Unexpecting

-The note one of the girls gave me after passing her test :-)

So the one girl who could not pass her math test finally passed! And since her I have worked with 3 other girls, two of them have also passed and the third, I have not even let her try again yet. This girl is 13 and can't add...she seems to be able to do simple multiplication and division, but adding and subtracting just is not clicking. For example 7-2; she writes down 7 tally marks and crosses out 2 of them. I knew she had failed her test so I gave her some example problems and watched her work them out in this manner and I was in disbelief. Kendall’s kindergarten class is working on adding right now and learning it much better than this 13 year old girl. I am not sure what to even do, but I hope that God will just let me find a way to teach this young girl. Things have been getting better with school, the kids are responding better, especially since I have watched a few of them finally pass a couple tests. Hopefully each week can have some results.

I had my first fall yesterday…I was walking on the edge of a mound of rocks and they just collapsed and I went down. Thankfully I had on a skirt down to my ankles or it would have been MUCH worse. My legs are all skinned up and I ripped a hole in my skirt. I have had a skinned knee in a LONG time and it freaking hurts BAD! I knew it was bound to happen, but still not very impressed.

Kendall has this one girl in her class, who just has a terrible attitude. She always looks angry at the world and just doesn’t listen or respond to anything. She has two older brothers, and two sisters. One of her sisters was adopted last year. She still talks about her. These children were found living on the streets, their oldest brother who is only 13, I think 11 at the time, was taking care of them all. Both of their parents are dead, and somehow by the grace of God, Sister Gladys found these children and brought them here. I can’t even imagine being so young and taking care of 4 kids, one a baby at the time. The baby girl was adopted when she was one years old and you can tell it is just hard for them all. Of course the baby is going to get adopted and the older ones will be here for life. It really is hard to see this girl and the way she just rebels. She has some serious hurt in her heart. I pray this girl can work things out and learn to love her life and the people around her. I think she is maybe 6 or 7 and has just had a terrible life so far.

Kendall went down to read the younger girls a book before bed last night, so I went along. I sat and watched about 20 girls, from 5 to 13 years old; get ready for bed last night. I haven’t really seen their living accommodations, but last night I got my fill. They live better than most in the country, but I didn’t realize how little they really have. First of all the mattresses here, even the one I sleep on, is about two inches thick and TERRIBLE. Then I saw that not a single girl has a pillow! I guess I just assumed they would? They have no pillows; a few don’t have sheets on their bed. They just sleep on the straight mattress. They have a couple showers and a toilet, but Kendall said they use the restroom outside and shower with buckets outside most of the time, I am really not sure why? They put a bucket of water under a couple beds and that is where they use the restroom in the middle of the night. It was very odd to see all this. In my head I just had a vision of how they lived and I was way off. However they don’t seem to mind, this is just the way they live and it is accepted. Still yet another shock to me…

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not.  ~Dr. Seuss