another wonderful day! after 13 bathroom trips in 3 hours, a van that leaked on the inside, and rivers where there used to be roads, i can still say that :)
i took the boys and marcos to roca de salvacion, where candelario is the pastor. it was awesome. the worship is always great, and we sang a song that i had put on a cd i burned for the boys. they were so excited when they heard it and kept telling me that they have that song on one of their cds! (me - yes, i know, i made that cd for you. them - yeah, but we have this song in our house! me - awesome.)

alex stayed in the service but everyone else - teddy, jose, tonio, sergio, and marcos - went to the sunday school class, taught by abraham, the drummer and bryan's dad. it was great for them to be there, and they had a lot of fun!

there was a guest preacher this week, but i was in and out of the service checking on the kids in the class and taking them to the bathroom so i didn't hear that much of her message. we ended the service praying, and she brought all the boys up front and prayed for them one by one, just like she did with most of the congregation. lots of people came up to lay hands on the boys and pray for and with them. it was so cool to see the boys that had just been in their sunday school class laying hands on the gh boys and praying for them. the guest preacher spent a long time praying for healing for all of them - for them to be able to walk and talk. she talked about how God didn't create them to be like this, and that if we believe, if we truly believe, God will heal them.
i don't know how i feel about this. well, i guess i do. i don't think i really agree with her. and maybe it's just a matter of opinion, maybe i'm not biblically based in what i'm saying, but i believe that God created the boys to be exactly the way they are. he has a specific and unique purpose for each of us, and i think that the way they are is part of that purpose. and i'm not sure that i believe that if i believe more, the boys would stand up and walk in that very moment that my belief jumped to the next level. i feel like it lets the boys down every time this happens, because there's such a big build up to 'if you only believe enough, it will happen!' well then that just makes us feel like we're inadequate (which we are, but we will always be) and i wonder if it makes the boys doubt their God. like, if he really loved them, he would heal them. i wonder if they think that. i wonder if they know that their God doesn't love them any less because they're in wheelchairs and sign. i certainly hope they know this...and this week i'll make sure they do.
of course, i would love to see them walk and talk. but is the time for that to happen here on this earth, or are there even greater treasures waiting in heaven? they'll know someday :)

thoughts?


pastor cande invited us to stay for lunch, which was awesome! we got to hang out with everyone for awhile after the service, and then headed home. we were going to go to the flag to see the boats and seals, but had a family meeting in the car and decided it was better to wait until next week when we would have more time. it's funny - the very second i sat down in the van to drive home, i felt like i could fall asleep right then and there. i was so exhausted...but it was like instantanteous. crazy. off to bed!




some of the boys in their sunday school class. marcos = class clown. always.

marcos with bryan's pet turtle! (bryan is the 2 year old son of abraham and kristal. abraham teaches this sunday school class and plays drums in the worship band...)

dulce and sergio. best friends, as of today :)
he would NOT leave her side. i've never seen him like that with anyone! he kept wanting to play hide and seek and making her count with him.

pedro with teddy. the sweetest boy...tears streaming down his face as he laid hands on each of my 5 boys and prayed for them.

a little change of plans today, since i walked up to the big house at 8:30, ready to load up the car to go to the library, and neither of the vans were in the driveway! the white one broke down (shocking) and martin was in the red one at a doctor's appointment.
we did some fun science experiments in the morning and then went to the library in the afternoon. they had to do a short book report before using the computers, which went over surprisingly well. after the library, we went to the same park we went to last week, and had a lot of fun playing in the sand.

i just found out that hanna, the intern who was here last summer and overlapped with me for about a week, is coming back for the summer! she is so amazing with the kids and just pours herself into every minute of her time here. it's so comforting (and such a blessing!) to know that even though i'm leaving, becky AND hanna will be here with the kids! God is so good.

i walked up to the classroom today, all ready to work with alex and jose (we've been splitting the kids up lately), and chuy was nowhere to be seen. lerma, the woman who works with the boys, goes, 'chuy left.'
'what?!' (i thought he left, like took off and was gone forever...)
'yeah, he forgot he had his 3 day training this week.'
'ohhh. well.'
after some quick scrambling and planning on the fly, we had a great day! to this day i am still amazed at how simple things are so fun for these kids. i always use the sticker example - for awhile, a daily prize for good behavior was a sticker. every day the kids were SO excited to get their sticker, and if they didn't earn one, oh man. it was bad.
anyways, i quick made up some crossword puzzles with animal names and we had so much fun talking about different animals, spelling their names, and then doing the crossword puzzle. we also talked about the book report we'll be doing tomorrow at the library.

