After breakfast we walked to town to find a bookstore to get Bevaughn some more books. As I said before, this kid is book crazy! We found some super cool books, like J is for Jamaica. A is for Ackee…B is for Bammy….C is for Callaloo… etc. He loved it and I did too. After the bookstore we headed over to Maxfield. There has been a different security person there each day so there is always some confusion about who we are and our purpose for being there. The security woman told me to call the office myself so I did and a very nice man named Richard said “Yeah Mon, the ones with the suitcases of supplies..come on in.” He greeted outside the office and walked us into the building. He told the care takers that we had arrived and they said that they would get him ready and bring him out. Richard said that he will be praying for our family and that he is very happy for us and Bevaughn.
I really think that they are changing him into nicer clothes before they bring him out because we can never see him as soon as we walk in and he is wearing much nicer clothes than the other kids. The kids in the brown uniforms are the “schoolers” that live there but go to school next door during the day. The toddlers like Bevaughn are dressed in regular clothes and are kept in what I would consider a very small room. One with no toys that I can find. When we get there, Bevaughn is in the room with the other toddlers and then sent out to be with us. I think that he must be so confused as to why they have been changing his clothes everyday and sending him out, away from his friends, to spend time with two strangers. His friends will see him sitting on the bench down the hall from them and yell his name.
The schoolers were wild and rough today! They literally attacked us, 10 at a time hanging on Mark and myself..they wanted to pull our hair and slap our arms and legs and try to pull on our noses. I had kids trying to pull my earrings and hair out all at the same time! They also loved touching our hair. Bevaughn was being a little protective again, guarding us and the book bag where all of his books are. An older girl named Princess whacked Bevaughn upside the head and he took his shoe off and chased her with it. We as well as the care takers had to be very stern and make them line up on the bench. These kids are in serious need of love and attention. Again, we decided to leave while they were eating lunch because the kids would not focus on eating. We sat underneath the mango tree again and ate our PB and J’s. While we were eating, we ran into the two Basic school teachers. We told them about the school supplies that we brought to make sure that the supplies ended up in the right hands. I passed her later and she said that she located the school supplies and was very grateful.
We read our new books today and the old ones too. Bevaughn looked at his life book again and the new pictures that we added last night. He just laughs when he sees picture of himself and his friends. We colored some more and spent more time on the “play ground”. While on the playground we met some older school children that were such a pleasure to talk to. There is a 6th grade boy named Matthew that has an incredible spirit. I really enjoyed our conversation. I want to find some sunglasses for him before we leave because he has some sort of issue with his right eye and the sunlight hurts it. One of older girls gave Bevaughn a mango. He REALLY likes mangoes.
Matthew
He is opening up to us more and more everyday. He will walk up and put his arms out to be picked up and is very good at giving hugs. No kisses yet. When we look at pictures he will point out that I am mommy and that Mark is daddy. His care taker said today that he is a very sensible child. I totally agree. He is very well behaved, other than yesterday when he tried to hit Omar and another boy with his crayons. He is very go-with-the-flow and mellow. He likes everything put back in the book bag when we are finished with it and he puts all of his crayons away. I did think that it was a little weird when he started wiping off his crayons with a wet nap. That’s even too OCD for me. We stayed about 6 hours today and then he fell asleep on Mark. I walked around with him for a while before we put him in his bed.
We had seriously talked about the possibility of adopting Bevaughn’s friend Omar. Omar is such a cool kid. A woman at Maxfield said that we should adopt Omar but the kicker is that he comes with a 2 year old sister. She pulled me into meet his little sister while she was asleep in her crib. They are both so cute, but three children at once is just a bit too crazy. We are hoping that they are legally free for adoption and that we may be able to assist another couple in adopting a sibling pair. That would be SO awesome. We would love to see these two get the family that they need and deserve.
Omar (in the middle)
Mary (Omar's sister)
I really didn’t want to leave Maxfield today. Each day it is getting harder to leave. Friday will be a bummer. I just hope he knows that we WILL be back to get him ASAP.
We came back to our room, borrowed an iron for out interview clothes tomorrow and talked to the manager, Mrs. Henriques, for some time about the adoption process in Jamaica. We then walked to town again for some more Hardo bread and other staples, came back to our room, ate dinner, and are now calling it a night. I have to admit, I am a bit nervous about the meeting with Mrs. Tummings tomorrow.
Thank you to everyone that is praying for us right now.
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