The trip God planned

Kevin and I both had the opportunity to spend Spring Break serving at an orphanage outside Lima, Peru. It was an incredible experience for both of us, and especially me because I've always wanted the opportunity to serve at an orphanage in some way. Shortly after returning home, God worked incredibly in our lives and allowed the opportunity for me to return to the orphanage in the summer. I won't go into details on the blog, but I will be happy to share my story with anyone who asks, because I believe it's something truly only God could have orchestrated. I just returned from my trip, and again it was such a blessing to spend a week with these precious children.

This blog is usually dedicated to Jake, but I'd like to take the opportunity to share some of my trip with you. If you take just one thing from these photos, please know we are ALL God's children. No matter what our situation or cirucumstance God loves us and desperately wants a relationship with us. During the week, each American was matched with a casa, a certain age of boys or girls. I was matched with 15-18 year old girls who lived in Maria Elena casa. Here's some pictures of the beautiful girls...

Within your casa group, each American was matched with a group of kids called our "buddy group." Each day we spent a special 30-45 minutes with just our buddy group. This time was designed to strengthen relationships with the kids and allow for a greater opportunity to make one-on-one connections. Here I am with my buddy group, which my kids named "Wolfman and the 7 Princesses."
Why is there a wolfman in the girls' casa? The little boy (8), Lenin, and girl, Karol (10), in the front are brother/sister. We were told they have only lived in La Comunidad for a couple months, and had a very difficult time adjusting to their new home. After lots of tears and a few attempts to runaway, they were both put with the older girls as a way to help their adjustment and to have more hands, eyes, and hearts looking after them. From what I could tell by the older girls' interactions with these two, as well as their behavior, the arrangement has made a tremendous impact on everyone. It was great to see the girls looking after these two and seeing them participate alongside each other all week. It was true representation of "family." Each day during buddy time, we had an activity to help us have fun and grow closer to one another. One day, we played a teamwork game using pvc pipe and a marble. Here's my group working on the activity...
Every morning started with singing and fellowship as a large group, then we split into casa groups for Bible stories and VBS time. Maria Elena casa learned about different women of the Bible. For each Bible story, we had a theme (Miriam-loyalty; Deborah-leadership; Rahab-courage; Ruth & Naomi-friendship; Dorcas-kindness), games, crafts and activities to reinforce the theme and story. Each child was also given their own journal with the themes and Bible verses for the week. Here is Lenin with his journal and his picture of Rahab's house with the red cord hanging from the window...
Here's a group showing off the friendship collage they made after learning about Ruth and Naomi...Each afternoon brought a different opportunity for more fun, games, and relationship building. One afternoon, we had various relay races for the kids. I helped run a balloon relay for the older kids. One thing I really cherished about my time there is depicted in the following photos. It was really a blessing to see the joy and laughter such simple games brought to these kids...

Even 16-18 year-old boys were running with arms wrapped around each other, laughing and smiling. It was a beautiful sight...

Another afternoon was spent having organized "free time" in the casas. One of my teammates, Elizabeth taught the girls the "Thriller" dance. They LOVE Michael Jackson, and they LOVED learning the dance...Another afternoon activity was a scavenger hunt where the kids were led by clues all over the orphanage to paricipate in lots of fun activities. After the scavenger hunt, each child was given one of these big "balloons." They were so much fun, and it was awesome to see the entire basketball court filled with these huge, colorful balloons. Here's some of our girls, spelling out "M. E." for Maria Elena...

Here's a big group shot of Maria Elena and all my teammates for the week...

Here I am with a couple of my teammates, Elizabeth and Dearing, as we were touring the casas on the first day. I had a great team of wonderful women who all worked really well together. Everyone put their whole hearts into the week, and I am thankful for the opportunity to have spent the week working closely with such amazing women. Thank you, Dearing, Elizabeth, Jacky, Jenny, Katina, and Sue for your energy and love...

