The feverish little girl was wrapped in my sweater and begging to go to sleep. I brought her upstairs and laid her in her crib. She promptly decided that she wanted to go back downstairs. She still wanted to cuddle though, so I held her and sang along with the music and watched the other children playing with Duplos. After a few minutes, I realized that Marcella was asleep. I brought her back upstairs, she woke up when I tried to lay her down, "I don't want to sleep!" She protested, her eyes still partially closed.
"Yes, you do," I assured her.
"I want to sleep downstairs," she said. Instead of going all the way back down again, I sat on a bed and rocked her and sang for twenty minutes. Finally, I thought that she was asleep and laid her down again in her crib.
"No Tia," she moaned, half awake, "Don't go downstairs." She told me piteously before closing her eyes once again. I stayed by her crib until she was asleep.
I had to go help walk the other kids to school, but when I came back Marcella was laying on the couch downstairs. Tias were buzzing around with thermometers and cell phones, trying to convert F into C. My friend and I looked at each other laughing as the one Tia explained the another how "Fahrenheit is what they use in the United States." Finally, we heard what the temperature was ( 99F)
"That's not high," I said. The Bolivian tias started laughing, realizing that (seeing as Kayla and I are both from the States) we would naturally know whether it was high or not. However, once they left, I sat down and put Marcella in my lap only to realize that the thermometer had been very wrong. I took her temperature again, 102.5... Well, that was certainly high! Going against Bolivian belief I unwrapped her from her blanket, took off her sweater and her socks and grabbed a cool rag. She was already on medicine, but another tia gave her more. The director asked me if I wanted to put her in her crib, Tia Erika told her that Marcella would cry if she was put back in her crib. "Are you okay with holding her?" The director asked me.
"I am fine with it if you are!" I responded. So for an hour, I got to cuddle sweet, little, sleeping Marcella. She woke up and was soon back to her normal self, I guess it had just taken a while for the medicine to kick in.
This week has been hard again, various frustrating and scary things have happened, as well as getting sick and just being tired. God is faithful though to provide joyful moments in the midst of tear-filled ones.
"What does it say Tia?" six-year-old Josue asked me. Anyone watching might think that he was mad, and, when I started to read, that I was mad as well! There weren't any words written on his hand, but this child has a ridiculously good memory. He has memorized his favorite book, (as well as others, thankfully he has only made me memorize the one!) Anyway, he makes me recite it to him over and over again. He knows when to "turn the pages" and he knows if I miss a page, (or three) he gets me back on track and recites it with me.
I picked Isaias up from school (I think that he is 4) his teacher told me that he had peed his pants. He was "a little bad" she told me. (Which is good news, because usually he is naughtier than that!)
"Other than peeing your pants did you behave well today?" I asked him.
"I behaved a little good." He responded proudly.
Also, although I think this may have been last week, Fabiola was sick at school and so one of the tias asked me to go pick her up.
No problem. I assumed that it would be easy and I would hardly have to say anything, (since they were sending the tia who doesn't speak Spanish.) I got there and said I was there for Fabiola, the teacher pointed vaguely up the stairs, so I wandered about looking in classrooms. Finally a teacher asked me who I was looking for, I told her but she only said that Fabiola wasn't in her classroom. So I asked another teacher who was standing supervising kids in the courtyard type area. She pointed to a little room that turned out to be the nurse's office. I found Fabiola sleeping on a little pallet on the floor, wrapped in a huge fleece blanket. I also found the nurse and a teacher, they immediately began explaining to me what happened, telling me that other kids had been pretending to be sick but Fabiola was the only one who was actually sick, they told me not to bring her back to school the next day if she was still sick... etc, etc. Finally, I picked Fabiola up and accepted the offered fleece (I didn't want to look like the bad tia who doesn't want to wrap their charge in a blanket...) and we left. It was 75 degrees and Fabiola isn't light! We walked wrapped in her fleece all the way back to the baby house. We only stopped once so that Fabiola could eat her snack on a park bench. It was a fun time though to practice Spanish and spend some time with Fabiola.
I felt so overwhelmed at the beginning of this week with sadness, tiredness, fear, frustration, etc.
"Yes, you do," I assured her.
"I want to sleep downstairs," she said. Instead of going all the way back down again, I sat on a bed and rocked her and sang for twenty minutes. Finally, I thought that she was asleep and laid her down again in her crib.
"No Tia," she moaned, half awake, "Don't go downstairs." She told me piteously before closing her eyes once again. I stayed by her crib until she was asleep.
