A Day at Home with the Boys

11-16-11

            Wednesday.  Half way through the last week of school!  Today has been a long, but full day.  Some of our boys didn’t have school today, so we had hyper active boys around all day long.  Erin and I refused to budge from our beds at the usual time… it’s becoming a habit now that instead of us waking the boys up we just sleep until they wake us up.  It’s been working so far.  Sometimes they’re content to play outside as the sun is coming up and it’s not until they get hungry do we start getting pressured to get a move on.  The boys like to tease us, especially when they can tell we are half awake.  We have our morning worship before we have breakfast, they love insisting we sing them a song in English (for some reason they especially like the rowdy ones FIRST thing in the morning) Anyways, try slowly waking up in this house and it is bound to be a fail.  When these boys wake up – they wake up everyone and everything around them!

            Once breakfast is eaten, dishes are washed, boys are ready and off to school… I feel like I can relax for a bit.  Today I didn’t have long because I was off to make bread at 8:30.  Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday we make *huge* amounts of bread to feed the whole orphanage.  Some of the older girls actually make the bread early in the mornings, and I am one of those dubbed the responsibility of baking the 100’s of rolls of bread.  It’s been quite an experience learning to use the giant “igloo” – at least that’s what I call it – it’s the oven behind the big house that is used to bake large quantities of food.  We use a wooden poker to push in and pull out the bread when it’s ready.  Unlike at home when the bread is in the oven for 30 minutes or more… it only takes 2-4 minutes for the bread to be totally done here!  The “igloo” puts out some intense heat, I know because I’ve lost some of my arm hairs on this job.  One of the reasons they have me helping with the bread is to make sure kids don’t steal it and eat half of it before it even gets put away.  I’m afraid I’m a little too nice with this part of my job, I mean there’s 100’s of rolls of bread, and the kids always ask so nicely… I guess I’m usually on the kids’ side when it comes to wanting some fresh, warm bread right out of the oven J

            Today was a bit of a break from the extreme heat.  It was cooler than normal and what I would call “perfect nap time weather.”  Erin and I have integrated a rest time into our daily routine.  The boys never fail to complain about it but they’re starting to realize that it doesn’t help and their Mom’s are determined to have a rest time whether they rest or not – we WILL.  After rest time we started the boys on their work.  After doing the usual, cleaning their rooms, washing and folding their clothes, cleaning the bathroom and checking the trash I assigned them each a section to machete.  It still amazes me how kids at this age are so skillfully able to use machetes.  Even Miguel, our 5 year old uses a machete like a pro.  They have a lot of trust for each other’s accuracy as well, I can tell from watching how closely they work beside each other.  I always keep my distance from those flying machetes – doesn’t seem to phase them though. It can be quite wearisome getting all the boys through their chores.  It involves a lot of patience, instruction, input, checking, and rechecking their work. Along with all this activity at our house, I was looking after Jamie’s 8 girls next door.  Jamie went to town today so I made sure her girls did their jobs, homework, showers, and stayed peaceful.

            After most of the boys had finished their work they asked for the new soccer ball Erin bought for our family, and took off to play their favorite game.  Erin and I busied ourselves around the house, helping the youngest finish up their chores, cleaning our room and writing some letters.  The older boys took a break after a bit and came over asking for oranges – a question I get about 50 times a day.  Whenever given the opportunity, these boys jump on a chance to grab something of ours and run off with it.  Our flip flops seem to be the favorite target.  They hold their treasures up high and with big grins on their faces they taunt us and tease us until we take off after them.  One big problem: these boys are fast as lightning!  It was quite amusing sitting on our doorstep and watching Erin run circles around the yard attempting to get back her flip flops… right when we’re about to catch them, they throw the wanted object to someone else who takes off with a new burst of energy.  I finally quit laughing and went to Erin’s aid, we exhausted our strategic abilities to try to trap the boys between the two of us.  Of course while helping Erin my flip flops were stolen as well.  It can be somewhat humiliating when I chase my 9 year olds around the yard – running as fast as I possibly can – and still can’t catch them!  If there was a way to make them run in a straight line, I could get them with my longer strides, but they dart back and forth and turn corners faster than it seems possible… leaving me and Erin shaking our heads and wondering how we got so old and slow.  Kevin is the fastest of our boys.  I am amazed how such little legs can move so fast!  My legs are twice as long as his but he still can out run me.  Today they boys were all laughing and mimicking how I looked chasing Kevin around the yard. 

            I learned my lesson today as far as talking smack to my boys.  Erin and I challenged them to a game of futbal (soccer) – Erin and I against all the boys.  Yes, they’re good little players, but I was sure we could handle them, I mean they’re half our size!  All through dinner I was asking them if they were “listo ir debajo?!” (Are you guys ready to go down?!) I’m afraid I greatly underestimated their abilities.  Even though I’ve played with them a lot, I didn’t think it would be that hard to play against 6 such little boys.  They smashed us. It didn’t take them long to have us beat 3-0.  Haha… I got what I asked for… the boys were teasing me the rest of the night about how I went “debojo” big time!  When we finished our competition (those of you who know me well know how competitive I am…and I promised the boys we would have a rematch), all the girls came running out to join in the fun.  There was a rousing game of “chicos” vs “chicas” until they got called away by us mother’s to shower before worship.  On Wednesday nights at Familia Feliz everyone gathers together for worship in the church.  We sing lots of songs, have a short worship thought and then wrap it up with prayer.  Since we usually put the boys in bed around 7:30 p.m., worship lasting until 8 or after usually creates a struggle for our boys to stay awake.  I routinely look around to see half of my boys conked out.  Miguel is usually the first to go, he curls up in my lap and is off to dream land.  After worship the boys groggily stumble back home and crawl into their beds.  It’s one of the easiest nights to get them quieted down and in bed because they’re all so sleepy.  Sometimes when I give them kisses goodnight I have Juan jumping on my back like a monkey, Kevin hiding under his pillow so I can’t find him, Emmanuel pretending he’s sleeping than grabbing me by the neck when I turn around and Miguel tickling my legs… not Wednesday night, they’re half asleep as I tuck them into bed and give them their bed time hugs, kisses and “te amo’s.” 

            One of the best parts of the day is when night has come, the boys are asleep and it is finally peaceful and quiet.  Erin and I love to sit in our room at night with the soft candle light glowing throughout the room.  We talk, listen to quiet music, blog, read and sometimes enjoy eating some delicious papayas as we wind down from the long day.  I’m in my bed now, on the bunk above me I hear Erin whisper “I feel like I’m plastered to my bed and will never be able to move again… like I fell from the sky and I’m here to stay” … I guess that’s what being Moms to 8 energetic little boys can do to you. J