Abba Father

I wanted to say that though the days might be hard and the children challenging at times, God is faithful to me! So very faithful.

One of the instances is that throughout constant pain over these past 2 days, i have had much peace in my heart. it may be physically a trying day but spiritually i am not phased. this is where God has me, and i want to be where God has me, because that is where God is too! i am very grateful for this! Another instance is a small fight i had with Lizzy. She decided she wanted to run away from me and so i called out "Venga aqui, ahora." "Come here, now." I sat on the cement about 10 feet from her for about 3 minutes while she decided whether she was going to obey or not. I said that phrase over and over and over again. She would look at me, look away, and then look at me again. Then all of a sudden she turned and ran toward me and jumped into my arms. I exclaimed "muy bueno!" and she smiled and kept on playing. It was amazing. It made me think of what we are like toward God. We turn away from him and are stubborn but he patiently (thank God i could be patient with her!) tells us to come back. Over and over and over again. And when we run back toward God he smiles at us and blesses us and says "well done!" Our adult temper tantrums our worth it to God when we run back toward Him. But the amazing thing is that even if we didnt run back toward him, he would still love us.

Oh how He loves.

oh baby baby.

Well if you think yesterday was hard, today was like just funny. not really. but around 1:45 it just became ridiculously funny. i really dont know how i did it, but i got through.

so.
this morning i woke up to THE SAME bus that decides to rev its engine and honk its horn on the road outside my bed. anyways. i dragged myself out of bed but by the time i actually got down out of my bed i knew that today was going to be a very long and hard day. my hamstrings were tighter than they have ever been. and you know that i have tight hamstrings, but i mean, this was ri-dic-u-lous. and my back. oh man. my back is absolutely horrible right now. actually the upper left side of my entire body is in crazy amounts of pain. it feels like someone punched me. it feels so bruised. anyways. i pushed through taking a shower and putting on my clothes. then i proceeded to go down to the baby house. by stair 3 i was about to kill myself. and the rest of the morning went like that. lots of pain in my legs and back. ibuprofen didnt work and going up 108 stairs didnt either. go figure. anyways. around 145 i about this close to losing it. too much pain to bear. the kids had been so bad all morning. (Anna and Lizzy had been especially horrible. Lizzy decided she wanted to hit everyone today. lovely idea Lizzy. ) but J had just like exploded in her diaper. and i was this close to getting to go on break but i went and changed her anyways. how bad could it be really? ive changed these diapers many a time before, this is just another. hahaaaa. so. i go in the changing room, i take off her diaper. it stinks up the place like always (she already has a diaper rash or had an ant bite her bottom cause. yeahhh) anyways. i have the diaper off and so i go to reach for the wipe, but it turns out that there was none in the container. and then the diaper which is heavy with poop slides right off the table and onto the floor. me with my quick relexes jumpes back and missing getting poop all over my pants, which mind you were clean. yes. so now there is poop and a poopy diaper on the floor and there is still poop on J's bottom cause i havent been able to find the wipes!! so then i quickly find old not even wet wipes and while Karin (helper in the baby house) holds J's legs up i clean up the poop on the floor. which took much longer than i expected. back to locating wipes and holding J's legs up. aha! wipes located. thanks karin :) so then i finished wiping off J (and the floor. ew.) and go to throw the wipes away. of course all but the dirtiest ones make it into the trash can. the other one falls on the floor. its back to cleaning up poop from the floor! so while i have one hand on juliet and one had holding the trash can open, i clean up more poop! (dont ask how i did that. i must have an extra limb somewhere). so this has all happened in the space of about 3 minutes. thankfully J decided she didnt want to scream. THANK YOU BABY. so then i lather up her bottom with Desiten (i know you wanted to know that!) and grab a clean diaper and scoot her under it and pull the tab up to velcro it and of course! the tab snaps off! great. i now have a broken diaper. at this point i just turned to Rosita (a house mom) and we both laughed. how could i not? it was just a comedy of errors.

so i set the baby down in the play room, tiredly said goodbye to Leanette, and climbed up the 108 stairs again. hoping i make it to the top. i barely did. went on a desperate search for aleve. found some. took it. got a warm compress for my back and was out like a light. WHILE THE BAND WAS PRACTICING AGAIN. im getting good at this.

and that was my day. oh wait. before i fell asleep i realized that i didnt quite have the spider women reflexes as i thought i did. (apparently the buzzard thought i did though. dont ask.) anyways, i realized that i had poop on my pants. yes. on my pants. greeeeat.

and THAT was my day.

pray for much grace and strength tomorrow. ill be needing it.

