Meet the Four New Men in My Life (who seem to really enjoy running around without pants...)

This morning we had preschool for these four little guys... who may only come up to mid-thigh, but who have personalities (and attitudes) that are gi-normous...

Wow. I thought I was dramatic. No comments from the peanut gallery please...

Timi sin pantalones (without pants)

Moises sin pantalones (but you can't see them)

(L-R) Gabriel and Andres sin pantalones... again...

After a rousing time in the sandbox (I must admit that I loved it... there’s something therapeutic about pouring sand onto little kids... lol), we played with the “parachute,” which the boys thought made a pretty good mattress (below you see them all playing dead; p.s. this is a favorite game which includes them falling down “dead” over and over again, and us “healing” the casualties of Daycare War with kisses, hugs, and “terrified” exclamations of, “Estas bien? Estas muerto?” [“Are you okay? Are you dead?], and them jumping up another time, taking three seconds to rub whatever is coming out of their mouth, nose, or eyes onto your face and shirt, scrambling 2 feet away, and then dropping down “dead” once more...).

I truly never thought I could be so content with a shirt full of kid boogies... =)

This past weekend was truly a blessed time, although I have to agree with most of the staff here that Sundays are not necessarily “days of rest”... everyone has a job, and if you don’t... you should probably find one quickly!

Saturday morning I headed to the orphanage in “Da Hood” (my private... well, until now private... nickname for the miniature version of “The Beast” that Carissa and I drive to the orphanage... based on a ghetto-saavy Little Red Riding Hood), and then spent the afternoon in the kitchen with Amy baking and getting prepared for Sunday.

The girls (meaning the single, female staff workers) were in charge of supper Sunday night and we decided to make a dessert (the kids are only allowed dessert on the weekends) called M&M Bars... which was a really fun idea. What wasn’t so fun was when I added a tablespoon of vanilla instead of a teaspoon... no, Mom... we weren’t following one of your recipes... =) However, in the end we added enough chocolate chips, marshmallows, and Twix bars that I really don’t think it was noticeable (notice I didn’t type “M&M’s” because even though that was the name... we didn’t have any M&M’s... lol).

Amy had planned on making pigs in a blanket, fried potatoes wedges, apples with caramel sauce, and a zucchini skillet along with our fabulous dessert... and I think it was an unqualified success since the kids told Amy she should be cooking/planning the meals all the time, and “the guys” (not to be confused with “the boys,” but rather the single, male staff workers) had... oh, I don’t know... three helpings each??? =)

Sunday morning I rode “THE bus” with Joe and Denise as they made their rounds in a big, yellow school bus to pick up families and children around the town. There are four or five routes that are driven by other vehicles in order to gather everyone together for Sunday worship, and all together Bill estimated that we had around 100 people there for services... how cool... the Lord is certainly working here in this place and bringing these people together.

Meet my housemate Carissa Schlipf, who is about ten inches taller than me, bakes peanut butter cookies like a fiend, and is a truly wonderful person... (but I am told that if her supply of dulces, i.e. candies and Mountain Dew, are for some reason removed... life is painful; sort of like... me and coffee. I think we understand each other... lol)

But now... I am going to head for bed... most likely exhausted from the stimulating game of Go Fish that Jenna and I played in the school room... and that others (and I won’t mention that his name is Joel) seemed to think was a game beneath their dignity.

Maybe it was because these Go Fish cards weren’t the Garfield ones with the cool Nermal... or maybe because no one realizes the intense strategies that one must configure and implement in order to even hope for the slightest margin of victory in a grueling competition that can bring the most brilliant of minds to the very brink of despair and the most courageous of hearts to the black pit of cowardice with no chance of reclamation and an absolutely unnerving sense of long-awaited prowess slipping through your metaphorical fingertips...

Or maybe not.

Have a good night, friends...!