Final day with the children

Other than the lack of sleep, I’ve really enjoyed this week’s schedule. Early on, we had a few crazy days taking care of Foreign eXchange business, but since then we’ve been able to relax and enjoy ourselves. Take today, for instance. Today was busy, but also highly relational. Nate and I try to put relationships ahead of tasks, but it’s hard when you have tasks to accomplish and not much time in which to accomplish them. It was nice to not have an agenda today at Eliza Martinez. We arrived this afternoon with just a whiffle ball, a bat, and a few small gifts for the workers. Of course, I was nervous. Even though we had Edwin (our translator) and William (our driver) with us, we were still outnumbered 15 to 1. Nate and William got roped into a game of soccer, while Edwin and I “played” baseball with about 20 of the boys. We never did get a real game going, but the boys (both “normal” and those with special needs) seemed to enjoy blasting the ball. And I do mean blasting. I think the plastic bat lasted about a half hour before it started to crack. Eventually, it broke completely, but the boys played on with their little half bat. (Note to self: bring stronger bats next time! Not too strong [we don’t want any injuries—accidental or otherwise!], but stronger than the ones we had today.)

While we were playing, I noticed a boy wearing one of the soccer shirts we brought them last October. When we first got out of the bus, Jeferson ran up to me to show me he was wearing the watch the Spears had given him. I noticed Hugo carrying around his blue pencil box from the last trip, now filled with pencils and other things he needs for school.

Later, Edwin left me on my own with some of the boys. When we visited Eliza Martinez on our first trip, I could have sworn that I would never get to know any of the boys personally or even learn their names. It was neat to be able to talk with boys I remember from the past. Boys like Isaias, Hugo, Rudy, Tomas, Oraldo, Tito, Jorge, David, and Alfredo. Some of the older boys wanted my help learning English. They know how to say phrases like, “I love you” and “How are you?” but they don’t know the meaning. “Que significa?” they ask. Not surprisingly, the majority of their English vocabulary is colorful enough to make a sailor blush. I asked them how they learned those words. From movies? “No, on the streets,” they say. It’s definitely an interesting use of my Teaching English as a Second Language license!

One final note from Eliza Martinez: Edwin and William had the opportunity to talk with one of the male workers while we were waiting for the kids. They told us later that this man used to work at a “Phase 2” home. Phase 2 homes are for kids 18 and older, and they’re one step away from prison. This man was glad he got moved to Eliza Martinez because the kids at the other home are rough. Chances are good that whatever you think “rough” means, it’s far from reality. One of the teachers at this home was recently killed….by the students. They cut off his head and tore out his eyes. They never found his heart, because the students ate it.

Whoa. That’ll take your breath away.

I started today’s blog with Eliza Martinez, because it’s been on my mind this evening. However, our day actually started at the babies’ home. Like this afternoon, this morning was highly relational. We had some activities planned for the kids, but no real agenda. Nate made the wise decision to start the morning with some foot races across the lawn. These kids have tons of energy, and he figured it couldn’t hurt to burn some of it off before we tried to settle them down to play games or read or whatever. Shortly thereafter, we sat the kids down and gave them the bags of clothes we brought. Surprisingly, the biggest hit in the clothing department was soccer shirts from the Vigo County Youth Soccer League. Most of the soccer shirts went to EM and SG, but before we left, I found some in a tote that were too small for the big boys.

Little Cristel is such a girly-girl. She loved every piece of clothing she saw, and she couldn’t wait to try them on. She stripped down to her diaper as soon as she saw that there was a pair of “pantalones” (well, overalls, actually) in her bag, and changed right then and there.

Estuardo was convinced that one of the polos with a pink stripe was for “mujeres” (women). I told him Nate wore pink shirts; that may or may not have helped.

While the big kids were sifting through their clothing piles, Nate looked over and noticed that Mili was looking down and tugging at her own shirt. She looked so sad! She didn’t want to be left out. Thanks to Nate’s grandma (“Grammie”) and a few other professional garage sale shoppers, we had clothes for all of the kids.

