Happy Easter!!!

Crystal surrounded by her new friends!




Crystal and Silvia




A new hair do for the stewardess!!!




Leticia and her tio Gary




Crystal sampling some tangy chips!




Cecilia helping tio Gary drive home after the big night!




A tearful goodbye!




Crysal and Oliver




The ride home from the ice cream shop!




Leslie and Lucia enjoying an ice cream cone!




Leticia and Veronicia




Horseback riding...Silvia and Leslie at the ice cream shop!




Maggie and Median




Pony rides, anyone???




Crystal feeding Julian breakfast




Youth night fun!




Fabiola and Bonifacio played on our soccer team this week and did great!!!




Our chauffeur...




Antonio and Jackie...brother and sister...




They love to smooch!!!




Maggie and Cecilia testing the yogurt!!!




Nobody is saying who clipped off half of Gustavo's bangs.




Lupita...another new girl




Leslie and her new papa's pic. I found her on the couch in the girls wing looking through her new family's pic book.




She spent a lot of time looking at her new mama and the kitchen where they will be spending a lot of time together. She is very excited!!!




Daniel feeding Julian...this boy has such a servant's heart!




Jump rope anyone? Crystal and I twirled the jumprope until our arms felt like they were going to fall off.




Splendor through a gate...




Jazmine and Jazmine...what a pair!




Andrea did not want to get down!!!





Papa's shadows!




A typical day with another soccer game going on...




Jackie..our cute little model!!!




Aurelio...a gentle giant.




Lizeth...one of our new little girls.




Crystal taking in the scenes.



TEAM ARKANSAS...SAYING GOODBYE!!!




















Making cinnamon rolls...I told Karla the flour goes into the pan!




The end result...15 dozen cinnamon rolls!




Another beautiful day...




The art of hair styling is big...




A sleepy Brenda!




Silvi and her blue tongue!




My baking partners!




Jazmine...what a sweetheart!




Counting out 84 cups of flour...




Jackie was a big help too!!!




What a busy week! Team Arkansas left on Friday morning after accomplishing a lot of work at the new boys dining hall. They worked VERY hard doing a lot of digging in the rocks and clay. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, TEAM ARKANSAS! The kids really miss you!

We had a wonderful time with Crystal, our airline stewardess from our Continental flight down here in January. She flew down here to meet the children on Friday morning and left early this morning. The children loved her and were very curious to find out informtion on her career. After a quick 2 days, she sadly left us but we'll always remember her beautiful smile! We sorta adopted her as our daughter since she is only 23 and fits the ages of our children. She fell in love with the children...and I know she'll be back!

Late last night we picked up the team from McBain Michigan! Dale and Terry brought down their group again...11 in all this time! We are looking forward to spend time with them and get to know them better.

Happy Easter...from all of us at Lily to you! What a wonderful privilege we have to celebrate the resurrection of our precious Savior, Jesus Christ! Papa chose to have us attend the 12 noon service instead of the 6:00a.m. sunrise service (thank you, Papa!!!). It was a wonderful service filled with familiar hymns and praise choruses...and our hearts were deeply stirred. Jesus did not have to die on that cross for us...He chose to. Why? Because He loves me and YOU! When I think of the cross...it moves me to tears...it should have been me. Instead...I am free and I have the promise of heaven. Thank you, Jesus!

We had another awesome game last evening. There were only 4 or our regular 7 guys to play (because of spring break) and we still WON! When we first arrived, we found our game was delayed until 5:00 so we just played games with the teens to take up the time. Then, when we went over to the stands...guess who was there? The team that wanted to pick a fight with our kids 2 weeks ago. Our guys thought we were going to play that team again. Gary and I began praying up a storm and then he made a phone call to Papa for back-up. It ended up that we played another team...and soon Papa and a new friend of ours and his girlfriend showed up at the game. (This new friend is a man we recently hired to seal the roof in the office building and Gary befriended him.) Anyway, to make a long story short...this new friend of Gary said that all the time he worked on the building he could feel a special love here...and he wanted to bring his girlfriend to show her. Papa told them that the special love they feel is God's love...and their hearts are very tender towards God. Neat, huh? Well, Papa finally was able to see his boys play for the first time and he was one proud Papa! In fact, after the game he gave us some money that was supposed to be for him and Mama to enjoy and he wanted Gary and me to treat the kids. We reluctantly took the money he gave (we didn't want to rob him of his joy) and walked towards the bus. Before we got to the bus, Gary's new friend stopped him and said that he wanted us to treat all the kids to icecream and handed us some money. So....we were able to treat all the kids to the ice cream store where they could pick out any flavor of ice cream they wanted. Boy was that FUN!!! There were 32 of us and it was party time!!! The team and all the kids had a great night...and the best thing??? We didn't have to spend very much of Papa's money! God took care of it. I also need to thank the Lord because of His provision. Gary and I were going into this youth night with no money. I didn't know what to do for the kids snacks...but God knew what He was doing! Thank you, Jesus. Oh yeah...a BIG side note...the owner of the ice cream store said for us to bring in all the kids of the orphanage tomorrow afternoon and he will give an ice cream bar to everyone! ISN'T THAT COOL??? Gary and I have frequented the place and brought a couple of kids with us off and on...and look how God is working on the heart of this store owner.

Sorry this is long...but I did get in a lot of pics...Fred...are you happy? Last night on the bus ride to the airport to pick up the Americans little Briza was there...excited as can be. She didn't realize how chilly it was going to be at 9:00 at night...and she was shivering in the seat...sitting all alone. As soon as I saw her I sat next to her and picked her up and wrapped my jacket around her. I sat there holding her close...singing little songs to her until she fell asleep. Chandra...I knew you couldn't be there to do it yet...so I was her mommy for the moment. As I held her I couldn't help but pray for this 'orphan status' to happen soon. She needs a mommy and daddy to hold her and love on her. Also, on the way back from church today, little Marcela was sitting next to me. He eyes were heavy and she was trying to lean against my shoulder. I finally pulled her in on my lap and she quickly slept..like a little princess. As I saw her sweet face I couldn't help but think of the nightmares she has lived through...and yet she is such a sweet, gentle girl. Her brother, Sergio is always watching out for her...and smiled his winning smile at me when he saw me holding her. I wonder if he heard her screams of horror as she was abused. Is that why he is always watching out for her? Please help me pray for these broken kids. I have only a few more days to love on them for all of you.