lunch

this was lunch. its not so bad if you don’t make eye contact with it.
breakfast was a mix of salty oatmeal and “towel” which is cow intestines.

in other news, i have been spending alot of time with two of our trouble makers, john-lloyd and ana-rose, a brother/sister tagteam.

they are new to My Father’s House and were sent from another orphanage who could no longer deal with them. they run around all day long, climbing on things, throwing things, and no one can get them to do much of anything. they spend their time running circles around the staff. they are trouble trouble trouble.

when john-lloyd is mad he throws himself to the ground screaming and hurls his shoes at his latest victim, or rocks, or loose cement, basically just anything he can find to throw.

one day i told him he was in a bad mood and now everyone calls him
“john-lloyd bad mood.” when he gets angry.

but whenever he hears it he gets this sly smile and replies “im good mood john-lloyd,” and stands up.
yesterday he actually let someone else BORROW the basketball (Gasp) and didn’t throw his shoe at them.
today i got a hug.
And Ana rose said “please” when she wanted the volleyball.

they are those kind of kids that you have to try hard not to laugh when you tell them not do something i’ve never seen two more tough kids, they’ve been through so much in their short lifetimes, but slowly they are learning that they are loved here, no matter how many times i get hit with a flipflop.
saturday night ana-rose was not wanting to go to sleep so i went in and laid on the floor with her (where she likes to sleep), i closed my eyes and laid very still for a couple of minutes. slowly she took my arm and wrapped it around her neck and fell asleep.

this quote from Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen makes me think of Ana-Rose and John Lloyd:

“Our world is full of people who question whether it would have been better had they not been born. when we do not feel loved by those who gave us life, we often suffer our whole life long..In the midst of this extremely painful reality, we have to dare to reclaim the truth that we are God’s chosen ones, even when our world does not choose us.”