Friday 12/19

Today everything went smoothly. I’m falling deeper and deeper in love with my kids.

Let me introduce you to my angels:

1) Happy Jonh: 9 years old

A beautiful girl, she has the most beautiful smile in the world. She is in the quiet side and goes along with the flow of things. She likes to play the Tanzanian version of jax, instead of the red ball and metal shape starts they use rocks. She loves to wear dresses and loves to collect wild flowers for all the volunteers. She is also the main host in the Children’s Village, as soon a visitor arrives, she comes running out and holds their hand to give them a tour.

2) Jane: 8 years old

Beautiful and loves to be the center of attention. She loves spend one on one time with Shanell and I. When she is up-set or gets hurts she shuts down, she doesn’t cry or talk to anyone. She is the dancer of the group and she can shake her bom bom …wow!!

3)Cristina: 9 years old

The drama queen! She is the ultimate actress of the bunch always addressing me by saying "excuse me" She has a big and awesome smile. But, when she is mad watch out

She loves to play Tanzanian Jax and is the most matured of all the girls.

4) Evalina: 9 years old

The shy girl of the house but also the most gorgeous one. She is very smart. She has an infectious laugh that just makes you crack up. She loves to play soccer, volleyball, Tanzanian Jax.

5) Isaka: 10 years old

The elder of the house and acts as the caring older brother to his 11 siblings.

Very responsible and sooo cute. He has these amazing eyes full of life and compassion.

I just love him. He is the MAN of the house!!!

6) Paulo: 8 years old

He has the most beautiful eyes and smile, you just melt away in his presence. He is extremely smart and knows it. Super active and always into something he is not supposed to be doing but he can’t lie, he always tells you the true when he does something wrong.

7) Mole: 8 years old

Is the ring leader and the biggest trouble maker. Our first week in here he would change his name and the rest of the gang names just to confuse Shanell and I. He also would tell me that they were allowed to do things that were actually not allowed, change the bed time or nap time…little bugger. I love him to dead, I love kissing him, he always asks permission to kiss me at night. He is very sweet. On movie time, he is the first to sit on my lap, I have to sit him next to me so the other kids can sit on my lap.

8) Simon: 8 years old

The big teddy bear of the family. He loves to be held and hug. Always ready to help you.

He is always asking questions and very interested in what you have to say. He never ever gets in trouble. He is very active and loves soccer. He has the biggest and widest feet I have ever seen….his hands are rock solid like a mans hand and so meaty. I just love my Simon!

9) Joshua: 5 years old

Is the baby of the house and loves to sit on your lap and talk about anything. He is the funniest kid, loves to play with mud. The other day I found him digging a hole, that

then he flooded and planted some beans to grow a plant. He has the cutes smile and his ears stick out a little bit…he is just gorgeous!

10) Boaz: 8 years old

He is the lawyer of the house. He argues about anything and does not allowed the big boys to intimidate him. He has a freckle under his left eye that makes him irresistible.

He is very sweet and does not stay still for a minute.

11)Vincent : 7 years old

Is adorable, he love to play one on one with you. Has a very shy and cute laugh.

Loves soccer and his Spider man PJs and he loves to draw pictures and paint.

12)Cristopher: 9 years old

He looks older than what he really is, until you start playing with him, you can see he is very young at heart. Always testing you, to see how far he can get, before he gets in your nerves. Loving and very sweet, always ready for a hug and a kiss…in the mouth in you let him…which is NOT allowed, you just have to re-direct him.

These are the new members of the Rodriguez Family. They will always be part of Shanell and I until the end of our days:

Saturday 12/20

Today was a day full of games and coloring. It was awesome that we had the whole day to play with the kids. We went for a walk and bought a couple of Orange Fantas in the Chuka (store) which is 5x5 made out of aluminum panels. The locals from the village were having a Soccer game, so we sat under a tree and watch and cheer for them. They are really good, and their warm ups are impressive. I took video to show C-Rod what LOVE for the game really means.

Sunday 12/21

OK…..got up with a broken nose and a swollen knee. WELL…not broken but, really beat up.Shanell had the wildest dream. Around 11:00 PM she started to screaming like someone was attacking her. It was pitched dark in our room. She continued to scream, I get up and started feeling around for her bed until I reached her.

