Loving Orphans...

The repairs are never ending. It's called job security!!!




Chad and Christi...I didn't ask 'why'.




Sweet Leslie. I love her humble and gentle spirit. Mark and Jean...she is very anxious to see you!!!




Fabiola and Luce...two sweetie pies!




Angel receiving a giant bear-hug from tio Gary. The boys love to horse around.




Fred and Barb's cute bunch.




The bus is leaving. It's odd how Gary never has to make several stops down the driveway to pick up late kids. Either the kids know he is prompt or deaf and can't hear them screaming to wait. Both are possibilities! :)




Beautiful Brenda!




Javier and Angel




Last minute homework to finish up on the ride to school.




Rio & Mirella




Mary Ellen~ Para tu...Brenda and Jazmine




Samuel loving on the kids after breakfast.




Tonito enjoying the breakfast...every drop of it! Remember the breakfast....




Brenda feeding Marta the breakfast. Marta didn't want to eat it. (Neither did I.)




Here we have the beautiful Karla sporting the school color guard uniform. She was very honored to wear it to school today.




Margarita and Cecilia...two beautiful girls...inside and out.




Ruby, Maggy and Lupita...what a cute bunch!




Mark...this one is for you!!! I have delivered the hugs and kisses many times!!!




Sweet Johana.




Ahhh Jacqueline




The shy yet handsome Ramon.




Marcela on duty receiving dishes at the kitchen window. She always has a beautiful smile on her face.




Brenda catching a quiet moment at breakfast.




New street people coming to our Wednesday night service.




Margarita & Silvia




Ramon daydreaming about his new family. Please pray for Ramon and Marta. When they make their new move to Michigan...it will be many dramatic changes. They are very brave for doing this.




Samuel is an awesome marble player! What isn't he good at????




Santana without hair gel. Gary and I love teasing him about resembling the road runners around here with that big tuft of hair on top of their heads. We love this boy. He is 20 years old and soaking up every moment with Gary.



It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Blue sky, a warmer sun and the sound of children's laughter. This morning the primary students don't have school. I love to hear them playing and having fun...it's music to my ears.

Our day begins at 4:15 with staff prayer and devotions (most of the children are up for this). By 6:15 the children's devotions begin and then breakfast is served and everyone is pretty hungry. I was hungry...and ready to take my first big bite until I wondered why some of the rice in my bowl of rice pudding/milk/cereal mixture was a light orange/pink, longer and curled. As the spoon began to touch my lips I realized they were meal worms. I tried not to look frantic as I quickly put my spoon back into the bowl. Gary was sitting next to me and hadn't eaten or even noticed. (I really don't think guys look at food anyway...they just eat.) However, after whispering in Gary's ear about the added protein, we decided to give up our bowl of goodies to anyone else who might be hungry and our breakfast was quickly consumed by some hungry children. We opted for crackers in our room. This is the hard part, though. Trying not to hurt feelings by turning down their food. This is the first time this has happened for us. Luckily, the staff has been called on to fast and pray throughout this week, so we just told them we were not eating now and they didn't ask questions. For all of you reading this, I am not wanting to cast a shadow on their food. It is really good food, apparently today there was a bad bag of rice. I might look through the bag later on and sort out the protein for them. The last thing I want to do is to embarrass our friends. We love them deeply. If we have to eat mealworms to prove our love, then God will enable us to do it. (We just weren't enabled today!) :)

Last evening I had a scarey time. I was taking 3 teens into town who spoke no english. Well, there was a military roadblock ahead (looking for drugs). At first I wanted to panic and I reminded the Lord of my limited Spanish. The military men look quite intimidating with their black masks on, bullet-proof vests, camo clothes and machine guns. I slowed down and breathed a quick prayer for peace. Then, I rolled down my window and with a big smile said good-afternoon. He looked at me quite oddly, looked at the side of the van with the orphanage logo on it, looked at the teens, looked again at me with my frozen smile and told me to go on. Whew! Was I ever glad to go forward. With a machine gun only 10 inches from your nose, it makes you very uncomfortable...to say the least. Thank you, Jesus, for your faithfulness. He is my tower of strength! Gary has seen quite a few of these military trucks driving around Aldama, filled with men in black masks and machine guns. (Ya don't see that in Mears, Michigan!) Ed and Rosa said there are big drug raids in Aldama and many brutal murders that are drug related. No wonder why I don't like driving there at night.

The day before yesterday I struggled with our seperation from our grandchildren (I am ashamed to admit my selfishness). During the supper meal, I had the strangest experience. As I was looking at one of the children, I saw the eyes of Selah (our daughter Calle's little girl). Selah has beautiful blue eyes, and for a few moments, I was looking into little Selah's eyes. These precious eyes were begging me to hold her and love on her. It was then I realized that these kids are someone's grandchildren...and I'm the grandma who is there to love on them. Now I am holding these kids a little tighter, kissing on them even more...because their grandma and grandma aren't here to do it. When I am loving on these kids, I am loving on my own grandchildren. Father, thank you for entrusting me to this job!
The only job hazard will be chapped lips!

For those of you who have been in prayer...especially you, Dorothy Moul, ... the 18 year old girl who ran away is now back. I wanted to find a way to spend some 1 on 1 time with her. Well, Rosa said that she does her eyebrows. (OK guys, you can go on to the next paragraph now.) So, since I don't have decent lighting, magnified mirror or tweezers and do have old eyes, I asked her if she would tweeze my eyebrows. (It's been about 7 weeks...Karen...we look like twins!) Anyway, she said she would after school today. I am anxious to share with her that there are a lot of people who have been praying for her and a lot of people who love her. I want to challenge her to finish school and that God might have some fun surprises in store for her future. I'll let you know how that talk goes.

O.K. GUYS, YOU CAN START READING HERE: The day is flying by. The internet is very spotty again...it's taken 1 hour to load 5 pics. You will be able to see how my patience is holding out by counting how many pictures I end up sending. :)

P.S. Before you think I'm a saint, I must confess...the internet worked for about 1 hour straight. That is the reason for many pics!