Sunday, July 16, 1:00 PM. Amy.

I think she’s going to be okay.

I woke up suddenly this morning about 5 AM. Something had woken me. I thought it was Beth, but she was still sleeping on her little cot beside the air mattress.

Then I remembered Sofia. I looked at her. To my surprise, her eyes were open and she was looking back at me. She had a gentle smile on her face, a sweet smile, shy and cautious. I knelt beside her and took her hand. “Hi,” I said. “How do you feel?”

She looked confused. She whispered something about, “No…ingles.” “No English,” surely. She couldn’t speak English.

I stroked her hair and asked, “Do you hurt? Is there pain?” hoping she’d recognize a word. She didn’t understand. I tried to remember my college Latin. Aren’t a lot of the words the same? “Dolor?” I asked.

She was confused a moment, then, “¿Dolor?” She pronounced it differently from me. “Sí, un poco,” she said, speaking slowly, touching her head. Then she licked her lips, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Sediento.”

I ran to the kitchen and filled a cup with the rehydration solution. “Aqua?” I ventured, bringing it to her. “No, it’s agua, right? That word I know. Agua.”

She nodded, accepted the cup, and sipped eagerly. Then her head fell back against the pillow and she let me take the cup.

“Okay?” I asked.

“Sí. Okay,” she said, glancing at me with a thankful smile.

Suddenly she remembered something. She tried to sit up. “¿Daniel?” she asked. She was concerned, preparing to get up. “¿Mi hermano?”

I held her gently in place. “Daniel is okay.” I smiled as reassuringly as I could. “He’s here, in that room there.” I nodded toward Trevor’s room.

She calmed down, sank back into the sofa, asking something about bien? and herido?

“He’s okay,” I assured her. “He’s fine. Bien. He is…sanus? …salutaris? …saluber?”

She nodded and, correcting my Latin, repeated, “Saludable.” There was still worry in her eyes, but she seemed assuaged for the moment.

By 6 AM she was sitting up more, propped on cushions, a little woozy-looking, but alert and seeming contented. She watched with curiosity as I made my morning latte. Then I came over and sat on the floor close beside her.

Together we watched Beth sleeping. After a long while she whispered, “Bonita.”

“Sí,” I replied. “Gracias.” That’s about the extent of my Spanish.

The sun was rising and I had just begun making breakfast when Trevor and Daniel tumbled out of their room. Daniel saw his sister and ran to her. They fell into each other, his arm still in its sling, and held each other and cried a little while. They spoke together but I couldn’t follow what they were saying. He sat right beside her the rest of the morning.

Garrett came down a few minutes later and Claire a little after that. Each of them greeted her in turn, kneeling down beside the sofa to say “Hola,” and “Hi.” Garrett shook her hand; Claire hugged her. They taught her their names. Everyone was a little shy. Claire tried to converse for a few minutes, and they discovered the words “hungry” and “hambre”, “dolor” and “hurt”, “head” and “cabeza.” Then Garrett went out to tend the animals and Claire to milk the cows. Trevor took Daniel to gather the eggs.

When they were done we gathered around the sofa and had breakfast together. I gave Sofia a TV tray and a little plain oatmeal. She gobbled it down. After fifteen minutes or so, when it didn’t seem to give her any abdominal trouble, I let her have more. She was obviously famished. We had eggs and pancakes and butter and syrup, and made quite a festive party, smiling and passing food and teaching each other new words.

A little later, Garrett got his guitar and we sang some worship songs together. It’s Sunday, after all. Garrett gave the sermon as usual. The newcomers looking on silently, befuddled but contented. We shared prayer requests and prayed. Everyone thanked God for sending Sofia and Daniel our way. They bowed their little heads and took surreptitious glances until joining in the last “Amen.”

Everyone is napping now. I’m going with Claire to town to see if we can find some medicine for abdominal parasites and a Spanish-English dictionary or electronic translator if we can find one.

I’m thankful too. Thankful to God? I don’t know. But I’m thankful.