In my rant on life yesterday, I forgot to mention our new, young mom, Natalia. She's now had her little one for almost two weeks. It's been tough for her, I think...at least in some ways. She's eighteen, and the idea of a baby wasn't quite in the plans. So...she's adjusting. But she has a great heart, and she really loves her little girl, so I'm confident that with a little help, she'll do great.
She took a good first step today. She and I met with my friend Corina, who works with families coming off the...
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
After a week of no truck and no internet, I've finally rejoined the 20th century. More or less anyhow. At least I'm back online and mobile...what more can I ask for. Okay...a lot probably...but I'm good with this for now.
Life? Let's see...
The truck took forever to fix. Then as I was driving to the bank to get more money to pay my mechanic (hmmm...) I heard a funny noise and pulled over. Yes...for the third...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Once again, the truck’s visiting its mechanic friend. They’re close it seems. If they don’t see each other every month or so, the truck gets cranky and leaves its owner high and dry in the middle of nowhere. As a side note, just once I’d like the mechanic to say, “No worries my friend. It was just this 25 cent part that I actually already had here in the shop. Give me three minutes and you’ll be on your way!” instead of some long, twenty minute explanation of what’s wrong and how it’s going to cost you $300 if he can find the part.
And so...Ken...
Monday, September 20, 2010
Just a little update on the whole "burry the placenta in the backyard" deal (see below if you don't know what I'm talking about), 'cause, you know...I'm sure you want to hear more about this. So yesterday I'm in my truck talking to a young friend who had a baby boy about a year ago. I figure...what the heck, I want to know if this is standard procedure here. So I ask him...
"Efrain...this is kind of a weird question, but when your son was born, did they give you the placenta?"
"Yep."
"Really? What did you do with it?"
"We...
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Well...remember two posts ago when I said I wished I had something funny or “nifty” to tell you? I think the following qualifies. You can let me know...
Most of you probably know that we’ve been helping this young pregnant (then) soon to be mom. Her brother is a friend of mine who’s living on the streets. He called me up one night, fairly desperate, looking for help for his sister. Natalia was in the ninth month of her pregnancy and by law here, wasn’t allowed to work. So she had no money and no food. I went and picked her up and took her to the...
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Hey everyone...if you could pray for us today. Well, me specifically, and the boys peripherally. I've been having problems sleeping...back problems again. I probably haven't gotten more than four or five hours sleep in the last three or four days. If you know me at all, you know that's not a good thing. I'm getting really, REALLY tired and I have pretty much zero patience when I'm tired.
So if you could just pray for strength and patience for me, and wisdom for the guys to not jokingly try to push my buttons...
Thursday, September 9, 2010
I really wish I had something nifty or funny to tell you. A good story or something. But I got nothin'. Well, other than the fact that I just used "nifty" in a sentence. Where'd that come from? I haven't used the word "nifty" since I was like twelve. I'd like to say never...but being who I am, I'm pretty sure that'd be a lie.
It feels like all I've done the past week (or more) is drive people from one place to another. Doctor's appointments (Ruddy's mom has been sick)...optometrist appointments...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
We've outgrown our dinner table. So we've set up a plastic one beside it. It's funny...we're never quite sure who's coming for lunch. There's a group of guys (and now a young mom to be) that have been showing up to eat with us. They're all guys we know from various places...some from the boy's home...some are family members (or friends of family members). They're all studying and most of them are barely making ends meet. ...
Monday, September 6, 2010
I was in the truck with Ruddy this morning, and out of the blue he asked me where we were going to live after the house. I wasn’t quite sure I understood him, so I asked for some clarification. He was like, “You know, where are we going to live next?” We’ve talked about the fact we need to build or do something eventually, but it’s always been a fairly vague conversation when it’s come up. So I asked him where this was coming from. He told me that he’d been talking to the lady next door, and she told him that the mother of the owner of our house...
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Supper was entertaining tonight. I made tacos. Everyone who comes here from North America is always surprised that we don't eat tacos. Most North Americans associate Mexican food with all of South America. Truth is...people here generally don't know what tacos...or fajitas or whatever...are. My guys had no idea. So tonight was a bit of a treat for us. I thought I'd share the moment with all of you... ...
Trying to get everyone to church today was like herding cats. Not my guys, mind you. I have them pretty well trained. =) It’s everyone else. I left the house early this morning to go pick up Ronelo, one of the guys who used to live here. He lives way out on the edge of town, so I told him if he wanted to go to church with us, I’d meet him half way. Not sure what happened, but I waited half an hour and he didn’t show. I called his cell, but his cousin had it. He told me Ronelo left to meet me, but for whatever reason...nada.
So back to the house...
Friday, September 3, 2010
I spent the afternoon driving around the city trying to find a place that rents ladders. Believe it or not...after four or five hours of this...we still don't have a ladder. People were very helpful with the directions of where they thought there might be a rental place...they always are. Even if they have no idea what you're talking about. The thing is, there's a problem with our roof and/or eves trough. So water runs down inside the wall and causes all our paint to peal off. It's annoying. And...
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
A kid I know from the streets called me tonight. He was kind of agitated and talking fast, so it was hard to catch everything he was saying. Eventually I figured out that he was worried about his sister. She’s eight months pregnant and had run out of money. It’s cold out, and he didn’t want her sleeping on the streets tonight.
So I went and met with her (my friend didn’t come with us...his sister said he's embarrassed since he’s back on the streets). I got the whole story from her. She’d had a job, but now that she’s in her final month, her boss...
Sunday morning in church (when I should probably have been listening to the sermon) I was thinking about some of the situations I was facing in the house. Two of the guys were seemingly dealing with issues in their lives (none of us were exactly sure what was going on, but the actions of these guys said that things were not normal). The third guy was doing fine on the surface, but there are a lot of things in his heart that give him pain, and I was...
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