¡Bebés!

Well for anyone who knows me knows that I´m crazy about babies, making this a great place for me to be! The babies here are so cute, adorable, charming, fun... I could go on forever!! There are three younger babies, and 2 toddlers here right now, and I love them all to death!


This is baby José! He´s the old bald Asian man, in a good good way! When he came here he had a fracture in his head and was very anti-people, and anti being touched and now he is happy and smiling all the time! He has made the biggest recovery, I just can´t believe how much he´s changed!

He is just starting roll around and we´re hoping to see him crawl any day now!

I LOVE hanging out with the babies and will sneak into their room anytime that I can!

ALEJANDRITA, my pride and joy! The Little Fat One (Gordita is they call her, literally meaning little fat one). She is so so cute and I can´t seem to get enough of her no matter how much I smuther her with my love! When all else fails, sleep.I hope that my babies have dark skin and brown hair... I don´t think it is too much to ask!Unlike with the older kids, with the babies you can just chill and it´s perfectly OK!

Look at that face, I could just die over that face! ¡¡LEVI!! He was a tiny tiny little thing and has grown the most since I´ve been here! He is such a little cuddler! Look at how big he is and how HANDSOME!! He is the most handsome little guy I have ever seen!Awww... He is so cute! This is big José and Paolah! They were the best of friends and now Paolah is back with her family, which is great, but José has no one to fight with anymore. Since they parted it has been really really quiet around here! He is especially happy when he has food! I told myself that I would not choose favorites and I tried and tried not to, but Brando has my heart wrapped around his tiny little finger. Brando is the funniest little boy I have EVER met!

¡¡Slacklining!!

I sometimes look in the backyard and see the kid practicing on the slackline, I am filled with pride and joy. Next thing you know they will be climbing mountains, I just have to find one, and get all the gear, and get some sort of premission to put thier lives at risk..... It is possible!Brando took a break from slacklining to use the friendly backyard pond for a bathroom. He´s a funny kid!Jenniffer has been practicing lots and has gotten really good at it! She is, by far, the best at it here! Brando is my best freind, I love him so much!!He lookes so funny and cute with his new haircut, although I do miss his curls!

A little slacklining in Guatemala, this is the life!Some ultimate tree climbing has been fun too, the trees here are fun to climb and its the next best thing to a rock.... kind of. It´s fun to help the kids across! We all get wierd looks from the innocent bystanders.

¡Slack On!

TIE-DIE

A big happy hippie family! PEACE!

Before I came here I purchased a white t-shirt for everyone and lots of die.... you know what that means.... TIE-DIE! We all made a tie-die shirt and it was a blast!

The kids all looked so so cute in the shirts we made, I did the Grandma C. squeal!My chubby little baby Alejandrita!

Paolita!!! She has the cutest dimples EVER!¿What is better then slacklining and TIE-DIE?

Haloween and My Birthday!

At 4:30 in the morning, October 30, I was woken very loud and familiar sound for firecrackers, but they were much closer and so much louder then ever before! Then the whole orphanage crouded into my room, all the kids, workers, and everyone! They came in singing a cluster of birthday starting with one that talks about how its early and they are sorry for waking me with all the noise but its a special day...... then the birthday song... and then a song about cake and how they want it now even though its early.... and then they counted up to my age.. UNO... DOSE.... DIEZ.... DIEZ Y OCHO... DIEZ Y NUEVE!!!! It was such a funny and adorable tradition that I was so excited to be a part of!
I guess the history with that, and to answer the question I have had since we got here of why the fire crackers go off all night, is that it is a birthday thing! They light off the firecrackers and wake up singing to the birthday person! Its a very fun way to start the day. I came downstairs, after going back to bed from the crazy waking, and there was a sign for me in the kitchen. The girls were so excited to see me in the morning because they were going to let me shower first (It was actually warm, for once!) and they were going to straighten my hair and get me all ready for the day! This is everyone before they came in singing to me! My birthday sign!! I was so excited to see it!Our pretend costumes! Pretty good huh?We made masks for my craft hour! It was fun and the kids had a great time! Props to Liz, it was her idea and she put it all together! Mary and I made cake for Haloween! It was YUMMY!

This is Renee, he is a STUD! He was a cute jester!The girls looked BEAUTIFUL!We played a game where the kids had to look for a gummy worm in a bowl full of whipped cream without using thier hands. We made a huge mess and had a great time!I cheated...

Mary and I plan messy and fun activities!

Caught in a Landslide

We, everyone at the orphanage, started a big project to help those people that are stuck in the mountains with no food or water from the landslide. We started by going to a Guatemalan version of Costo and getting tons of rice, beans, and sugar. We then, with the help of all the kids, put everything into smaller bags. We got lots of water from mostly donations and some from the orphanage. Then we took a drive in the 4-runner with everything piled in the back. We had to take a really roundabout way to get to them but after a very scenic 2 hour drive up bumpy dirt roads we arrived at Dona Jullú. There were people waiting at the bottom of a trail where we unloaded the car and hiked up with them to take all the food, water, clothes, and other supplies up to where they live. It was awesome to be part of such amazing, first hand service. Mary and I handed a bag carrying 2 ensure drinks, chicken flavoring, tomato sauce, rice, beans, sugar, and flour to every mother of all the families that were there. Then we played games with everyone. It was fun to loosen up and laugh with them. It still blows my mind to see where some people live compared to the way I´ve grown up living. They live in houses smaller then my room, it makes me very grateful!!

This is us hiking up the mountain to where they live! They carry so much stuff on thier head, it´s legit

This is me giving a cute little girl a new doll! She was so excited!

This is a blury pic of Mary and I passing out the bags of food.

They fed us the best corn I have ever had in my life! Also lots of other yummy veggies that they grow!! The food here is amazing!!The moms got really into the piñata! The kids were all sitting on the side in fear of getting hurt, it was really really funny!A house, crazy huh?