Tuesday/Wednesday

Tuesday:
We spent the day at The Promise House. We found out that the girls have to be out of the house by Thursday because that's when the rent ends. This kind of ruined our plans for the week because we were planning on taking the girls to ice cream on Thursday since it would be our last full day with them.. So, instead, we took them to ice cream today. But that will come in Wednesday's story... We bought the girls each presents (nail polish, hair clips, Bibles, nail polish remover) and the kids presents (play do for Glenda, a teething ring for Daniel, and blocks for Fabi, along with little things for each) and we made no bake cookies. It was fun... Early in the morning (when the kids were at day care) we were making a poster for the house. Katie and I picked out two verses for them to read and told them to choose their favorite. When we said that, Taty turned (in her new Bible) to Psalm 27 and read the part that says "Although my father and mother forsake me, God will receive me". Which almost made me cry considering her situation, and the fact that she knows the verse... Needless to say, that's the verse that went on the poster.

Wednesday:

We made no bake cookies at CIPI, which was fun. The kids lovedddd eat the straight cocoa and sugar. But they also loved the cookies. They were gone within 10 minutes... Then (after a lot of work) we finally got to take the Promise House girls to Jungle Snow (an ice cream place). It was really nice to get to spend time with them, especially since tomorrow is most of their last days. In the car on the way home Glenda pronounced us sisters, so I guess she can no longer call me gringa like she likes to.

(Picture number 1 is of Dennis eating some cocoa, and picture 2 is of Glenda eating her Jungle Snow)

Saturday/Sunday/Monday

Saturday:
We took the Hope House girls to a water park down here, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to just have a fun day. Especially WITH the girls. They seem to really like us for some reason.
I did find out, though, that one of the girls in The Promise House (Nancy), was raped by her pastor. Apparently she has 5 or 6 sisters, and one of them also got pregnant by him, but she was old enough to move out. But Nancy's mom took the pastor's side and she got sent to The Promise House and her younger sister was sent to The Hope House. Now this really got to me because Nancy is one of our best when it comes to wanting to know about God. Again, I'm hit with: If I were in that situation... But, I guess that's why I'm not.

Sunday:
We were supposed to have a church picnic but it got cancelled due to rain. (It's been raining nonstop since we got here.) So we had a little pizza party at The Hope House with the PH girls too.

Monday:
We went to CIPI in the morning, but I was just miserable. My head hurt and my stomach hurt, and I was just feeling really nauseous. We did get to make a fun poster to put up in the library with a verse on it. (There's a picture on Facebook of that.) Anyway, after lunch Katie and I went to the nursery to see the new babies, but while we were in there Johanna (who we spend the day with) came in and said our coordinator (who's in town) was in the library looking for us. Long story short, they ended up taking me home early because I felt so bad. I slept for three hours. The guy who owns the house we live in had some parasite medicine he gave me, so hopefully that will help.

This morning has been a little rough. There's a new group and they don't seem to understand that our room is right next to the stairs, and when you yell at 6:30 in the morning it tends to wake us up. Also, one of them came in at 12:30 last night and shined a flashlight across our room? So I'm not on very good terms with them right now... But, I'm also sick and very grumpy, so maybe yall should just pray extra hard for me this week.

I've gotta go, although there's more to talk about this coming week (our last week), because the housekeeper is trying to speak to me in Spanish and I need to focus so I can answer her with something other than "I don't know".

New for Katie

Everything was a success.. Except the biscuits.
"I won't do laundry tonight"
The men in masks.
"I didn't even realize she was there until she laughed. Which is even creepier."
"It's okay, because Jesus loves her. And we're here to tell her that."
"C.I.A."
"I can't wait to get back to America so I can have personal space again"
"We almost just got in 3 wrecks."..."But, it's okay. Becaus Oscar has a knife."
"We had lice.."..."Which, really, isn't funny..".."But, it is, because everything here is funny."
The Jonas Brothers
My glow in the dark nail polish.
"I'm sure it makes sense, I'm just too tired to comprehend anything."

Wednesday/Thursday/Friday

Wednesday:
We ended up going to The Hope House (the house for girls who were in a detention center for gang related stuff, or for girls who were in abusive families). I was hesitant because the last few times I've been there the girls have had attitudes, and have not been responsive to anyone. But when we got there the girls were very responsive to us (and the passage we read in the Bible) and we danced for about 3 hours straight, and they BEGGED us to come back. It was suchhh a blessing.

