Ano, mano, boca.

That's "anus, hand, mouth" for those of you who didn't take Spanish in school, or maybe just never learned the word for "anus"...  This was the theme of the first 1/3 of today's parenting class.  The chat was given by a big, smiley doctor that is involved in the organization of the course who usually talks and jokes animatedly and shuffles around so much while he addresses his crowd that you'd think he might have been Fred Astaire in a past life.  Well, tonight, he was not his usual happy, light-hearted self.  He was serious.  Because the topic was serious. Very. Serious.  We were talking about intestinal and stomach infirmities that we might run into with our children.  Unfortunately, "ano, mano, boca" is a road many are taking without proper warning and the results are nasty.  We had the pictures to prove it.  And, as though I wasn't already easily scared enough when my kids get sick, apparently Dr. Usually Funny But Not Tonight decided to make us think that every tummy worm or episode of diarrhea would eventually, and sometimes quickly, lead to death.  For real.  He must have made the comment 3 times that he's known of cases in the homes where kids have died in a matter of 3 days from diarrhea.  Ok, I know it can be very serious.  However, there are times, especially with the proper care, when things turn out just fine.  So, I tried to take this class with a grain of salt and also got inspired to up my standards of washing vegetables, just in case...

In happier news, we are one class away from finishing!!  As we wrapped up tonight, the speaker asked for a few volunteers to speak at Wednesday's closing ceremony.  Ceremonies here are a big deal and receiving our certificate for completing this course will be part of that big deal.  Which means lots of formality and speeches and hand-shakes.  All good, unless you are someone who hates to speak in front of crowds in any language (but especially a foreign one) and happens to be seriously pressured by the ENTIRE class staring at them because they think it would be a good idea for one of the foreign couples to share and the German couple already gave a direct "NO."  Scotty and I cave and I assume that we'll get by with him speaking, because it never bothers him, but they insist that both share.  Sigh.  So, now Mrs. Would Rather Clean A Pubic Restroom Than Speak In Public is obligated to share in Spanish during this formal-speeches-only occasion.  Pray for me.

Adoption update

David Huevo

Well, with Scotty's parents here, I haven't done any updates lately.  The big thing is the beginning of our adoptive parenting classes!  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we leave Natty and a screaming Jubilee (she's VERY attached to me lately) here with my in-laws and drive way up into town where the classes are held at the government offices that work with family and children issues in the city.  We were pretty surprised the first night to see about 30 or 40 couples attending!  I can't say that the sessions are incredibly interesting, but we feel like we're making progress in the process and learning a few things about the realities of orphans in Bolivia and the somewhat broken system of taking care of them.  One recurrent theme that has come up every class is that under no circumstances, EVER, should you return your child to the orphanage after you've adopted him.  Apparently, it has become very common here for people to discover that their newly adopted child is not exactly as they had hoped he would be and so they take it back for a return.  It's awful to think that this mindset is so common and makes you realize that a lot of these adoptive parents must not know that these children are becoming part of their family and are legitimate.  One humorous part of the class is the activity each couple has to do of taking under their wing a raw egg and pretending like it is a child.  Maybe a lot of you, like me, did this exercise in middle school.  I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about "grown-ups" doing this, but I think most people are taking it pretty seriously and have made some pretty elaborate cribs, knitted little hats for their baby eggs, and actually take them out places.  We've named our baby David, after Scotty's dad, because he is here at the time that the egg came into our family.  Natty enjoyed helping me make his crib (a coca tea box) and sometimes wants to carry him and cover him in stickers.  Can't wait till she can play with the real thing!  Recently, I found out that the marriage certificate we had translated and legalized a few years ago (which is necessary for the adoption process) was missing a signature or stamp or something and was thinking we'd have to send it back to the US to have the whole, lengthy, expensive process done over again.  I made a trip to the American Embassy just to make sure that it wasn't something they could do here and they made a special exception and did it for a fraction of the cost!  Thanks God!

Out of the mouths of babes.

During nap time today, I heard Natty singing a little too loudly and went over to her door to tell her to be quiet.  Thankfully, I stopped to listen to what she was singing and came in about here...:

...but, I want to pray for the ones that are going to hell because I want them to go to heaven.  But they're going to hell, to hell!  But I want them to go to Heavenly Father!  I want them to go to our Heaven like me and my family and maybe my little sister who's just a baby.  The Bible says we hated Him, we were His enemies, but He died, He died!  He died on the cross for our sins and He's great!  I love Him more than my bunny, my bunny isn't worth anything more than Jesus!  I don't love my bunny more than God!  'Cause He's perfect, He's perfect!  He died on the cross and rose again...!

Wow!  I stood at her door and silently worshiped with her and thanked God that my little girl is hearing and thinking about spiritual things.  How I pray her understanding grows and that the truths that she sings about now will set her free.