As I laid on the couch watching Miracle on 34th Street with the boys I had little Izar snuggled into my side.  All of the other boys, including the helpers Jose and Sergio sat restlessly trying to watch the movie.  Every few minutes we'd be interupted by a pillow flying, wrestling boys followed by a bloody nose, tickeling, climbing on eachother, giggling, fighting...boys will be boys.  I have realized since being here that nearly all of my time is spent with boys, but I love it!  Since I was young I just felt like I fit in with them better.  In my family there are 4 girls first followed by 2 boys, I am the last girls so I was always clumped along with my little brothers.  When my parents yelled "girls!" it meant Katie Carmen and Sarah, when they called the boys, it included me and my brothers.  I like to wrestle, and act goofy right along with them, however sometimes that gets me in trouble, sometimes I am a little too rough and manage to hurt grown men(you can ask my africa team about that one!).  Today I spent my entire day with the guys.  My friend Andrea and Ricardo invited me along with them as they brought the teenage boys to Oaxaca to hang out in the city.  We had a wonderful time together, we ate at McDonalds and then Andrea and I sat and had coffee together while the boys walked around.  At one point while we were sitting there all 9 boys and Andreas husband decided to check in on us.  You can imagine the waitors response when he saw 10 Mexican guys standing around these 2 little Americans stealing drinks of their coffee.  A waitor immediately came to our sides and told them they all must leave.  It was quite an akward moment for all of us as we had to explain to the waitor that no, everything was okay and they were with us!  I think he was embarrassed but we were glad that he was willing to help us if it were an emergency!  The way home was a blast, I sat in the back with the boys teaching them english and goofing off.  I had them saying different things like " I am so cool!" without explaining to them what they were saying, oh it was a great time.  When we returned home I immediately joined Sergio and Jose as they were taking care of the little boys so the rest of my night consisted of time spent with my other boys. 

(Andrea Ricardo and some of the teenage boys)

                                                                                

                                                                                         (boys will be boys!)

As I spend more and more time here, I fall more in love with the people around me but I have realized something, I always think of these kids as "their kids."  The little boys are Carmen and Fabi's kids, the teen boys are Ricardo and Andreas kids, and so on.  I know deep down, they're not mine.  I can sense in my spirit, I am here for the time being, but I am not meant to stay.  The whole time I've been here I knew I needed to return to Africa.  Those kids are "my kids" those are the kids I poured my everything into for the past year.  Those are the kids my heart aches for every day.  I know God has me here for the time being, I know I am here for a reason, but I know its temporary and I must return to Africa.