it's may already

I recently had a guest from Chicago staying with me for a couple of weeks, which is always fun.  I love to see the city through the eyes of someone new because all the quirky things about Cochabamba are normal to me now. 

This visitor was especially fun because he gave me his palm pilot!  So generous!!!  I think he saw how terribly unorganized I am and felt pity.  I tend to write my daily schedule on my hand so I don't forget to do things, and I can barely keep track of what day of the week it is... So this palm pilot may be the gateway to a whole new organized life. Exciting!

So this was another busy week, and somehow May completely snuck up on me.  We got one of the boys who is working in carpentry into a home (the second one we've tried) and set him up to work full-time.  It was a big leap forward, and he was doing great, but he only lasted 5 days.  He's back to sleeping at the night shelter and working part-time.  But he's very rarely sniffing glue, and he still wants to move forward...just little by little. He's a hard worker, and we are all really encouraged by his attitude.

A couple photos of him working at Nate's shop:

I woke up yesterday to a phone call from some of the folks who helped put on the soccer game in January at the stadium for the kids from the bridge.  Someone had donated a bunch of sandwiches and juice, and they called to see if we could connect and bring the food up to the kids.  We passed out food and just hung out with the kids for a couple of hours.  They took down the kids' names and sizes and are planning to bring some sweatshirts out to them in the next couple of weeks.  I'm really pleased that they want to keep up a connection with the kids. And I spoke to the women about coordinating and planning some activities at my house for the girls from the bridge, and they're really into the idea.

A few photos of the kids from Saturday: