God is Great, God is Good

One of my jobs on the trip was to take my photo printer so we could give each child his/her own pictures. Well, this was a hit! I was so glad Alicia brought this up during one of our conference calls. The children, especially the teenagers, wanted LOTS of pictures to keep. Kim #2 had some photo albums that the first team did not use so we let the kids at Cocos have these. Some of them wanted to fill every single page and I tried to print as many as possible. Wendi, our fearless team leader, kept giving me a time update about our departure so I could finish. I say all of this so you can understand this picture I took. The day at Villa's I was set up at one of the kitchen tables with the photo printer. I was lucky enough to be close enough to take this picture of the little girls as they were about to eat lunch. I glanced up and on their own they bowed their heads and were saying the blessing!! Isn't God great and isn't God good?

Tias at Villa's

The "tias" are the caretakers of the children in the orphanage. It is so obvious that they love each child! I have so much respect and admiration for what these women do every day. And boy can they cook!!!! We were spoiled on the days they fed us lunch. Speaking of food, we were at Villa's on what was apparently delivery day for the food. I wish I had taken a picture of what was on the table. There was so much fresh fruit and cabbage and watermelon and things I didn't know the name of but it looked so good and healthy. And the table was piled with all of this! I watched one tia fix the fresh fruit juice for the day. She took fresh pineapple, sliced it up with some other fruit, and put it in the blender. Then she poured it into something like a five-gallon bucket while straining it through cheese cloth or something similar. She kept doing this and added the water and sugar. It tasted unbelievable!!

Our Awesome Chino!!!

We had the most awesome tour guide/interpreter while we were on our trip. In an earlier blog, I talked about Chino's sweet spirit and what a blessing he was to the special needs children. Here are some pictures of him with the teenagers from Cocos. They all LOVED him.

Learning to Swim

Kim #1 was teaching Jenniffer how to swim across the pool on top of the water. She is such a precious child with a beautiful smile. Like so many of the others, the story of how she and her sisters ended up at Villa's is so very sad.

Footprints On My Heart

Hello, my blogger friends! I had not planned to be out of town this long so I didn't bring my computer with me. There are so many things I want to share about our trip and I have not even been able to get on the Internet until tonight. I finally broke down and upgraded the old "samsung" for a phone that will actually let me communicate.

I'm not really sure how the rest of the team felt coming back home, but I found that I really needed this time to....trying to think of the word to explain...maybe synthesize everything? This was my first mission trip out of the country and the first to work with orphans and it has been extremely hard for me. I found myself wanting to tell everyone about Visiting Orphans and all the children who need our help and prayers! Maybe I had too much free time after my boys went home. The beach has always been my place of retreat so it is fitting that this is where I have been this last week. Just looking out over the ocean gives me such a sense of awe about how big God is and how small I am. There is a song that talks about how one tear from heaven creates the ocean. In the vastness of all the children in need all over the world, how much difference did I make? Yes, we loved on the children and played with them and took care of any immediate needs that we could see. But this only felt like we were putting a band-aid on the surface and not treating the deeper wound. Some of children have such sad stories that it may take years for their wounds to begin to truly heal. It was so obvious at the two orphanages we visited how much the tias love and care for the children. But for most of the kids, this is only a temporary home before they can be placed somewhere else with family or friends. Then, does the cycle start over again?


As I was walking down the beach one afternoon this week, I was reflecting on our beach day in Costa Rica and thinking about how we did the same thing there on the black sand. The water washes away our footprints whether we are in white sand or black sand. It made me think about how there are some footprints that will stay with me forever and never be washed away... those are the footprints these precious children made on my heart!!

Playing Soccer~Kids at Cocos

One of the hightlights for the kids at Cocos was the day it finally quit raining and we were able to walk to the soccer field and play. Thanks to some of our wonderful team members each child received his/her own ball to keep. The boys especially enjoyed getting out and playing "football" or soccer. Raul played so hard that when we got back he fell asleep with his ball.

I wish I had a picture of Alexis, who is blind, running beside Chino (our tour guide) playing with his ball. Chino said this was his favorite moment of all because he was able to talk to Alexis and tell him when to hit his ball. For Alexis to get to run with no worries of bumping into anything was just awesome. At least I did get a picture of them sitting in the bleachers talking to each other. Chino was such a blessing to us and all of the kids. We were so thankful to have him as part of the team and could not have done it without his help.

I can't get all of the pictures to load right now so I will add the rest later. Sorry....technical difficulties I guess!!

We will be out of town for a few days, but when we get back look for more posts and pictures. I still want to share how Adriana and Jose' just stole my heart. All of the kids are precious but I think each team member had a connection with a different child. It is amazing how God brought this team together and used each of our gifts for His glory.