Manday Monday.

that is what we have decided to call mondays. we all do more manly things than normal, to make matt feel better; not as out numbered by women.

and i think that Alison and I won. we did manly things. read:

today was our day off from the baby house and we spent our day working our FACES off. seriously. first we worked in the garden in the hot heat of the 8 oclock morning. and i got attacked by rotten cauliflower. seriously. i had green gunk on my shoes and in between my toes and on my shirt and on my hands. it. was. gross. then i went in and washed off and then went into the kitchen were they gave us job after job after job. and it wasnt the easiest work. first we swept and mopped the whole eating area, then we washed and peeled and seeded and chopped about 25 HUGE cucumbers. then we washed the dirtiest lettuce youve ever seen. then chopped it. then chopped more lettuce. then put together this strange concoction of what they call Whiskile. with goat cheese. yeah, strange. the we grated about 50 carrots. MY ARM WAS KILLING ME. then we went back to work in the garden. i was bending over the whole time weeding and every time i stood up i almost blacked out. uhuh. hard work. and it was stiiilll hot. then we ate lunch and i was feeling so sick from almost blacking out so many times so all i ate was rice and pb&j. and by then i was STILL feeling so sick and my back was in so much pain that i went and conked out on the sofa outside our room for about an hour. WHILE THE BAND HAD PRACTICE. and im not saying like drums and piano and guitar. this is like flutes and trumpets and trombones and maracas. and theyre all beginners so it sounds like. SOMEONE KILL MEEEE. thats what it sounds like. but i was so sick and so tired and in too much pain, so like i fell asleep amid all of that. matt who was trying to sleep on the sofa next to mine. well he didnt sleep at all. poor him. anyways, thennnn. we went back to work in the kitchen and of course we were just expecting, you know, more vegetables or something. oh no. on our day off? they made us scrub the BOTTOM of 12 crates that go OUTSIDE. for 2 and a half hours. it became comical 1 hour and 45 minutes in and by hour 2 we even had a song that we had made up with the rhythm of our brushes.

and that was our Manday Monday.

so since i posted all about the team...

in the other post, i thought it only appropraite to post a PICTURE of the team in this post! so here we are, looking all nice and clean for church :)

from left to right: lauren h, half of matts head, lauren (lo), sara, emily (behind sara), andrea, me, alison, and cressia.



we're missing morgan and beth, but i just read and update about them. they are doing absolutely fantabulous in the city! and we get to see them on friday! :D

Leonardo De Caprio

is who we have spent the last 45 minutes talking about, among many other actors and movies. Lauren is convinced Leonardo is not good looking or an actor worth watching. I disagree. I think he is quite grand. But we all agree Catherine Zeta-Jones is adorable and White Christmas is amazing. Glad we do, or else.

Anyways, this post actually has nothing to do with Leonardo or any actor for that matter. I thought that maybe you all would want to know a little about my team members. They are the bomb dot com. Every single one of them. (i included myself in that. hehe) So i thought i would write a little blurb about each of them.

First of there is Cressia, our team leader. From Brazil. To be cliche, she is amazing. But she really is. She is others focused, loving, funny, and we are finding out new hilarious things about her everyday. For instance. She loves dance parties?? You know that's right. And she is constantly praying for us and asking us how we are doing. Best team leader ever.

Andrea is next, just because she's the bed over from Cressia not because she's cooler than anyone else. Haha. She is awesome though and very funny, in the sense that you never know what she is going to do or what random face she is going to make at you in any given point in the day. We all love Andrea. How could you not?

Sara is the bunk under Andrea. She is very quiet, but we all like that (the rest of us are pretty darn loud.) She is so sweet and willing to do whatever whenever. Whether is cutting vegetables or playing with children, shes a trooper.

Emily is next to Sara and is the go to for Spanish. She is practically fluent in it. We all love that. A LOT. She graduated college this past May, but is the sweetest little thing and doesnt even look like she's graduated! Never let her drive you anywhere, though. You might end up in Indiana. True story.

Lauren (Lo) is the bunk above Emily. Lo has by far the funniest stories to tell about her time thus far here. She also is convinced that Hiper Pais is stalking her (local "costco" here). And she also had a girl sneeze in the girls own face. Dont ask how thats possible. Its not. Que wow.

Next to Lo is Lauren H. Yes there are two Laurens on this trip. It is confusing sometimes, but most of the time we know which one someone is talking about. Lauren H is so sweet. And also crazy at times. She is always looking out for others and asking them how they are. Shes also a very good multi-tasker. She can play Fruit (our made up version of Spoons) while carrying on a conversation with a girl from Switzerland.

Next to Lauren is Alison. She might be the sweetest thing alive, but before we got to know her well...she was horrible. JOKE. She was shy and didnt really say anything. But now she talks all the time with me and the others and has the cutest laugh. Ive started mimiking it. On accident. Its just so cute. We have been together everyday day for the past week and it has been lovely.

Last but not least, is the sole male inhabitant on this excursion to the forests and dangerous roads of Guatemala, Matt. We figured out last night when we were on our way back from the store that speeding cars + lots of traffic + nighttime + braking when you are 6 inches from the car in front of you = one talkative matt. He has been a trooper though and pushed through the back pain and sunburn (he looks like bubblegum haha) and worked in the garden every day this week. We are grateful for his hysterical stories and male presence and is currently sitting next to me on a computer (literally sitting on the computer. okay joke.) feeling very proud of himself for having an entire chat with someone in Spanish.

