Update

Life in Peru is speeding right along. Some days I miss my family and it feels like I have been here forever. Most days though, I feel like six months just is not enough. I have really fallen in love with these children and sometimes it hits me that I will have to say goodbye. I wish I could stay for longer.

My work in the houses is going well. We have a new Madre named Hilda. She works upstairs with the Chispas (girls house). She is a fantastic women with two grown children of her own. She treats the girls as if they were her own and you can really see her love shine on them. She is always outside playing basketball or volleyball with the girls and boys. In the morning I am in her house with Allison (3 years old) and Alondra (10 years old). They both have school in the afternoon. We do gardening, finish up homework and play games or paint nails. I also help with laundry and straightening/cleaning the house.

Allison is a very spirited little girl. She will go from being your best friend one second to completely ignoring you the next and pretending you are not in the room. She loves to color and pretend she is cooking. Alondra is the most fashionable of 10 year olds and could quote any verse of a High School Musical song, in English.

Milagros, who is the 29 year old Madre Tutora in the boys house has a lot of patience with my Spanish. She has taught me many household words. She has a fantastic sense of humor and we laugh through our work most days.

The boys in the Tesoros are a handful. They are wild and crazy and I love them with all of my heart. When they see me going upstairs to see the girls in the morning they will scream my name and shout Buenos Dias Tia Laura!! If I go in they will attack me with hugs and kisses. After a few airplane hugs and mosquito tickles they let me go. (I drag myself out the door. lol) In the afternoon we have garden again, laundry, chores and play time. It is usually Arnold (9yrs), Kevin(15yrs), Josue(13yrs), his brother, Junior(not sure of his age), Abel(6yrs), Edwin(6yrs), Dante(6yrs), Danni(8yrs?) and Saul(4 or 5 yrs).

They are such fantastic kids. They are always wanting to help in one way or another. Especially when I bring in the laundry and put in on the sofa. The boys dive into it head first, no matter how many times I ask them not to, and start searching for their clothing, while much of it ends up on the floor. Sometimes it's easier and a better choice to join in on the caios so once in a while I will put someones clean pants on my head and socks on my hands and become the laundry monster. I chase them around and tickle them until they can hardly breathe they are laughing so hard. They usually let me be after that for at least five minutes. :-) Homework is probably the hardest time. Not many kids enjoy sitting and writing in cursive or figuring math problems. When they pay attention though, they breeze right through it.

Garden is going well but slow. We are going plant radishes, pumpkins and who knows what else. Elias is the master mind behind it, we are just along for the ride. I hope the kids really get into it. It is good for them to see the process of growing through cooking their food.

Weekends are fairly quiet. Friday nights we put a movie on for all the kids to watch. Sometimes we pop popcorn and have soda. It's always an experience. Saturday mornings some of the kids have visits from family. The kids who don't get visits sometimes go on a trip to the beach or a park with the volunteers. Sundays are fairly relaxing. I am going to be bringing Abel and his older brother Italo with me to church every week. They can't go to the church the other kids frequent because their mom knows where it is and was bothering them. I brought Abel two weeks ago and he loved it so I think it will definitely be a weekly thing from here until March. Italo is very excited to go and talked about it every time he saw me this week. I am sure I will have updates.

We have two new boys here. Louise and his brother Yanpier. They are about two and three years old. I don't know much about them except that the officials found them on the streets and the Albergue picked them up at City Hall. They are beautiful, loving little boys. They are getting a ton of love and are on the road to recovery from malnourishment and a terrible eye infection. The swelling of their poor little bellies has gone down and they have beautiful smiles that we get to see very often. The boys talk up a storm and are very bright!!



My Spanish is so-so. I can understand a ton (when people don't speak at warp speed!!). Speaking it is another story. I am afraid to mess up. But..... I am working on it and will get it down. My friends have patience with me so it makes all the difference.

See you in a month! Enjoy the snow!!