Today we leave a little early. Jennifer had asked if we would like to grab a couple of souvenirs. This will be an experience. Pulled over on the side of the road, we get out and start walking over to the stands. But, since we are the only white people it's pretty obvious that we are tourists. The people are very polite just trying to make a few bucks but we are surrounded by many people trying to sell us stuff. Jennifer says to not buy anything until she haggles with them. She says they really raise the prices when they see tourists. After some heated negotiating I ended up getting a necklace (for me) with matching bracelet (for Becky) and some little trinket boxes for the kids.
Excitement is setting in as we arrive at the orphanage. Today we are really pumped to get all this garbage out of here. We go right after all the garbage and just as we start going the dump truck pulls up. We end up just about filling the dump truck. This is the only way to get rid of garbage down here. They have to pay $100 US to get rid of garbage. We fill it with a lot of stuff including a broken down fridge. We try to get rid of a stove too, but Elizabeth says no. I think we are doing so much so fast that it's to much for her.
The truck leaves and comes back. Little did we know there was another big pile she wanted us to get rid of. See over the prior week there was two guys hand digging out the new septic for the new house. This thing was about 8 feet wide, 12 feet long and about 16 feet deep. So it was now our job to get rid of all that dirt. For the next 3 hours about 6-8 of us take turns with about 12, 5 gallon buckets filling up the truck. Today is the hottest day at about 97. We are getting pretty wiped out pretty fast and running out of water quick. Jennifer leaves to get us some more water. She comes back with 4 cases of water and 2 cases of Gatorade.
Elizabeth wanted to make us a meal while we were there. She spent the morning and most of the of the afternoon preparing it for us. We take turns eating so that we can get all this dirt out of here. She made a wonderful lunch with chicken, rice, re fried beans and fried plantains. It was really good. They use some pretty amazing spices and some pretty delicious flavors down here.
At this point we are all running low on energy, especially Tyler. We all notice he is not looking good and he is heading for the bus. So me being the EMT, I have been put in charge of watching over him. I go and check on him and he is definitely overheated. He seems to be with it though when I ask him a bunch of questions. But I go and make up a few ice bags for under his neck and legs. It takes a little while but he slowly comes back. But I am still a little nervous because he is a little slower and really wiped out. I ask him to take it easy the rest of the day and no more labor work.
The kids are returning from school. We get the added bonus today of seeing all of the kids all 50 plus of them. Since they are all here we get out all of our gifts. We have balls, yoyos, soap and wash clothes, toothpaste and toothbrushes. Elizabeth seems very thankful and grateful as she starts to tear up. It's just amazing to me how grateful one can be with soap and a washcloth. It's amazing to see how fast we get our energy back when the kids get home!!!
Mike, Chad, Tyler and I take all of the boys to an open field about a half a block away to play some soccer. I am not really sure who had more fun us or the kids. But if I had to guess I would say it was us. It was cool to step back and just watch the kids. I have never seen all the kids playing anything with so much joy. I never thought I would enjoy playing soccer but I have to admit.....I did.
Mother Renee comes and says its time to go. We really wanted to get a picture of all of us with ALL the kids. That was tougher than I thought it would be. We really thought it would be easy to get all the kids in, but there was quite a few that were being really shy. It took about nine tries but I think we finally got a good one.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in it's various forms. 1 Peter 4:10
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