Discovering the egg....
Realizing there is something inside the egg...
Being told to put the egg in the basket, but not seeing a need for that...
Getting ready to play after the successful hunt of 1 egg...
I have to say, Jake really did like his one little plastic green egg. He carried it with him the entire time we were at the park. Now, next time I know it's very important to be early for the egg hunts. Oh well, Jake didn't seem to mind at all. Overall, a great Saturday afternoon!
I think I'll just sit here and look cute...
Well, maybe I'll pitch in to help...
Whenever we go outside, Jake immediately goes into the garage to find his golf clubs. If we're out front and the garage is closed, he'll even go up to the garage door, try to open it himself and "ask" me to open it. He loves those golf clubs. Not so much to play golf with, but instead to hold and push around. Here he took his club and plopped right into our leaf pile...
Using the club to push the leaves around... 
We even had a conga line going at one point. Guess who started it? None other than my very own husband, Kevin. 
During most of the party I spent time dancing with the oldest girls. It felt very similar to how dancing often goes in the States---a big circle of girls with them taking turns in the middle. I was pulled in the middle A LOT, but I loved it. One of my not-so-secret loves is dancing, so I was happy to try my hand at their dance style. Here I am with my main dance "teacher." I never even got her name, but she took to me very quickly and stuck with me to help with the steps.
The party came to a close too quickly, and it was time to load up the buses. This is a shot I took looking out the window of our bus. The kids were sending us off--it was a beautiful, yet difficult sight. If I would have taken a picture of the inside of the bus, you would see tear stained faces of nearly every American---even the 17 and 18-year-old boys. I think we all left a little bit of our hearts behind that day...
I personally feel so blessed for the opportunity we had to spend a week at La Sagrada Familia. God showed me much more of who He is and what His love looks like. I saw this on the faces of the orphanage children, the faces of our adults and teens as they poured themselves into the kids, and most of all, on the face of the orphanage director, Miguel. I really think that more than any individual I have ever met in my life, Miguel represents who God calls us to be. He has dedicated his entire life to the lives of these kids, and I have no doubt he loves them as his own flesh and blood. It was an earthly example of God's love for all of us. Miguel has over 750 children. The Lord has over 6 billion children. I can't truly fathom either of those facts, yet I know they are true. Just as I know the orphanage kids know Miguel's love for them, it's my hope that all of God's children will one day know the love of their Father. 
Then the kids divided into their casa groups for games, crafts, and other activities related to the Bible story of the day. Our three Bible stories were Jonah and the Whale, Daniel and the Lion's Den, and Joshua and the Walls of Jericho. Each of these days I was with the craft group, and three girls' casas rotated through our station. Here's what the front of the classroom looked like as Abbie explained the craft. The woman next to her was translating everything for us...
Here's what the back of the classroom looked like as the girls are listening and working on their craft. Crazy, huh? This was definitely the biggest casa we had in the rotation and ultimately we split them up into two rooms for more space, but these kids are definitely used to sharing stuff and space...
One of our crafts was a suncatcher type thing using contact paper. The girls are hard at work...
One of the beautiful finished products...
On the Daniel Day, we did free hand water color paintings of something from the Bible story. It was awesome to see the girls' natural talent...
Look at these amazing paintings...
Each afternoon, there were more fun activities planned for the kids. Monday afternoon, there were lots of fun "zoo games" planned to help get the kids exciting about the zoo trips the following days. These zoo games were basically different group games with new animal titles!
On Thursday afternoon, we put on a carnival with all types of "booths" with your typical carnival type games. There were potato sack races...
Fishing...
I wonder what's lurking behind the fishing pond? Jocelyn and her adorable new friends...
Face painting, just to name a few...
Each day at the zoo we had picnic style lunches in a huge grassy area. It was nice to enjoy some down time with the kids, plus the area was really beautiful. The grass was nice and green, and there were beautiful trees. I think the kids must have also really enjoyed this nice change of scenery...
