6-8-2010

The three brothers got together to an outing for the first time in 5 years!

Gregorio did backstroke.

Walter carried Gregoria on the bike on our way to the river.

After a long busy week, a weekend at the home finally comes. One of the reasons of being really busy is because the kids are on a 2-week vacation of the National Day last week, and we have been having array of activities both in the home and in the village of Lunahuaná. Some of the older kids were on the parade again on Thursday, and we all went to see it. We also took a walk to the river, while most of the other days were chores or gardening. I, on the other hand, had to work on a few cases with numerous paper work and meetings.

There had been some really funny and sweet moments though. Tuesday at lunch, I sat with Jeferson and other smaller kids. We were discussing llamas, vicuñas and the related species. Jeferson asked me where vicuñas live, and I replied, "in the mountain." But he said, "No, in Puno!" Then I asked him whether he knows which 2 animals are from the same family as the llamas. He thought a little while and told me "Llamita"! It was so cute and sweet! Every time I see Jhonatan, José Luis, Marcos, Franklin, Jenny, Julio, Claudio and Lemar´t, it just makes me think in perspective and feel I am In the right place. They give me so much love, smile and laughter each day with little things like asking for a hug or calling me from afar.

Today, I had another family outing with Walter, Rafael and Gregorio. They are all really good boys, and I was delighted to take them out. I always let them decide what they want to do, as they seldom have choices. Having said that, they kept saying it was up to me. So I explained to them about the purpose of this outing, and so we did a little of everything that they wanted to do, including biking, picnic and going to the river. Gregorio doesn´t know how to ride the bike because he told me he had a little accident when he was younger, and so he sort of has phobia although he wants to learn again. When we were on the way to the river, Walter took him on the bike, and it was really great to see them like that as it was what a brother is for. Then he tried to teach Gregorio how to ride it, though it was a bit difficult on a dusty and narrow path. I asked them if they ever went out together as a family since they arrived in NPH five years ago, and the answer was a shockingly ´no´! It surprised and saddened me a bit, and it made me want to make this one hour worthwhile for them. So finally we arrived at the river, and I started settling down with a blanket and our food items. Walter wanted to dive in the river for a dip, and Rafael followed him. It was so great to see their happy faces when they swam. Gregorio tried on the bike for a bit before he decided to go for a swim as well. As I went down to take some photos of them, they asked me to go in as well. I wasn´t prepared at all, but I just wanted to be part of this experience for them, so I dived in my jeans and swam with them. It was a bit cold, but it was a lot of fun. When we got out of the water, I realized I forgot to take out my wallet and my iPhone out of my pocket! Even though it was a disaster, surprisingly I didn´t get upset at all. I just laughed about it, and the boys were a bit worried. I felt really easy about it and told them not to worry. I just felt that this experience was worth more than those material things, and the fact that they never went out together and I got to take them out and did some fun things together, those material things suddenly seem worthless. Then I told them to sit down and we drank some coke, had some biscuits and relaxed a bit and chatted before we headed back to the home.