Beach Day!! Day 6...

On Friday, Day 6,  a missionary friend of Kurt's allowed us to use his beach house to bring orphans to for the day! He does not work with orphans but rents this beach house and said that he would love to see it used for children like this. How sweet?! And, this beach house was nice!!!!!! It had a swimming pool, beach access, lots of yard, etc. We got to bring the special needs children from Cipi, along with toddlers and a few teen moms and their babies. We had an absolute AWESOME day just being able to see these kids have no worries and just have FUN. We all kind of "claimed" a kid so that we could keep up with them. But once we were at the beach we took "turns" watching the ones that required more attention. I claimed Carlos, of course!! :) This was probably one of my favorite days of the week.

This baby boy snoozed good anytime I had a hold of him! 

Love it!

Getting in the water! The rougher, the better!

The Pacific Ocean is NOTHING like what we are used to in the Gulf!

He felt like mine that day... I did everything for him. 

Orsy and sweet Salvador! Orsy was wonderful that day!! He got Salvador and took care of him ALL day which in NOT easy. He has such a servant's heart!

No-No and George! He was one we had to "share" cause he could WEAR you out! :) 

A few of the "tias" came with us to help! They had fun, too!

The girl and boy on the outside are brother and sister. They had only been at the orphanage a few days. They weren't sure why they were taken away from home. 

Snoozin' good!

Antonio had SO MUCH FUN!!! He didn't care if the water knocked him down or not... he could NOT get enough!!!! He absolutely loved it!

Ernesto and Jody giving the water a try! He absolutely loved it, too! 

That smile was worth it ALL! 

No-No loved it, too!!!!

Sweet Carlos feet :)

Can't get in the ocean?? That's ok, Orsy will bring the ocean to you! :) 

Think he liked it!?

One of my favorite pictures from the WHOLE trip! Love it. 

Lunch time :) We had chicken! These 2 boys ate theirs and walked around to find more! Who could say no to those faces?! I couldn't and Antonio ate the rest of my chicken. :)

He also stole my Pepsi! I love this picture! It should be an ad for Pepsi! :)

Here's a good view of the house! It was huge!

We had some fun in the pool, too! :)

These girls had an ABSOLUTE blast!!!!!! :)

Carlos and I decided to chill on the beach for a while longer. :) This is one of my favorite pics, too. He looks so content! 

Before we left, we put most of the kids in brand new clothes! 

They looked like normal kids. These looked a LOT better than clothes too small or pink or old and faded!

Ernesto looking handsome :)

Looks like Antonio has snatched someone else's Pepsi! :)

Mother and Daughter

My man and me. :)

On the bus ride home, everyone CRASHED!!!!

We had an absolute wonderful day at the beach. It was so amazing to witness these kids have so much fun. No worries. Just room to play. To be free. We felt like they were ours. We took care of them all day. Changed their diapers. Fed them. Bathed them (When one pooped down his leg! Yea, I got that job!). Sunscreened them. Swam with them. Held them. And, I'm telling you now, it was one of the HARDEST things I have EVER done in my life to let go of Carlos and put him back in his crib. A crib that didn't even belong to him. In a place where no one really loves him. Where we had no clue when the next time someone would pick him up would be. I know I am not the only one to feel this way. We got to experience a piece of what their lives COULD be like. It was tough. So very worth it, but TOUGH. I cried that day leaving him like I haven't cried in years. I seriously left a piece, a very big piece, of my heart in that crib that day. I  hope I NEVER forget this day.

Finally back to the trip...

I realize that you may not be too interested in the details of the trip but I am doing this as much for my memory as for your entertainment!! And of course, so that the orphan crisis can be made known. You can do something! We all can do SOMEthing! :) So... without further to do... Day 5 continued....


We took a break from San Martin and a few of us walked over to the Aids/HIV orphanage. It was a bright and happy place considering every child there either is HIV+ or has Aids. :(

The kids are all happy...

and SILLY!!!! :)

They were all working hard on school work. :)

Sweet little dancin' girls :)

She is SO pretty. She is handicapped pretty severely and these ladies were doing physical therapy on her.