We also brought tiny soccer balls to hide around the lawn. Like Easter eggs, they open and you can fill them with candy or other treats. The hunt part of the activity was awesome. Each big kid found his or her six eggs…even little Cristel. However, it was not wise on my part to fill the balls with chocolate candy. Summer heat + chocolate = not a good situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Nate played soccer with some of the kids (in their new jerseys, of course), Daniel and Cristel played with my hair. I tried teaching them to braid, but it’s hard to demonstrate on yourself and my Spanish hair vocabulary is definitely lacking in that area. One of the nannies told us that Daniel actually wants to be a barber when he grows up!

A personal highlight of the morning was sitting on the lawn and reading to Ale, Danni, JuanPi, and Jose. For my birthday this year, Nate got me some Spanish children’s books. Isn’t that a funny gift? Yet also sweet and thoughtful, since it shows that he knows 1.) how much I love the kids in Guatemala and 2.) how important words and stories are to me!

Unfortunately, if you were reading closely, you may have noticed that Estuardo was not included in the above mentioned reading group. While we were sitting on the lawn, we were talking with Edwin and William about our schedule for the next two days. Since we’re going to Antigua tomorrow and the volcano on Monday, today was our last day with the babies. Edwin was translating this news to William, and Estuardo overheard. A few minutes later, he went into the house crying. I wish you all knew Estuardo. If you did, you’d realize just how terrible this made us feel. Estuardo is an old soul. He’s the big brother figure of the group. He translates into sign language for Jose. He looks out for the babies. He knows some English. He also understands that John and Emily are JuanPi’s parents and that JuanPi will be leaving them soon. He also knows that he doesn’t have a mommy and daddy like JuanPi, and he’s taking it pretty hard.

Emily has been telling us stories about how difficult things have been for Estuardo lately, and one of our goals for this trip was to help him feel loved and let him know how much we care for him and his “siblings.” We didn’t get any alone time with Estuardo, but we had more time with him, in general, than any other trip. His tears told us that our week was good in that we were able to show him love, but they also reminds us that there is a hole in his heart. The unconditional and unending love of a mommy and daddy is missing from his life.

Nate followed Estuardo back to a little couch in the laundry room and tried to comfort him while he cried. He told him that we would come back soon, and that he was sorry that he was sad. Edwin came back later and helped Nate have a deeper conversation. I don’t know all of the details, but Nate talked to Estuardo about how waiting for people and feeling sad when they leave is a painful part of growing up. He assured him that it’s okay to be sad, but there’s hope in knowing that we’ll see the people we love again. Some people we’ll see again in this life. We’ll see others, like the grandfather Nate lost a few years ago, again in heaven. Edwin told me later that it was a really great conversation.

The other kids saw Estuardo’s tears, but they didn’t take our departure quite as badly as he did. I saw Jose ask Estuardo in sign language if Nate and I were Estuardo’s mommy and daddy. Poor Estuardo had to sign through his tears that we were not. Juan Pablo came up to me and gave me a picture to give to “Papi.” Later, I saw one small tear roll down his cheek and heard him tell Edwin that he wanted to go to the United States, too. I’m thankful that he is already so attached to John and Emily, but I’m also so, so sorry that he’s not home with them like he needs to be.

Before we left for the final time, we gave them goodie bags with fake hair and jewelry (for the girls, from Jody) and Spiderman puzzles and games for the boys. It helped us make a relatively painless and speedy exit.

Our final words to them were that we’d come back in the fall when they are on vacation from school. That is one promise I don’t intend to break.

Zoo Adventure

With only 5 hours of sleep last night, we had a rough start this morning. We were invited to celebrate one of the interns’ birthday last night, and in true Guatemalan fashion, we stayed out late. Unfortunately, we had to get up at the same time as usual to prepare for the arrival of our friends, Tim, Eleanor, and Ben Ramseier. The Ramseiers had no running water yesterday and were glad to come use our showers this morning! We were glad we could help.