I had to go help walk the other kids to school, but when I came back Marcella was laying on the couch downstairs. Tias were buzzing around with thermometers and cell phones, trying to convert F into C. My friend and I looked at each other laughing as the one Tia explained the another how "Fahrenheit is what they use in the United States." Finally, we heard what the temperature was ( 99F)
"That's not high," I said. The Bolivian tias started laughing, realizing that (seeing as Kayla and I are both from the States) we would naturally know whether it was high or not. However, once they left, I sat down and put Marcella in my lap only to realize that the thermometer had been very wrong. I took her temperature again, 102.5... Well, that was certainly high! Going against Bolivian belief I unwrapped her from her blanket, took off her sweater and her socks and grabbed a cool rag. She was already on medicine, but another tia gave her more. The director asked me if I wanted to put her in her crib, Tia Erika told her that Marcella would cry if she was put back in her crib. "Are you okay with holding her?" The director asked me.
"I am fine with it if you are!" I responded. So for an hour, I got to cuddle sweet, little, sleeping Marcella. She woke up and was soon back to her normal self, I guess it had just taken a while for the medicine to kick in.
This week has been hard again, various frustrating and scary things have happened, as well as getting sick and just being tired. God is faithful though to provide joyful moments in the midst of tear-filled ones.
"What does it say Tia?" six-year-old Josue asked me. Anyone watching might think that he was mad, and, when I started to read, that I was mad as well! There weren't any words written on his hand, but this child has a ridiculously good memory. He has memorized his favorite book, (as well as others, thankfully he has only made me memorize the one!) Anyway, he makes me recite it to him over and over again. He knows when to "turn the pages" and he knows if I miss a page, (or three) he gets me back on track and recites it with me.
I picked Isaias up from school (I think that he is 4) his teacher told me that he had peed his pants. He was "a little bad" she told me. (Which is good news, because usually he is naughtier than that!)
"Other than peeing your pants did you behave well today?" I asked him.
"I behaved a little good." He responded proudly.
Also, although I think this may have been last week, Fabiola was sick at school and so one of the tias asked me to go pick her up.
No problem. I assumed that it would be easy and I would hardly have to say anything, (since they were sending the tia who doesn't speak Spanish.) I got there and said I was there for Fabiola, the teacher pointed vaguely up the stairs, so I wandered about looking in classrooms. Finally a teacher asked me who I was looking for, I told her but she only said that Fabiola wasn't in her classroom. So I asked another teacher who was standing supervising kids in the courtyard type area. She pointed to a little room that turned out to be the nurse's office. I found Fabiola sleeping on a little pallet on the floor, wrapped in a huge fleece blanket. I also found the nurse and a teacher, they immediately began explaining to me what happened, telling me that other kids had been pretending to be sick but Fabiola was the only one who was actually sick, they told me not to bring her back to school the next day if she was still sick... etc, etc. Finally, I picked Fabiola up and accepted the offered fleece (I didn't want to look like the bad tia who doesn't want to wrap their charge in a blanket...) and we left. It was 75 degrees and Fabiola isn't light! We walked wrapped in her fleece all the way back to the baby house. We only stopped once so that Fabiola could eat her snack on a park bench. It was a fun time though to practice Spanish and spend some time with Fabiola.
I felt so overwhelmed at the beginning of this week with sadness, tiredness, fear, frustration, etc.
Psalm 91:1-2
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
2 Chronicles 20:12b
"We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you."
Psalm 27:14
"Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD."
Psalm 33:20-22
"Our soul wait for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you."
As the week has gone on, He has continued to show Himself to be sufficient, indeed, more than sufficient. He also provided a cafe with a piano that I can play, which was fun, as the piano is something that I have missed greatly.
The idea of time has been impressed upon me this week as I have been (on occasion) so eager for time to pass... No matter how much I want a moment to be over, or, how much I want to freeze a moment in time, they both pass at the same pace. I can choose to live in the moments that make up life, in a selfish, entertainment-oriented way, or, I can choose to live investing myself in the moments that God has given me for HIS glory, for this purpose I have been formed and made!!!
'To be poured out as a fragrant drink offering to my Lord.' That's what I say I want, but when it comes down to it, so often I complain or end my day with Netflix instead of prayer because
"I just don't want to think anymore. I'm tired of thinking."
Or I complain about the kids disobeying, instead of embracing it as an opportunity to show unconditional love;
or I get flustered because I have five kids wanting me to read books at once and I can't find Spanish words, instead of being thankful that I get to do life with these children for these next 9 months.
And in those moments, when God has shown His love and grace and calmed my soul and helped me to enjoy the moment. The precious, gone too soon moments of this life, it is then that I can say.
Psalm 31:19
"Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind."
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