walking next to you...

i have been eating home grown cherry tomatoes all morning and they are so good. and now i think it would be fitting to share about my yesterday. i had the opportunity to do something really wonderful. and even though it was only for one day, it didn't really feel like it and it is something that i will remember and who knows, maybe even get to do again:)

on thursday when i was with robyn, she told me that her and janell were going to serve at an orphanage with their church this weekend and i had been praying for something to do this weekend, so i decided to join the group. and i am so glad that i did. friday night i drove out to spend the evening with robishka since we were going to be heading out bright and early. she is such a neat lady and i am so blessed to be able to call her...amiga:) saturday morning we met everyone at the church and it was quite a large group! i was thinking perhaps 20ish, nope, more like 60! but how super because that meant we would get a bit of work done:) we signed up for our cars and got water and prayed and hit the road.

about the car ride. robyn, janell, and i road with brenda and her daughter brianna and oh my goodness, i enjoyed that group so much! brenda is the funniest lady i think i have ever encountered. we laughed so much and the drive was just wild. i was so surprised to learn about their family's heart for africa. but so loved the stories. it was so nice just to have them share about the way the Lord had moved in their family in the time they spent overseas. brenda told us about the spiritual things the experienced and i was just covered with goosebumps. she has such a heart to serve and sees the need in such an obvious way. her family is all over the place, they go everywhere and love the Lord and love His creation so much and honestly, it was almost too much for me to listen to the stories because it was goodness overload, if there is such a thing.

when we got into mexico, we were sort of given the wrong directions so we drove a bit out of the way but we laughed and had a nice time and once we turned around, we were found and made it to the orphanage safely. it is a huge building closed off from the busy street and the people running it, kevin and his wife, they are good people. it is so amazing how much they love the 70 plus kids in the orphanage and that they are just so in love with the Lord that they are willing to give wholeheartedly to the orphanage. there was a lot to be done. cleaning, painting, crafting, playing, eating, and so on. the day was full of events and honestly, it melted my heart that the kids were all so content with such little things. they made these little paper doves and covered them with little plastic gems and they were just on cloud ten about it. i walked into one of the rooms and an older boy jumped up and showed me his dove and he was just a huge smile from check to check. i smiled but a part of me wanted to cry just a little bit because his gratitude was so clear and it just really blew my mind.

robyn and myself and a few other neat ladies got to go to the park with the younger kids for a little while. we took one or two by the hand and took a walk over to the park. the walk was so nice because we were just loving the kids and they were so sweet. there was a little boy named saul and he was my walking buddy. he noticed me and i him because we just happened to match:) he walked over to me, hugged me and pointed out our matching shirts. he spoke to me in spanish the whole time we were walking. and fast and jeez, i wasn't able to respond very well but i tried and i think he had so much mercy on me because he just smiled and kept chatting with me. he would let go of my hand and wander off at times but come running back and grab my hand when he was ready. we had moments of laughter. which made me laugh because we could hardly communicate and were still able to have funny moments!

the park was a hoot! we got there and the swings were missing! all of them:) but the kids were so good at just playing together and finding things to do. it is not very often that they get to go out so they seemed to love every moment. and we did too. robyn had this kid that just cracked me up. he stayed really close to her...he is the youngest one out of the bunch so he is quiet but funny. he kept grabbing at her sun glasses and a few times he was such a trickster. he would reach out to me and as soon as i came close enough, he would grab my face and just smother me, ahahahahaha:) so unexpected but hilarious. i watched out for him after he got me twice or so:)

while we were playing one of the older ladies decided it would be a good idea to get each child a huge thing of cotton candy....YIKES! they got so messy! the little little guy, well, somehow his whole cotton candy melted into his shirt. really, i know it sounds crazy but it did and he was trying to eat it off his shirt and it just bunched up and there was sand and oh gosh, was he a site:) they ate and enjoyed and were so dirty but they loved it and it was just good. we walked back to the orphanage and had lunch....grilled cheese! and other stuff but the grilled cheese was key:)

after lunch we played and chatted and boys kicked around soccer balls that would sometimes come straight for our faces and the older girls put ice down my shirt...they thought it was the funniest thing and after i would jump up, we would all laugh together. in the afternoon, we all packed up and headed to the beach! that was such a wonderful experience! all of us, all of them. it was just so good. we played in the water...it was cold, we built things from sand. we spent time together and it was good. i got so overwhelmed as the day went on. the fact that God is so big and we are so small and He just pours and pours into us.

i met this lady pamela. she was so tiny and sweet. she was born in england and moved to ireland as a young person and she loves the Lord a lot. she spoke to me about what the Lord is doing in her life and she is an older woman and it was so good. her words really moved me and when our conversation came to an end, i wanted to ask for a hug but i didn't want to freak her out. to my surprise, she reached up to me and gave me the sweetest hug:) i don't think i will forget her.

there was a family that came with us. it was their first ministry project together and they were so sweet. they had three younger kids and they were just loving it. well, their van was stolen while we were at the beach. their little boy was just weeping and my heart just broke. we were just there for a little while and that happened. i experienced so many emotions throughout the day just with the different events that took place and a little bit of myself mixed in and that little boy crying just broke my heart.

they were ok after a while and we had dinner and after dinner, they got the fire going and the marshmallows out and the guitars and wow, wow, wow, they sang to the Lord and it was wonderful. i cried. they were so free and unashamed and have nothing in this world and somehow the joy on their faces was unquestionable. robyn and i had a good conversation after. about humanity and God.

our drive home was just as i had hoped. we had such a fun time and brenda was just hilarious. there was a michael jackson with a neon green plastic whistle and a funny story about denny's and so many other things. this morning my drive home was the best drive i have had in a while. i talked to the Lord about my time yesterday. it was really loaded and i needed to just express my heart and He is always listening and i am grateful. i experienced joy and heaviness and so many things this weekend and God was with me when i did. He is good. those little kids were so amazing and i know God is with them. it was a wonderful, unforgettable experience.

lunch with the fam is calling and i am hungry SO...happy sunday to you, over and out.