A while later, about the time Ben and I had suited up in full Spiderman and Superman costumes, Rachael and I finally began to shake off the lack of sleep. The kids at the babies’ home were excited (as always) when Spiderman (Ben) leaped over the wall and Superman (me) casually walked through the door. I guess “excited” isn’t the right word for all of them; Cristel cried hysterically. She is quite terrified of the masked men. We handed out Rachael’s stash of gifts, played a bit, and then the super heros disappeared. It brought me a lot of joy to see the boys quickly catch on to the aerodynamics of their foam gliders that Spiderman gave them.

We took seven children to the zoo, which worked out pe rfectly since we had seven adults with us (the two of us, the three Ramseiers, our translator and our driver) to provide personalized attention for them. The kids all behaved, a fact I mostly attribute to Rachael’s consistency with telling them what they couldn’t do and enforcing it. We made a loop around the entire zoo, with a snack break, just in time to rush back to the van when the afternoon thunder turned into torrential downpour.

 

It rained the whole way to McDonald’s, creating 4”-6” rivers of water in the roads and slowing traffic. But during and after lunch it had dried out enough for us to play outside when we got back to the babies’ home!

It was 3pm before we made to the babies’ home and several children fell asleep. Rachael played with Estuardo’s hair until he fell asleep with his head in her lap. Cristel fell asleep in Eleanor’s arms. Chabelita tried her hardest not to fall asleep in Ben’s lap. I sat in the back with Danni and, at one point, he said to me, “it’s cold; give me hugs.” Que lindo! How cute!

Back at the Baby Home, we were able to rest in the turf outside while the kids calmly played around us. During this low-key afternoon, Abi, the house “mom,” and one of the nannies gave us some more background on the orphans at the home and the status of adoptions in Guatemala. Perhaps when we get back we’ll write more about the children’s individual stories.

The Ramseiers used this time to bond with the babies. Tim did laps with Mili around the yard, and Eleanor cuddled with one of the littlest babies, Vicky. Every time Eleanor tried to put her down, Vicky started to cry. Poor Eleanor when it was finally time to leave! Vicky bawled and reached for her, and all Eleanor could do was walk away. It tears your heart out to leave those kids.

After sending Edwin, our translator, home for the day, we began the “adventure” for the evening. Our goal was to return the Ramseiers to their house. We had our friend Berta pick them up in the morning, because she lives in the same neighborhood as the Ramseiers, but none of us knew how to get back this evening. An hour later, when they agreed that we were no longer going in the right direction, we called Berta for better directions. Some traffic bogged us down, but what should have taken 40-50 minutes ended up taking 2 hours. Frustrating for sure, but not unexpected for Guatemala.

At dinner, Rachael and I talked about how grateful we are that the people at Buckner and the Baby Home let us spend time with these precious children. Not only do they let us come to their home, but they also entrust us with taking care of the children outside of the home. We hope and pray that we get to have many more days like today in the not-too-distant future.

Friday

Wow, it’s late. In fact, it’s so late that it’s early (1:30 a.m. at home)! So, tonight’s blog is going to be another combined effort. I (Rachael) will start with our morning, and then Nate will take over and describe our afternoon.

After yesterday’s craziness, we needed today to be a bit more low-key. Thankfully, we were able to spend the morning recuperating and relaxing. We went straight to the babies’ home where the big kids were up for whatever we could dish out. We brought along a bunch of pictures from previous trips and the art supplies necessary for making foam picture frames. As we were getting ready for this trip, I kept trying to envision how this activity would go. Would it engage the kids? Would I bring enough supplies? Would the project be too easy? Too difficult? Would there be such a mess that the nannies would wish we’d never come back?

