Update July 3, 2010

As I sit here trying to describe today and yesterday, so many events and special moments come to mind and yet, I find it so difficult to put it all into words. We visited the childrens' home Amor del Nino for the first time yesterday. Amor del Nino is an old mansion on the mountainside. It's a "gated community" which has everything from mansions (like the home) to shacks. We were greeted by "Mama Sheril", the lady who makes the world go round at Amor del Nino. She gave us a tour of the home and introduced us to a few of the kids.

The walls are lined with paintings and bright colors that kids love. There is a system to everything they do at the home. Infants play in one section, 6-12 months in another, and so on all the way up to twelve years. Although it is a "mansion", it's not mansion enough for 59 kids. Thirty babies occupy just two rooms full of cribs. There are, I believe, twelve full-time nurses that do everything from changing diapers to feeding the children. Actually, they do do EVERYTHING.

My mom, Scarlette, is doing so great on this trip. She is GREAT with the kids. She has the perfect "mommy's touch" around them- something only a few of them have experienced. Although Mama Sheril is a great motherly figure at Amor del Nino, there is only so much attention one can give to nearly sixty children.

A little girl named "Geni" immediately latched onto me as soon as we met. I'm kicking myself, but I can't remember what condition she has that requires her to wear a boot on her right foot. This causes her to trip and fall often, so she just held onto my hand for hours on end- simply staring up at me and smiling. The kids at Amor del Nino don't care where you're from, what your story is, or what baggage YOU bring to them. They just love you! And it's an incredible love that has no reservations or conditions.

So, we spent all of yesterday at the home just loving on and playing with the kids. All of them love to jump on the trampoline and play on the playground.

Today, we took the older kids on a special outing to a waterpark. It was about a two hour drive, but I didn't mind at all because not only did I get to talk to the kids, but we also drove by two volcanoes and the absolutely STUNNING countryside. At the park, the children were utterly thrilled to just splash around in the water. Some of the braver ones went on the "big rides" with me. One slide in particular was amazingly fast. You probably go about 35 mph at the steepest part. (I'm pretty sure it would be illegal in the States.)

I'm having to rush this post because it's so late, but I want to tell you about a special brother and sister at Amor del Nino whom I got to spend much time with today. Meet Hannah and Jose. They are brother and sister; Hannah is twelve (yesterday was actually her birthday so it was a special treat to celebrate it with her) and Jose is ten. Both were born with Brittle Bone Disease- a condition that makes your bones several things: easily breakable, warped, and extremely fragile. Although Hannah and Jose's heads are normal sized, their arms and legs are skinny and warped into different shapes. This makes it impossible for them to walk to hold things normally. (But they are speedy when it comes to scooting around everywhere!)

Hannah and I were buddies for a lot of the time at the park. I would carry her wherever she wanted to go and then she would just splash in the shallow end and simply look around at everything. I'm sure it was very special (for all of the kids) to go to such an interesting place different from what they're used to. After we went to the water park for several hours, the whole group walked out to the beach. Many volcanoes surround Guatemala underwater and, when they erupt, their ash turns the water and sand black. So, it's not exactly your "picture perfect" beaches. At one very scary point, a large wave came over Jose and flipped him backwards. I immediately grabbed him and lifted him up. Somehow he was smiling, which I was shocked by.

There is SO much more to tell you all and I'm sorry that the posts are few, but I will try to keep you as updated as possible. I will post a lot of pictures later today.