una perspectiva nueva de Eryn :)

Hello everyone, greetings from Nicaragua!!!! For those of you who do not know me, Me llamo Eryn, soy la hermana de Lauren (My name is Eryn, I am Lauren's Sister) I am visiting my sister for about a month and am helping her take care of the kids here in the orphanage! Me and my sister decided it would be a good idea that I do a "guest post" on her blog.  I decided I would write a little bit about what I have learned about each of the babies and tell you what my favorite things have been while I have been here!

This is me with all of them, The two sleeping on my lap are Emily and Frankie. Then from left to right is Leito, Yelka and Ofalia.

First I will start with Emily.  She is so adorable and has such a loving personality.  She loves to play and is quite the entertainer when we have mission groups come to play with them.  She doesn't like to go to sleep on her own in her crib, which usually would create problems...except that I just lovvee rocking her to sleep! She is also a child after my own heart because she lovveess to dance!! I turn on the music and we dance and play the tamborine!!!

Next is Leito.  Im sure you have seen that he is quite the charmer!! He is a very handsome little boy and his smile can melt anyones heart!! Although since I have been here, I have learned that he can be a little stinker too.. but its so hard to say no to that sweet little smile! He is maturing very fast and loved spending time with a teen age boy that came the other day with a missions team. He loved wearing his hat and looked so cute in it!

Now introducing Ofalia.  She is the oldest out of all of them! She is so good and a people pleaser by always wanting to help and impress me by cleaning up the toys and doing whatever I ask!

Frankie is next who I have become esspecially close with.  He loves to be held and im an easy target for that! He is the most polite by always saying please, thank you and your welcome... even when its not necessary!! He also makes sure to remind me to say please when Im asking him to do something!! The other day he was sitting on my lap, and I was a little stressed, with out him even knowing that I was stressed he reached his arm up and looked at me and said, "Smile Mama!" a message sent from God for sure! It brought tears to my eyes! :)

Last but not lease, Yelkita!!!! Oh little Yelka! She is quite the character! One of the corkiest children i have ever met and words cant describe how precious, adorable and cute she is! She has a one of a kind personality that pictures cant even capture! Her faces are priceless and she will talk giberish forever if you let her! My favorite things to do with her is talk on the fake phone! She says "Hello" then continues with some made up words then says "Bye!" then hangs up. And it goes on forever! Her classic line is "Vos be nice!" which is a mix of spanish and english meaning you be nice.  Then i say "Vos be nice!" and it continues forever!

I have also recieved the name, "Caballo" which means horse!

The weather is so perfect here, not too hot but not too cold...with a nice breeze! :)  I love playing outside with them, here they are all jumping off the edge of the garden.

Over all being here has been such a wonderful experience!!! I knew my sister was pretty amazing, but now seeing everything that she does...words can explain how proud I am of her and that she is a true hero angel sent from God to these children!! :)

my dream house

eryn is here! she got in about 5 days ago and has been falling in love with the kids a little more everyday (i think!)

Her being here reminds me though, of those things that are cultural differences between here and the states that I had somewhat forgotten about or maybe even erased from my memory. One example, domestic help. Since I have come we have had one or two women working here in the house at a time. They help cook, clean, do laundry, those types of things. It may be a little more necessary with us as a ministry and a children's home, but regardless. Today the lady that works here hung out all my clothes to dry. I have been brought back to that initial idea of, is it okay for someone else to be doing this that I am completely capable of doing myself, (Its different in terms of all the kids and someone working to do their laundry etc.) but for me, I can very well wash, hang out, pull in, and fold my own laundry, so is it bad that someone who is getting paid to, will do it for me????
Thought number two, the other day in my English class we were talking about vocab having to do with inside and around the house, and one activity the book suggested was describing your dream house. I was shocked back into reality by the houses they described; ones that are very common in middle class America, even in some lower class homes. Some characteristics included: a house with 3 bathrooms, a house with 5 rooms, a TV with hundreds of channels, a pool outside.
Thing three: bugs. We really don't have a lot of bugs here, but we do have cockroaches and some other bigger insects. I had forgotten that its not normal to have one scurry across the living room floor at any given time.
Last idea: There are speed limits in the States. Here you drive as fast as the traffic and road conditions allow. . . And only the people in the front seat are required to wear seat belts, and only when you are passing through a police check point.

school's out!

well, at least for the next week and a half :) I think I have described before, but in case you had forgotten, in Nicaragua, the school year runs from February to November. Meaning our 'summer break' is December and January, but we get a short break mid July (now) marking the half way point of the school year.

So what better ways to spend the break than going to the beach, and staying up late playing Wii.

Although yesterday was rainy, the beach was still a BLAST! It was that mysterious kind of rain that made the beach more of an adventure than a vacation day. We went swimming despite the pouring rain (no worries there was no lightning or thunder) because really what's the difference between getting wet from the rain, or getting wet from the ocean! I don't have any photo proof of this (cameras don't do so well on the beach in the rain) but here's one of the picnic style lunch we had inside

everyone coming back in after swimming

and the ocean that is still beautiful despite a lack of sun.

We got back in time for a late dinner (gallo pinto, tajadas, maduros and queso frito aka: rice and beans, fried plantains both green and ripe, and fried cheese) and me being the silly one I am, thought everyone would be exhausted and want to go to bed early- HA, Nothing could keep them from wanting to play wii fit! So here they are:

Ruby and I are choosing to hang back and just watch from the couch :)

So we are looking forward to more events to come throughout the rest of the week, maybe the pool or a movie, and the most exciting of all: the arrived of my little sister Eryn!!! so stay tuned for more.

the 5th of july :)

In case you hadn't really considered it, the 4th of July is nothing more than the 4th of July down here in Nicaragua. There are no fireworks, no day off school or work, no BBQ, no red, white and blue decorations, its was just one of 52 Mondays in the year 2011.

So while everyone back in the US was celebrating for the weekend, we took advantage of the every exciting July 5th to make ourselves a celebration of sorts. Yesterday evening we all got a tad more dressed up than normal, got the kids all set with some 'babysitters' and drove on down the hill to get away. We dined in the most American place you can find down here, the one and only TGIFridays! The best part about it is when you're inside you feel like you are back in the States. The music is in english, the foods are all labeled in english, and all the memorabilia is pure American. We loved eating something that wasn't rice and beans, enjoying conversation that was not interrupted by desires of little ones, not having to get up for something for the entire meal, and not having to be rushed to move onto something else. It was heavenly.

But that was not the end of our celebrating! We then went and saw a movie!!! It was a real movie (in english!) with a real love story, some action and some intensity, and it wasn't Cars 2! (which we did see recently with the kids and i did actually quite enjoy it :)

So while this 4th of July did not involve any fireworks, and none of the traditions that have been going on the last two decades of Independence days I have celebrated, it was great. I was in great company with great friends, and was really able to enjoy a night away!

So although it is belated, Happy Independence Day! whenever and however you decided to celebrate.