Things going on

These past two weeks have been busy, but good.  First, we found kittens (more on that later), then we had tons of rain, which meant flooding since the ground doesn't absorb the water well.   That meant that school got cancelled for two days and because of that and Mexican Independence Day, the kids ended up getting a five day weekend (luckies).  But, of course, that meant more work for us because we had to watch them all day instead of half of the day.  I'm not complaining, though, because we had plenty of fun.

One of the highlights of these past few weeks has been getting to know the kids better as individuals and invest in their lives.  I get to help teach the four year old that I watch how to read and count.  One of the girls has a small business that I've been helping her with (more on that later).  One day, I taught two of the boys how to bake cookies.  Late at night, I got to comfort a scared little girl and tell her silly stories to help her sleep.  Four of the girls and I baked cookies the other day and I was able to share with them things that I've learned in life that will hopefully help them.  One of the older boys asked me to pray with him for one of the younger boys and I got to share the hope of the gospel with the younger boy.  Even when the girls disobey me and I have to get them punished, I get to share the good news of the gospel with them by telling them that I can forgive them because of God's forgiveness.  Kindly, God's been giving me many opportunities to love those kids in different ways, and it's been wonderful.

That's most of what I have to say.  Please keep praying that babies come to the baby home and that God will give me strength to accomplish the tasks I have each day.

And now, to finish things up, here are some pictures.  :)

Meet my kitty, Luna/Grisy Face (think "gris" as in grey in Spanish and then add a "y" just because).  Well, she's not my kitty any more.  She was for about six days, but I'm not allowed to keep her in my room and if I keep her outside, she'll be tortured for sure.  So, I'm giving her away to somebody who can take care of her.  *sigh*  I was so close to have a pet.  At first, she was mean and hissed whenever you came near her, but after some time, she proved to be the sweetest kitten on earth, no joke.  She loves people (especially me :) ) and purrs whenever I hold her.  I'm really bummed that I can't keep her.

This is her sister, Vaca (yup, a kitten named cow).  I think one of the girls will be keeping her at her house.

And look at the pastries I got to make with one of the girls!  She sells baked goods on Sunday and this week I got to help her and teach her a few tricks from the bakery.  It was tons of fun and such a great way to invest in her and become better friends with her and I think I get to help her again this week!  I love my job here.

This is my favorite building in town.  I don't know why, but I just really like it.  It seems like it's witnessed many different times and would be able to relate so many stories if it could talk.  Sure, call me crazy, but that's the way I think sometimes.  Also, the colors are way cooler and more vibrant in real life.

And this would be the beautiful Mexican landscape.  Really, I think the Mexican landscape is gorgeous. There's so much sky.  And it's so blue!  I think I could look at it forever.

Recently, I've been working on lots of projects, and this is one of my favorite.  I took an old dresser that the girls were throwing out, cleaned it up, and painted it and now I have a night stand that works and looks pretty.  I'm pretty happy.

Les choses qui se passent

Ces derniers deux semaines etaient tres pleines, mais bien aussi.  D'abord, on a trouve les petits chats (plus de ca plus tard), puis il y avait trop de pluie et ca veut dire qu'on a eu de l'indonation aussi parce que la terre ne peux pas recevoir bien l'eau.   A cause de ca, les enfants n'ont pas eu d'ecole pour deux jours et avec ca et le jour d'independance, ils ont eu un weekend de cinq jours (la chance).  Et, bien sur, ca voulait dire qu'on a du les guarder pour toute la journee, pas seulement la moitie.  Mais je ne me plain pas, parce que on s'amusait bien.

Une des belles choses de ces semaines est que je connais les enfants mieux et je peux les enseigner des choses.  J'aide a enseigner la petite de quatre ans comment lire et compter.  Une des filles vend des choses, et je l'enseigne les choses.  Un jour, j'ai enseigne a deux garcons comment cuisiner cookies.  Tres tard une nuit, j'ai conforte une petite fille et je lui ai raconte histoires amusantes pour l'aider a dormir.  Quatres des les filles et moi, on a cuisine cookies l'autre jour et je pouvais partager avec elles les que j'ai appris dans la vie qui vont a les aider.  Un des grands garcons m'a demande de prier avec lui pour un petit et je pouvais partager l'evangile avec le petit.  Bien que quand les filles me desobeissent et je dois les punir, je peux partager l'evangile avec elles quand je les dis que je les pardonne a cause du pardon de Dieu.  Dieu me donne beaucoup d'opportunites d'aimer les enfants en plusieurs maniers, et c'est merveilleux.

C'est la plupart de ce que j'ai a dire.  S'il vous pait, continuez de prier que les bebes viennent bientot a la maison de bebes et que Dieu va me donner la force a accomplir ce que je dois faire chaque jour.

