Much Needed Niño-Time

It's easy to forget the big picture when your days are consumed with language acquisition. Without an occasional reminder of who you've come to serve it's hard to stay motivated to work so hard to be able to communicate. Since my last post, as I passed the 1-month in Bolivia milestone, God saw that I was nearing the end of my ability to stay focused, and has blessed me with three opportunities this week to hug on (or get climbed on by) orphans.

There are many many orphanages here and almost as many styles. Some have very nice facilities, but a very poor ratio of caretakers to kids. Others, such as the one I visited on Saturday, are family style with two parents and 12 children. The niños in some are clean and healthy, more often sniffling and coughing. Sometimes they call me Tia (aunt), sometimes Mama. But no matter what their history of abuse or neglect, or their current disadvantaged circumstances they're always eager for attention, and always ticklish! An hour or two of lovin' on these little balls of energy is enough to add new phrases to my need-to-learn-how-to-say-in-Spanish list, like "be nice" and "let go," and just enough to leave me eager to master Spanish so I can spend all my time serving Bolivians like these.