teddy's masterpiece.

more pictures from this weekend!

well, i'm in the states! this will be my last post until i'm back at gabriel house in january.

i'll post pictures from this weekend later today.

friday we had our last-day-of-school-before-christmas-vacation party. we read the christmas story from a kid's bible. there was a pinata filled with apples, oranges, and candy (the fruit is tradition, i promise!) and spent the morning together celebrating. we did the pinata in front of the big house, so all the kids came outside and everyone got a chance to break that thing open.

since the tijuana brigada was cancelled, the group that was planning to help there ended up spending the whole weekend at gabriel house, instead of just sunday morning. they got to gh on friday night, and then spent saturday morning working on the boys' house and playing with the kids.

i went into to town to try and convince rocio to spend the weekend at gabriel house (she was going to come to the brigada) and she came back with me! she spent a lot of time on the computer :) but was up at the big house playing with the kids a bit.

the group painted the boys' new room - it's beautiful. they did a decoration around each window and door and wrote the fruits of the spirit in spanish. really fun, bright colors, and something that will always be nice to look at, whether the boys are 12 or 25.

rocio and i went to the movies on saturday night which was fun. i get the feeling she's pretty lonely since she lives alone and has school 2 days a week, so it was great to just be out with her. on the way there we were talking about how i saw tuinki and i was asking if she knew if he was back on drugs or not. she said she didn't know, and then i really wanted to ask her why she never took drugs. it would have been so easy for her to do. so i told her she didn't have to say anything if she didn't want to, but i asked her why she had never taken drugs. she told me right away that after seeing what it did to her family - almost everyone has or is on drugs - there's no way she's going to do that to herself. she's scared of what could happen and she has seen how it ruins lives. i told her i thought it was so sad that she had to have those people be her family, but so powerful that she is able to decide for herself what she will and will not do. what a life, man.

sunday morning was the christmas party. it was awesome. all the kids were in the kitchen, and we decorated the christmas tree, hung up stockings, made ornaments with each kids' picture, and listened to christmas carols. then we had a service with worship, a christmas drama, and another craft. it was great for the kids to watch and be a part of. then we decorated christmas cookies! it was hilarious. teddy had frosting lathered on his cookie that was thicker than the actual cookie. the boys had frosting all over their faces, they kept trying to sneak extra cookies, and i caught alex licking a spoon that was piled with frosting. i love moments like that...when they do stuff that they shouldn't really be doing but are just being kids.

then we made christmas dinner...we had 4 turkeys, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a salad. it was great! i helped in the kitchen which was a lot of fun; i don't usually get to do that. the kids like the food a lot and it was a nice change from hamburger meat and hot dogs :)

overall, a great way to head out. it's hard to believe i won't be back for 3 weeks, but it will be a healthy and refreshing break, i'm sure. i'm at krista's house (my college roommate) in san diego and will head to chicago for a wedding later this week. woo hoo! merry christmas!

well, the brigada in tijuana is canceled. there's a lot of rain predicted all weekend, and they're thinking that people won't come out if it's raining. it's a bummer, but now the team that was going to tijuana will be here at gabriel house all weekend. they're going to work on the boys' new house and get stuff set up for the christmas party on sunday. all of the workers' kids will be invited, too, which should be a lot of fun. i'm excited!

what a day. we were in class (finally) when this really loud airplane flew by. everyone turned to look and it was so close i unconsciously ducked! it turned out to be a crop duster that was spraying the fields right behind gabriel house, and it was this bright orange plane painted like a tiger, or shark, or something with huge teeth. well i'm sorry but class was put on hold just for a little bit...it was so cool. the kids loved it. the guy flew right over us a couple times; i'm sure he could see us. it was sweet.

i was cleaning out my drawers and getting rid of clothes that i don't need/want (oops. i brought too many clothes. big surprise. ) and angelica said i could give some of my clothes to the boys. i had a namesake shirt (sorry don, but it's not even your band's name anymore) that i gave to sergio, and he was so precious. remember that he can be really hard to understand when he says multisyllabic words, and he's happy 96% of the time. so i told him i was giving him the shirt and he gets this huge smile on his face and goes, wow! for me? thank you hilary!
i've never heard him talk like that before! it was so clear, and so genuine. and it was an old shirt. he got right to work folding it and putting it in his drawer. so sweet. love that kid.

so i went downtown to get a few things before i leave, and i made a tamale stop at a new place paco told me about. they were unbelievably delicious (of course), but as i was standing there and looked at the guy who was working, i thought he looked really similar to twinkie, one of our friends from rocio's neighborhood (17 de abril). i kept staring at him, because i just could not figure out if it was him. he was pretty skinny and taller than i remembered...but i hadn't seen him since april. i didn't want to make an even bigger fool of myself and start talking to him if it wasn't twinkie, but i was like, i cannot let this pass me by. i asked him if he was twinkie and he smiles and goes, yeah. i told him i was lourdes' friend and he goes yeah you're hilary, right? lourdes told me you were going to be here.
oh my GOSH. let me tell you just how miraculous this is. we saw him in april when we were here for barnabas. then when we were back in august he wasn't around. he's been on and off drugs, in and out of the states and rehab centers, and just kind of bouncing around. i talked to him for awhile - he's back living in 17 de abril and seems to be doing pretty well. i didn't want to ask too much, but he's got a job and looks pretty healthy. it was just unbelievable. of all the flipping tamale places in ensenada...of all then nights he could be working...of the 5 times i've been walking downtown in the past 4 months...wow. God is so good.