marisol and omar stopped by this afternoon! their parents are still doing some final paperwork and doctor's visits, so they came by one last time to say goodbye. they were SO HAPPY. not to see us...well, i mean, they were happy to see us, but it was so easy to see how happy they were with their parents. they're such a cute little family! their parents were telling me that marisol understands sooo much english and has been translating for omar. they have a book from their teacher in the states with pictures of all their classmates and have loved looking at that. such an exciting time for them! obviously its not going to be easy and perfect every minute, but they seem to be doing great.

today was the honor guard competition at a nearby conafe school. there were 4 other schools there, each with a preschool and first grade class. everyone competed the same way...marching to commands and saluting the flag. the preschoolers were so adorable. i'll put some videos up later.

teddy, tonio, and marcos. omar and marisol had been practicing with us too, but they left last week with their parents!


teddy receiving our participation award!


almost everyone...

we got to take pilar, ruben, and josue with us too. it was so great! those kids live down below and hardly ever leave gabriel house...they really need a 1:1 ratio so it's not easy to take them places. both of the women down below came with us, and angelica's son joshua was with us too, so it worked out well.

i took teddy and jaime for a walk in the wagon this afternoon...it was so nice out. once again, it rained this weekend and everyone was stuck inside, so it was good to be outside.

ana, eliseo's cousin who goes to roca de salvacion, invited me over for dinner tonight. it was so fun to hang out with her! she's goes to the university and is studying psychology...bryan, her adorable 2 year old nephew, came over and we played cars for awhile...after dinner we met up with eliseo and hung out for awhile.

tomorrow we'll have normal classes, and then thursday we go to the library again! i'm going to try to get across the idea of a book report...we'll see how that goes :)

no classes today - tomorrow is flag day.
the boys and i finished up a project that we started last week in school...we had collected all different kinds of leaves and flowers, and then spent that day categorizing them all different ways. we pressed them, and then today laid them between wax paper, ironed it down, made a construction paper border, and taped them to the windows. so pretty!

we practiced the flag thing that we're doing tomorrow; still not sure what it is, where it is, or how it's going to work, but great! an adventure lies ahead hahaha

eliseo and i figured out yesterday at lunch that we both love the tv show glee, and since neither of us had classes today i went to his house in the afternoon and we watched 4 episodes! i stayed for dinner, and we had shrimp and octopus soup. like legit octopus...purple, with tentacles and everything. it wasn't bad at all. just not what i'm used to!

so friday, i was in the kitchen with the kids at lunch. jose looks at betzy (the newish girl who was really skinny but is doing great), examines her hands, and realizes she isn't wearing her hand braces. he calls over the woman who's taking care of her, and show her that betzy isn't wearing her braces. the woman goes, 'ah, thank you jose! i forgot!' and goes to get them and puts them on betzy.
you are the MAN, jose!

at roca de salvacion today, eliseo sat next to me, which meant he wasn't going to lead worship like he always does. i go, 'eliseo, you're not singing?' he says, 'no, i haven't behaved myself very well.' 'what??' i said. 'i'm kind of a rebel.' 'and this is your punishment,' i said. yep...
in the class, we were talking about times when we haven't been allowed to enter a certain place for whatever reason....age, clothing, whatever. angelica, cande's wife, asked if that had ever happened to me, and i go, 'no, not that i can think of.' 'really?' she asks. i said, 'i just have to smile and they let me in...' ooh let me tell you no one thought i was capable of something like that. they knew i was kidding...i made that clear...but oh boy it was hilarious!
pastor cande announced that the congregation is coming to gabriel house on march 13 to help with the new house. they're going to spend the day working in whatever way they can. that is so awesome! i'm excited.

after church a bunch of us went to a chinese buffet (let me tell you, the only food in ensenada is mexican or chinese. nothing more, nothing less. and there's chinese food on literally every corner. well, either a church or a chinese restaurant. it's crazy!) we were there for like 3 hours...eliseo was eating the whole time. not kidding. it was really fun...i hardly ever hang out with people my age like that. then went to watch josue (pastor cande's son, eliseo and caleb's brother) play soccer. i got back, hung out with the kids for a bit, and now need to go get ready for the week!

