Carlitos, who is rapidly becoming a favorite!
Since I took yesterday "off" from the orphanage, it was a little hard to get motivated to hike over there this morning. It's not really a hike, but the 10 block walk can be a bit daunting first thing in the morning. Am glad I got motivated though.
As I was leaving my room this morning, I caught sight of some plastic cups Donna had purchased for an activity with Lily. "I wonder if Ervin could sort these by size?" So I took them with me. When I got to the orphanage, Ervin was in his wheelchair, with his wheels tied so he could not move. There are a lot of reasons for this, none of which I really like, but all of which I can understand. So I told Ervin I would take him out of his wheelchair only if he was willing to walk with me. And walk he did. And he lost his pants! After a quick diaper change, we were back at it, and soon found a way of walking together and a rhythm that suited us both.
After a while, Ervin decided to sit in one of the arm chairs on the porch outside their ward. I pulled out the cups, and he immediately crushed one--though it was not broken. After a quick demonstration, it was clear that sorting by size is something we will have to work up to. So I decided to see if he would stack the cups. And he did this with gusto. We spent half an hour stacking cups--a simple activity, but he was so happy to be doing something somewhat meaningful. Each time he would move a cup from one stack to the other, he's grin from ear to ear and clap his hands!
(I wish I had pictures of this, but thought that working with Ervin was more important than taking pictures of him.)
A fringe benefit of this activity that I'd not anticipated was that Ervin's desirability as a "playmate" sky-rocketed. The most capable kids in the orphanage came over and wanted to "play" too. At first I told them that this was just for Ervin, but he soon made it clear that he wanted to play with the other kids, and began taking turns with them on his own. I almost cried watching this, as usually the kids are complaining about Ervin bothering them, and now they were WANTING to be with him. I became somewhat of a by-stander as the kids stacked cups over and over again. When one would fall, Elmer, who is pretty mobile, would screech in delight and crawl down from his chair to get it. Such a simple thing brought such great joy, but I'm not sure who got more pleasure out of this activity, the kids or me. This truly has made my week.
In the afternoon I held and fed Carlitos, and held and sang to Gloria. They say Gloria is deaf, but she sure seemed to like being sung to (maybe that's why she like my singing?). Spent a little time with some of the other kids, and all too soon it was time to leave.
It seems that life is settling into a little bit of a rhythm here. Not as quick paced or unpredictable as my life was in the States, but a comfortable pattern of activities, which may seem boring and repetitive from the outside, but are bringing me great peace and joy. I never thought I would so much enjoy feeding a child, dressing or changing them, or just sitting rocking and holding them. But this time is precious as I get to know each child (not just know about them) and they become part of my heart. God is so good.
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