Thursday:
We went to CIPI for a little bit, and then went to get someone from the airport who is with OH. We then went to Wendy's for lunch, and hung out at The Promise House for a little bit. Glenda drew me some pictures, and we went to the park. Just the usual.

Today (Friday):
We went back to The Hope House and did the lesson on true beauty. They painted nails for 3 hours. I started to feel a little sick, but I think (and hope) it's just a little cold that the girls have all had lately. The girls were so sweet, though, and offered me medicine and told me to go to sleep. I've actually really grown to love them all. One of the girls had an English book for school, so we went through that and I taught her how to say everything. Which actually helped my Spanish some.

Now I'm back at the house trying to rest a little bit before we go with the group to get pupusa's for dinner.

All in all, God has really blessed us this week. Not only with how The Hope House girls have responded to us, but also in little ways that I won't even go into. Thank you everyone for keeping up with me, and for keeping Katie and I in your prayers.

CIPI

Today we were planning on doing the same thing with the CIPI girls as we did with The Promise House girls yesterday, but the kids at CIPI ended up having a little dance recital (there's a video on Facebook of the younger kids) so then the girls we normally meet with had to go to class. We went to the toddler area, and ended up getting rained in.

But, we met some girls there who were driving here from Houston, Texas with their mom and stopped to ask for directions. They ended up being arrested by the police for not having their passports. The mom went to jail, and the girls were sent to CIPI. They got in contact with their mom, and she's out, but they can't let the girls go until they have the right paperwork. The oldest sister (there are three) was filling us in on all of the kids in the toddler area. One girl was left in the street and CIPI found her. One girl was left there by her family (she had siblings, they just chose to leave only her.) And I found out the story of Marta and Miguel. They have been in The Promise House since my first year here and were sent to CIPI last week. Apparently Marta has been in these types of housing since she was 3, she was raped and had Miguel at 11. Now she's 17 and working in the toddler area just so her and Miguel will have a place to live at CIPI because she's too old to stay there.

I'm trying to imagine having a 6 year old to take care of right now. I can't. I mean, she was Bethany's age when she got pregnant and had him... That's so awful. And the worst part is that none of it is her fault.

We also went and fed the homeless last night, which was awesome. It was really humbling, and very eye opening. It's funny because I always think I've come to terms with everything here, and that I'm able to handle it all emotionally, and then I go to feed the homeless. Or I find out that my favorite girl/child here was raped at 11.

Also, please keep one little girl in CIPI in your prayers. We had a little attitude problem with her today, (she was giving us the middle finger), and Katie sat her down and told her that was not okay, and that she couldn't do that. The little girl said "I'm gonna tell my mom if you don't let me go".. Well, we found out later that she has no parents. She was just left at CIPI. And, apparently, she gets in fights with Miguel a lot.. I can just tell she's very troubled, and can't be older than 5, and it's heart breaking.

The Promise House

Good news, Glenda and Taty didn't move out yet. It was such a nice surprise to start my day off with.

Bad news, we've been having to deal with the attitudes of the kids at The Promise House. Not that it's our responsibility, it's just hard to watch the kids pitch fits and not do anything. Especially if you've grown up watching kids be raised. There's one girl, Fabi, and her mom is a little slow, and they think Fabi is too, so they just ignore her. But, in reality, she's really smart. So she'll pitch fits and her mom will just ignore her. The problem, though, is that her mom ignores her all the time. Not just when she's pitching fits... So today we were in the back blowing bubbles, and Fabi got mad about something (I don't even know what) but she threw herself on the ground and started kicking and screaming. I picked her up, put her on the couch inside, and went back outside. Ten minutes later she was sound asleep.. Katie told her mom that she needs to take naps every day, but, of course, she just says that Fabi does, and we know it doesn't matter.

It's just sad. I don't know how to help.

We did have a productive day, though. We talked about true beauty and then painted our nails (a little ironic, I'm aware) then we made "friendship" bracelets, and talked about how God is the one friend you can always count on. Then we went to the park, played with chalk, and then went home and played with the bubbles.

Tomorrow we're gonna do the beauty thing with the girls at CIPI.

Speaking of, there's a new group here and they've been great. They're all adults, and they've been so encouraging. They even asked Katie and I to help them plan what to do with the girls. At CIPI they've started to plant some gardens and we're going to help keep up with them while we're here.

