she's here! her name is ana lucia, but i think we're going to call her lucy. she's 3 months old and weighs 4 pounds. she doesn't have cerebral palsy like we thought...she has some respiratory issues but renie is convinced she's going to be perfectly fine. she said she's seen thousands of babies in her 20 years here and this baby doesn't have cerebral palsy - she has breathing issues that will most likely work themselves out as she grows. she was born premature, obviously, and both her parents are drug addicts. but now she's here with us!

that's my hand...and i have really small hands. she seriously looks like a doll.

falling out of her 3-6 month old clothes...

as if leaving in a week wasn't going to be hard enough.

dan and ivey, missionaries at rancho el refugio on the other side of town, stopped by today to see our school and hear about the conafe program. they're starting a school on the ranch next year for kids who can't afford public school and wanted to see what our classes looked like. it was fun to see them and talk about schooling for kids who don't have the chance to go to public school, like kids with disabilities or very little money.

after preschool, we played outside and on the trampoline until dinner. it was so fun...i think the kids are bored a lot of the time, which causes some of them to be lazy/sedentary and others to use their energy to cause problems. most of them have lived here for the majority of their lives, in the same general area with the same toys day in and day out. anything new is exciting to them (just like kids everywhere!) and so it was just great to see everyone playing together, without fighting, and really enjoying themselves. when kids get to be kids, everyone's happy :)

i woke up saturday morning to hear a ruckus up at the big house...the shift that was working is short 3 people so i brought josue and teddy down to my house to try to help the ladies. we made chocolate chip pancakes and juice and played outside...they also helped me clean up the house, do dishes, and hang up laundry :)

later that day, the cake group came. they are awesome...every month, without fail, they come to play with the kids and bring a cake to celebrate the birthdays that month. victor even knows who they are - they get out of their car and victor starts clapping and chanting, 'cake, cake, cake!' well this time they brought more than cake...they brought a trampoline! we used to have one but it was old and worn out so we got rid of it when it became unsafe. this is brand new and the kids had so much fun setting it up. it will be great to use up some of that endless energy that they have!

church was good today...after the service we ate and then everyone starting working around the church, cleaning it up and getting ready to start work on the new building. for lunch they got the fryer out and i heard the word fish, so i figured we were having fish tacos. oh no. how wrong i was. i walk in the kitchen a few minutes later and see a huge bowl of fish. like fresh from the ocean, i'm pretty sure. i saw a tail still flopping around. the guy who was frying them picked up a fish, the whole thing, and dropped it in the oil. he fried it for a couple minutes, put it on a plate, and someone took it. apparently you dig out the edible parts of the fish, put it in a tortilla, and add whatever you want - rice, tomato, onion, salsa, etc. fish tacos, yes. slightly horrifying to see the eyes staring back at you as you pick around its bones and insides, also yes.

i skyped with my cousin's ap spanish class in tennessee this morning...all in spanish! that was pretty fun. they had no idea what life was like for people with disabilities down here...they were shocked to hear that kids in wheelchairs aren't welcome in the public schools. it was great to be able to share some more info with them and hear their spanish!

school was good...one more day of full time teaching. so crazy.

i took the boys to church tonight and josue fell asleep in my arms...i love when kids fall asleep in my arms :)
tonio was so mad because he wanted to go to the kid's class but didn't get to...he was throwing a fit in front of the entire church. he eventually calmed down and then got really into the sermon. it was awesome. he was signing back to me all the bible stories the pastor was telling, and some of the stories he was preaching about...it was pretty neat.
before we started the drive home, angelica asked sergio to pray like we always do before we drive anywhere. he can be really hard to understand sometimes, and most of us pick up a couple words out of every sentence he says. anyways, he prayed, and joshua, angelica's son, repeated back what he was saying, word for word. he did it perfectly, too...i understood everything sergio said. after, joshua was like, 'wow, i don't know how i did that but i understood every word he said.' angelica told him it was the holy spirit and everyone was just amazed. it was really cool!
we had a lot of fun on the car ride home, too. they were selling sandwiches and rice milk after the service to raise money for the church, and angelica bought a sandwich and milk for each kid. before we were out of the driveway sergio had downed his milk and was singing at the top of his lungs, bouncing along in his seat. he's so funny when he gets riled up...

i LOVE this picture. josue looks adorable, and then if you look at ruben, he's in the process of throwing/kicking sand and making the funniest face. what a rascal...

no baby today :/
i kind of figured she wasn't going to come, so i tried not to get my hopes up. lots of times we hear a new kid is coming and it's days or even weeks before they actually get here. i hope she comes soon!

today was fun after school...becky and i hung out with the kids and they were all just messing around...we were all together and everyone was having fun. no fights, no injuries, no one was mad or upset...it felt like a big family spending an afternoon together. that was before pilar and marcos smacked heads, ivonne wet through her diaper, sergio got mad at teddy for sitting too close to him, and lidia started crying because of all the noise. hahahaha! just a day in the life.

then we all went to the kitchen for dinner, where we had fish tacos. how can it be a bad day when it's fish tacos for dinner? yum :)

we finally had a sunny day! it's been 3 solid days of clouds, clouds, clouds. it was sooo nice. the kids were happier, i was in a better mood, and everyone walked (or wheeled) with just a little more spring in their steps.

sergio has two toys that he is never, ever without...one is woody from toy story, and blanco, his horse. blanco has seen better days...he lost his saddle a couple weeks ago and his stuffing has been poking out ever since. pilar got her hands on him and ripped out all his stuffing a couple days ago, and sergio was devastated. renie saw, took blanco to her house, and came back a few hours later with him. it was AMAZING. she restuffed him, reattached the saddle with a new blanket on top of it, added eyes and a tail (they had worn off and fell off). he was so happy.

joanna stopped by today with her baby, who turned a month old today. i got to hold him for awhile...he is precious! so stinkin cute.

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.