Over the course of the week, I became closest with three girls from my casa. They spoke fairly good English so it made it easier to communicate with them. The zoo was a perfect opportunity to spend a lot of time talking and getting to know one another as we walked around. They are beautiful, sweet girls who greeted me by name and with loving hugs throughout the week. This is Marleny and Soledad....
and this is me with Claudia...
One of the primary reasons we went on this specific trip was that it was organized for the Junior and Senior classes at church. We work with the Junior class on a weekly basis. It was such a blessing to have this opportunity alongside our group of kids. There were so many moments where I learned from them, was awed and felt proud. This picture depicts just a part of what made it so special. Look how sweet those guys are...
On the guys' zoo day, both Kevin and I were paired with the oldest guys. It was definitely a different atmosphere than the girls' day, but a blessing all the same. Here they are...
Kevin just chillin' with some boys...
Here's another pic to tug at your heartstrings about how sweet American teenage boys can actually be...
This last picture is Kevin and I with the 6 Junior Huddle kids who were on the trip. Thank you for reminding me of the power and love capable of teenagers. These kids are truly an inspiration, as are the rest of our Huddle who were spread out other places for Spring Break. The Bible tells us in Phillipians, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This verse was not just intended for adults, but for all who love and follow the Lord. These kids are tremendous examples that through Him, we can do incredible things!
Kevin and I were blessed to spend our Spring Break at La Sagrada Familia--an orphanage outside of Lima, Peru. No, Jake did not go with us. He was being loved and spoiled by his grandparents; so thanks, Grandmama, Papa, Nana and Big T for loving on our boy so we could love on others'.
In no way can I express in words what this trip meant and did in our hearts. I want to go ahead and post some pictures while I continue to reflect and pray about our experience to try to find words to capture even an essence of our week. Until the words come, here are some pictures. We drove 1 1/2 hours each day to reach the orphanage. These pics show what things look like leading up to our arrival. I think they speak for themselves...
The moment we stepped off the bus on our first day, kids greeted us with smiles, hugs, handshakes and kisses...
These next few pics are shots from around the orphanage...
This was the most green you saw for miles and miles. I pray to God I don't take the grass and trees for granted again...
The dining hall...
The "kitchen." If this isn't eye-opening, I don't know what is. They literally cook food for over 750 kids in these gigantic pots over open fire...
The "nursery" casa during lunch. The youngest ones spend most of their time in one building before they are old enough to start school, be more independent, etc.
Middle school aged girls I befriended during lunch the first day. It was Sunday, so they are wearing regular clothes; otherwise, the kids wear uniforms during the week...
Just a cute pic of some of the younger ones lining up from school. From here on out, you'll see pictures mostly of the oldest kids because I was "matched" with the oldest group, but the younger ones are soooooo cute!
More to come as soon as I can!
2.Hiding/Tackling/Tickling games (preferably with Daddy, but others will also do)----If you want to see Jake really laugh--the kind of deep belly laugh kids get lost in and in which adults cannot feel upset when hearing--just play this kind of game. He loves it, and it's music to my ears every night when Kevin plays with him. Daddy's coming to get Jake...
He's just around the corner...
And he's got him...
Jake also associates his football with this kind of play. He'll get it out of his toy box and immediatlely expects to start a tackling game.
3. Mommy's lotion drawer---When I'm getting ready, I'll bring a few of Jake's toys into our bathroom so he can hang out while waiting for me. He's pretty patient with me as I get ready (must get that from Daddy), but I think that patience also comes from his fascination with my lotion drawer. It's just the right height for him to open and look into. He loves to pull out the lotions, carry them around, or just lay them on the floor...
4. Rocks, sticks, and probably just about anything on the ground--I think all that can be said about this one is he's 100% all BOY...
5. Being with friends---As I've said in previous posts, Jake really likes to be out and about and around people. He loves going to others' houses, and he seems to love having friends come over to our house. It really makes me wonder if we have an extrovert on our hands? Our friend, Ellie, came over to play a few days ago, so here's some pics of them playing "together"
Of course, Jake had to teach Ellie all about "boy" toys...
