March 23--Day 6

This morning I woke up feeling better than yesterday morning--just more stuffy. I was sad to see that we had to have breakfast in the basement again, but it was tasty. Again, I was very thankful for Dr. Amy's Dayquil. When we got to school, some of the girls immediately started trimming the back of Building 3 and the sides of Buildings 1 and 2. These girls have really worked hard at painting, and I am really proud of them! Even though we probably weren't supposed to, we also began rolling the backside of Building 3. I helped Summer and Kim take some pictures for students for their sponsors. They were SO cute! Oh My! I SO want a Nicaraguan child--they are the most beautiful children I have ever seen. Summer and Kim are taking good pictures of the children because the usual sponsor photos look like mug shots. Recess today was super short--which made me really sad. Gilesa (the same little girl from last year who I held while she cried), ran to me at recess, and I held her for a minute or so, and then we played various games with the kids. It is always a blast! After recess, I really got to painting on the backside of Building 3--Feeling rather accomplished, I was very much looking forward to lunch. Well, that feeling of accomplishment didn't last long because we ran out of paint...completely out of paint! And, we still had one more building to go. We didn't think we did, but we did have one more. So, we took a break for lunch--PB&J! :) And, we decided to start with new paint and new rollers and brushes after lunch. After lunch, Simmer took some of us to the neighborhood right by the school. We walked around and gathered up the children of the neighborhood, and we went to the middle of the neighborhood. The boys all played soccer, and the girls drew and colored. I drew with Rosita for most of the time, and she told us all of the words and numbers she knows in English. She can count to 10, and she can repeat almost any word you tell her. She is very smart. The neighborhood...the kids of this neighborhood--one of the poorest in Leon--are some of the happiest and most content people I have ever met. It is not because they want for nothing; it is because God has blessed them with a spirit of contentedness. It was awesome being in the kids' neighborhood! After we left the neighborhood, we came back to finish painting We only got to go in the neighborhood because we were waiting on new supplies, and I am so glad we had to wait. So...once again, we painted and painted and painted and painted some more. And, we finally FINISHED! :) We didn't paint the red trim at the bottom or the silver bars, but we painted all the green! When we left the school, we were filthy! It was really nice to take a shower. I called mom and checked in, took a shower, and left for this Eskimo restaurant. It was in the middle of Leon--downtown. I was a little wary of it before we got there. When we did arrive, my skepticism was confirmed. The kids were approached by 2 different males from the community. The younger male had been sniffing glue, and he made all of the girls very uncomfortable, and the older man was wanting money or food. It made me really sad that this little boy was high. Yather said that it was a common habit of young kids on the streets--even as young as 7 years old. I think it is good for our kids to see things like that, just like it is good for them to see people living in ways that are different from their own, but it was an incredibly uncomfortable situation. After we ate our dinner, we got ice cream--I got coffee ice cream, and it was wonderful, but I have never been so happy to be back on the bus! I held Yather's little girl all the way back to the hotel, and we danced, and it made me miss Aidyn. I really wish I could communicate better with Yather's wife. She is so sweet. Before bed, we had a devo by the pool. The stars were so incredibly bright. They were so beautiful. I wish the stars could be seen like that in Jackson--in our backyard! Cynthia and Summer played Banagrams for a few minutes. Cynthia played English and Spanish words. After devo, we played some more Banagrams, and then we had to send James back to the house to get the air mattress pump. Summer spent the night with me!!! :)

BB.