Starting to feel like home

I cannot even believe that it was over two weeks ago that I left Phoenix airport for South Africa. It feels like I've been at Open Arms for months. Whether this bodes well or not for the next year I haven't yet been able to decide. But what I do know is that there is something building inside of me that feels a like love for these kids. (And to think I haven't even met six of them yet!!)

So now to answer the million dollar question - what have I been doing for the past week (+) since my last blog entry?

Well, on the 19th I got the opportunity to take three of the kids home for a visit with their family which was quite the eye opener. Even only seeing it from the inside of a car (the giant 14-passenger Quantum van used to car the kids around) I was astounded by the realness of it all. And all I have to say are the following two things: kids are so amazingly resilient and I am incredibly spoiled. (In fact, I think of those two things a whole lot here.)

On a lighter note, on the way to drop the kids off I made the comment to one of the kids about the beauty of the sunset and tried to explain to him the difference between a sunrise and a sunset - to which he responded: "The sun can sit?!" I laughed and told him I'd never really thought of it that way, but it was wonderful to imagine! Let me tell you, kids are a breed of their own. Later that night during snatck time (what we've come to refer to as "crazy hour") the tiniest four year-old I've ever met ran up to me and showed me that she had shoved a bead up her nose. I asked her to remove it (please) and when she had trouble I started to panic a little (as did she). Finally she managed to remove it, smiled, promptly stuck it in her mouth and then put it in my hand to throw away. The germs are pretty much free-flowing here. (Emily, you would cringe.)

My apologies - I feel like these entries might start to get a little long-winded, however, I feel like in order to get the full experience of Open Arms I need to share with you some of the smaller anecdotes (and there are so very many!).

The next day (June 20th) was an exceedingly delightful day! - the only problem with that? There were no children involved. Sunday I spent with Elyssa, Zach (two other volunteers) and Rosie (our South African friend) at Tea in the Trees (a little market where her mother, Auntie Ruth, sells the most beautiful bags and clothes!) and then onto the beach for a lovely day picking up sea shells (I got some beautiful ones!), stopping to have a drink with her friend, and enjoying lunch outside. Needless to say it was a well-appreciated outing into the real world.

The rest of my days (except the weekends) consist of having playroom time with the older of the younger kids (if that makes sense.) I have ten of them in total (as I think I mentioned in my last entry) and boy are they a handful. I'm supposed to be doing various activities in the mornings with them to asses their intellectual, problem-solving, and creative progress - but I don't know if I'm succeeding in all that just yet. They're all beautiful and wonderful and full of life, but they can also be extremely "naughty" (their word, not mine) and have definitely tested my patience to the extreme this week. They certainly have their good moments and their bad ones, but the past three days have been a major power struggle - unfortunately I am severely outnumbered. Let me also suffice it to say that there have been a number of timeouts (including a mass timeout for all ten of them at once yesterday!). And while I realize that probably sounds harsh, trust me when I say that if they don't learn to take me seriously now it's going to be a long year for the both of us.

Of course, that said, there are lots of triumphs here too every single day. The mornings have been exceptionally frustrating this week, but when they all sit down and listen to me read, I feel like I can conquer the world. (The only real moment of peace today was while I read the book "Fish Follies" - one with lots of flaps to open up). When they draw, it also just makes my heart melt. I can't tell you how many beautiful drawings I've seen over the past weeks (in chalk, in marker, in pencil, in crayer...). Kids really are exceptionally creative (today they made play dough cakes with crayon candles).

Working with them one-on-one always renews my strength as well. The only seven year-old in my group (a girl that has been arguably giving me the most trouble) and I sat down last night and read the entiety of "Go, Dog, Go" by Dr. Seuss with barely any help from me (which, if you didn't know, is quite a long book!). Ironically, one of the other great triumphs of yesterday was getting one of the other biggest trouble makers in my group to sit while I read him two stories (he certainly loves Cinderella!). Of course, today he was sent to bed for the morning becuase he refused to listen - but we'll get there! He's an adorable little kid who loves to gives kisses!

In the meantime, those anedotes I mentioned before keep coming. The other day, while watching Free Willy (Keiko!), one of the eight year old boys (a tiny little guy with a fiery temper, but also the most amazing capacity to love!) fell asleep curled up in my lap. Another day the lock on the door to the main house mysteriously was left dangling off the door ("how could no one know what happened?" was our question) so Zach and I volunteered to fix it. We managed to screw it back onto the door (after a good chunk of time), then tried out the lock, but then quickly realized that we could not unlock it! It was pretty comical. Thankfully Auntie Rita didn't come back into the house until after we'd sorted it (not that she would have minded in the least!). Another memory that will forever be stuck in my head is the kids singing "Ayoba!" during snack time/crazy hour. They'd stomp around in a circle then all shout "Ayoba!" which apparently means "celebration" (I think?). Of course, one of my new favorite activities has been facilitated by a little girl about six years-old who barely speaks English - she comes up to me every night yelling "Kea-ten! Kea-ten!" and then poitns to everything in sight which I am then to name in English. She's picked up quite a lot of it though!! And while I hate to admit it, I have become very partial towards her (shh, don't tell the others!) - she just lights up my heart and she really is a very well-behaved little girl (though she doesn't always understand what's being asked of her).

In any case, Open Arms is quickly becoming home. Eating tangerines (called nar-gies here, I won't even attempt to spell it properly!) with every meal, staying up late on the phone looking out at the flawless night sky, playing Candyland (properly after many attempts!) with the kids, having kids attached to you by flinging their arms around your waist - it's all become so natural.

So tonight, even as I think abck to this morning when I nearly had tears in my eyes from the frustration of it all, I know that I won't be able to wait to read a Bible story to the boys' houses while they sit in their pajamas. I know they will not want to sit still, they will smack each other to get out of the way cause they "can't see" and someone will not even listen to the words I'm saying. But I also know that hey'll ask questions I don't know the answers to, they'll get distracted and tell me about trips to the zoo or dreams or the monster that mama kicked out the other night, and they'll screech "goodnight Auntie Keaton!" and give me a kiss on the cheek as I leave (or if it's the older boys, beg for a second story).

And I'll sit out on the porch of the Purple House (our room) tonight (if it's not too cold) and feel oddly peaceful and content, but also restless and wanting to do better.

Ah Open Arms, I do love it here.

More to come.

Love you all and miss you all the time! Feel free to write (e-mail or snail mail) or call anytime!

--Auntie Keaton