6-5-10

Sorry I have been slacking on my blogs for the past few days but I have a pretty good reason. Lucky for me I picked up some kind of sickness from the kids so I have been stuck at the house for the past two days. That past two days haven’t really been the most fun ever so I didn’t really feel the need to write about them and bore you all to death on how I did nothing.
Today was my first day back to work and it felt great. Though I still felt a little weak the smiles and hugs I got from all the kids sure made up for it all. The first thing I was asked was by Leti (a cute little 6 year old) “Tia Diana where have you been?” I explained to her that I was sick then she asked if I was better and I said yes so then she just started rambling on things for us to do since I was back. Between you and me I am pretty sure the only thing I understood was you can sit with me at lunch. It was a normal day we ate lunch then played outside. The older kids and I got the bikes out and rode around the neighborhood then the cows came out and Leti had a freak out moment. The neighbor has four cows and when its dry season like this the farmers just let the cows out to roam the town to find some sort of grass to eat. Well when he let them out they were very excited and freaked poor Leti out so bad. She jumped off her bike so fast and ran to me like it was the running of the bull’s haha it was definitely a “you had to of been there moment”.
People ask me who my favorite kid is at the orphanage and I can’t just tell them one kid because they are all so different and amazing. There is one girl though who jumps on me every moment possible and is with me ¾ of the day, her name is Donna (and yes mom me and Donna had a five minute conversation on how you guys have the same name lol it was awesome). Anyway Donna is the oldest girl she is 7 years old and she is my little gymnast buddy. She is a bundle of energy and is so much like me it’s awesome. Today we started to make a routine; flipping doing acrobatic things all over the yard it was definitely the highlight of my day. After doing that for about an hour we got so tired so we laid down in the grass to take a break. She then came over to me and cuddled up in my arms and said “tu es mi mamma” (in English “you are my mamma”) and then started acting like a baby. I don’t really know if she just wanted to play house or what but I just sat there with her cuddled up in my arms in awe at what just came out of this little girl’s mouth. Anyone working in an orphanage knows that the kids there don’t have parents anymore. The ones put in this orphanage are either there because they were abandoned or come from abusive homes. I can’t even imagine what all these poor little kids have had to go through before coming here to Ninos. I think this was the first day where it actually hit me that these kids don’t have a family and it killed me. I sat there with Donna in my arms for awhile just thanking God for blessing me with such an amazing family and most of all awesome parents who care for me more than anything. If I could have one wish for all these little ones it would be for God to bless them with an amazing Christian family like so many of us have been blessed with.
Speaking of adoption two little brothers got adopted yesterday yayay! It was such a bittersweet moment finding out that they were leaving us. Their names are Issac and Bryon and they are four and two. They DIF (adoption agency) came and picked them up yesterday morning and as they leave it’s a tradition that they both get new book bags to put some of their clothes in and a couple toys to have (it’s meant to be kind of like a security blanket as they start their new lives). All the kids surrounded them in a circle as they said a prayer for the little boys and their new family. I am so happy for these little guys but wow am I going to miss them terribly this summer. Today as we were getting all the chairs out for dinner there were two little seats left in the corner and I thought to myself who are we missing and so I started to look around for two little kids hiding somewhere when I remembered that those two little chairs will be empty for awhile or at least till we get two new little ninos in to join this amazing family.
Even though these kids don’t have a family anymore they are so blessed. The workers here give them so much love and so much care they are better off than a lot of other kids here in Mexico. These kids have ten wonderful Tia’s who care for them every day and love on them like they are their own kids. They live in a wonderful clean house with three meals a day and water service 24/7. That right there is more than a lot of kids get. Not to mention the Christ centered atmosphere these kids are raised in. I feel so honored when these kids call me Tia Diana (Tia in Spanish means aunt for those of you who don’t know) because I know I that I have the pleasure of being an aunt to 22+ wonderful kids this summer and they are about to change my life.