Flower Pots, Pitayas, and El Arroyo,

Caleb, Kedric, and Kyle playing for Sunday morning worship.
Loren soaking his feet. He didn't like how rough they were getting. J/K. I think he had a sore or a blister or something.
Maria Inez holding a lizard she found in the kitchen.
Miguel cleaning up the icing bowl.
Uriel with an apple.

Rumaldo, Tita, MariCruz, Uriel, and Carla.

Sunday~I woke up early this morning, and inspiration hit me. BAM! And I was up and ready to go on a walk. Why not? I decided. The rest of my day looked pretty dreary with this whole swine flu thing. I would get out and enjoy the world before the mercury jumped out of the top of the thermometer. I took a long walk too. Most of the town was still sleeping and I was almost alone. Someone tried to get me to buy flower pots. I said, "No tengo dinero" (I don't have money). "Son baratos!" (They're cheap!). "No tengo NADA!" (I don't have ANYTHING!). I pointed out the fact that I didn't even have pockets to hold my money. "You don't need money!" was the next helpful suggestion in English. I didn't even slow down my pace, just marched right by all of the dazzling hand-painted five-gallon flower pots. I could only imagine trying to bring one of those back to Illinois on the plane. When I returned home, the Yoders and I had our own church service. The boys were in charge of singing. We sang a few English and a few Spanish songs to the guitar accompaniment. Even Kyle pretended to play his guitar...so cute! We had a guest speaker for our service. His name was Allen Roth and he talked to us about church planting via recorded seminar on the Internet. We laid around on the benches and the floor to listen. It was the laziest church service I have ever attended. Donna made meatballs and mashed potatoes for lunch. It was deliciously American. I spent the long afternoon working on e-mails and talking on the phone. In the evening we walked to Rod and Christa's house just to visit. It was nice to get out. I wonder what people thought when they saw the drawn-out string of us marching through basketball courts, a hole in the wall, over a creek, almost through someone's backyard, and down a horse trail all for the sake of taking the "shortcut." We spent the evening talking and looking at pictures. It was fun. The evening had still not cooled off when we got home...so I parked myself in front of a fan.

Monday~I made my normal Monday morning trek to Vanessa's house with my armload of groceries. They had visitors..some sort of relatives that the family didn't seem too excited about having around. Vanessa, Gabi, and I played memory on the kitchen floor. Apparently, the relatives were cussing because Vanessa's mother kept telling them to stop using bad words. One time she pointed out that I was an "hermana" (sister, as in a Christian). The cousin apologized to me. I was very innocent; I don't know any Spanish cuss words so I can't understand them. I spent a lot of my time there praying that Vanessa's family would see the black and white of good and evil. After my siesta time in the afternoon, I went for a very hot walk uptown to buy things for the baby bundles. I found everything I needed. When I returned, I ate an helado (kind of like a popsicle in a bag) as I put the bundles together. I was so sweaty and hot, but the helado helped to cool me down. I helped Donna make dinner and we ate when the other children came home from playing soccer at the orphanage. That night, I started cleaning out the refrigerator in my quest for inspiration of what to make for lunch on Tuesday.

Tuesday~"El Cinco de Mayo." I called Rod and got his baked fish recipe and then walked uptown to get the ingredients. I made cookies for the prison as well as the fish for lunch. The fish was very lemony...and delicious. I cleaned up from lunch and then took my siesta time. Donna was laying down when I got up and I wasn't sure what to do...so I finished cleaning out the refrigerator. That job is so rewarding! Plus, we got to eat chocolate pudding and corn muffins from things I found in the deep, dark depths of the unknown. Okay, it wasn't that bad...*sheepish grin*. After dinner, some scampered off to attend a memorial service of a man who had died of cancer, Brother Pablo. I stayed home.

Wednesday~I slept in...a little. Then I went to the plaza to hang out in the shade and read my book. It was surprisingly cool. The temperature continues to climb and the nights don't cool off like they used to. Just thinking about the afternoon makes me break out in a sweat. But for those precious moments at the plaza, I enjoyed the cool breeze wrapping itself around me and the palm trees. And the pigeons strutting under the park benches. And the owl hooting in the tree above me. And the gentle hum of traffic as people got back into their normal lives after the swine flu scare. I went back home and made Indian rice. Marlen tasted the rice and worked on not freaking out. She said something akin to this (in Spanish): "Give me water! Give me something sweet!" I also ate my very first pitaya (a cactus fruit). It looked like an orange brain and tasted similar to a kiwi with lots of little seeds. It was delicious. I talked on the phone with my Dad for quite awhile. I tried to take a nap, but even with the fan blowing on me, it was too hot. I ate cold cereal for supper which was refreshing. The church had prayer meeting and it was great to see everyone again. Janessa and I went along to Mochiqui to drop off the villagers. On the way out of town we crossed paths with MariCruz's husband, Rumaldo, on his bike. Planted between the two handle bars with his ears straight in the air was Rocky, Rumaldo's and MariCruz's dog. It was a hilarious sight. We had our Wednesday night smoothies when we got home.