Also, yesterday I was told I was "wise beyond my years" and that I "looked like a true Salvadorean". So, needless to say, it was a good day. :)

Our Moses crafts

These are our baby Moses crafts. The one on the left is mine with baby Moses in his little raft, and the one on the right is Katie's modified craft. You have his mother to the left, (she is crying), his sister in the middle (she has a mischevious smile), and Pharoh's daughter on the right.

Just for Katie

Oscar has a knife.
"You're not 16! Do we have documentation of that?".."No?"..."We just take peoples words for it. I don't believe you"
We're actually 20.
Fabi's beanie.
Creeper stare...
Karen and Hazel.
"Time flies when you're having fun!"..."Doing laundry?"
Oscar's walk.
Thinking about stealing Cascada from the homeless on accident.
Our amazing craft skills.
Oscar taking the kids home from daycare.


I think that's all for now.

CIPI/ The weekend

Friday we spent the day at CIPI, which is like a halfway point for kids when the government doesn't know where to put them. They're typically only there for about 3 months.
We did a project on Moses (pictures on Facebook of our wonderful crafts) and it seems like the girls there are warming up to us. It's hard because we know that they have definitely been hurt in their lives and don't know who they can trust. And, no offense to anyone, it's hard to for them to know which "gringos" they can trust when most of them just stop in for a day and never see the girls again.

As for The Promise House, Glenda and her mom (Tatiana, Taty for short) moved out on Saturday, which is really difficult for me to accept. For those of you who haven't kept up with my trips before, Glenda and her mom Taty, and Miguel and his mom Marta, have been at the house all three years, so I've grown close to them. Especially the kids. Mainly because the kids don't understand that I don't speak their language, so they just keep talking to me and I eventually figure them out. But Marta and Miguel moved to CIPI on Monday, so I've been able to see them when I go to CIPI. We thought Glenda and Taty would go there too, but now they're sort of being adopted by a family from the church, which is great. I'm just being selfish about it. But Glenda and Taty go to our church so we get to see them on Sunday's.

Speaking of which, we saw them today at church, and Glenda ran and just jumped on me, and held onto my neck. Then she went to Katie and would not come to me or talk to me until we dropped her off in her class. I was really worried about it, because I didn't know if I did something to make her mad or anything like that. And I think it's because she was worried she wasn't going to see me again, so when she did she jumped on me and held on, and then she realized she was showing her emotions, which she never does. It's kind of like the girls at CIPI; they don't know which gringos really care. But, as we were walking out of service, the Orphan Helpers bus was leaving, and Glenda was looking out the window, and when she saw me I blew her a kiss and she smiled and blew one back. So hopefully we're okay.

For everyone reading, please just pray for these girls. Most of them have to go back with their abusive families, and it's awful. I don't know how to help any of them. I'm just heart broken.

The Promise House

Today we spent the day at The Promise House. Unfortunately, there will be no Promise House soon. They moved out two of the girls today, and the other two will be at CIPI by next week. As sad as I am, I'm more sad for the girls. I don't even want to get into it. Katie and I have had this conversation so many times this week, and it just makes me feel helpless. I know there's nothing I can besides be here for them and try to get them comfort.

On the bright side, it was a great day. We did the Creation project with the girls (we read the story of Creation to them, and then made a picture book for each of them of all of the days.) Then we went to the park for about an hour and a half. We hung out for a while doing nothing really, except watching the kids jump off the couch, and then Glenda found the music on my iPod, and that completely changed our day. Katie started dancing (which is great, if you haven't seen it) and then Glenda and I started singing Baby by Justin Bieber. It's hilarious that the only English words she knows are "Baby" and "Mine". There's a video on Facebook if you'd like to hear us sing and watch Katie dance.

Tomorrow we'll be at CIPI again.

Today I was just hit with the fact that I never have to worry about having a place to live. God has always provided for me. I have an amazing (sometimes obnoxious) family, and I am more than greatful for them. I know that no matter what kind of trouble I get myself into I always have my parents to fall back on. And it kills me inside to know that these girls don't have that.

