Airplane and Piggies

At the orphange there is a room called Cuarto 13. This is the room where all the little boys sleep; there are 9 little ones total. Sarah and I went to visit them one night this week and I think it was one of the most fun nights I have had here. Being in there with them reminded me of 2 very fond things from when I was little. The first is what we call the "airplane". You lay down on your back and put your feet on the little person's stomach, grab their hands, and lift them up in the air. They can hold your hands but if they get enough courage they can let go and pretend to be Superman. I'm not sure what made me do it but I started it off with one of the boys and then it became a never ending game! There is a specific little boy named Lalo who is...well, he's a little "thicker" than the others and let's just say it was as if I had worked out enough for a year once I had lifted him a couple times:) Another one named Lizandro was very giggly when I lifted him up. He was giggling with his mouth wide open and a nice amount of slobber dribbled on my face and chest! All of them thought that was REALLY funny, including myself. I asked if they had ever done that before and they said no but they absolutely loved it. It made me sad thinking of nobody ever doing that with them because Whitney and I used to do it all the time when we were little. The second thing it reminded me of was something my mom always did to my toes. Starting with the big toe there is a little rhyme that says, "This little piggy went to the market, (move to the next toe) this little piggy stayed home, (next) this little piggy had roast beef, (next) this little piggy had none, (baby toe) and this little piggy cried, "Wee wee wee!" all the way home." I translated it as best I could into Spanish and showed it to a little boy named Andres. He could not get enough of it and it was cracking me up. He had me do it seriously about 5 times on each of his feet and then a couple more on his hands. By the end he was saying it with me:) I guess when you surround yourself with 9 boys ages 5-7, you start acting like them! We really had a good time just being silly.


These past 2 weeks I have been getting in the Christmas spirit... I have already started listening to Christmas music and they have started putting up a HUGE Christmas tree in front of the Convention Center that we pass everyday on our way to work. Santa Claus is also up on the Coca-Cola billboard. I'm sure Christmas things are starting to go up in the states too but I forget that in Mexico Christmas is their next holiday because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving so they really can start getting ready early!


5 months was the original amount of time that I had said I wanted to be here for. After I said that, there were many times that I could have made it longer or shorter but I always just felt comfortable with 5 months. Even when my mom and grandma hinted at cutting it a little I still stuck to 5. This past week I have really been assured that it is the right amount for me...for now. I am content here and enjoying every second of it but I am also really excited to be back home too. I'm still not sure about what happens next but I feel confident that there is something in store for me when I return. I say "for now" because if it were up to me I would love to come back at some point in the future but I need to wait until that door is opened up again.

An incredible family from the church has opened up their home to us on Friday nights. They feed us a huge meal and we just rest in their beautiful home. It sounds like almost every intern that has lived at Casa Hogar has spent a lot of time here so we feel right at home. It is really refreshing to have a place to go and just be and I feel like even being gone for one day makes me appreciate the kids more when I get back.

Three prayer requests:
1-One of the women that lives here with her husband and works as the "mother" of the home, Laura, found out that her father has cancer in his stomach. It is a tumor that is too big to be operated on and he has to start chemo and radiation right away. The cancer is obvioulsy a huge concern for her but even more so is the fact that he is not a believer. She has asked that I help her pray for his salvation and she praying so fervently that God will answer her request.

2-There hasn't been water at the orphange for a couple of days. The whole city is without water except for the places that have reserve tanks (which includes the building that we live in, not the kids). This happens every once in a while and the kids have to haul buckets of water to their rooms to bathe. Please pray for the water to come back on soon!

3-The prices have gone up for food and although things are better this week, the past few weeks the kids were eating only bread and chocolate milk or coffee for dinner. Please pray that sufficient funds continue to come in to provide food each day for these kids. As the economy in the states is suffering, they are feeling it here. God has been faithful to provide in the past and we trust that He will continue to provide even now.