Loved by Madrina: September Visit

As I am looking forward to an update this week, I realized that I had not posted anything about our last visit. No better time to catch up than now!

After the ultra-short July visit, I decided to try something new. I wanted V to be able to spend more time with the boys to find out more about how they are doing and also to help build our relationship with the family. So, we invited them all to lunch at Pollo Campero to celebrate Independence Day. It worked out to be a nice visit. Gerson, Elviz, their grandmother, their mother, and 6 of the other children came to play and have lunch. There are 3 other adults and 3 other children in the household who did not come.

Gerson and Elviz seemed to be doing fine. They both look like they have gotten taller and still pretty skinny. Gerson ate a lot, and then asked for extra to take home. Elviz didn't eat much. They also asked if they could take some home to their cousins who did not come - very sweet! Their grandmother told V that Gerson and Elviz are like twins, because they are always together. She also said that they are very good at taking care of their younger cousins and are always looking out for them.

The family shared that the government has given them materials and labor to build a new house. They said that there were 3 laborers to help them, but only for 1 month's time. So they have all been working a lot to try to get the house built in that short amount of time. This has a mixed blessing for them, because the time that they have spent working on the house has had a very negative impact on their business. Also, it is a better structure, but it is still in the same dangerous location. At the time of the visit, they said that the walls were half way up on the house, so hopefully it is now complete and they are enjoying their new home.