In the SACH house

Here's a little thing I wrote for the SACH blog, and when it's up I'll link to it from here:

It has been a beautiful weekend here in Azor, with the sun shining and spring showing its face in the bright pink flowers on the trees lining our backyard. Thus, a lot of our activities have consisted of playing outside, riding around on toy cars, in strollers, and even on shoulders. Epifania in particular has continued her campaign to spend as much time on volunteer shoulders as humanly possible, greeting whoever she comes across with a stern tug, a smile, and a gesture to her own shoulders. Woodley, Edmar, and Clarence continue to be little packets of 5-6 year old boy-energy, but I’m happy to say have begun to master the art of taking turns without too much trouble. Making orders for different activities now actually seems to be an activity in and of itself for the kids. Khariat and Azmina, the two girls from Zanzibar, 6 and 3, often take charge of this activity, possibly forecasting future careers in leadership positions. Inside, there have been arts and crafts of all sorts, from clay to coloring and making masks, and the children have just discovered dominoes (though somewhat lacking in the patience to set up anything too elaborate before the urge to knock it down overwhelms their sense of the greater satisfaction of creating a larger set-up). The most patience perhaps belongs to Adriana and Rosanna, but unfortunately it’s hard to keep a precarious domino course set up with the likes of Clarence, Woodley, and Azmina zooming around the room. On Saturday we received a visit from the ambassadors from Angola, lugging a present as big as the kids for each one of them. Greg and I helped carry it all into the house, and watched as the kids jumped for joy at their take. It was a very nice visit from some warm and generous people.
This morning I went to visit the hospital, and got to visit Brian, Ancelmo, and Kinsey, our post-surgery boys, as well as the many Arab mothers and children at the Hospital. Brian is up and moving around, chatting and smiling like his old self, while Ancelmo and Kinsley are looking better all the time. Kinsley was feeling up for some high fives, and Ancelmo was drawing some beautiful pictures. I taught Ancelmo tic-tac-toe, and by the end of a few games he was cat’s gaming me every time. About noon, Simonne arrived with Amelia, who’s scheduled for her surgery tomorrow and is looking bright as usual. I doubt it will be long before she’s back at the house and playing again. I got to spend a little time with the Arab mothers and their children, who tend to be younger since their conditions are detected earlier. Some are from the West Bank, some from Gaza, and some from Iraq. Before I came to Israel I learned the Arabic alphabet, how to read and write, and how to say a few things, and so I entertained a few of the Gazan mothers by stumbling through reading and writing all our names in Arabic and trying to communicate through our mish-mash of three languages. The ultimate reason for our visit was to get a check up for our youngest in-house child, Lilliana, who is under two, and while we waited she was the darling of the room, laughing and playing with her little balloon, drawing all the visitors to her with her tiny charm.
Now I’m back at the house and the kids are fast asleep.
We’ve got a great afternoon planned, including a visit from some journalists, but for now I’m just enjoying a quick tea and a rest before the fun starts up again.