In April, George (in this picture) went to ES and met this sweet little girl. She has full blown AIDS. They have given her less than a year to live. George fell in LOVE with her and has prayed diligently for her since he left. When we went, we weren't sure if she'd even be alive or how she'd be doing... We went in to see her and she was playing really shy... George just loved on her while she was in her bed. He said that he knew she was ok and that was enough. Cassidy told George to have no regrets so he went back in and picked her up... 

How happy do they look!?!?! So sweet. It was one of the MOST precious moments on the ENTIRE trip. George said this moment was worth every penny it took him to get there. I agreed. 

After George told her bye and we walked out the "Tia" told her to come tell him bye again. He turned around and she RAN into his arms... It was the. most. precious. thing. ever.!!!! She felt so loved for a few minutes and I pray she NEVER forgets what that felt like!!! 

:)

 

 

He was being shy!!! 

There's that handsome face!!! :)

They are so happy and have so much fun... 

Then we went over to the Squatter's Camp. It is a village made up of homes made out of sticks, plastic, cloth, mud, whatever they can find. We took around bibles and bags of food. We also documented which houses needed plastic the most. We took the houses that needed it the most plastic to keep out the rain.

All of this family lives in one room probably smaller than most bedrooms in our homes. Right after this picture, the baby spit up all down my shirt!! :) I didn't really care. :)

I love going around these places. It reminds me so much of Nicaragua. We also prayed for each family. It was so humbling to hear their prayer requests. Which were NOT for better homes or material possesions. It was for work and safety for their family. These people  have nothing but know that God provides their NEEDS. 

We were talking to this man and I told him that I was from Tennessee... And in English, he asked me what part of TN! After some talking we figured out that he once lived in Springfield, TN! What a SMALL world! :) I wonder how different his life is going from TN to a Squatter's Camp. He seemed happy, though. 

You can kinda see part of their house, here. That's all it is.

 This ended up being one of my favorite days! I loved it. It was a LONG day but so worth it. The week was quickly winding down... I tried to SLOW it down!! It didn't work. haha.

He's home (if that's what you can call it)

Well, Carlos is back at his "home". Chris says he's doing much better! :) Yay. I sure wish he was here at my home with  me. I'd share!!! Here is a cute pic of him!

Continue to pray for him and that they take GOOD care of him. As well as the others. God surely spared little Carlos and he has reached a LOT of hearts! Praise God. As the song from Avalon says: "There are no orphans of God!" Hallelujah. :)

His friends were happy to see him!

I'm happy....

because this sweet boy is leaving the hospital today!!! :)

Now, we just pray that the orphanage will give Carlos the attention he needs to stay healthy!!! They have their hands FULL there, but still our sweet boy needs to be watched and taken care of so that this does NOT happen again! :)

Doesn't he look good?! :)

Picnik!

I have found a new love! And past-time! It's picnik.com! I've used it before to do some small things (my blogger header). But, I had a little too much fun on there the other night. :) I tried to make one of everyone on our El Salvador trip. I just wanted to share them on here, too! Tell me what ya think! :)

And I was gonna put captions on them and say things such as: "This is my favorite", "I love this one!", and so on...but they are all my faves and I love them all. So saving myself the trouble of captioning every one of them...I will say it here. And I think I already have, I love them all! :)

Carlos Update with PICTURES! :)

Yesterday they took out the feeding tube. Which was lots of progress! When Chris got there today he had it back in. The 3rd shift nurses decided that it would be easier on him to put it back in. Well, of course. :) BUT, he needs to eat on his own. But other than that he looked GREAT! :) I am so glad.

He looks so happy in this picture :)

His little feeding tube.

While Chris was there, they took it back out! :) Hoping they will leave it out now! Doesn't he look SO good! 

Goodnight sweet Carlos! :) Keep getting better, baby!

Carlos Update!!! :) :)

Sorry that there was no update yesterday, but Chris did not get the chance to go and see him. But today, he said he was still improving! They removed his feeding tube and will try and feed him solid baby food tomorrow! That's good because he usually only eats/drinks formula type stuff. No pictures :( But atleast there was an update today!!! :)