Thankfully, the kids were engaged enough that we were able to let them do their thing without much intervention or input from us. The niños spent two and a half hours sprawled out on the “grass” cutting foam, squeezing glitter glue, arranging stickers, drawing pictures, and pasting on ribbons and string. Two and a half hours! My attention span isn’t that long! Once they finished making picture frames for each of their photos, they moved on to making Spiderman masks, rocket ships and abstract art.

    

Really, what could be better than sitting up against the wall and watching as a half dozen sweet children set to work making art and being creative?

I am thankful for our relaxing morning, because it helped us be more prepared physically, mentally, and emotionally for our more rambunctious afternoon at Eliza Martinez.

Eliza Martinez by Nate

As we were getting ready to head to Eliza Martinez, we got word that there were actually 73 boys at EM. This meant we needed to get 3 more watches to take care of all the boys. But it turns out that we couldn’t find any place nearby that would sell us watches for less than $15 a piece. Our translator convinced us that some of the special needs boys would be just as happy with some nice bracelets.

Once again, William, our wonderful driver, joined us inside the orphanage. He and his cousin (who is driving for us tomorrow) came inside and helped with name tags and corralling the rambunctious kiddos. We arrived at a great time since the “normal” kids needed to eat lunch and we wanted to split up the “special” ones and take care of them first. The staff helped provide structure and keep the kids quiet while we gave them name tags and art supplies. As soon as we got the paper in the boys’ hands, the rain clouds rolled over the top of the mountain and we scurried inside as the first big drops began to pelt the last kids.

I have to say I was surprised again at how grateful the kids were to receive the watches! The Buckner interns went to San Gabriel today and told us that the kids were all wearing them, showing them off, and telling them about their gifts. When we announced to the special boys at Eliza Martinez that they were all getting watches because a boy in a wheelchair named Jorge had mentioned them, a seemingly scripted cheer erupted! I felt relieved of my normal gift-giving-insecurity when I realized that these dollar store watches meant more to the boys than the monetary value attached to them.

A couple individual highlights from our trip:

- Rafael, the Longyear’s amigo, wanted to thank them personally and gave them one of his drawings from his personal art notebook. His face lit up when we first saw him. He took the initiative to come to me and start up a conversation. For the rest of the boys, this wouldn’t have been notable, but because Rafael was previously only a bystander when we would visit, this is a major indicator to me that hard-hearted boys can be won over with love and consistency!

- Alexis, a seemingly possessed special needs child, had a few minutes where his eyes rolled back into his head and he became rather belligerent. But after being guided to his chair and sitting a bit, I was able to connect with him through making faces that he would imitate. Then it turned into tapping rhythms on the table and eventually 4 other boys joined us. Alexis seemed genuinely touched by this experience. I pray that his hangups would be ironed out by God in a way that honors the way God created him.

- A boy named Jeferson was so excited about his letter from our friends JT and Suzy Spears that he wanted to read it to all of his friends.

- A lot of the boys remembered us. They don’t know our names, but when they see us, their faces light up in recognition. They ask us if we remember them. They long to be recognized, known, and remembered. It’s exciting to be able to tell them that not only do we remember them, but also we have friends at home with their pictures on their refrigerators who pray for them by name and think of them often.

- We told Jonathan that Rachael’s parents had specifically picked out that watch for him and saw his face light up!

- A director at the home said he would send us his script for a play that the boys could perform. Last time we visited he was just starting it, but now it is almost complete!

- At our translator’s suggestion we gave the extra watches to the male helpers at the home and they all looked genuinely appreciative. Maybe no one has ever given them a gift from another country in their lifetime?

We had a fantastic day and everything went rather smoothly, all things considered!

To finish out the day, we were invited to go along with the interns as they celebrated one of their member’s birthdays. We ate at a restaurant that surprised the birthday boy with a shark hat and a song and then went bowling. What a night!

It’s past our bedtime and we need to get some sleep in order to be ready for our day with the Ramseiers and our trip to the zoo.