Oh my Destiny Hope....just this morning Blake and I were asking each other again, "Where did this girl come from?" She has no fear here in our new town. No intimidation. No need to slowly acclimate. She acts as if she were born and raised here.
Yesterday she wanted to go work in the school next door for awhile, so took off after breakfast and was gone for 3 hours. She came back at lunch eating some pan dulce (sweet bread) she had bought from a bread store close by. After checking in, she headed to the playground, and then over to a friend's house one street over. She forgot to let me know she was leaving the playground and heading to a friend's, and an hour later when I realized she wasn't at the playground I ran around in a panic yelling her name over and over before thinking to call this particular friend's parents. Sure enough she was there. I scolded her and told her she needed to be home by 5:30. She returned on time, eating two cooked potatoes and holding two raw potatoes in a bag. I asked her where she had gotten them and she said, "I bought them from a vegetable stand, and then I peeled and microwaved them at Molly's house."
So she didn't eat lunch or dinner at home. She bought her own food from right off the side of the road for both meals. Blake told me this morning, "I'm proud of her fearlessness, but right now I'm more scared of it than proud."
It's hard to know how to handle her sometimes. To teach her common sense and awareness of danger without squelching her bold and adventurous spirit. To teach her to be respectful and kind without eliminating all her sassiness that makes her so wild and fun.
She has friends all over the town right now. We can't walk far without hearing kids of all ages yell out, "Hola Esperanza!!" The boys secretly call her "Leon" (Lion) because of her hair. She has a boy that is adamantly wanting her for a girlfriend...but he also runs away when he sees her so we're not to worried about him yet... She says he's too short for her anyway. ha!
She has started spending time with our woman's social work sewing group once a week. She shares the sewing machines with a group of amazing women who are learning skills to support their family. They teach her what they know, and brag on her fast learning when they see me.
Her Spanish has grown by leaps and bounds the past two months. She has become best friends with the girl next door, and they spend hours together just about every day. Early this morning this friend and her big sister set off fireworks outside her window...a tradition here in Guatemala. It scared the beetle juice out of all of us, but Hope came running down the stairs with a huge smile and ran out of the house to greet her birthday celebrators. Life is a party and today's party is all about her.
She is preteen girl already in every sense of the word. Moody and emotional and dramatic. She makes me want to pull my hair out at least once a day. The hours she is calm and rational, she's one of my favorite people to hang out with though. She is a really good communicator and good at telling stories and expressing her thoughts.
She continues to love her baby brother, but doesn't have as much time for him and often isn't very patient. I don't know if she knows it, but Logan would take Camden over her any day. But he doesn't dislike her either, and she will still do things to help with him that Camden won't....like change diapers and get him dressed. She tolerates her big brother just barely. I wish I could say they are best friends....but well that would be a hilarious exaggeration.
She still likes dancing and singing and gymnastics along with her new hobby of sewing. She loves being around people (the more the better), playing games, shopping, puppies, and being in the middle of any action she can find.
I can't wait to see what this next year holds for her, or better yet what she holds for this next year. Being her mom is like reading a suspenseful book. Each day an adventure, each year more exciting and surprising than the last. Her daddy and I are holding on for quite a ride in the years ahead. It won't be boring, I am certain.
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