I put my arms on her shoulder and shook her and told her to wake up, she has been screaming for a good three minutes and I can not get her to snap out of it. Then she starts fighting me, kicking me and hitting me like a mad woman. She punched me in the nose and kicked me out to the floor. I landed on my knees and my nose started to bleed. The two Mamas that live with us came running to see what was going on. They litt up the keresone lamps and I finally got Shanell to snapped out of her dream. She was so scared and confused. I felt so bad for her..I have never seen anything like that. In the morning the other volunteers were in the volunteer house talking about the screams of someone they thought was been raped on the fields. They were so upset because they could not do anything to help her. I proceeded to tell them that that was not the case, that actually it was Shanell having a bad dream. They were relieved and very sad about my injuries…we all had a big laugh afterwards. Shanells dream was that a lion was attacking her, when I got to her and put my hands on her shoulder she thought I was the lion. All this is a side effect of the drug “ Malerone” that we are taking to prevent malaria. She refuses to take the drug now, it was that real for her. I feel so bad that my baby had to experience this awful nightmare.

After breakfast, we had the day off. We were so excited to get out and have some adult time. All four of us rode the Jeep with the guys that work in the orphanage. There were 11 of us in the jeep. No seat belts, people sitting on the floor, on the middle of the two front seat where the speaker were supposed to be, two people per seat. It was so much, we were all singing songs, taking pictures and videos. The guys are awesome and very respectful. The closest town is 45 minutes away. Thirty minutes in a dirt road big enough for only one vehicle, full of hills and bumps. You need a 4x4 to be able to get out of here.

The guys dropped us off at a beautiful hotel for tourist, where we lay by the pool and had some beers and Malibu with gingerale (including Shanell) what the hell we are in Africa, “What you do in Africa stays in Africa” ..LOL

Then we walked 1 hour and 20 minutes through the main town, which is stores lined up by the road, just little tiny stores selling everything you can imagine. All the locals saying hi, and waving at us. The kids running towards us and asking to take them a picture.
This young boy of around 12 years old, followed us for 20 minutes trying to sell us bracelets and massai nick nacks.

We were looking for an ATM to get money out. We went to the only three banks in town and they were all out of work. We continue our walk to this really cute gallery that is owned by ex-patriots. We were starving and ready for lunch. In our way we had to stop to let the cows have the right away, surreal!!

We got to the gallery and ate and drank some more..mmmmm!!

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN KARATU!!!

Monday 12/22

We did all our chores and worked all day wrapping the last of the presents.

The kids and I watched Harry Poter…they love it but at the same time were super scared of the movie and going to bed in the dark.

Very Cute!!

Tuesday 12/23

Today has been a really hard day for me. I got up crying and with my heart broken. I miss Johnny like crazy and today marks our 21 years of marriage. I’m amazed at the love I feel for this amazing man. He is my life!! I’m so lucky to have found a man that loves me as much as I love him, and that is not afraid of telling me and the world how much he loves me. I’m so proud to be his wife, his lover and the mother of his kids.
Today is also his 43 birthday, and I’m not there with him to celebrate.
I got to see him for 2 to 3 minutes in Skype. That was worth a million dollars. Just to see his face and his beautiful smile,

Te Amo Johnny!!

After that I kept myself busy with the kids, and now is almost dinner time. Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve here in Tanzania (we are 11 hours ahead of the West coast, 14 hours ahead of the East coast, 15 hours ahead of Puerto Rico)

They have planned a big lunch for all of us in the Children Village, including the kids, mamas, workers, nurses…100 + people and also giving out new PJs to the kids at night. Then the volunteers have to sneak at night to put all the presents under the Christmas tree for the kids. I can’t wait to see their faces when they get up the following morning.

Also, tomorrow in the morning we are going to be driving around the surrounding villages to give out presents for the kids outside. Today we worked on their gifts, which consist of three pencils, crayons and color pencils for around 1,000 kids. They tell me it is the best thing to do here during Christmas…these kids don’t have anything, they are the poorest in the whole country. These items that are kind of not interesting for our kids, are treasured by these kids, since is the only thing they will posses for the remainder of the year and also they can use them for school.

See you tomorrow!!

Brenda Liz