what a day.

brief summary:
- another woman quit
- ripping up the calendar
- last day of ventana
- new girl
- i have a lot to learn from tonio and jose
- i'm going to be a mom in 2 days!

so. another woman walked out this morning, which has been the trend recently. becky covered for her instead of helping out with school, and our maintenance men covered shifts as well so that all the kids were being cared for. (they're perfectly capable and have done it before...but it still catches me off guard to see don lupe, the guy who built the boys' new house, feeding the babies...) it's so sad though, because this woman was awesome with the kids. just awesome. she loved them so much and it was really hard for her to leave, but it's also really hard to work here. i guess everything combined with the unsteady pay was too much.

at school this morning we were talking about the date, like we always do, and i asked the kids how many days until hanna and sidney come, and then how many until i leave. i want them to be prepared for both things...it's going to be different when i'm not here everyday and i want them to understand that and not have it come as a shock. anyways...jose said, 'no, no don't leave.' and teddy said, 'why do you have to leave? where are you going?' (we go through this EVERYDAY. sometimes i think they do it just to waste time haha) we talked about it for a minute and then marcos said, 'hey, if i take your name off of the calendar and rip it up, then you won't be able to leave!' everyone seemed to think it was a good idea. i explained that i already had a plane ticket and that i would see them in august...and then we read amelia bedelia together for some good laughs.
today was the last day that ventana, a group that has been coming almost every monday since i got here, came to visit. the students that have interned with them for a year arrived in august, like me, and are leaving in 3 weeks, like me. it's been fun to get to know them, and they love love love to be with the kids. they were so sad to leave today...but that means good things have happened, so we can rejoice in that.

we have a new girl! her name is kimberly michelle, and she's from tijuana. she reminds me a lot of betzy. she has cerebral palsy and other than smiling or crying, isn't very responsive. her arms and legs are horrible looking. they're naturally like you see in the picture...they can't be stretched any farther than a few inches. she's so skinny and we think she had lice, which is why she hardly has any hair. she's 8...kimberly with angelica, meeting ely

imagine having your arms and legs like that and not being able to move them...

tonio and jose almost made me cry today. they had been waiting and waiting to meet kimberly, so when i brought her out they ran up to her to say hi. let me just paint this picture for you - the water has been off all day, so we couldn't bathe her. she smelled horrible...just because her teeth hadn't been brushed in who knows how long, but it was a strong and pungent smell. i was talking to jose and i looked down and tonio was giving her a kiss on the cheek. he shook her bird claw hand without a second guess and jose patted her legs, trying to help her put them the right way. they were so gentle with her, and had so much love to give her. instantly! we went to go feed her, and tonio told me i should pray before she ate. i asked him to, and he laid a hand right on her chest and signed a prayer with her. she has a jogging stroller because her body won't fit in a wheelchair, and jose was trying to fix the cover because part of it was hanging loose...they are such sweet boys. i wish you could have seen their faces when they were with her.

angelica walked out of the office before kimberly got here and said, 'hilary, you're going to be a mom!' i figured she was talking about kimberly coming and i was like, yeah, sweet, can't wait to meet her! and she goes, 'i know, she'll be here on wednesday, and she's 3 months old! start thinking of names!' WHAT. there's a baby coming from mexicali on wednesday who still doesn't have a name. at dinner angelica was telling everyone that i'm going to be a mom...tonio and alex were so excited and kept signing pregnant and mom. i had to explain the situation a couple times hahaha. the last baby that was here was teddy's brother and he left in the beginning of september. we have no baby clothes so guess what i'm going to do tomorrow...! she might even get to stay down here with me...there are no beds in the baby room. i can hardly contain myself.
and i'm not thinking about the fact that i'll be here for less than 3 weeks.