday we had Swedish pancakes to celebrate Kedric's birthday (which got lost in the shuffle in February). The pancakes are delicious; they melt in your mouth if they don't melt on your plate first. Loren took me to the orphanage. Rosalina broke her foot from falling out of a tree and had to go to El Fuerte with Lenn and Suzanne. I was in charge of laundry. All morning I oversaw the laundry and the dogs. The exciting news is that we're using water from our well as of Thursday! After lunch, I took my time off. Soon after I was back on-duty, the twins' family came although they weren't supposed to visit until Friday. Regina sat outside with them while I finished up the laundry and watched the beans on the stove. Their brother, Adrian, played ranchero-style guitar and was very good. Chuy pooped his pants twice in one hour. Fortunately for me, Suzanne was back...but was not impressed with her deviant charge. The twins were very affectionate today; I got several near-hit kisses to the mouth from Roxina and a big, slobbery smooch from Rosalina. The evening was beautiful. I sat outside with Chuy and watched the girls play a game and the boys play soccer with Lenn. After Lenn brought me home, Donna informed me that they had saved some shrimp for me. I was very excited. I haven't had shrimp since I came to Mexico!
Friday morning I didn't go to the orphanage since I did the laundry on Thursday and because they were celebrating Children's Day a day late. I went to Rod and Christa's house instead and cleaned house for Christa. It was fun to do something different and I went home, feeling relaxed. Julian, Fransisca, Jesus, and Nayely were at our house when I got there. The ladies ate lunch with us. When I got online during my time-off, I was shocked to see all of the news I'd missed by being away from the Internet for one day. It sorta made me nervous about how fast life can change. (FYI, I will not divulge all of that information publicly). We picked up Maria and went to Mochiqui in the evening. We visited at several different houses in Mochiqui. When we got back to the orphanage to pick up the kids from soccer, the soccer game was still in full-swing. When we got home, we showered and watched a movie together.

Saturday morning we didn't have Saturday school for the first time since I've been here. It was really strange. Loren dropped me off at the orphanage. I made Domingo's birthday cake to celebrate his 10th birthday (and first birthday that he can remember). Then I did the charming chores of cleaning the bathroom and keeping an eye on Chuy. I was very relaxed all morning; Rach had everything under control and I just glided along in her wake, having fun with the children. When the boys came down for lunch, we were ready for them. Domingo acted embarrassed that he was the center of attention, but he loved it. After I'd asked them to do dishes, Miguel and Domingo were disobedient and left the house, saying, "Ahorita venimos" (We're coming back really soon). I little bit later I saw them out playing American football on the soccer field. The incident launched a discussion about discipline with Lenn, Debbie, Johan, and I. Debbie stuck up for me against Johan while Lenn laughed at us and inserted an occasional humorous comments. But Lenn applauded me when I went to retrieve the two deviant boys. While they worked, Rosalina, Miguel, and Domingo were simultaneously singing three different songs. Miguel kept putting his foot on the table while he was drying dishes. Johan and I both got after him for that one, and he dutifully wiped off the table with his drying towel. That was even worse. I wiped off the table with a dishcloth and asked him where his foot was so I could wipe that spot extra-good. He showed me where his foot had been...pointing it out with his foot. I tried to explain to him how dirty and gross his feet were, but his mind had already moved on to other things. About that time, Diego marched in the front door with plastic bags tucked in the shoulders of his T-shirt. He looked like a football player (a short and skinny one). I think this new football craze is due to the fact that the children watched "Facing the Giants" on Friday. The twins spent the afternoon singing different songs in loud, ranchero-style voices. Other than that, my afternoon was pretty uneventful and relaxing...except that Chuy woke up from his nap, screaming bloody murder. Rach calmed him down and then I took him outside to look at the neighbor's cows. I'm taught him "Que dice la vaca?" "Muuuu!" (What does the cow say? Moooo!). He doesn't quite get the "M' out right and it sounds more like: "Oooooo!" I took my time off and relaxed. When I got up I fed Chuy mashed potatoes and then we ate and I helped with dinner clean-up. After Lenn brought me home, I showered and had good intentions of falling asleep...except I really wasn't tired. Janessa and I talked and talked until much later than my intended bedtime. But it was fun.