This morning I went to coffee with my friend Carol, then to the airport to meet the English speaking pastors. Carol needed to drop off her car at the mechanic, which is in Los Pinos, so I picked Erika and then went to pick up Carol from the mechanic's.
After dropping off Carol I gave Erika the choice of going to the park, my house, or the mall. She chose the mall. We perused Forever 21 for a while. Then we tried to find glasses for me. She shook her head "no" to over 20 pairs. I could not find a single pair of glasses in a huge store full of every style you could imagine. I have an absurdly narrow face.
After that we were supposed to go to another glasses store, but I got hungry, so we went to the food court. Getting her to make a decision was like pulling teeth. She doesn't like to ask for anything. But finally she ordered a $5 combo plate of fried rice, chop suey and fried shrimp at a Chinese place. The plate was so big we shared and she still had some to take home. Marjory is a great eater! She loves friend shrimp.
After Marjory finished eating she pooped all over so we had to skip gelato, which was fine because we were full. It was quite explosive. Erika didn't have any diapers, but I had wipes and diapers in my car, so we wrapped a plastic bag around Marjory's butt to keep Erika clean, and carried her out to the car.
I haven't seen Erika in ages. It was great to see her. She is still living with her boyfriend. She gave me the BEST NEWS EVER! Her boyfriend's mother invited him to go to church, and he invited Erika, and now they are all going to church together! They are in a small group that meets once/week and they attend church services Wednesday and Sunday. Erika loves the church. She feels supported and comfortable there. She uses the bible she got as a birthday gift every week in her small group. I told her if they ever invite me, I would love to check out her new church.
Erika has never been involved in a church before. This is a huge answer to prayer!
Tomorrow is Fany's birthday. She thinks we are going to her friend's place where I always get my hair cut. It's is a tiny room with no running water, but her friend is a great stylist and she only charges $3.50 for a cut. She has been wanting a hair cut desperately for a few weeks so I told her I'll take her for a haircut for her birthday.
Little does Fany know, I made an appointment at a real salon. Santos is going to take care of Laura. Fany and I are going to get manicures and pedicures.Then Fany is getting her hair cut. Fany is going to love it! She never gets a few hours away from Laura. Santos is taking the day off of work. He said he has his own surprise for Fany too, but I can have her for a few hours. Fany is going to have a great birthday!
Today as I dropped off Erika I saw Maria Fernanda and Dilma. I haven't seen them in a year - since I left the breakfast program. They are so tall! Like, really tall! I think they are at least as tall as I am. I stopped the car, rolled down my window and said hello. Maria Fernanda kept fighting back tears. She kept saying she was so surprised and happy to see me. What a cutie!
Then I saw some adults from the church as I headed up the hill. They were really happy to see me too. But they were on a steep incline so I couldn't stop, so they walked up to the road by Erika's house where we were stopped because a motorcycle was parked in the middle of the road. He knew who it belonged to. I'm not sure if the owner of the motorcycle saw him waving his arms toward where the owner lives up on the side of the mountain, or if he heard my car alarm going off because my car turned into a jungle gym as soon as I stopped, but he came down and moved the bike so we could get past.
Meanwhile, more kids I know came along. I got tons and tons of hugs and kisses. It was awesome. All of it. But I think my favorite moment was when Lorenzo asked if he could have "Just one more kiss." Yes Lorenzo. You can always have one more kiss.