more pictures in the post below...


sergio and marcos on the slide


l-r: arturo's mom, arturo, lidia, lidia's mom, me, ruben


ruben, josue, and pilar waiting patiently to go for a walk


marcos and i on the bus on the way to buy fruit!


today was crazy. just unbelievable.
so i took teddy, tonio, jose, alex, marcos, and sergio to the library first thing in the morning. it was fun! the librarian was really nice, showed us some great books and told us a story, and explained to us how the library works. then we played on the computers for awhile. they have the kids version of an encyclopedia on each computer, and we watched some crazy animal videos. the kids loved it. kangaroos jumping, whales leaping in and out of the water, tigers catching their dinner, snakes eating eggs...cool stuff like that.

then we went to a park nearby to eat our snack. it used to be a nasty junky park but they just finished redoing it, and it's beautiful. the playground area isn't paved, but made of sand, which is perfect for the boys in wheelchairs. jose got out of his wheelchair and was halfway up a slide before i realized what he was doing! makes me nervous to be a parent...

the whole park had a gentle slope in towards a gazebo in the center, which was awesome for the boys in chairs. they had so much fun rolling down the sidewalks, hands free. here's teddy and tonio demonstrating their mad skills...


so we get back to gabriel house in time for lunch. i see that there's a group of nationals playing with the kids - not that weird because groups are here a lot. i went in the kitchen to help feed lunch, and the group walks in and i see this girl that i recognize. all of a sudden it clicked, and i realized it was lidia. LIDIA. let me explain this to you.

lidia is the reason that i am at gabriel house today. 4 years ago, our new york group was working in her neighborhood, doing vbs. she was turning 12, and we wanted to throw her a party. she said, no, i don't really want a party. can you come to this place with me instead? we were like, well, sure, it's your birthday. whatever you want.
so she brought us to gabriel house to help feed lunch to the kids. ever since then, we've been back every spring and summer for 4 years, and now i'm here for a year. i've always wanted to find her to tell her what happened because of that birthday wish, but i haven't seen her since that summer. and then, today, she walks into the kitchen! i go, LIDIA! do you remember me? and she's like, hilary! hi! oh my gosh. i could have cried.
lidia's 16 now, going to high school, and wants to study medicine when she goes to college. instead of a birthday party, she asked for a computer for her 16th birthday (look at all the good things that come out of not having birthday parties!) i talked to her mom for a long time, and she said lidia's doing great...studying hard, staying out of trouble, helping out at home...she told me that when lidia and her boyfriend (arturo) go out, she (the mom) always goes with them. the 2 of them are never out alone. ha! way to go, mom. keep those kids out of trouble.

so anyways, i finally got to tell lidia my story! they also want to help me take the kids out...somewhere where we need one person for each kid, like to the movies or something. woo hoo! God is so unbelievably good. and he just keeps showing up!

at the library!


the librarian telling us a story...as librarians do...


alex and jose watching some guys play soccer...on a basketball court.


notice the wheelchairs, abandoned in the background. love it!

well, today was emotional.

we spent the whole day waiting for omar and marisol's parents to come. after school we played outside for awhile, and eventually everyone stopped playing and we all just stared at the road, getting excited whenever a car was headed our way. i tried to get everyone to play with the kite, or soccer, or something...but no one was interested. omar started getting frustrated before dinner and was crying, and he just kept saying, 'i want to go with my parents, i want to go with my parents...'
at one point he was staring at the road, tears streaming down his face, and goes, 'no puede ser.' (it can't be.) i was like, oh sweetie, they're coming! i promise!

during dinner they just lost it...a whole day of waiting for something like this wiped them out. they were crying, and so i told them that they could come to my apartment and play for a little bit, while we waited for their parents. we ended up making cookies and popcorn. well, after 2 minutes they got bored so i made the cookies while they played, but whatever hahaha. it took their mind off of waiting for a little bit. they went back to their house to shower, and while they were getting ready their parents came! they were so excited. i can't even describe it. they flew up the hill to the big house and ran inside and jumped right into their arms. it was so wonderful...this is going to be so good for them.

