Monday, December 9, 2013

A Cussing Sailor

 
I  carried bags across the ocean packed with gifts..
 
We spent hours at the mall shopping for even more gifts after I arrived. 
 

Filling out the wish list. 


 
 Towels. Diapers. 




Socks.  Fruit.  Candy. 
 
 
 
Soap.  Tights. 
 
 
Enough for 110 boys. 
 

 
 
The car was packed.  Full.
 
The director stood and directed as we emptied the car into the arms of the workers.  Men and Women.  Making clear that there were gifts for each one.  A picture for each one too.  I held it up.  Vanya. 
 
 
 
AWWWW.... one man called out  - "Now I know what boy it is.  He's the boy with the bad mouth." 
 
They all laughed.  True.  True.
 
What??  Are you kidding me?  "Oh yes.  He knew all the bad words.  He knew them all."
 
Our Vanya?  Bad  Mouthed?  He only knew 20 or so words.  How could this be???
 
Yes.  Yes.  He knew them all.
 
We didn't know.  We didn't know.  He would never speak to us when a translator was around. 
 
Our Vanya. A sneaky little cussing sailor.
 
 
 
The boy with the bad mouth.
 
 
Go figure.
 
We sure didn't.
 
 



6 comments:

  1. Oh how this brought tears of joy to my eyes. I love it! I can imagine I'd have quite a vocabulary myself if I was put in that institute. So glad you got items to them!!! I love the updates and can't wait to hear more from the happenings with the Director/workers/lost boys.

    Sue H.

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  2. I got a foster child in the middle of the night once. She had just turned two. When they handed her to my husband she woke up, looked him in the eye and with unbelievable hatred said "F***** you." It wasn't the words that were so upsetting but the hatred with which she delivered them. We found out the next morning that was the ONLY two words she knew. She used them as a verb, adjective and noun. It took me months to teach her to talk. I used to be so embarrassed because I would take her to the store and she would drop the F bomb every where we went. I'll never forget the look on Santa's face. I thought about gettin a t-shirt that said "foster mom." Poor kiddo, for two years those were the only words she heard. She's eight now. She was adopted by a wonderful family and has a huge vocabulary and I don't think she even remembers her first word. Children are a product of their environment. I am so glad he is in a home where he has a huge vocabulary!

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  3. Potty-mouth Aaron! If the trip only was to yield this information, it would have been worth it. Ahahahah!

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  4. hil.air.ious. Oh, what the love of Jesus will do...even to a cussin' sailor. How blessed you are to see the transformation.

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  5. Hahaha! Well, well! So happy he is a dear son now!

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  6. First I laughed, but then it hit me that it s so sad. From where did he learn those words....? Who told him, who called him thosewords? And I stopped laughing.

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