More Beach Day Pictures

The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and the waves. I think Audriana had the most fun in the water out of anybody. She was so hesitant at first, but Valerie helped her jump the waves and held on to her. (It is the last picture.) I wish I could send the sound of the laughter through the computer because it was amazing! She is holding her little boy, Jose', in the other pictures. Her story is one that touched me deeply. When we get back home and after I've had some time I will write about her.

Beach/Pool Pictures

Beach/Pool Day

Today has been such a blast even though it kept raining off and on. Swimming in a pool was a huge hit with all of the kids. Kim W had fun teaching Jennifer how to swim on top of the water and Jennifer was so proud when she swam all the way across the pool. There were some major water gun fights going on at the same time. The older kids enjoyed doing that! We had lunch under the pavilion and after lunch did some activities waiting on the rain to go away. It is amazing to me how it will be flooding on minute and sunny the next.

Jaylen cut his foot on something in the pool so Brian and Chino doctored it up for him. After cleaning it, they put coffee grounds on it and wrapped it up. We weren't quite sure the exact purpose of it, but maybe it is a Costa Rican remedy.

Gerald (in the wheelchair) had so much fun watching everyone swim in the pool. He even lifted his head so he could see more of the action and would laugh aloud. Mrs. Edna, or Grandma, was so proud of him and just loved on him all day long!

When it quit raining, we walked over to the beach to play in the sand and waves. It didn't take long until almost everyone was in the water jumping waves. Even the adults were getting knocked down by the strong waves.

Having the kids come to the hotel really opened the door for us to minister to others. We were able to tell other guests about Visiting Orphans and its mission. Maybe God will work in their hearts to join a group soon!

I don't even want to talk about how it felt to help them load the van to leave and watch them say good-bye to us. I expected it to be emotional, but I am unable to find words to express how much we grew to love each child in such a short period of time.

God knows each child's need and how best to meet that need. He knows the tias need strength and wisdom to guide the children daily. Only He can give them total peace.

Beach Day~Villa's~Thursday

Beach day....and everyone is so excited! We are leaving in about fifteen minutes to meet the kids. It is drizzling rain right now so we are praying the sun will come out. Jaylen and Caleb said, "Don't worry about it, we're just going to get wet anyway!" They are just awesome. Valerie, Jaylen's mom, and I have been amazed watching our teenage sons with the little ones. Each of them has a tremendous gift and it is a true blessing to have them on this team. Ironically, Jaylen has six-year old twin brothers and Caleb has 18-year old twin brothers so they have a lot of stories to tell being the singleton in the family.

The beaches here are beautiful. The beach across from where we are staying is called Black Beach because it has black sand. It is just like regular sand but black. And not black like the oil in the Gulf. (My family knows how passionate I am about the oil spill and its effects on the Gulf Coast. FYI...I am going to have to catch up with Anderson Cooper and see what has been happening while I have been gone.) The beach where we are taking the children has white sand and a small tributary (not sure how to spell) also.

I can't wait to get lots of actions shots outside today and I will try to post them when we get back. It's tiime to meet the bus.

Praise God....I just looked up and outside and guess what? The rain has stopped and the sun is coming out!!! Let the fun begin....

We had a change of plans. The kids came to us today. They arrived so excited about 15 minutes ago and are already in the pool playing and having fun. They are laughing and splashing us all. The pool is sooooo cold because of the rain this morning but who cares? Look for more fun photos to come...

Day Two ~ Villa's Photos~Wednesday

Day Two ~ Villa's~Wednesday

Today we went back to Villa's. This orphanage is so much more open and spacious than the one at Cocos. Our bus driver has to part at the bottom of a hill and we walk up to the house. There is a long concrete drive leading up to the house and the kids love using it for riding the skateboard or scooter. In fact, they love it so much the last skateboard only had three wheels and no bearings. But that didn't stop them from trying!

The children were so excited when we got there. It was easier going in today because we knew what to expect. As we get to know more of the stories of the children and why there are here, it is heartbreaking.

Tomorrow our plans are to take the kids from Villa's to the beach. Last week, the team took the children from Cocos and had a great time. We are praying that the rain will stay away so we can go as planned. This was one of the highlights of last week's trip. The kids enjoyed being away from the house and running around and playing in the water and sand. Kim W (who was here last week also) and I were talking last night. She made the comment that the day at the beach was so awesome because it seemed like the children were allowed to be just children. They forgot about their worries/problems/cares and laughed and had a GREAT time!

Our group has talked about that we can only do so much during our short time here, but when we are gone we leave with the assurance they will be in God's hands and care. It is not going to be easy letting them go tomorrow.

Day Two ~ Cocos Photos~Tuesday

These pictures tell the story much better than I could.