Getting Started

Yesterday we had to go shopping for all of our groceries, and the supplies we need to do our activities with the kids in CIPI and at The Promise House. I won't even go into how difficult that was. (The market here is so inefficient.)
Anyway. After that we went to The Promise House. I was greeted with a huge hug and "LYDIA" from Glenda, which is always nice. We found out that they are slowly shutting down The Promise House. They are sending girls to wherever they can. (I haven't gotten all the details. As soon as I know more, so will you.) CIPI is where girls/kids go as a kind of midpoint place. They stay there (typically only a few months) until they find somewhere else to stay. (I believe. Things in El Salvador are never very clear.) It was good to see the girls last night, but I was definitely glad to get into a bed when we finally got home.

Today we woke up bright and early (7) and went to CIPI. We are working in the library that Orphan Helpers has just opened. For the most part, it's the same group of girls in there for most of the day. So we taught about Creation. (For it, mom). And we made a book with pictures for each day. (Which is actually quite hard to do, because when you think light you think "sun" but God didn't create the sun until the 4th day, and when he created the sea animals, he didn't create the animals on ground, etc) But we got it done, and it actually ended up being pretty great.
At our lunch break, Johanna (who is helping us) offered to take us to the nursery. Our answer was, of course, yes. On our way there, she was explaining that these kids were either found abandonded in the street, or they were just left in the hospital to be put up for adoption. As soon as we walked in, though, I ran into one of the girls who was in The Promise House the past two years (Marta) which was VERY exciting. (Her son, Miguel, is the ham in all of my pictures from every year.) We went into the baby room and found two new borns (one 11 days old, one 13 days old), neither of them have names yet. They were the smallest babies I have ever held. And perfect. Absolutely perfect... I need to stop before I start crying... It just hit me that this was someone's child. A woman carried this baby for 9 months, birthed her, and then just gave her up. No name. Nothing... Think of what kind of position you have to be in to make that decision.
Well, beyond the depressing part of the day.
We then went to The Promise House and spent about an hour with the girls and kids, which was funny. Katie told me "It's weird to think that we've only been here two days. I feel like we've been here weeks already"
Which I think pretty much sums up these past two days.

I'm glad God has blessed me enough to give me this opportunity, and I'm glad He has given me Katie this year to be with me. (I'd be sooo lost without her.)

There's so much more I'd like to write, but I'm sure if anyone IS still reading, they're about ready to quit.
So that's all for tonight.

I'll try to write more tomorrow, (we're spending our first full day at The Promise House, so that will be entertaining), but I'm using the house computer, so it's kind of hard to get to time to write all of this.

Getting Here

As some of you know, I drove to Dallas on Friday and flew to El Salvador yesterday. This is surely the quickest way to get there by plane, right? Wrong. Very wrong. You've obviously never flown with American Airlines.
We were supposed to leave at 4:20. Which slowly became 4:45. Which quickly became 5:00. At 5:15 we begin to board. Good news, right? Wrong again. We sit on the plane until 6:30 because the caterers didn't put enough food on board. (me and the girl next to me were gladly offering up our sandwich's to be able to leave, but the flight attendants didn't listen). We eventually get into the air, and I start talking to the girl sitting next to me. She got married and had a baby at 17. Her husband is from El Salvador. Well, after they got married, they decided to get his immigration papers. They go to all of this trouble to fill out all of the paper work, pay all of the fees, and finally America government says "Listen, you've got an appointment with the Embassy if you can just go back to ES for 4-6 months, we'll give you a call". 26 months later they still haven't gotten the call. And she left her daughter with him in ES so that she could get to know her family here. She hasn't seen her daughter since last April. But now, we're landing at 9:30 instead of 6:20 and she's kinda freaking out... Like any normal mother would.

Well, we get through customs and finally find our bags (Katie's took a while to come through), and we get outside to find Edward and Oscar (two of the Orphan Helpers workers) waiting for us. And then, out of the crowd, I heard in those lovely Spanish voices "Lydia!" and I find two of the girls (and their daughters) from The Promise House walking behind Edward and Oscar. So exciting! I think I almost screamed. (If any of you saw my status on Facebook, that is who Tatiana, Tonita, Fabi and Glenda are.)

Our house is really house. Katie and I are sharing a room, and we have two fans so we don't get hot (we actually got cold last night) and a bathroom across from our room with running (and hot) water.

Today we're going to go grocery shopping for our lunch food, and then we'll be spending the rest of the day at The Promise House :)

I'm so blessed to be here, and I'm so excited to see what else this week stores. I'm sure you're all eagerly awaiting for more.