Family and Ice cream

Hello Everyone!
I have been here for 7 weeks today- can you believe it? Somedays it seems like I just arrived and other days I feel like I have been here for months and months. I really love it here- I love the other workers- they are so incredibly sweet, generous and caring. Friends are really important here so the people here would bend over backwards and drop everything to help a friend. On Friday night Emily and I got to spend time with one of the co-workers in her house in Trujillo. Rocio is a madre here and is very sweet and fun. I had stayed at her house one other night but this time the differences and the lifestyle here really impacted me. She and her family share a small house. It is actually a small house with 3 rooms and then another tiny shack behind the house. Half of the people sleep in the tiny shack and the rest sleep in one room in the house. They share twin sized beds- at least two people per bed, sometimes with a child sharing it as well. They don't really have running water inside the house. I think for only an hour or so a day they have the ability to run the shower. The shower and the toilet are in little stalls in the hall- they don't have doors and you have to use a bucket of water to “flush”the toilet. The ceiling is part thatched roof but mostly just tin. The tin is held on by rocks. The family runs a little booth at a local market. The market is open 6 days a week from 4 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon. They make food and sell it at the market so they have to get up really early everyday to get the food ready. Their kitchen is outside and consists of a small stove and a sink. They don't have a car, or cable, or a working refrigerator. But they are an amazing family. Anything they have, they will offer to you. They all work together to make sure everyone is taken care of. There are 6 or 7 adults that live in the house and 3 or 4 children and they all work hard but love harder. While I was laying there in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because of roosters crowing (umm, aren't they just supposed to that in the morning???), dogs barking and Rocio talking in her sleep, I kept thinking- these people have really figured out what is important. So often at home I start thinking- “It would be nice to have a new car- mine is only 7 years old, but it would be fun to get a new one” or “I want my own apartment with my own bedroom, kitchen, everything!” or some other thing that I think is really important. But being with Rocio and her family I realized that to them, none of those things even cross their minds, because it is out of the realm of possibilities in their minds. The things that they concentrate on are helping their families, being with their friends, and honoring God. It made me become introspective and really examine the things I concentrate on and spend my time thinking about. I realized that if i stripped everything away and was just left with the people in my life I would still be more than okay. I am so incredibly blessed- my family is amazing- always supporting and ready to help me with anything i would ever need. They love me for me and if we lived here in a tiny house without running water, we would still be happy and loving. You don't need a nice house or cars or anything to have a complete life. Your life is complete with the people you love and that are important to you. My friends and family are wonderful and I am so thankful for them. God has blessed me more than I deserve.
This morning I was thinking how blessed I am to be here. Everyday I fall in love with the kids a little more. They are amazing and have perseavered through some of the most horrible, ugly situations. Knowing that most of them have been abused makes me sick to my stomach. I can't think about someone hurting one of these kids without crying. Today we are taking 3 of the kids to see a movie and out to dinner. They are the kids that had a birthday in September- I am sooo excited about it and cannot wait for 3:00 to come! :) It is so wonderful to get to see the kids experience things that they never have before. I don't know, but I think that they have all been to see a movie before- but they can probably count on one hand the number of times they have been. The other day, Julissa (the madre) and I had to run some errands in Trujillo so we brought Yen, the 2 year old with us. His eyes were huge the entire time we were walking around. His little eyes darted from one thing to another and he kept pointing out things. Julissa wanted to buy something in a market that was really crowded and crazy so Yen and I waited at a nearby park. I decided we both needed a treat so I bought us ice cream cones. Yen had never had an ice cream cone before- He kept trying to take bites out of it and couldn't really figure out how it worked. I got to teach him how to lick it!! :) It was adorable because every taste he would look at me and say “rico”- which means yummy. He did this with every single bite- he was very serious and didn't even crack a smile. :) It was adorable!
Right now I am kind of frustrated with some of the kids- they have this week off of school and so are constantly around- which means that they constantly want to be with me and know what i am doing. So as I am typing this I have one girl hanging over my shoulder and another staring at me. Two girls also have popped out from under the table! :) Crazy chicas! But even when they are being crazy and I have to get a little upset with them, I love them and am so glad I am here!!!!!
Thank you again for all of your support and prayers.
Love you all!
janie