Sleeping children and blood pressure cuffs

Another week has passed, and I have been here for seven weeks already. How is that possible? This week has been wonderful. It was a bit unique, but I really enjoyed the change of pace.

A Change of Pace

Two amazing events bookended Wednesday, making it a great day overall. After breakfast, I headed to the Flores to deliver some spoons and forks that Lauren (one of the Flores houseparents and one of the SMs that has the same day off as me) had bought in town the day before on our day off. But as I neared the house, I saw Lauren’s co-houseparent Kelsey sitting on the front sidewalk. She didn’t seem in the highest of spirits, but after talking with her for a minute, I quickly found out why. First of all, that morning at 3:00 AM, Lauren woke up with a blazing fever of 103 degrees, so obviously, she wasn’t able to help make the kids breakfast or get them ready for school. That meant Kelsey was on her own making sure the kids got fed and to school on time. Normally, that would have been fine, but Kelsey has been recovering from dengue fever, so she didn’t have nearly as much energy or stamina as she normally would have. All that to say Kelsey had a rough morning, and the house still needed to be cleaned, so I offered to help. We ended up throwing out a ton of moldy and rotten produce from the then-non-functioning fridge and washing the breakfast dishes. Then, the three youngest Flores girls came home from pre-k, so we went over to the Lilas house to hang out with Emilie, a fellow SM, and Santiago (Santi for short), a two-and-a-half-year-old and the youngest kid at Familia Feliz right now. I can’t sufficiently describe just how much joy playing with those four kids brought me. The girls were climbing all over me and constantly wanting me to hold them, which I was more than happy to do because they are absolutely adorable. And Santi let me play with him too. That was a huge win for me because Santi is timid with people he doesn’t know very well, but by the end of that morning, I felt like we were best friends. I’m sure the kids loved having their own walking jungle gym that morning, and I hope they were blessed by my interactions with them, but I have no doubt that I was blessed by them so much more. I left the Lilas house that morning filled with joy and purpose.

The other bookend happened during bedtime that night. Emir, our youngest boy, did not want to go to bed for some reason, but it was late, and he had nothing keeping him from going to bed, so I picked him up and started carrying him upstairs. He resisted me a little, but because he’s only 5 years old, it wasn’t too much of a problem for me to handle him. When we got upstairs, I decided to hold him for a few minutes, so he could calm down before I put him to bed. When I sat down with him in my lap, he stopped squirming almost immediately, and within 3 minutes, he was asleep in my arms. I wish I could accurately describe how I felt as I looked down at Emir peacefully exploring dreamland, but I don’t know if that is possible. At that moment, I felt so honored to be holding this precious human in my arms, but at the same time, I felt unworthy of the simple trust he had placed in me to be able to fall asleep in my arms. I am so thankful that God gave me that experience to lift my spirits and close out an already incredible day. I pray that I will have many more similar experiences here at Familia Feliz.

In addition to my roles as a house parent, maintenance man, and teacher’s assistant, I can now add a nurse to the list…well, not really but kind of. Let me explain. At the time of writing this post, there have been five SMs that have contracted dengue fever: Kelsey and Lauren (the Flores house parents), Ellie (the gardener), Jayden (one of the Guerreros house parents), and Sophia (the nurse). Please pray that no one else gets dengue because it is not fun at all. It is a serious illness, but very rarely is it life-threatening unless it is contracted a second time. I am happy to report that at this point, everyone is doing well, but most of them aren’t back to normal yet. To my knowledge, they aren’t symptomatic anymore, but apparently, dengue wipes all the energy out of you, so they have been very tired and fatigued the past few days. Because the five people with dengue have been “out of commission”, the six of us who have been spared have had to pick up the slack. What does that look like for me? Becoming the temporary nurse. On Friday evening, when we found out that Jayden had dengue, Sophia called me over to the clinic to teach me how to check a person’s blood pressure. She taught me because she legitimately did not have the energy to walk to the Guerreros house to do it herself. I was more than happy to help and learn something new. Then, on Sabbath, Lauren went to town to get a blood test for dengue, and it came back positive, so over the next three days, I checked Lauren and Jayden’s blood pressure any time Sophia asked me to. I felt so important running around with my stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. Honestly, I found helping Sophia with her nursing duties to be a privilege rather than an inconvenience. It gave me a chance to get a break from our house and see the other SMs a little more than usual. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be of assistance to my fellow SMs.

Something about helping and sacrificing for others brings me so much satisfaction and joy. When I allow God to use me to bless those around me, I end up receiving a greater blessing than the people I am helping. That is a beautiful reality. I pray God won't let me forget that when I go back to the U.S. and the materialistic culture focused on self. I want the way I live my life after this year to be different than before I came to Familia Feliz. My worst fear is getting back, becoming comfortable with my life again, and losing the mission mindset I have here. But I know God has the power to keep that from happening, and as long as I keep my gaze focused on Him, He will not let me down; of that I am sure. My purpose now is to focus on the task at hand. I will let God worry about the future.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Pictures

I finally got a picture of all 13 of our kids in one place. (Isaac and Emilie, T. Juan and
T. Emi's children, were there too.)

Firefighter Nirza :)
(Photo courtesy: Kelsey Bright)

Pinkie and Zeinet are always climbing
all over me.
(Photo courtesy: Kelsey Bright)

What a cutie!

These girls are in the Flores house with Teacher Kelsey.

Pinkie thought she was so smug because
she took my hat from me.
(Photo courtesy: Kelsey Bright)

I bet you smiled to yourself when you saw this picture
of Santi.

This moment made all the struggles of the 
week worth it.

What a precious boy!

Alejandro randomly started climbing
vines during recess.

Hanging with Selim and Emir because they don't have
school on Fridays.

I've decided he's coming home with me 😢.

Selim wanted me to use him as a pillow. It was pretty
comfortable actually.

Emir probably sleeping during worship.

Yep, definitely asleep.

Fabiola, one of the Flores girls, wanted to take
 a picture with me.

Selim's first time falling asleep on me. I soaked up every
minute of it.

Selim looking for birds with my binoculars.

Spring cleaning!

Alvaro and Pipoca the cat taking an
afternoon nap.

Going to the store with the boys.

Selim can sleep anywhere.

Mourning the loss of Jayden. Not really.
He got wrapped in a blanket that had been
in the freezer to help reduce his fever.

Me sneaking in a quick nap on the floor.
As long as you have something to put
your head one, it's an excellent place
to nap because the tile is cool, and a breeze
 blows through the room.
It's almost like having AC.
(Photo courtesy: Justin Bobo)

A vermilion flycatcher I saw during one of my morning
 birding excursions. I quickly called Justin, and he came
 running out with his camera, so he could
snap a picture of it before it flew away.
(Photo courtesy: Justin Bobo) 

I didn't realize videos were so easy to put on my blog. I'll probably include

more videos in future posts.