Thursday~Lenn picked me up on the moto and off we went to the orphanage. Suzanne was such a darling and had the scalloped potatoes ready to go in the oven. Memories of my last attempt of scalloped potatoes had everyone a bit nervous. But we were determined not to let it happen again. I mixed up the bread and we had everything in the oven and ready for the oven long before lunch. We chuckled to ourselves about how easy everything was and why had we been worried at all??? But it was close to noon before I realized that the stove was out of gas and the four pans of potatoes and green beans in the oven were not baking! Suzanne tried to call one of the guys down, but unfortunately, their radios weren't turned on. So she ran up on the hill to their dorm. Meanwhile the bread rose to immensity as it waited its turn for the oven. Sadly to say, we post-poned lunch 1/2 hour and STILL had crunchy potatoes and green beans. I really hate that meal! But no one complained; who dared to complain when we had leftover peanut butter pie for dessert? I had my time off after lunch cleanup. Then I mixed up biscuits for dinner and tried not to trample on the dozens of children underfoot (I'm only exaggerating a TINY bit). Lenn had lots of different evening plans, so he brought me home right before dinner to save a trip. I ate bean burritos with the Yoders and got into a lengthy discussion about books before I settled down to read one.

Friday~I was very sweaty by the time I got to the orphanage on my bike. I started the laundry, hoping that the "hair-dryer" breeze (as Debbie calls it) would dry me off. Using well water means only two loads of laundry per washer-full. (We can't quite de-sensitize ourselves enough to let water drain after each load.) That means that the clothes look and smell much cleaner! Roxina was hyper and wanted to tickle me while I waited in between loads. I was glad when I could put her to work hanging out the clothes. I set back out for Choix after lunch. I made it almost the entire way home on my bike. It was hot, but I must admit that the ride is getting easier as I--dare I hope?--get just a little more in shape. We left for Mochiqui a little after 4:00 p.m. We visited Ana and her family. Afterwards we visited MariCruz and studied with Carla and Tita. Maria and I walked down to the arroyo (literally means stream, but in this case, is more like a watering hole) with the girls who wanted to "bathe." The whole incident was hilarious as Carla and Tita dipped buckets of water out of the concrete whole (trying to avoid the fish) and proceeded to dump the contents over their heads until they were sufficiently wet enough to soap up. They were wading in mud puddles when they were done rinsing off for the last time. I got dirty just from helping to dump the buckets of water. Others were down at the arroyo too. A drunk man joined us towards the end. When he saw the bucket of water I was going to carry back to the house, he nicely offered to help me. I nicely turned him down and flexed my arm muscles just to prove to him that I could do it...okay the last part isn't really true. We walked over to the orphanage and made it just in time to eat nachos and Texas sheet cake. The children started a lively game of prisoner's base which ended while Miguel, Diego, and Domingo were rolling in and tasting the dirt. I thought it was ridiculous enough just to get covered in the clouds of dust that were floating past... When we got home, there was a man laying on our front porch. All I could see were his feet and I freaked out as I imagined this faceless person laying in a pool of blood from a crime committed on our front porch. Fortunately, it was just a man sleeping the night away because he didn't have anywhere else to go.

Saturday~I finished my Cheerios for breakfast. That was a sad moment. Donna declared a moment of silence as I cradled my last Cheerio lovingly in my spoon. Lots of children came for Saturday school. I helped Ana study her verses after class. We had fun together. I went home with the orphanage crew after class. We had 39 people packed into the 15-passenger van and it was HOT! I was squatting on the floor with a little girl in my lap. Roxina who was practically laying across the console kept moving and squishing me against the passenger's seat. We made lunch and I fed Chuy and put him down for his nap. He was surprisingly well-behaved. Domingo tried to dodge dish duty by hiding in the tree, but Miguel came without being told. The girls played together nicely during the afternoon which made my job easy. But the day stretched on and on. I took Chuy outside after I woke him up and let him touch one of the cows. His face lit up as he touched the cool, wet nose. Diego practiced his English after dinner. It was funny to hear his accent. As evening fell, I kicked a soccer ball around with Chuy; he's a true Mexican child! I waited for my late ride which never did come. LOL. Lenn took me home a little before 9:00 p.m.