Mothers Day

I had a brilliant idea to make pendants with the finger prints of the children in clay. Then make a necklace for each mom. I couldnt find the clay that you can cook so I bought some that said it takes 2 to 3 days to dry. I didnt take into account the humidity here, so as you can imagine they never dried. Right before giving them out, I cooked them a bit in the oven. The finger prints were almost gone, but hey its the thought that counts, right? So the kids gave them out. And in mass.... they all started melting. Oh what a horror. It was really funny and I had to explain the story to the moms.

I went with a few of the kids to visit their moms. I was so happy to meet them, but the conditions were so difficult and I left with a heavy heart. First we dropped off Tete at her moms. Her mom was just getting out of bed at 11, I think still intoxicated from the night before. They have one little room with one bed. 3 girls sleep in it with the mom and her boyfriend. The boyfriend was on drugs for sure. The amazing part was that Tete was SO happy to be there.

Then I went with Renaud to visit the mom of Marcos and Daniel. She was SO extatic to see them. She stopped every single person in the street to show them off. She is so thin you can see every bone in her body and she is missing 4 front teeth. She´s about 24. She is a prostitute and before was living in the streets. A few years ago they built her a little house of wood. Marcos saved money each day during lent to buy her a Mothers Day present. They also gave her clothes. She was balling. At first I thought out of happiness, but then she kept saying "I miss my mom. I want my mom." Marcos consoled her telling her not to cry. We invited her to lunch, but she said she had other things to do. We climbed back up the hill (it was like her house was in a ditch... the terrain quite tricky to descend). All the men and boys in the street were dressed as women. I thought it was their normal clothes, but then they explained it was for Mothers day--they dressed as mothers. It was a horrid sight. I have never felt so uncomfortable and sad. But the thing was, the boys were so happy to see their mom. They snuggled against her concave stomach and reached for her hand as often as possible. And she too expressed her love for them in how she knew. I could see she loved them even though she cannot care for them.

Even though I couldnt be with my mom, it was a very special mothers day that I will never forget. It made me so so grateful for the mother I was blessed with.

Other things are normal around here. I will write about Tata on Thursday during my internet hour (I went to Simoes FIlho to get my last package of socks!! 200 reais!) Bea learned how to write the letter A and the letter B this week. She is incredible and I am amazed by her.

I found out we have a website with LOTS of photos of the fazenda. check it out https://picasaweb.google.com/pontoscoracaobrasil

Love to you all. I lift you up in prayer every day and hope that the Holy Spirit carries my love to you.
Love,
Erica