i just feel really sad for marcos. he's the only one left down below who has hiv and nothing else, and he has never taken the leader role like marisol and omar did. marisol especially was a great helper; everyone called her mom. i hope that this will be a chance for marcos to step up and help take care of the other kids he lives with who have down's, epilepsy, and emotional issues. he's a great kid, but omar was his best friend. and now he's gone! pray for him, please. pray for comfort, peace, and understanding as his life is going to be very different.

marisol


omar


this is why i love josue. he counted 1-2-3 so everyone would know when i was taking the picture...at least he got the memo! you know what, though, if all of them were looking at the camera and smiling it would be wierd and unnatural and i wouldn't like it!


two things about this weekend that i forgot to write:

my devos on sunday, the day the boys went to church and the park, started like this: give yourself fully to the adventure of today. ha! how fitting.

saturday morning i took the beastly van for a test drive and went to the ranch! dan and ivey had some wheelchairs for us, and another guy who was there gave me 5 garbage bags full of clothes. it was great to see dan and ivey, and the pole barn is coming along great. it's beautiful...simple, but you can tell thought was put into every detail, and it's got a lot of mexican influence in the colors and design. it's going to be a school for orphans someday! exciting stuff.

today we got some HUGE NEWS. marisol and omar, who have been in the adoption process for years (literally) are leaving TOMORROW. like, tomorrow! it's so exciting. they are going to be missed a lot, but everyone is just so happy for them. i can't wait to meet their parents!

here's a video of marisol and omar talking about leaving...

dinnertime craziness...

thelma, in perfect rhythm with the music, dancing AND eating at the same time!

here are tons more pictures and videos from yesterday and today...

today was awesome. indescribable. unforgettable.

the boys were so excited when i came up to their house this morning...they were all in sweatpants so we did some quick 'ponte guapo' work. (i love the 'ponte' - it doesn't translate that well, but it basically means 'do this,' or 'become that,' depending on what you're saying. guapo is handsome, so essentially i was telling them to become handsome.)

anyways, we loaded up the car and prayed for safety while driving - that we would be surrounded by angels. we have this 11 year old, 3/4 ton van that is, well, let's just say it's nothing like the honda accord i'm used to driving.
we got to church with no problem - the same church that has been coming every other sunday afternoon for the past month. it was great for the boys to recognize their friends right away, and the guys were a huge help getting the boys up the flight of stairs...it was just awesome for them to be out and around people.
they're so lovable, even though they obviously have disabilities. people tend to be wary at first but after a few minutes they can tell the boys just want to interact with people. they did great through the singing (all so happy to finally see their friends paco, mimi, and noe play in the worship band) and paid attention through the sermon, asking me to help them find the bible verses that martha was preaching about.
other than the fact that jose, alex, and tonio had to go to the bathroom at the exact same time, it went really well!

then we loaded up and headed to a park - the one we used to eat at when we worked at 17 de abril - and had lunch. it was an absolutely gorgeous day...worthy of sunscreen! we were just all so happy to be outside, out of wheelchairs, in the sunshine...there was a playground at the park so we went and played for awhile...sergio, who is deathly afraid of dogs the size of teacups, ran to the tallest slide and flew down that thing, and was either doing that or making paco push him on the swing the entire time we were at the playground.
it wasn't wheelchair friendly (of course) but the boys had fun watching all the other kids play. i got them on the monkey bars, thinking that since they're so good in their wheelchairs they could do the monkey bars, but they were too nervous. we'll keep trying.
teddy went down the slide a couple of times and then we found this crazy (and slightly dangerous) twirly thing...you grab a metal bar and run in a circle and then pull up your feet up so you're swinging around and around...the boys thought it was hilarious because sergio and i would tumble to the ground every time we stopped swinging...
the playground wasn't good for wheelchairs, but surrounding and cutting through the park were beautiful, wide open sidewalks (it's funny how you see things differently and appreciate them more when you're with a certain population...)we walked and rolled around a couple times, made friends with a police office, bought all the water at a little snack shop in the middle of the store, and watched traffic (including a fire truck!) go by.
we loaded up to go home, and the first thing teddy says is, 'thanks for taking us to the park, hilary.' i was like you are SO WELCOME! and we are so doing this again. very soon.

so its carnaval week in ensenada...it's huge. i had no idea...i've never been here in february. rocio and i went to the parade on saturday, and it was a couple hours long with a steady stream of motorcycles, classic cars, floats, dance companies (it's like how people in the states play town sports...this is their town sport. everyone and their brother belong to some dance school somewhere), and random clowns and semis pulling djs. the boulevard, the main road that the flag is on and that parallels the ocean, was PACKED. i have never in my life seen so many people downtown. they closed one side of the road and before the parade, the police came through on motorcycles to thin the crowd so that the classic cars could get by. they would drive up to people who were too far out in the road and turn their siren on until the people moved back. eek.

this is a kid from our old ministry site in the back, and jonathan (rocio's brother) is the monkey. he was such a HAM. oh my gosh. dancing all around, taking pictures with everyone...rocio and i ended up walking the last half of the parade with jonathan and that green bike thing...it was slightly embarrassing when people would go 'guera! baila!' and take pictures of me...i pretended i didnt understand and kept walking hahaha



when i say carnival, i mean carnival. they had all the good rides and everything...rocio and i went on a couple. it was so fun! even though she screamed for her mom at the top of her lungs the entire ride...

just a glimpse at the preschool class: pilar sweeping dirt into piles of more dirt, nene carrying around her beloved sapos, and who knows what going on in the background...


today was a good day. all of our kids earned their recess (yes!) and during recess i left with angelica to get diapers with some money that was donated and in my bank account. the mexican border has changed recently and isn't allowing us to bring as many diapers or food staples that they used to...this makes it really hard to get donations down to gabriel house. it can be frustrating to know that there's food and diapers sitting in a warehouse in california but can't get to us all at once...

anyways, we made a very necessary stop for fish tacos at the best place in ensenada and bought 1600 pesos worth of diapers and wipes. woo hoo!

i had left some work for alex, tonio, and jose to do while i was gone. they are always so well behaved and love to be put to work...but i was still pleasantly surprised when i came back and they were so excited to show me that they did all the work i left for them!

after dinner, someone put music on and we had a dance party in the big house. it was awesome. sonja and ely were laughing so hard and all the kids down below and the boys were dancing too. SO FUN!




this is josue telling me ALL ABOUT his new shoes...he was very excited.

ah! i totally forgot to write last night. you'd think by now i would remember hahaha


yesterday was thelma's birthday! she turned 12. i took her for a walk because it wasn't too cold...she hasn't been outside in ages. weeks, maybe months. imagine that being your life! anyways, i wasn't sure if she would think it was cold, or be scared, or whatever...but she did her happy dance the WHOLE time. it was awesome! her happy dance is very distinctive, because she usually doesn't move that much. when she's happy, she moves her head from side to side and claps, and tries to get the person she's with to clap too. it was so cute. i can't wait until its warm and the kids can be outside every day.

a couple weeks ago i noticed the kids down below and the boys had a lot of ripped clothes that wouldn't be too hard to fix...i don't really like seeing them running around in ripped clothes, knowing that in 5 minutes i could close up the holes...so i asked them to give me their ripped clothes. at first i had to beg for it, but now i have this huge pile of clothes on my kitchen table that need to be repaired! they love to watch me do it, even though it makes me nervous with the needles and pins. they have to give me at least a 2 foot bubble, even though i'm pretty sure i could teach jose and he would sew better than me :)

no school today; chuy decided it was too cold.

meanwhile, while the sun was shining and the kids were hanging out outside, i worked with some of them, teaching them about their 5 senses and using popcorn to give them a hands on example of each sense.

ron, this sweet old man who comes at least once a week (everyone calls him abuelo), brought a bunch of his neighbors over today. they had a cargo van packed with donations as well as a suburban. it was awesome! i love when people come to gabriel house for the first time...it's so fun to see it through their eyes.

the librarian stopped by today...i was going to take the boys on friday, but she said it won't work this week. she felt so bad and promised that next friday we'll do it, instead. i was like, don't worry, i'll be here for a few more months! it's probably for the best, though...the cake group is coming saturday, and i'm (hopefully...) bringing the boys to church on sunday. it's going to be a full weekend anyways!

read the post below first...

and then watch this video. i still laugh every time i watch it...nene is so dang cute!




marcos OUT. he tried to be so brave...but can you see the dried tears trailing down his face?


in recovery. never this calm, never this quiet :)


ready to go!