One of Jake's friends, Brooklynn, celebrated her 2nd birthday last weekend. This is the first time he's sat at the kids' table on his own. Of course, I snapped pictures as quick as I could because I knew it wouldn't last long. Sure enough, within a couple minutes, he'd had enough of the table and was ready to venture off to play. It was cute while it lasted...
6. Plastic cups---For some reason, Jake has a fascination with plastic cups, which are the kind of cups we drink from 99% of the time. He's usually good about not bothering the cups we're currently drinking from, but he definitely wants his hands on one when I'm unloading the dishwasher. He will carry his cup around and of course, act like he's drinking out of his big boy cup...
And some more, but without the fun pictures...8. Balls and Blocks---It seems that his favorite toys are balls and blocks. I draw this conclusion from the fact that they are the two things he consistently gets out of his toys bins on a DAILY basis. He has two kinds of blocks, soft traditional style and jumbo leggo style. Both are big hits, and he brings them over to us so we can unzip their containers every day.
9. The Outdoors---Again, this is one that is definitely not a new interest, but I have to keep it on the list because it is an important part of our day, and we are so excited for the beautiful SPRING weather!!! The past couple days, Jake has even done a great job playing on his own in the front yard while I'm sweeping some leaves. We bring some balls and his golf clubs out, and he's perfectly content to play with those and the leaves. Most amazingly, he's doing a great job staying in our yard. I talk to him a lot about not going past the sidewalk and staying in front of our house. He's really good about staying away from the street, but walking down the sidewalk is more of a temptation, which can lead to us heading back inside. Overall, he's doing a great job of learning to play appropriately in the front.
10. Talking, or more appropriately, Making Noise--Jake can definitely make some noise. He doesn't just make quiet noises, but really rather loud ones. Most of the time, he makes no sense whatsoever; he's just "singing" or babbling away. These noises are definitely happy noises, but they can also be somewhat embarrassing noises when you're out in public. Nonetheless, I'm happy they are happy noises, and we're trying our best to work on "Shhhh" for some volume control. As far as understandable talking goes, he is just starting to say some mostly understandable words. These are: Daddy, Mommy, this, hi, bye, and dog. He does not say them on command, or always in the right context, so we're working on it, but he's definitely starting somewhere.
Now that I've been able to share a list of 10 top favorites, I'd thought I'd share two of my least favorite things about this time in Jake's life. Of couse, as a Mom, I love every part of Jake unconditionally, but in all honesty, we can have our challenges.
1. Tantrums---Jake has started throwing tantrums. I had no idea this behavior started this early, but apparently it does. These tantrums can be as basic as crying when he doesn't get what he wants or when something is taken away. They can also be as intense as literally throwing himself on the ground crying and screaming. I'm having a really difficult time knowing what to do about this, especially since he just seems so young. I struggle between ignoring it and comforting him. Even when I attempt to ignore it, I struggle to know how long it can/should last. Anyhow, this is definitely the #1 most challenging part of my days.
2. Throwing or Spitting Out Food----Overall, Jake is a pretty good eater. He's not super picky, but he also has definite opinions on what he likes and dislikes. I know his eating habits could be much more challening, so I will not complain about his refusal to eat some foods. I do, however, wish to vent on his choice to spit or throw food he doesn't want. If something enters Jake's mouth he doesn't like, he immediately opens up and spits it right back out. I'm pretty sure this is totally normal for 14 months, but normal or not, it is so frustrating. I can usually handle the spitting pretty well and know how to curb it, but the throwing is much more challening. This usually happens when he refuses to eat something and it's still on his tray or when he's decided he's finished eating. I've now learned how to spot the signs that he's "warming up" his arm for the pitch, so I can intervene before I'm splattered, but there's still moments when he gets past me. To make matters worse, he thinks it's totally funny when he does manage to hit me, so he breaks out into laughter. Again, this is definitely something I struggle with.
OK, it felt good to just let that out. I knew parenting came with challenges; it's definitely quite a ride finding out what those are for your child. Hope everyone out there is enjoying your ride!