And also last but not least are Beth and Morgan who are currently at the house in the city. We miss them and its not the same without them, but it is beautiful where they are. The house parents are amazing (and so are the kids!) and the house is not just some normal city house but big and includes a courtyard. Um, i want a courtyard in my house, thank you very much! They will balance eachother out well, seeing as how Morgan is Miss Spaz and Beth is quite but laughs at almost anything. Yes, we miss them.

Wello (yes i just wrote wello. i dont even know what that means), thats who i am living with for the next 6 weeks. I love them to pieces already and miss the ones that are not here. Im going to write in my journal and stuff, instead of sitting out on the computer like a techy (techi? techie? teche? que wow). Tomorrow is Sunday and we all literally cannot wait to worship tomorrow. I think we all will be singing in Spanish just because we want too!

and with that i say...buenos noches!

que paso?

seems to be the theme of my life right now. But i dont really mind. I love the baby house :) But with 12 toddlers and 3 baby babies "que paso?" is a common phrase. It means "what happened?" Haha.

Okay, so everyone "awww" cause i know you're thinking it. Yes ma'am. These children are adorable. Hard to think that most of them are not wanted by their families. :( However, it is truly a delight to be able to watch these little kiddos for most of the day. Even though all we do is change diapers, and feed them food, and change more diapers, their adorable smiles and belly laughs make it more bearable.

The four girls we work with (Claudia, Rosa, and Jessica) are all 18. And they are so sweet, but dont like to speak English cause they are not very good at it. But Alison and I made a breakthrough in saying more then "where is the trash can?" today to them. We have now had a whole conversation telling them that we are not married. and that neither of us have a boyfriend. Hahaha. Hopefully we will all become good friends over these next 7 weeks.

well im off to take a nap. practically fell asleep during lunch. oops.

we are here! we are here! we are here!

yes. read the title. it kind of says all!!

I woke up this morning at 2:50 and around 4 we all packed into three cars and were off to Charlotte International. After an eventful phone searching airport experience in Atlanta, we arrived safely in Guatemala city around 1130am. We hopped onto the ranch bus with another team that is here for two weeks and after a packed bus ride through the city and mountains arrived at Casa Bernabe around 2pm. Soon after a quick lunch and tour of the ranch, we were informed that 2 of us girls would be leaving this orphanage and going to one in the city. Least to say, all of our hearts hit the ground. We havent officially decided if they are going yet, but if they do it will be Lauren H (we call her Lo) and Morgan. About three hours of prayer and discussion have gone into this. Its not easy. Its hard to let two team members go. There have been a few tears already. We feel like one big family, but if its Gods will we will say goodbye to them on friday for seven weeks. Of course they will come back to visit occasionally, but we are very sad to see them go.

Alison (fellow team member) and I worked in the baby house tonight and loved it! There are very long days ahead but we are excited. Of course, we already decided that we will need to switch off with others for a couple days here and there because working 630am - 8pm days is quite a lot.

Well. That's really it. We all love it here and are having a blast so far.

talk to you all soon!

Indian Alarm Clock.

well hello!

i decided to start a blog. we actually have a team blog (rohguatemala2010.blogspot.com) that you can feel free to follow, but i decided i also wanted to do a more personal blog. so please! follow both. :)

anyways! after a crazy morning of graduating high school :D i arrived safely in Charlotte, North Carolina where i was met at the airport by the nicest man, Tom Harvey, who has been my main contact point in this whole trip. After a lovely 20 minute drive we arrived at ROH Headquarters and began orientation that night. But before we began orientation i had a little glimpse into just how wonderful my teammates are. I walked into the kitchen and they all jumped up from behind the counters exclaiming "Congratulations!!" The kitchen was decorated with graduation decorations and they all presented me with cards and gifts. Yes. They. Are. Amazing. So since i didnt get to have a graduation party, they surprised me with one. They even had a cake with Covenant Life's School colors on it and best of all: a cup of ice :) Julia (one of the staff here at headquarters. sweetest thing ever!!) called my mom and asked what i liked. And yes. I love ice chips.

Anyways, us teammates have all hit off very well. We sat around the table till 11 that night and talked and laughed and laughed and talked. Alison, one of the girls, has an alarm clock that goes off saying different things. One of them is "Good morning sunshine! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" in an Indian accent. Funniest thing ever. Hence the post title.

And tomorrow we head off to Guatemala! We are leaving the house at 4am which means we will all be up by 3:30. yeahhhh. BUT WE CANT WAIT!

I myself am so anxious to go. So anxious to finally realize that its not all a dream! cause it still feels like one.

Miss everyone back home of course, but not too badly. It hasnt set in that im going to be gone for two months, cause its only been three (ish) days! :)

Ill post again when im safe and sound in Case Bernabe. In Guatemala!