cherish.

happy saturday!
i love weekends around here. well, i mean, let's be real...i love all days around here.
but weekends are just different.

four girls spent the night at the bureau with me last night. they were fast asleep by 10:30. i got to talk to one of my best friends, amber, for awhile last night. so nice! i wish so badly, so often, that everyone i love from the states could be here with me.
to feel this love.
to experience this place.
to know this joy.

now the girls are playing out in my front courtyard area, laughing and screaming about a game they made up. they woke up early this morning. well, okay, they ALWAYS wake up early! i wasn't feeling so great last night, so was up quite a bit through the night and heard their chatter around 7:30 this morning. once i finally crawled out of bed to tell them good morning, i found that they had all showered already and were sweeping and mopping the entire bureau! how's that for saturday morning entertainment? they walked down to the market and bought bread for us all to share. it was still warm. and absolutely heavenly.

as they laugh outside, i am reminded once again that there are so many glimpses of my days here that i will carry in my heart forever...

alice singing "this little light of mine" with me in english at the top of her lungs...

the "band of brothers" (5 little rascal boys who are all around the same age...and are absolutely inseparable and provide so so so much comic relief on a daily basis!) breaking out in a dance party while they were supposed to be washing dishes before dinner last night...

me spending 1.5 hours teaching 4 of the kids how to spell 20 different french words (this solidified the fact that i absolutely could NEVER be a teacher)...

catching femi's eye and then making the goofiest faces at each other and waiting to see who will laugh first...

the children on the road to the orphanage who come running out of their home every single day screaming at the white girl on her moto. i like to think that me giving them a little toot on my horn makes their day. i haven't quite gotten down the driving the moto and waving thing yet...so honking has to suffice...

laughing so hard at a game of spoons...

having conversations with bernard and augustin and having them say, "do you understand...?" every other sentence...

knowing that each day i will go to bed tired, and will need to shower immediately when i get home because i am sweaty, and covered in red dirt, and hand prints are all over my shirt and skirt...

having viviane sing "tomorrow, tomorrow, i'll love you tomorrow" with me every night before i leave the orphanage...

it's not the big things that i love.
it's all the little small things that take up the most space in my heart.
like cosmo running around with my helmet on for 15 minutes every morning after i get to the orphanage...

as i was sitting at the table yesterday afternoon, looking around as delphine was washing her clothes, mama jacquelyn was preparing dinner, many construction workers were up at the site of the new dorm working, the band of brothers were playing soccer in the field beside me, a game of "crazy eights" was being played next to me...i decided i could have sat there forever.
but i know that isn't possible.
but i do know that i can cherish every memory.
love these kids like crazy every second that i'm here.
and plan for the moment i can return.
i will continue to laugh with ashley often.
and butcher every french phrase i am patiently taught.

i will continue to love it all.
and love them all.
because they have so graciously loved me.