worship service after with the dentists! dr. cervantes, with the guitar, and his wife erica (next to him) are dentists in tecate with beautiful hearts...they come and give their time and skills twice a year to work with our difficult, sometimes ungrateful, and squirmy (but still absolutely wonderful!) children!

so the dentists came today! i could explain everything, but the pictures do a better job.



buky, a missionary farther south in san quintin, and dave, the dental van boss man, teaching thelma how to pound it.


the dental unit!


inside - there's another chair in the back, which is where teddy didn't want to go because he knows the kids who go 'back there' come out sleeping and stay sleeping for a long time (because they got put under!)


marcos's teeth! they wanted to pull a lot more, but couldn't do too many at the same time. some people think he was given bottles of karo syrup before he came to us. we don't know what happened, but he came to us with nasty, rotted baby teeth. they didn't think he would even have his adult teeth! thankfully, he does. lots of problems still, though.

marisol and i went for a bike ride today...well more like she rode her bike while i ran along side her. that girl has got it down! and let me tell you, riding a bike in mexico requires a lot more skill than in the states. none of the roads around us are paved, so she has managed to navigate her way through potholes, random speed bumps, mud puddles, mud rivers, and the occasional ditch.

we did manage to get some work done in school today, although i'm not quite sure how because everyone is SO excited and couldn't stop talking about the dentists coming tomorrow...

well, i didn't take the boys to church today. i was all ready to go...packed the lunches...bought sunglasses for them...made cookies...
they knew that if it was raining and/or the red van wasn't back from the shop we wouldn't be able to go. luis pulled in with the van at 7:30 this morning, and the sun was shining, and i was psyched. i walked into breakfast and didn't see lerma, the woman who works with the boys. she didn't come to work today, and i can't take the kids alone because they're DIF (government) kids, and there needs to be 2 people with them at all times.

gahh. i was so bummed, i think more so than the boys! they're used to empty promises (even though this clearly was not that). i was frustrated because of all the things to go wrong, this was not one that i had thought about. but then i thought about how many more sundays there are until june, and how we'll try again next week.

i went to roca de salvacion which was awesome. pastor cande asked me to give an update on how things are going, and i was talking about how i wanted to bring some kids from gabriel house to their church for a service. instead of saying traer (bring) i said llevar (take). in english these words are more or less interchangeable, but in spanish not so much. basically i said i wanted to take 5 kids sitting in the congregation home with me. oops! pastor cande goes, traer, no? i was like oh, yes. that one. hahaha. he also told me he wants to bring people from the congregation to gabriel house some saturday to help with whatever we need - cleaning, building, etc. it will be great, especially because he's got some people who know how to lay tile and we still need to do that in the new house.

in the afternoon, a group from fuente de vida (martha's church) came to hang out with the boys. it was great. each kid was paired with one teenager and they spent the afternoon playing games, reading stories, blowing bubbles, and joking around. it was a lot of fun.

i'm feeling kind of bleh. a lack of drive, i guess. i don't know what's going on, but i know that i'm feeling kind of lonely and spiritually down, too. i really need your prayers.

marisol learned how to ride a bike today! we had gym and then recess, so she spent a solid hour and a half getting the hang of it. we got 2 bikes for christmas - one with training wheels, and one without. she mastered the one with training wheels but with the unpaved streets and huge potholes it wasn't too easy to make the jump from training wheels to no training wheels. someone else was using the other bike, so she picked up the one without training wheels and i helped her get started. i would hold on to the back and run with her and try to let go when i thought she wouldn't fall....i had a flashback of my dad helping me learn how to ride a bike! and then when she started getting it on her own i was SO PROUD of her. she just never gave up and after an hour and a half pretty much had it down! it was very exciting and she was thrilled.
here's a video...


this is tonio and his story from a couple days ago. it was not easy for him but he did a great job!



jose and alex working together. jose spends a lot of time writing the same 6 or so letters with his stencil and doesn't usually want to do anything else. one of the men who works here has become his adopted 'dad,' and so i asked jose if he would rather write a note to luis asking him to buy a lollipop or something. he was SO excited and decided he wanted to ask him to buy a motorcycle too. this is what that note said: papa, please buy me a motorcycle and a lollipop. love, jose. alex helped him find the right letters; it was precious!



marcos skyped with becky (used to work here but is in costa rica at language school and will be back in may) tonight and he came to my house to talk to her! he was very distracted but was so cute talking to her.