Et maintenant, pour terminer ma mise a jour, voici quelques photos.  :)

Je vous presente ma chatter, Luna/Grisy Face.  Bien, elle n''est plus ma chatte.  Elle etait la mienne pour six jours, mais je ne peux pas la guarder dans ma chambre et si je la guarde dehors, c'est certain qu'elle va etre tuee.   Alors, je la donne a quelqu'un qui peut s'occuper d'elle.  J'ai presque eu un domicile, mais non.  Tout d'abord, elle etait tres mauvaise et ne voulait d'etre touchee, mais depuis un temps, elle etait tres gentille, la plus gentille chatte du monde, et je ne rigole pas.  Elle aime les personnes (en particulier moi :) ) et elle est trop contente quand je la tiens.  Je suis trop triste que je ne peux pas la gaurder.

Voici sa souer, Vaca (oui, une chatte qui s'appelle Vache).  Je crois que une des filles va la guarder a sa maison.

Et regardez les patisseries que j'ai fait avec une des filles!  Elle vend les patisseries les dimanches et cette semaine je l'ai aidee et lai enseignee quelquehose que j'ai appris au boulangerie.  On s'amusait bien et je crois que je peux l'aider encore cette semaine!  J'aime bien mon travail ici.

Voici mon batiment favorit de la ville.  Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais je l'aime beaucoup.  Je crois qu'il a vu beaucoup de temps differents et, si pourrait, raconterait trop d'histoires.  Oui, vous pouvez m'appeller folle, mais c'est comment je pense des fois.  De plus, les couleurs sont plus vivants et magnificant dans la vie que dans une photo.

Et voici le beau paysage mexicain.  Serieusement, je crois que le paysage mexicain est trop beau.  Il y trop de ciel.  Et c'est tres bleu!  Je crois que je peux le regarder pour l'eternite.

Recemment, j'ai fait beaucoup de projets, et voici un de mes favorits.  J'ai pris une vieille commode que les filles voulaient jetter, je l'ai nettoyee, je l'ai peintue (CHECK) et maintenant je une table de lit qui functionne et qui est belle.  Je suis tres contente..

The beginning of a new story

Well, I'm off again. In one month exactly, I'm taking a flight to Texas and will cross the border to Mexico where I will work at an orphanage for the next year. I will be working in the baby home there and I'm not sure exactly what that will entail, but I'm excited to see what God will do.

But before you all hear all my updates, I think you should hear the back story.

Last year, I went to this orphanage and out of the blue felt a strong calling to work in the new baby home there. Since the calling was so outside of my own plans, seemed so clear, and I had no clue what else to do, I immediately made it my post-highschool plan. I was going to Mexico for a year and now had no need to find an answer to the famous what-are-you-doing-after-highschool question. God's plan became an excuse for me not to trust him.

Then things started to go awry. I heard nothing from the orphanage for months, and graduation was looming closer. At first, I nonchalantly assumed that because I had what ought to be divinely inspired plans, there was nothing to fear, it would all work out. But time kept ticking and nothing moved.

And then, things moved.... in the wrong direction. The baby home wasn't expected to open in time for me to go. I began to flounder. How did I "miss" God's plan? What would I do now? As I tried to answer that last question, I delayed. I couldn't miss God's will again and mess up; this time of life was too important to my future to choose something quickly. That and I had no back-up plan whatsoever.

But as I walked through choosing what to pursue, I began realizing that if my faith in God--a real, living, tangible, active, powerful God-- is real, I no longer needed to fear that a choice could mess up my life. If God is who he says he is, there's no way that I can thwart his plan for my life. And since I'm his child, won't that inescapable plan be good? Through the whole Mexico process, I had misused God's plan for me as an excuse to not act and therefore not actively trust that God would shape my life into something good. God started to show me that his plan was designed to give me rest from fear and worry, but not rest from action and trust.

Another gem that I found in this process was God's attitude toward me. I had decided not to trust God, something I'm blatantly commanded to do, and yet God still acted kindly toward me. My sin didn't negate God's goodness, God was loving even in the midst of my sin and gave me what I wanted because he's kind even when I disobey.

As I'm writing this, I know that some of you might be rolling your eyes right about now. You don't believe in all this God stuff, the universe would have let me go to Mexico anyway and I'm attributing my luckiness to God's providence. I understand the vastness of the belief required to believe my tale and I might not even believe it if I hadn't experienced it. But the truth is that God isn't just a director in the sky setting everything up according to his plan, I believe in him because he's a personal God, one who I heard speak to me when I was in Mexico a year ago. I know a blog post can never completely explain what I'm talking about and why I believe in God, and it was never supposed to. I just know that I can't tell this story without talking about God because he's so involved in it, but at the same time I don't want any of my friends or family to disregard what I have to say because I talk about God. If you ever have questions or want to challenge what I believe, I'm open to talking. In the mean time, I hope you'll stick around and follow me on my Mexican adventure.

So, sit back and get ready to hear about how I fail at speaking Spanish, how I'm adjusting to baby hours (no sleep, oh yay!), and God's grace through it all. I'm sure it'll be entertaining!