since rebecca and laurens last day was thursday we went out to eat with myrtille on tuesday. all of the girls plus aaron got into aarons car. which made a grand total of seven very hot and sticky people in the back of aarons vw bug. so, all the showers and getting ready for the restaurant went out the window. but it was also the day after the fourth of july and so we all sang every patriotic song we could think of on the way. what a site that was.
so, it is friday and rebecca and lauren are gone. so that means its just the interns and aaron. we have two teams here this week.
last night it rained and when i stepped outside this morning to walk to the kitchen i actually said , wow, its cool out this morning! amazing! but whatever was left over from the rain is gone and it is back to very hot. when i leave the weather will be the only this that i dont miss. :)
this morning i am sitting in the kitchen and all of a sudden i hear, raquelita! raquelita! so i got up and headed for the little voice calling my name. gama was waiting at the top of the stairs for me and informed me that he and lupe wanted to paly uno. so out come the uno cards and off i go to play yet again, more uno. my cards are about to wear out but thats ok!
i have construction duty next week....yes! not. it will be more cement, bricks, and dirt. i take back the weather comment... its not the only thing i will miss. i wont miss construction either. :)


patti. i dont know how scrub sizes are. the ones i have are cheapo ones from walmart and i think they are just a medium. i wear a size 8 in pants though. i dont know if that helps. and do you have mrs. vandergriffs email address??

yesterday i got to go out with the team. we went to the market, out to eat, and later to the cliff divers. i sat out the cliff divers as i have seen them too many times already.
today i got to play with the kids again. i gave my uno cards to a kid while i had to go do something and i came back to quite a funny site. angel (who is not quite there all the time), alfonso (6), eli (5), kevin (5), gaudencio (6), and one other little one (i cant remember) were all sitting on the floor playing uno. which is a funny site because none of them quite know how to play, kevin doesnt talk, and alfonso is giving direcitons. what a great site. you gotta give it to them, they were trying.
i was later flagged down by geovani two different times because he wanted to play with me. so, i am playing lots and lots and lots of uno! :)
we had another little boy dropped off yesterday. he is 6 and has 3 other siblings here. roberto, olimar, and marbella are his siblings. he looks just like roberto! he is very shy so far and i have not gotten a chance to talk with him.
the boy that was dropped off the other week, alejandro, is doing so much better! if you remember, i said he was having a hard time adjusting. i am so surprised at how calm he is now and how much he smiles. that is good to see him doing better. i was worried for a bit about him.

mrs houck. if you send money i would be happy to go to walmart and get things. you can send a list and i can buy stuff off the list or you can send no list. i did not know about kristina! that is so exciting! i got goose bumps reading your post!
jen and maggie. if the coloring books are stupid then i would say paper and coloring stuff would be great. underwear for the boys and girls is great. i would assumer that all ages would be welcomed. the littlest ones tend to not have as much because there are rarely so many little ones here. we have 2 four year old boys, 3 six year old boys, and one 6 year old girl. but the girl, liz, is very tiny for her age, so keep that in mind.
debbie. i have collected some ideas for the vbs thing you all will be doing. i am calling my family on sunday and i will relay that information to my mother and i will tell her to pass it on to you.

oh, and if anyone wants to bring an extra pair of scrubs down for me that would be great! i have been wearing the same ones all week and they get really nasty. dont worry if it is too much though. i can def. get by with the pair i have.

more things to bring

i have only asked aaron about what to bring. i need to ask lauren. i am still figuring out what the vbs topics for the kids. i will let you know hopefully by the end of the week.

rechargeable batteries. aa or aaa. angel has a radio that he always carries around and the batteries have disappeared.
NyQuil. lots of it is welcome i am told.
martin would like a spanish concordance
used soccer cleats are always welcome. some of the boys are on soccer teams here.

