We left this morning for the baby/toddler home, I think everyone was pretty excited about that, who doesn't love babies. When we arrived we were informed some of the babies were sick so we were required to wear masks during our visit (in case you see the pictures and wonder why :) The home had about 8-9 baby babies, and a couple of us at a time were allowed to go up and hold and play with them. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that Vicki and Angie were the first to go :) No one loves babies like our Vicki.
The rest of us were invited out to a court yard where there were about 30-40 toddler age kids playing. They had a playset, a playhouse and some toys out there to play with. They were just the most precious children and we were more than happy to spend our time with them. There are 15 of us and we just dispersed and played and loved on these kids. It was amazing in such a relatively short time how you and them can bond. Many of the kids found immediate connections with some of us and wanted to stay attached to us the entire time. It was just such a joy to bring fun and affection to them, and what an honor to do it on God's behalf. I hope and pray that they were able to feel His love for them by spending some time with us.
We brought bubbles, sidewalk chalk, beach balls and various other things, which they flocked to everytime we brought out something new. We left them messy but they had a great time!!
When our time with them was over, we gave hugs good bye and gathered in the front lobby room to leave. There were many many tears shed, it was such an emotional experience, I'm sure I can't convey in writing!
We left and went to the local mall for lunch.
After lunch we visited the Remar Girls Home, this home is set up with many buildings on the property and this visit we were spending with the 7-13 year old girls. We were taken at first to the building where some of the older girls live (we will visit with them tomorrow afternoon), they showed us their room and talked to us for a bit, they also gave us some of their hand made jewlery which they were so proud of. Afterwards we went to a large rec type room to do our VBS with the younger girls. We had maybe 5-10 come in at first but as we began the room began to fill up quickly. We ended up with about 30 girls and about 10 boys (they came from somewhere else on the property). We shared with them the story of Esther and they learned a Bible verse. After that we made some crowns with them (like Queen Esther) and had a playtime. Again, another joyous experience. They were all so excited to have us there, they were so engaged by the story and listened intently. They had a blast making the crowns and playing the games with us. We were able to spend a good amount of time just playing and having fun with them at the end. Before we left each child was given a gift bag (the boys received soccer balls and some candy - as we weren't expecting them). The girls were given candy, necklaces, hair accessories, stickers and other fun stuff.
In the evening we were taken to a local restaurant for dinner, where some of us were able to make our own tortillas.
What a blessed day we all had! What an honor to serve these special special children in this way. I can't wait to see the blessings God has for us over the next three days!!
Thank you for your prayers for us and the children we are serving, it means so much!
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