Tuesday, March 23, 2010

La Sagrada Familia Part 1

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 comments:

Kim P. said...

I'm so glad you got to go and serve there and that everything went smoothly with Jake. You and Kevin are such a great example to all of us with your mission work!

myra said...

I'm so glad you got to go, too! And I KNOW Kevin really enjoyed having you along. :) What a great service you did. Can't wait to hear more about it!