Easter, ATMs, and Birthdays

Yesi with 30 braids...SO CUTE!
"Un dia a la vez, Dios mio, es lo que pido de ti!" The guys playing for the Easter service.
Uriel waiting for his mommy to finish mixing up the cebiche.

Lots and LOTS of cebiche.

Leobardo with his birthday cake.

SUNDAY: Christ is risen! Teo's birthday. San Pedro and Choix service piled into one service at the orphanage. Meeting early to chop lots and LOTS of veggies for cebiche. Service started late...surprise, surprise. Served lunch to the crowd of people. Sat down to eat up the leftovers. Helped with clean-up and headed home, exhausted. Cleaned out the frig to have a dinner of leftovers. Drank hot chocolate together in front of the fan...It was hot!

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MONDAY: Got up late, but Janessa got up later. Prayed for grace with language before I left for Vanessa's house. Had meaningful time with their family. Ate some sort of meat they offered me. Not sure what part of the cow (but not the intestines because those were still laying around). Lost my appetite for lunch. Walked up to the bank, but the ATM was out of money. Talked with visitors that came. Went to San Pedro. Loren had bean burritos waiting when we got back. Walked uptown for sour cream. Uneventful evening.

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TUESDAY: Bad night of sleep. Shopped for ingredients for Cincinnati chili, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, and pumpkin bread (yes, we have lots of pumpkin again). Ran out of money and had to make a second trip. Spent all morning in the kitchen. Ate lunch. Did dishes. Tried to take a nap. Passed out tracts in Choix with kids from the orphanage. Lots of walking around town. Laughed at Maria's adorable accent: "Oh, dis is SO EMBARRASSIN! Here CUMS a TDRUCK!" Started to clean my room after dinner.

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WEDNESDAY: Carol's birthday. Woke up with my alarm, but laid in bed much longer. Did laundry, finished cleaning my room. Ate a HUGE bowl of Cheerios. Walked up to the plaza to enjoy the beautiful day. Wrote in my journal and finished reading my book. Went to the bank (the ATM had money this time) and tried to avoid the crowd of people behind me who were eagerly peering over my shoulder to check my current balance. Went shopping, but only bought one thing. Talked with Stacey for an hour; I miss her. Finished my laundry. Hung out by myself until prayer meeting. Ran to the store with Janessa for bananas for evening milkshakes. Laughed at old pictures.

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THURSDAY: Out at the orphanage. Made lots of peanut butter. Made dessert for Leobardo's birthday. Enjoyed the delight on Leo's face as he celebrated the first birthday he ever remembers celebrating...his 13th birthday. Tried fruitlessly to hunt down Miguel and Diego to do dishes. Johan finally unearthed them for me. Read for time off. Washed dishes. Visitors from Choix. Making dinner with Debbie. Came home to find a card and a package for me!!!

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FRIDAY: Ceremoniously mounted Loren's bike and pedaled out to the orphanage. Figured out that if I lay the bike nearly on its side, I can climb on and off without too much ado. (But there is still something to be said for dignity...or human pride. I pedaled furiously up a big hill just because I felt eyes boring into my back from the audience at the bottom of the hill. I couldn't bear to practice my new "on-the-side" technique in front of three pairs of curious eyes. So I sweated away, taking great gasps of air simultaneously through my nose and my mouth until I was over the hill and relatively out of sight where I could dismount.) Did eight loads of laundry with the help of Roxina. Ate lunch and scurried off directly to town (yes, on bike). Walked/ran up to Oxxo to buy Christa some chocolates and then walked over to Rod and Christa's house with Janessa to visit Christa. Worked on e-mails until Donna somehow arrived without the broken-down truck. Much ado about vehicles, but finally ended up at Mochiqui. Studied with Carla and Tita. Came home to eat hot dogs roasted on an open fire. Crashed.

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SATURDAY: Hot chocolate in the morning. In charge of Chuy during Saturday school. He was fussy until I fed him a pumpkin bar. Very HOT ride to the orphanage. Crush of children on the right-hand side of the van as we passed the circus...They were desperate to see the animals. Made quesadillas and oversaw lunch clean-up. The children were outside to watch the men get the well rig ready. Couldn't fall asleep during time off. Got up to help get dinner ready. Walked up to the boys' dorm to see the progress with the well rig set up. Came home to update my blog.