mercy.

Today was ROUGH.

I felt pretty awful about it, and then Noel and I were talking in the yard this evening with all the kids when Sarah came out of her house with my day on her face.

"Hey Noel, would you like my children?" she said out of nowhere, and I bust out laughing.

Noel, of course, just caught "Noel....like...children?" so quickly agreed.

Too bad, Sarah!...Noel was my friend first, and if she's taking anybody's kids today, she's taking MINE :)

Nonetheless, we made it, and the highlight of the day was a precious one....hanging out at Shayla and Naomi's.  I have a precious photo trapped on my phone (I can barely figure out how t

o call someone on the stinking thing, much less take off a photo) of Lily and Sofie doing laundry with Florina and Naomi.  

It's when we're in people's homes that I am most aware that the girls and I don't share the same home culture.  I mean, all those things that still pop out at me as "different" aren't different to them.  

The whole time we're hanging out with Maxi and Jean-Sius' family, there are people and chickens and toddlers and stray dogs milling in and out of the yard and through their house.  

And the whole time you're talking, everybody's doing 10 different things: shelling beans, selling sunglasses, scrubbing laundry, roasting cocoa beans, tying up goats, taking coins and in turn adding minutes to peoples' phones, frying hot peppers (which I can't get past my lips and the girls pop like candy) and chatting...and that was just the 90 minutes we were there today.

And Sofie and Lil? They don't bat an eye.  A moment in, and Lily's pulling dirty t-shirts out of the mountain, crouching over the bucket watching Florina and mimicking her every move with the ball of soap.  Sofie's chasing the other kids and climbing up and down the gravel pile (that's been there so long it has plants growing out of it...waiting for enough other materials to actually build on), Lily's listening to all the chatter flying overhead and smiling when it's funny, concerned when she should be, and asking questions in Creole when something doesn't make sense.

Kerline and Shayla spoil them terribly, giving them more hot peppers and green lollipops than anyone should ever eat, but they are happy and at home and I marvel.  I really do.  

If only I could be as at ease as these little ones are!

 These girls love to ride the penny horse at Wal-Mart and'll shuck beans in a mud hut.  Wanna watch Dora AND watch Jean-Sius turn pods into chocolate.  Wanna play with Elli and Azi AND Ashline and Alexandra.  I love that.

And they'll push my every button and test every boundary and Sofie will NOT keep her panties on and they NEVER like what I cook and every single time I say, "time to brush your teeth!" or "bath time!" they look at me like they have NO idea what I'm talking about.  Like it's a huge surprise.  Every time.

And I might be super thankful I spend three hours each morning teaching adults.  And might be fighting our neighbors for Noel.

But these cross-cutlural toddlers of ours are something special.  As always, I have a lot to learn...even from the two I'm working hardest to teach.