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Monday, April 20, 2009

Journal Excerpt: Sunday, April 12

Yesterday (Saturday) was such a nice, relaxing day. It was the day I most wished Pedro were here, simply because I know how much he would have enjoyed some of the day's events. It was a very quiet day around the village. By early afternoon, only two nannies, Lawanna and I remained at the village, as far as adults went. A number of the kids were gone, but several others remained. The four babies in our house took simultaneous naps (twice, I think!)

... at one point I took our boys outside in the double stroller. When we reached the "ark" the older boys - Equento, Anderson, Charley - were playing one-on-one soccer. One boy would "referee" with a whistle while the other two fought over goals. There are two openings to the ark, both on the same side, and each boy had one designated as "his" goal. Pedro would have loved to watch them; I know our little boy enjoyed it!

At one point Johanne brought out a cd with praise music. The kids, big and little, gathered around to listen and sing. Johanne practically had the cd memorized, despite its being in English - she even knew where the scratches made it stop and start! I sang along, which seemed to amuse many of them. Schneider was so cute - he would raise his hands soemtimes as he walked in circles around the ark.

Speaking of Schneider, he and Widnise make a hilarious pair! They are about the same size and can be the best of friends or the worst of enemies. Yesterday I picked them both up and since then they've been my little shadows. Today they each grabbed one of my hands and we walked down the village road and back, stopping once at the swings to push Widnise for a little while.

Edit: I didn't write about this in my journal, but another day I enjoyed watching the kids play "tap-tap" in the ark. Below is a video from that day. The bigger kids gathered up any chairs or benches they could find and arranged them in rows. Anderson was the "cho-fer" and his "gear shift" was a plunger stuck to the tile floor. His "steering wheel" was one of those collapsible tunnels that he had fully collapsed. The kids invited me to ride, so I took my turn with them. It was so funny to hear them speaking so quickly and excitedly in Creole, and teasing each other at the same time. I have been so impressed by the big kids on this trip. They are really special!

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