Sundays with the Girls

Here´s a little look at what we´ve been up to with the girls on our Sundays.  It´s been so good to make our Sundays an important part of our routine.  It helps keep us connected and you can´t help but laugh and feel content after such nice days. 

After Easter, the next girls we took out were Esmerelda and Soledad.  We went to Polo´s Pollo to try the best brosated chicken in all of Santiago.  They loved seeing Uncle Matt in action on the grill and Erick introduced them to some wonderful people whose daughter just happens to be a famous Chilean singer.  They were real down to earth people and talked to the girls about the importance of education and faith.  So often the girls idolize Hollywood stars with... shall we say, less than perfect track records.  It was so wonderful to show them a healthier face of fame.  After lunch we decieded to walkto a little park, but on the way we got distracted by a nursing home of all things.  The girls practically begged us to go visit the ´abuelitos.´  We went on in, introduced ourselkves and explained that we had volunteered at a sister branch in southern Chile after the earthquake.  The girls made friends really fast with a couple of lively old grandmas.  When it was time to go, the girls were still full of questions, ´Where do you sleep?, Do you share a bedroom?  Whats the food like?´ In so many ways their experiences of living at a home are similar, and the girls felt connected.  It was yet another beautiful encounter to top off a beautiful day. 

The next weekend we took Diana and Escarlette to go window shopping at the mall and wander around a bit.  Diana had a better plan however, and she took us to  the largest dollar store in the world.  It´s called Mae, and  it absolutely blew my mind how much you can buy there for 4 bucks.  It´s so good for the girls to get out, to get a change of scenery, and to forget about the stresses of living at the hogar.  They came back feeling refreshed.  And it´s not like it takes much.  The most important ingredient is time.

Week four was mother´s day and we had an inkling we´d like to help Laura and Cinthia do something to celebrate.  It turns out that it was Cinthia´s friend Diana´s birthday that day.  We decided to bake a cake for her.  A chocolate cake with more chocolate on top (my kind of girl!).  Cinthia was sooo excited picking out the whip cream and sprinkles.  Unfortunately, the cake had a bit of trouble... it´s quite the challenge trying to bake in a gas oven, with no temperature gauge, that doesn´t self regulate.  Instead it continues to get hotter and hotter...  Needless to say the bottom burnt and the middle was barely done.  We patched her up pretty good, but then the hour bouncing around on the bus back to the hogar did her in.   Reports back from the battlefield are that Diana loved the cake.  Mission accomplished! :)