this week i get to play with the kids! an extremely hard job... just kidding. but def. my favorite job.
i think i am going to play uno until my brains fall out. the kids love to play and my cards are very worn out but i play with them anyway. that is all i have done all day today.
anyhow, while i was playing uno today i observed gaudencio trying to catch flies. this kid is about 6 and for the life of him he cant sit through a vbs lesion or sit through a prayer without squirming but he has a patience of a saint when it comes to catching flies. very carefully and with complete concentration he creeps around on all fours with a plastic cup. once he spots a fly he very carefully sneaks up on it and slowly, very slowly, places the cup over the unsuspecting fly. he pinches the cup with his fingers and goes to capture more, in the same cup. what a funny site that was.

osvaldo mentioned today that he would like a spanish-english dictionary. he sat me down the other day and asked me to teach him english. which was quite interesting as communicating in spanish still has its difficulties. but i wrote him out a list to look over anyway. i also asked him if he would like a spanish-englsih bible and he said yes. so, if anyone would like to purchase those two things for him he would be so happy. as i am thinking about it, if there are any cheap, easy, beginner books to help him learn english, he would love that too.

speaking of gaudencio up there i remembered something. the kids, interns, and new team went to the beach on sunday. gaudencio must have forgotten his bathing suit because i saw him running around in his underware, which were at least 10 sizes too big. i watched as the hours went on the sand filled his underwear and he was having quite a time keeping them on. his brother, lizandro, was running around in shorts that were 5 sizes too big and were made smaller in the back with a rubber band. they later took off his shorts and he had the same underwear issues. although, it was quite comical, i think normal fitting underwear would be very nice for these boys. so, all that said, owood, please bring some underwear for a 4 year old and 6 year old boy. although they dont wear underwear frequently, when they do it will be much appreciated. :)
the girls love to draw... so coloring books, markers, crayons, pads of paper would be great for them.
i am still keeping my ears open for things the kids need.

emily and addi- i am very glad you wrote! i love hearing from you! if you see any other good movies tell me. :)

well, today the some of the boys graduated from middle school (?? i think that is the equivalent here.)and all of the interns got to go to graduation. this was all decided the night before... which meant that we all had to get one kid a gift, make a card, wrap the gift, ect. i chose to get osiel a soccer ball and ball pump (he is forever asking for both and he is my halo buddy) i then searched our kitchen for anything suitable to make cards/wrap gifts and i found construction paper and trash bags. well, it is all we had so it had to work. osiel ended up getting a soccer ball in a trash bag and and air pump wrapped in construction paper. despite the ugly appearance he opened the gift at graduation and the biggest smile broke across his face. we all ate breakfast afterwards and once he was done the soccer ball was immediately out, pumped up, and kicked around. i love that these kids could be celebrated and recognized for their achievements by us today.

i will have to get back to you on what i am learning. i dont want to just half heartedly answer the question.

berry family- i am so glad to hear from you. i was smiling as i read all of your notes. addi, i cant believe you are going to be 13! i have watched you mature and grow into such a beautiful young woman over these past 3 years! i am sure you will have a wonderful birthday! i wish i could give you all hugs and kisses... but i will just have to wait until i get back! :)

patti and kim... you can send cat pee gum with the owood group. that would be wonderful. and you can always send me reeses... we cant buy them here. :) if there are any good books that either of you have i would love a book. i am reading a lot down here and i am running out of book to read. but honestly, i can not think of anything off the top of my head that i need. if this is not sufficient surprise me! or ask some of the people coming maybe .??
i only say this because i was laughing when emily made a comment about me playing video games. with in that same comment she said that next time i should get an anime movie and watch it and i laughed as i read it. i laughed because she does know what i like. :) but i dont know, really
for the kids. soccer balls and pumps are always welcome. the girls love making jewelry. so, things like string, beads, wire, etc would be great. the kids love card games, board games, puzzles, anything of that nature. i will ask for anything specific but that is what i can come up with on the top of my head.