my topsy turvy life...

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. Personally, I've been having blogging withdrawals. Although it's a constant pressure that weighs on my shoulders, thinking and writing about the little orphan kids in South America helps me maintain a sense of balance and perspective. It also helps me from becoming totally self-absorbed.

But...I think I need to take a bit more of a blog hiatus. We're remodeling our home (in hopes of bringing one or more of these children from South America into our home - there I said it - it's official) and had to move to another place for a couple of months.

I'm unsettled. In a lot of ways. But I'm also settling.

So please be patient and wait a bit more - I'll introduce you to some more adorable children and tell you some exciting jungle news.

Natalie

meet the other twin...Fany!

Fany is the identical twin to Sofia and the younger sister to Ruben, Jose Antonio, and Benjamin. She likes to play volleyball and climb around on the trees and jugglegym. She is strong and doesn’t cry very much but she also has a soft side. She wants to be a dancer when she grows up.

Flashback Friday (Natalie)

My sister's clothes dryer broke down this week and she's been having a hard time getting someone out to fix it. On a normal basis, she tries to do at least one load a day. With 3 kids and a husband, you can imagine how her laundry is piling up. After spending almost 3 hours in the laundromat her first time, we decided she'd use our dryer.

I can't convince her to just drop off her dirty laundry and let me do both the washing and the drying so she washes a few loads, puts 2 loads of washed clothes in a hamper thing (what IS that called??), loads them into her SUV and drives them down to me. I dry them, fold them and she picks them up when she drops off her next 2 loads of wet clothes.

It's quite a process, but we've got it down. And it's fun seeing my sister every couple of hours throughout a day. We laugh and say things like "how did mom do it with SIX kids?"

So what does this have to do with my Flashback Friday you ask? Well...

Have you ever done laundry for 30+ kids in a third-world country that doesn't have a washing machine, clothes dryer let alone RUNNING WATER?

Let me tell you, THAT is a process. I remember just getting all the kids together with the laundry bags and their laundry tubs was an exhausting task. Then we paraded down the hill about a mile carrying these heavy bags of clothes. Then we washed EACH piece of clothing one by one in freezing river water. The first time we didn't even have enough tubs or hand brushes to go around. And let me tell you, it goes a lot quicker when you have brushes. When you don't, you just hold fabric in each fist and rub the fabric together. The kids would laugh because my fingers were all cut up.

After we got the clothes all washed and rinsed in the (not so clean) river water, we twist and twist the clothes to get as much water out before we hauled the wet clothes back up the hill a mile. Did you know that wet clothes are MUCH heavier than dry clothes?

Then we'd hang the clothes out to dry for the day.

So yes, it's a total pain for my sister to bring her wet clothes to me, but she's got nothing on those Peruvian kids.

meet Daniela!

Daniela is a very responsible teenager. Because of her older age, she happily helps out the tias of the house and says that she likes to work hard. This is true as she works at a bakery in town during the week and then goes to school all weekend so she can graduate with work experience and an accelerated secondary school education. She loves school so much that she wants to be a professor when she grows up too. Daniela has one sister in the Aldea, Elvia.

Flashback Friday (Natalie)

Next Monday my husband and I as well as about 25 other people are getting together to see two special little people. I've been waiting for this reunion for a long, long time.

There are two boys from an orphanage we worked with in Peru who were lucky enough to be adopted by a loving couple earlier this year. Their mom tells me they are adjusting very well. Apparently they LOVED Halloween. But what kid coming from an impoverished third-world country wouldn't? You dress up and then walk around to people's houses and they give you candy??

In fact, I wonder what else they found fascinating about living in the U.S. Once in a while I try to see my world through the children of Peru's eyes. What would they think about Costco? I'm sure they'd love the free samples as much as I do. But what would they think about the giant packs of food? About the Christmas displays already set up? I'm sure they would stare with eyes wide and mouth open at people pushing enormous shopping carts overflowing with food, snacks and a ton of non-essential, non-important STUFF.

As I watch Christmas advertising, I have to stop myself from judging our commercially-minded society. I have to remember that even though a child may have more toys than they will ever need and still want more, that's just how things are here. It doesn't make us bad people - just amazingly fortunate and blessed.

And given the chance, I know every poor child would do the same if given the chance. I guess that's what I want for Christmas - for every poor child to have more food, more toys and especially more LOVE than they will ever need.

meet Luis!

Luis Humberto came to the Aldea when he was ten and is now 17 years old anxiously awaiting his 18th birthday in October. He is in his last year of secondary school and is excited to graduate. Luis likes the career explorations class by the volunteers and has decided he wants to work in international business when he grows up.

meet Ana

Ana first came to the Aldea when she was 2 years old and, after a period out of the Aldea, returned at 13 years old. She recently celebrated her Quineaños in the Aldea with a big party involving everyone in the Aldea including some of her friends from school. Ana enjoys playing sports, especially volleyball. She also enjoys dancing and theatre. Though normally pretty shy, she is very kind to others and makes friends very quickly.