Jackson

Before I came to Nepo, I was told by more than one person, “Go with no expectations.”  While I tried not to come down with many expectations, I did have some preconceived ideas about what my time would be like down here.  Some of those ideas have been close to reality and some couldn’t be further from the truth.  But, one of the things that I never expected (in retrospect, I’m not sure why I never considered this) is the reality of boys coming and going in this place.  While I did give some thought to the fact that we would probably get new boys during my time here, I never once thought about having boys leave and how very difficult that would be.  Such is the case with a boy named Jackson.

Jackson was one of the first boys that I met here at the orphanage.  Unlike a lot of 15 year old boys that I used to work with at the middle school, Jackson was an absolute sweetheart.  Always the first to smile and offer a great big thumbs up every time you walked passed him, he spread joy wherever he went.   Jackson was very eager to learn English and always wanted to know how to say things in English.  Conversely, he was just as willing to teach me Portuguese and his lessons were extremely helpful.  On one of my first days here, it was Jackson who asked me in Portuguese if I wanted to stay here forever.  During my second week here, it was Jackson who came to my window and asked me in English to come here please.  I went to the front door and when I opened it, I was greeted with a large living fish flopping around in my face along with Jackson’s smiling face.  Jackson quickly learned the phrase “Kaych (how they pronounce my name in Portuguese) come here please” and I knew that whenever I heard that phrase some type of adventure and laughter would soon follow.  J 

Thursday, February 23 seemed like a pretty typical day….we watched the little kids in the morning and on my lunch break, I did some puzzles with Jackson, Bruno, and Tulio.  I helped Marcela in the afternoon, and in the evening, I played Trouble with Jackson, Fabricio, Alan, and Jessica.  Little did I know that it would be my last day with Jackson…..on Friday at lunch, Viktoria mentioned something about Jackson’s departure and I asked her what she was talking about.  She then went on to explain that Jackson’s mother had called a few days earlier and after 7 years of him living here, his mom decided that she wanted him back.  So, that morning she had come and picked him up.  I had no clue he was leaving and initially was quite shocked to realize that he was gone for good.  I would love to have had a chance to say goodbye and to thank him for how welcome he made me feel here (although with my limited Portuguese I probably wouldn’t have been able to say even that  J ).  While I do miss Jackson…his smile and helpfulness, the way he would randomly take off his flipflop on the sidewalk to start a game of flipflop soccer…I am so thankful for the two weeks that I had the pleasure of knowing him and the lessons I learned from him.  Along with the Portuguese he taught me, I have learned to expect anything and be grateful for everything, especially every single day that I have with these boys, because you never know when it will be your last and they will be gone. 

Playing Trouble with Jackson on what ended up being his last night
at the orphanage.
(The photo quality is not the best because it was taken by one of the
boys and they don't quite know how to properly use a camera...
meaning they often put their fingers in front of the flash and
sometimes even the lens itself )  :)

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and while I definitely have a thousand words I would love to share with you all, finding the time to do so has been somewhat difficult.  So today I thought I would let my pictures do the talking.....

This is the Freemans' home where I stayed when I was in Recife.

Me with Leticia Freeman.  One of the 20+ kids they have adopted,
she is quite a goofball and brings lots of laughter to the house :)

Andy Freeman, another one of the children, he is very loving
and always greeted me with a hug and his adorable smile.....
I love how he is totally missing the plants he is supposed to be watering :)

 

Esther, Rebekah, and Rachael Freeman (daughters of the
first Freeman son) and Kuaun Freeman (the 24th and
youngest of the children).  Kuaun loves to play with "the nieces"
and they love their uncle :)

On my last afternoon with the Freemans, they put on a
rodeo for me.  In this picture, the kids are lined up and
ready for their turn in the rodeo as Stephanie welcomed
everyone to the show. 
This picture also shows the horse arena where we played soccer.
It's hard to see, but try and notice the gravel, sticks, large pointy
objects, etc. and you will somewhat understand why my feet got so
torn up while playing :)

Leticia doing a trick on the horse during the rodeo.  After I
saw what they did during the show, I wondered why
I was so scared to simply ride a saddled, walking horse :)

If you recall from my first post, there were a lot of bugs in
Recife.  This picture shows just one of the many
lovely creatures I had to get used to :)

Just like the sunsets there, my time with the Freemans was
so marvelous......

And just like the beauty of my new home in Nepo, my time
here is proving to be every bit as wonderful  :)

Me with some of my boys from the orphanage and some
visitors from São Paulo.

Our short term missions team...me, Jessica, and Viktoria.
After they leave in the beginning of April, it will be just me and
therefore, I cling all the more to the promise of Joshua 1:9  :)

Some of the cuties that I get to take care of in the morning  :)

And some of the older boys....I just love how they pose for photos :)

So I've discovered that if you have a camera with you there will instantly
be a handful of boys that surround you and want to take pictures.  They
especially like taking pictures of themselves as is the case here with Alexandro. 
You will notice in this picture that he took the lovely little fly that
is crawling on the food he is eating.  This is also completely normal as the
flies here are probably as bad as the plague was in Egypt....I have
definitely gotten used to them not only swarming all around you all the
time, but also all over your food even on the bite you are about to take....
thankfully, I have not swallowed one yet  :)

And this is the reason for the flies (the cows, not Alan)  :) 

The pigs are also a reason for the flies, but I really included this one for
you Beth....notice how cute the three little piglets are  :)



We went for a walk and the boys were picking goyabas
and really wanted me to eat one....needless to say, after my experience in Recife
with goyabas, I was a little hesitant to try it again.  But, thankfully, this time
I did not chip my tooth, thoroughly enjoyed the goyaba, and realized that I
most certainly did not have a ripe one in Recife...hence the chipped tooth  :)

A typical Sunday morning ride to church....all 40+ of us pile into a tiny
bus....car seats and seat belts are definitely not used or even heard of here  :)

Reginaldo and Alison....these two brothers and their other brother (see the
picture below) have absolutely stolen my heart  :)

Me and my buddy Alifer.....such a sweetheart  :)

Along with falling in love with the kids here, I also love the town of
Nepomuceno where I am living.  Here you find beautiful flowers, grand churches, and.....

.....random cows in the middle of the main street  :)

And to end this first picture tour, I thought I´d leave you with the view
from my back porch where our hammock hangs and our
view is always this glorious :)