Redecorating

So after 4 girls move out of one room, the only logical response is to redecorate and rearrange the space for the four remaining! So Saturday was spent painting. and here is the outcome:

Isn't that a great purple color! I really like it :) And for those of you who have seen it in person, we took out a set of bunk beds and moved the other two so they form an L in the corner. There is a twin bed in the middle, and then the clothing cabinet along the right wall. It really looks great and they have so much more space.



And since we had left over purple paint, the next logical step would be. . . to paint another room :)

We carefully painted around the veggie tales that were already there, and left a second room feeling new and clean. New paint plus rearraging bedding has also given the babies tons more play space.

And being in the process of 'spring' cleaning, why not gets the boys a new super cool racecar bed and move all the furniture around in there too! Here's the final product.

Also between these pictures and the last post you can see the great new comforters that Charity bought for everyone. The girls (and me) LOVE them, and they were on super discount, so everyone is happy.

MOVING DAY!

We moved! Well that could seem a little deceptive; I and 4 of the girls are now living under a different room :) Although while before our address would have been km 23 1/2, 300 meters to the east, now it would read Km 23 1/2, 250 meters to the east. 

The building was originally started to be a classroom building but plans changed and it was changed into a Boys' Home. Which is what it has stayed throughout the remainder of construction, so how do we get there? It is still intended for housing boys, but we are missing 2 things to make it that. 1. house parents 2. boys. There are boys to bring, but until we find house parents to oversee the home, there is no point in bringing the boys in. At the same time, the home that is being built for a girls dormitory is not done yet. So instead of letting a great home sit unoccupied, it was decided that we should temporarily move on in!

This is what I wrote last week, the first night we were there.

So here I am lying down, our first night here. It's a lot like a role I would have imagined a camp counselor to have. The girls are SO excited, but nervous at the same time. They have asked about 50 questions about routine, what's going on in the morning, what to do if they fall out of bed, etc. It's really cute actually. And I'm realizing it's a good thing (i think) that I can hear everything they say in their room next to mine. 

Although I am also realizing there are certain things you should prepare a little better for when moving. We have been slowly been moving in over the last couple days, tonight is just the first time we slept here. But I only brought over my things, (and only some of them at that) this afternoon and evening, but here is what we didn't think about:

1. toilet paper (required running back to the house)

2. Luviana's eye medicine (required calling someone to run it over)

3. trash can- can wait until morning

4. towels and shampoo- we are clean enough for the night

5. sheets- well that's on me, and its not that I forgot sheets, its that I brought the wrong size. . . So I'm making due until tomorrow

6. tooth paste. . . 

7. a pitcher of purified water so we can drink something before bed

8. a broom

But we survived, and have very much enjoyed getting more and more settled everyday. We have gotten shower curtains, bathroom mats and trash cans and many other makings of a real home. We all got matching comforters, although the kids are still not completely used to being so warm at night :)

Here is the girls bedroom (right now we have 6 beds, and the room is still nearly empty! haha)

The family room where you first walk into when you get into the house

And my room! 

The bathroom and shower

What is better than swimming on a bright sunshiny day???

Swimming in the pouring down rain :)

The after swimming shower time is always a blast too!

Education. . .

I got into an argument/discussion with the older girls a couple weeks ago, as we were coming off the giant rainstorm we had. They missed 9 days of school due to the rain. Growing up we had days built in for snow days and whatnot, there was even one day when I was in elementary school when they made us go to school on Saturday to make up a snow day! But it was being discussed as to whether or not classes would have to go later in the year or if they would still get out the scheduled day. (remember the school year in Nicaragua goes Feb-November so we are ever so near to the end of the year) 
I told them they needed to make up the days they had missed. They of course got defensive saying it wasn't important and they weren't going to be learning anything new. TWO weeks of classes, and not learning one new thing??? Debonney said her class was already reviewing for the end of the year. They went on to explain that since our school is ahead of curriculum it doesn't really matter that they missed all those days. I was somewhat frustrated that they felt that way! I told her shame on your teacher for not taking advantage of the time she has to teach you. But my real frustration/surprise came when Joely said, "Why does it even matter? You don't need an education." She went so far to cite an example: the president of Nicaragua. He isn't educated and he is the most powerful man in the country she argued, so why should anyone value education. BINGO, there you have the mindset of many of the underclass Nicaraguan people. An education will get me nowhere, so why bother. I said, "Joely, that's it. People in this country do not value education for anything. She then asked me, "Well what is the value?" My heart sank that this 16 year old (who I know respects her education and works very hard at school) was honest enough to ask that question. I climbed up on my soap box and pured out to them why I thought education was so valuable. I told them that education is so much more than simply learning things. The true value I have found in education is becoming a person with a better sense of self. A person who has opinions and knows why they believe what they believe because they have learned the facts to back up what they know and see. You see the uneducated people of this country go along with what they are told because they don't know any better, and they don't have the confidence in their own opinions and ideas to stand up for what they believe in. Don't get me wrong, I have met plenty of people here who are intelligent and well 'educated' (just not in a formal school setting). But their lack of formal education is due to the lack of opportunity, not the lack of value they have for education. Education is not going to school for 7 hours a day 12 years of your life learning 'boring' facts. Its a time of self grown and a development of your sense of identity and confidence in who you are an d what you know. As I finished it was like a light bulb had popped on in her brain as though she had never viewed school in that way. And seeing her response taught me something too, sometimes teaching the value of knowing something is just as important as teaching that thing in itself. I don't know if any of that made sense, but I think that it makes me value my education even more too.
Anyways, just thought I'd share.

La Princesa de MQV

This last weekend the school had it's annual Kermes. Parents come and sell typical Nicaraguan food, soccer games are set up, and there is a contest. Every grade level elects one girl to represent them in the Miss MQV contest. They dance, recite a poem, answer a history question, and present a typical Nicaraguan food. This year both Debonney and Joely were elected to represent their classes! Debonney was competing in the primary school for the Princess and Joely in the secondary school for the Queen. 


Here is what our day entailed :)


Eating

 Sleeping

Selling popcorn (palomitas)

Dressing up 

And then the competition ;) I didn't get great pictures because of the light but here they are!

Debonney as Princess

And after taking this pictures, what else would the girls think to do, but go join their soccer team that was playing outside who just happened to . . . 

WIN

So, all in all an exhausting, but pretty successful day!

Photo Shoot

A month or so ago, all the kids had their pictures taken so that when Charity went to Waspam she could share a most recent picture with their relatives. We had a blast taking all the pictures, so here is one of each of them :) 

Emily: 2 1/2 years old

Yelka: 2 1/2 years old

 Ofelia: 5 years old

 Ruby: 13 years old

 Frankie: 3 years old

 Leito: 3 years old

Samari: 5 years old

 Luviana: 7 years old

Solimar: 7 years old

Yorbanny: 10 years old 

Joely: 16 years old 

Emy: 9 years old 

Debonney: 13 years old 

 Cecilia: 15 years old

Jhoselin: 15 years old

The babies ;)

We were with some people at church the other day when I referred to 'the babies' and she remarked, how old are they going to have to be to not be called 'babies' anymore. That's a good question, they may never lose that title! But it made me think about how they have grown so much even since I came just over 14 months ago, so here is a picture comparison of them! First a current picture, second a picture from a year and some ago. Some have made drastic changes, others not as much, but regardless, here they are!

Frankie

Yelka

Ofelia

 Emily

Leito