today was a day of clean up and repairing after the disaster yesterday. not too much more rain, but the effects were everywhere. no classes again, and i worked in the boys house. it was fun to hang out with them all day...they're great kids. lots to do...rocio's spending the night on thursday and then we're going to tijuana for the health fair, and after our christmas party on sunday i'm headed to the states. woosh!

rain. torrential, incessant, and forceful rain.
that was yesterday. the skies opened up and they stayed open until the power went out at 5pm...
the tar paper came off the roof of the boys' house, we lost the tarp that covers our classroom, the street in front of gabriel house is a giant puddle, and every time we went to the big house to eat i covered the boys, one by one, in my raincoat and sprinted through the puddles and mud to the kitchen. gahh.
ophelia didn't come to work yesterday so i worked with the boys, and i'm working with them again today. we didn't have school yesterday and i don't think we will today because there's a giant puddle where we used to have a classroom and it's dripping on every single table. whew! it was a fun rainy day, though. i told the boys how whenever i was stuck inside on a rainy day my mom would bring out a game or toy or something that she was saving for a rainy day. i brought up a big bag of craft stuff and we had fun making a mess. hopefully the rain is done and the power stays on!

the pastor's dinner on friday night was a lot of fun. paco and i were the greeters and i saw a lot of familiar faces (including eliseo and his mom) which was exciting! it was at the riviera, which is the huge fancy building facing the water that we always drive by but never dream about being in hahaha. it looked like a wedding - super fancy - with seat covers and everything. monica from kids camp made the food so of course it was delicious, just a little late getting to us. we were all standing outside waiting for the car to come and al and rosa were stalling...i have never seen food move so fast as when monica was in charge and the van pulled up. if we weren't it such a hurry it would have been funny. ok actually it was funny while it was happening - we were all laughing as we were running up and down the hallways with the food. al jr and his friend gary played some beautiful classical guitar pieces, and then later al sr. SANG! it was sweet. i met eddie, the director of mexico outreach. he was so nice and it was great to finally get to know him.

saturday we had class in the morning and then went with rocio. it was good to see her...it's been awhile. she's doing well and is coming to the brigada with me on friday and saturday this week. she's so funny - this girl is so independent and does so much on her own, but she doesn't want to take a micro to maneadero. i have to meet her halfway there! oh well.

church was fun today - we had a party to celebrate the graduates of the different classes. some people studied a book called nuevos principios, and another class was on liderazgo con proposito, a book by rick warren. they really take studying seriously in church...they kept saying it's not enough to just show up every sunday, it's not enough to just read your bible, it's not enough to just pray...christians have to keep diving deeper.

i learned how to make arroz con leche this weekend! very dangerous. rice, whole milk, sugar, and cinnamon. glad i don't have a dress i have to fit into anytime soon. oh wait...i'm in a wedding in 2 weeks...

well, blanca left us this week. her parents moved farther south and wanted to take her with them. sad that she's gone but it's good, too...she would cry a lot and we thought it was because she missed being with her parents.

work continues with the boys' new house...the hope is that by christmas they'll be all moved in. i hope that happens! it will be so nice to move school inside. but hey, at least it's not snowing here!

hard to believe i'll be leaving in about a week. this is my last weekend at church because next week i'm going to tijuana. mexican medical is having a brigada - a health fair - and rocio's coming too. mexmed oversees a lot of missions, and almost all of them are medical - doctors, clinics, stuff like that. gabriel house is their black sheep :) so anyways, i'm excited to be part of this brigada.

tomorrow is the christmas dinner that al and rosa are hosting. i've learned not to ask questions because i either won't exactly understand the answer or the answer doesn't help me understand anything better...so little by little i'm realizing that this dinner is a big deal (i think). it's downtown at the riviera and we're supposed to be on our best behavior hahaha

on our big wall calendar today we marked the day of our christmas party, the days when becky and hanna are coming back, and christmas day. what an exciting month we are in!

jose hung around while we were having preschool today...usually he's in the big house with the rest of the boys. it was the most precious thing - he and josue had this long conversation that i got to watch. neither of them can talk, but jose uses some sign language and josue will talk to you for hours if you let him; it's just really hard to understand most of what he says. anyways, josue was going on and on and jose was so sweet - paying attention, signing back, laughing, smiling...it was awesome. sometimes you don't need a voice to have a friend!

pretty good day of school today. lots of kids made good choices. when i went down to get the kids for school, marcos was already punished. not a good way to start the day. i talked to him before we got to school about how he could keep going, having a very bad 'muy mal' day, or he could change his actions and his attitude and have a really good day. we talked about how he's the only one that can made that happen. as much as i want to, or someone else might want to, we can't. it's his choice and his day that will change. he had a pretty good day after that. his temper is SO short...it's almost like a game. you just never know when he's going to blow. i've gotten better at reading him, though, so we can avoid the tantrums. eek.

it's frustrating sometimes to work on big behavior things like this when i know he just doesn't get it. but i think little by little we're making progress.

while i was waiting for chuy to plan for tomorrow, i was playing with the boys and found a nemo baby costume. sergio put it on but it on but it didn't fit over his butt so then teddy put it on...sooo funny.