Quienceañera

This past weekend we celebrated Lourdes 15th birthday.  It's a pretty big deal in Peru like most other Latin countries so we had to do it up big.  Check out the pictures below.

The room all decorated.

The cake that Samantha made just for Lourdes.  The rest of the guests each got a cupcake or two. 

Gerson looking cool waiting outside.

Karol all dressed up.  It was her birthday too, but not her 15th.

Mary, Lourdes sister not enjoying a photo.

Lourdes getting ready

She looked very pretty for her 15th.

Me posing with Lourdes before her party.  She wanted a picture of me wearing her after dinner skirt. 

Pastor Auden giving a short 15th message. 

Yhonson being cool

We played lots of games.  Passing  a cup around a circle with straws in our mouths was one of them.  We beat the girls.

Everyone posed to take pictures with Lourdes and her cake.  I was trying to tell the person how to operate my camera at the same time he was taking the picture.

I haven’t posted in a while because the internet has been really scetchy lately.  But I do have some news.  After the kids started begging me and putting on their sad faces I couldn’t help but reschedule my flight for after Christmas.  So I will be getting back home on the 29^th of December now.  That gives me another two weeks to spend with the kids.

This weekend we are throwing a Quincenera for Lourdes.  Sam is planning it, helping her pick out her dress and baking the cake so I’m sure everything is going to be fantastic.  I will post pictures afterwards.

Paolo swimming outside

We had a multiple school chess tournament 

This is our team who got second receiving their 50 sole prize money.  Yhonson, Gerson, Ricardo, Nelson.

Fun with the mirror

More fun with the mirror.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from this past weekend

Went swimming at the mouth of the river

Dressed up as Angles for the anniversary of Pacasmayo (don't let them fool you)

Their spot of honor.

Yhonson listen to some music with Gerson and Nelson while getting ready for the march.

The four girls who went marching

Yhonson carrying the flag.

Our school marching by

Celebration in the church for Children's day.  (my parents always told me that was everyday)

Joel reading to the little kids

The Question

So a lot of people have been asking me lately how I feel about my time winding down here.  Quite frankly the answer is it sucks. The last 4 months have been awesome and I'm going to miss being here a lot.  However I've come to realize that leaving is pretty much inevitable and that sooner or later I am going to have to say goodbye.  I also have to remind myself that as much as I want to believe or as much as the kids want it to be I am not their actual parent and eventually we will have to part ways.  A lot of what keeps me happy these days is the possibility that some of the kids I love are being adopted.  Knowing that they could have a real family is a great feeling.

It's not necessarily knowing that I'll miss them that makes me sad to leave.  It's me knowing that no matter how hard I've tried to work with the other house moms and the director that as soon as I leave all their bad habits will come back.  They won't use the discipline charts with the reward/punishment system that I put in place, they'll start punishing the kids as a group again (2 kids do something bad everyone gets punished), they won't be able to figure out how to let the kids use a computer to keep in contact with me, and they won't give the kids the affection and attention they need.  That's what really makes me sad.  And yes those last couple of days in the orphanage are going to be really hard.

Overall I would say that I've learned a lot.  These past years I've been able to live outside of my suburbian fantasy life and see how life really is.  It's definitely changed me and how I perceive the world and other people.  Sure it's made me more cynical but overall I feel its made me a much better person.  I've learned more these past couple years than I could ever hope to write on this blog.

The other week I had a friend of mine tell me that I inspired him to sign up for the Peace Corp, and that's what its all about.  I came here to Peru hoping to positively change lives and I know I did.  I know there's at least 30 kids out there who now have at least some idea of what a parent/father can be, and I hope that when they grow up and have kids of their own that they won't abandon or abuse them like their own parents did, but they'll love them, they'll teach them right from wrong, they'll fight for them just like I did even if it was just for a short while.  And that, that is what makes me happy.