...Adios...

...At least for a little while...

As my boss says, it's not like he can fire me for taking time off after only being here a month... haha

Tomorrow morning I am leaving DOFO super early and heading to the 951 to see mi amigos y mi familia for a couple days. Then I head to the OC to see mi otro familia. Then Tuesday I FINALLY get to fly to Portland to see VAL-erina y su familia! (i have been waiting for this trip forever!)

So - all that to say - there will be no blogging for a week or so, but fear not for I shall return! And I know I will miss my ninos very VERY much!

Happy Thanksgiving-time! I am thankful for you all!

...porch-sick...

This past week homesickness has been hitting me especially hard. maybe because i've been sick and had no one to take care of me. maybe because much has been going on in my head and in my heart. MAYBE because i will be there soon and can not WAIT! This is home to me..........

...El Otro Lado...

On Monday Lauren and I went up to "The Other Side", as they call the United States around these parts. :)

The line at the border crossing was the worst I've seen yet, and took us almost 3 hours! Mexico was celebrating a holiday that day (The 20th of November = some type of Independence Day) so we anticipated that the line would be longer but still.... it was brutal....



We started out getting re-routed through Tijuana 4 times before actually making it to the line...



we were still in good spirits at that point...



3 hours later, however.......



But it was a good day. I like having cell phone reception every once in a while and being able to text and call people. And of course, after running orphanage errands we are able to stop for all of the necessities....




(yes - we did them both in one day. in one HOUR in fact.)

We were actually able to get back across the border before dark this time, and stopped at our local beach in time to see the sunset...

...ocupado ocupado ocupado...

A lot has happened in the past week or so that I've been meaning to post. but it's been a crazy week, and it has kicked my butt.
so i will attempt to catch up now. :)

First, last Friday, Lauren and I hosted a movie night at our house for one of the childrens' dorms. We want to eventually have one for each dorm, but this first one was with the 3 - 8 year old girls. We watched Mary Poppins in español. We had popcorn and cookies and went and personally picked the girls up in our pajamas (they were all wearing theirs too!) It was a big to-do! We had so much fun, although everyone was sleeping by the middle of the movie. :)





Also on Friday night, 2 of our 4 groups of the weekend showed up. One of which we were not expecting, so we had to quickly get the campground ready for them (which involves getting them water and propane), which turned out fine.

On Saturday, 3 different groups covered all 3 meals for the staff and kids, which was AWESOME. We had eggs, bacon and sausage, we had carne asada BBQ and then pizza! (the kids LOVE pizza. and there is a local man in town who brings his own oven to the orphanage to make them on-site. different people sponsor this activity and it is the kids' favorite meal!) Saturday and Sunday was full of group activities and projects, and then Sunday the groups left just before we loaded up the kids for church.

Sunday to Monday we had another group of a little over 100 people on site from Las Vegas. It was a High School Youth Group and they provided funds for our Pastor's wife to come cook a carne asada dinner (which was amazing).

Lauren, Brendan, Sarah, Grace (Brendan & Sarah's awesome 2 year old) and I also took a shopping trip to Ensenada on Monday. It was my first time in Ensenada, and I pretty much love it there.

Then Wednesday, I made 6 birthday cakes! 6! haha Thankfully we didn't have to make all of the cupcakes as well this time, since a visiting group had brought a HUGE cake that we were able to hand out to everyone else! I love birthdays! It is a Mexican tradition that you get to take the first bite out of your cake, while everyone else around you tries to push your face in the cake. Some of the 6 birthday-kids weren't strong enough to hold off everyone else this time! haha
(I thought I had a picture, but i can't find it) :(

Today, the first of 3 weekend groups are coming in. Sarah and Lauren and I are taking a quick trip to Puerto Nuevo to get some Christmas shopping done before they get here. The Vineyard church of Anaheim is bringing a large group this weekend - and since that is DJ's home church, it will be a special weekend for him to have many friends on site. We also have a college softball team providing dinner tonight! (I love when groups bring food!) and then 2 more groups roll in tomorrow morning!

All that to say, it should be another eventful weekend and I am excited! I still love it here, and hope you all are WELL!!

...ikindahatetoday...

so today sucks. and it's only 1 o'clock.
This morning there were tensions and major control issues going on at our staff meeting.
but i've been trying to convince myself that it's not that big of a deal and not to get upset. UNTIL.....

My dog died. about 15 minutes ago. they think he drank water with some antifreeze in it and some kids found him in a restroom barking and foaming at the mouth. then he started seizing and they sent someone in to "put him down". I couldn't stick around after that.

pray for today. for my attitude and energy. and my heart after my doggy died. he's been my constant, loyal companion for 3 weeks.

...love in a bracelet...

when i first got here, I commented on how many colorful bracelets my roommate Lauren had crammed onto both of her wrists... she replied with something like "when the kids start making you bracelets, you know that they really love and accept you...."

i got my first bracelet on saturday! haha i was Stoked! i mean - i have a good time with the kids... and they've even been having a better time with saying my name lately... but this was a bracelet! This was the dropping of walls and accepting me with open arms! i may be over analyzing this a tad, but still - it was a pretty big event. :)



my internet has been pretty spotty all day, so it's taking forever - i will attempt to write more later!

there’s still a little bit of your taste in my mouth

there’s still a little bit of you laced with my doubt

it’s still a little hard to say what's going on

learning spanish and making cupcakes

Hi!

I spent a huge part of yesterday helping one of the older girls with her English homework... Ana is 14, and I'm pretty sure she was attempting to coerce me into DOING the homework FOR her, but she quickly realized that wouldn't work. which meant that both of us had to use an online translator to communicate with each other and to figure out what exactly the directions were telling us to do. needless to say, this involved much time and maybe a little frustration, but we got it all done, and it ended up being just as much of a Spanish lesson for me as an English lesson for Ana. :)


Door of Faith has a tradition where each child's birthday is celebrated with their own homemade cake! All of the other kids also get cupcakes on each birthday. Today we had 2 birthdays, so Lauren and I spent the entire afternoon baking birthday cakes and cupcakes. It's a lot of work, but the kids LOVE it!


This morning, I also woke up early to see some of the kids off to school! Each day, our school age children make up a large part of the population of the 6 different public schools in the area. I can't begin to tell you how precious all the kids are lined up in their school uniforms and with their oversized, colorful backpacks! I hope to take better pictures of this soon!


This weekend we are hosting 4 groups on site, and providing projects for them all, so the next few days will be insane as we prepare for their arrival! But I am excited as this will be my first "weekend of insanity", as one of the other staff members calls it. :) I will post more SOON!!! :)

Here is a fun picture with some of the kids who frequent our living room... Jesus, Cinthia and Angelina. :)