Labor Day!!

We began the day with breakfast (the usual: Zucaritas and bread with peanut butter) at 8 am and then quiet time and small group time. We discussed offering ourselves completely and realized that our lives are not our own, but are for God. This morning we had visitors: the cats, the goats, and the talon. One of the goats had 3 legs... lol. They were chased back to their pin by Julio and Kimara with quite a commotion, including running, yelling, and throwing rocks. The older kids like Julio and Kimara went to school 3 times a week from 8 - 10 pm. All the other kids had left for school right down the road at around 8 am.

We started work at 9:30 am, and for me, Kaitlin, and Lauren we were up on the roof and for Ellie and Betsy it was sealing and painting walls. Thermotek was the name of the game, and the point was to seal the roof from the rain. It was a long and tedious job, but we finished the first roof. We first had to sweep the area of all the dirt and dust and then get the brushes to push around the Thermotek, which had the consistency of glue. After sweeping I got two large blisters on my thumbs, but was not going to let that stop me. Greg also had us put on firefighter boots to make sure that the stuff didn't ruin our shoes. Once we finished the laundry room roof we moved on to the second coat on the roof of the kitchen.

This roof was four times the size of the other, and before we could begin we had to break up cement and clay molds and put them in the surrounding cinder block holes. It was like moving shards of glass, especially with my newly formed blisters. We decided not to wear the boots this time, because it made it easier to move around the roof, and we weren't too worried about ruining our shoes. At about 12:30 pm the kids came home and all 23 or so were piled into one van! It was an amazing sight to see them flow out of the doors. We were still up on the roof which was a surprise to most of the children, and they laughed and waved when they saw us. We were very excited to see our new friends and were ready to play! After about 30 more minutes after the children changed out of their uniforms, we were told to get off the roof because it was time to eat lunch with the kids.

We ate some authentic Mexican food, that was some sort of beef mix with potatoes, rice, and homemade tortillas. It was fun eating with the kids and we made sure to be quiet this time. Some of the girls saved me a seat and motioned for me when I turned around with my food. After lunch the wind really picked up and it looked like a storm was blowing in. All of the sudden, the breeze went from 0 - 30 mph! Of course, we would be getting back on the roof to finish the work we had started. Before we left the kitchen one of the girls, Angelica, brought her homework into the kitchen and sat down beside me. I took notice of her work and helped he a little. When I was told to get back to work, she latched on to my arm and asked me not to leave because she wanted me to play with her. I told her in Spanish that I had to go back to work and that I would play with her later. She tried to convince me that it was too cold, but I was insistent and she eventually let go of my arm. When I went to get up she yelled besito, and then as I pointed to my cheek she gave me a kiss.

Back up on the roof, we were fearful that the wind had blown away the piles we made while sweeping, but we were also scared that we would be the ones blowing away. Everything ended up being alright, and we got back to work removing the piles and beginning the Thermotek stage. Before too long we were almost done. It seemed like every time Greg left his work with wiring and looked up at us we were taking a pretzel/water break. We reassured him that we were almost finish and that we were working hard. After we finished, we left the roof and headed over to where Ellie and Betsy were sealing and painting to scrape windows. They would be painted with black oil paint so all the cement needed to be scraped off to make the palate smooth for the paint. We worked until 5 pm and then we were told that we needed to clean up and get ready for dinner. We were still going to eat in the kitchen, but we would be having sandwiches. Lesli, Sara, and AnnaLaura again saved me a seat by them.

After dinner we were told that we could take showers and whatnot or hand out some donations. We decided to just hold off on the showers and hand out some donations to the kids. The donation of choice happened to be BEANIE BABIES because we stuffed about 60 of them into our bags! They were all about bartering and trying to trade animals with us, but we knew we wouldn't be able to please all of them. I had never seen so many kids having fun just throwing these little animals around. Something that we keep so clean and on shelves or in cases was better seen in the dirt or air for these kids! Lupe, Betsy, and I had a snake fight and I spent a long time throwing the beanies with Miguel (he got an owl and a dragon). After playing some, Greg announced that we would have debriefing at 7:30 pm so we could try and take some showers, and that we did.

We had about 45 minutes for all 5 of us to shower so we did and then headed over to the kitchen where Greg and Rodo were sleeping. At this point all the kids were wrapping things up and going to bed because they had school in the morning. My legs were still covered in Thermotek, and my ankle brace resembled a dalmatian. During debriefing we talked about what a life completely surrendered to God looks like. It reminded me of a conversation that I had in my philosophy class, while trying to define what a moral person really is. After debriefing we all stuck around to snack on Laffy Taffy, Little Debbie's, and Chex Mix, and to play some speed Scrabble. We quickly discovered that Katey and Greg were the queen and king of Scrabble. Rodo was doing better than me and English is his second language, lol. We had a good time hanging out until about 11 pm, and then decided to call it quits and go to bed after a wonderfully exhausting day.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." -Colossians 3:23

-k10