Jude + Joaquin = Buddies

The church had an event planned to feed breakfast to the elderly last week, so they asked me to bake 130 cookies.  The girls were away at camp and Jude had school so I loaded Joseph up in his wheelchair and we walked to Jude's school to drop him off.  There was a lock on the school door so we had to assume it was closed for the day.  Sigh.  Communication here is VERY different than the US.

I told Jude he was going to help me bake and he said, in Spanish, "I want to help Joaquin today."  I have mentioned Joaquin and Patsy, who are our dear friends from El Salvador, in past blog posts.  They are wonderful in so many ways but Jude has especially bonded with Joaquin.  Joaquin calls Jude, "little Jack," and doesn't mind the millions of questions Jude asks him.

When we arrived at church, Jack was loading up the vehicles to build a house.  Joaquin took Jude aside to gently remove him from chaos.  Jude immediately told him he planned to work with him.  Joaquin looked at me tentatively and said, "Well, we will try it!"  So Jude climbed up in the Kia truck and off they went to deliver materials for a house to be built next week.  After he was gone for two hours, I started getting nervous because I learned they went to a village that has been victim to some robberies lately.  By noon they returned and Jude was over the top excited.  He told me all about his very "own shovel," and all dirt he moved around.  He had a blast and, of course, Joaquin kept him safe.  So thankful for people who spend time with my kids and invest in them.