The final afternoon was a talent show and party. The talents were super cute; especially the little ones. Since I spent most of my time with the older girls, I have very few pictures of the little kids, but trust me, they are precious. One of the little boy casas told the story of Noah, which they learned during the week. Look how cute they are...There's always some that just "get you." Something about them grab hold of your heart and just won't let go. For me, there's a few of those living in La Comunidad, and I will always hold them close to my heart. There are three girls in particular I met in March and was so happy to see again. One of them is Marleny, pictured below. Marleny is a special girl, and I was initially very sad to not be matched with her casa, but God knows better than me. He allowed me to stay connected with her, while also connecting me to many other sweet girls.

On the last day, Marleny came to me and told me she made something for me. She handed me the scarf you see in the next photo. Initially, I responded, "No, you should keep it, I know you worked hard on it and you should wear it." (She had made the scarf in a class offered the afternoon before). She told me to look, and when I did, I saw the scarf said my name, "Kellie" on one end, then the shape of a monkey on the other. She told me, "I made this for you with your name and your favorite animal." My tears came immediately. It was so beautiful and obviously made with love. Isn't it interesting that the things that usually mean most to us aren't things that come with high price tags? The best gifts we can give and receive really are those that can't be bought at all, but rather given through love: patience, understanding, acceptance, compassion, friendship, kindness. You can't find expensive things anywhere on the property of La Comunidad, but these other gifts are flowing abundantly, and I'm thankful I had the opportunity to share in them.

No matter what, it's hard to leave. No matter what, it's hard to say good-bye to this place that now means so much to me. Fortunately, I can trust that God loves these kids and this place even more than me and He has a plan for them, no matter what!

A little catch up

There's lots to catch up on, but it's best to start from the beginning. Two weeks ago, we had a wonderful visit from Kevin's aunts, grandmother, and a couple second cousins. It was very special because this was the first time any of this family has come to visit. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the adults, but I somehow managed to get some pics of the kids...no big surprise here. Gavin and Jake stole the show with their fancy drumming and guitar skills...Although, it's our hope for Jake to one day have a little brother or sister, I'm convinced what he really wants is a big brother or sister. He loves being around older kids, and this visit was no exception. He had so much fun with Gavin. They enjoyed being silly on his Mickey Mouse pull out seat...

Gavin's little brother Caleb didn't want to miss out on the fun, so the boys let him join in a little too...

Lastly, here I am stealing some baby time. Caleb is a very, very good baby. He is so laid back and easy going...

Week Away, Part 5 of 5

The last part of our week away, Kevin and I got the opportunity to see one of my two very best college friends get married (Jake stayed with Nana and Big T). It was a wonderful time and beautiful wedding. Here is my other very best college friend, Carrie, and I at the rehearsal dinner... They were married at a chapel in Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The chapel was GORGEOUS!

They took all their wedding pictures pre-wedding, and while the photographer was setting up I snapped this candid shot of the couple, Mindy and Jon. I love this picture and feel it's a perfect insight into how much they love each other...

Here's Mindy's family as they were taking picture....I add this to show the beauty of the chapel...

The grounds were beautiful too, so we had to take some pics. Carrie and me...Kevin and me...

The reception was tons of fun and equally as beautiful as the ceremony. Here I am with the beautiful bride, Mindy...The three Baylor amigas...

I am a total sap and love, love, love weddings. I love it all, but being the sweets girl that I am, I especially love the cake...
Always got to try both the bride's and groom's

There was a fun band so of course, we had to get down...
At one point, the lead female singer had all the willing ladies on the dance floor to learn some new moves. It was a blast!

I'm so happy for my dear and wonderful friend, Mindy. I hope the future brings many more wonderful memories together.

Week Away, Part 4 of 5

As you might have guessed, our week away was spent with the Lawson family. The highlight of our week together was a two-night stay at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. I definitely recommend it for vacation, especially if you have little ones. There was lots to do for little ones (and big ones), but most importantly, it was super easy to head back to our room for the kids to take their naps. The first things the kids did when we checked into our rooms was jump on the nice cushy bed!!!

In order to enter the waterpark, everyone over 2 years old had to wear a bracelet. Jake watched all of us putting ours on, and he immediately started pointing at our wrists and whining for his own. Nana saved the day and helped Jake to have one too...

Here we are with our matching bracelets. Jake was so proud to show his off with the fam...

We ate dinner at a restaurant at the Lodge the first night, and they gave all the kids wolf ears. Completely adorable...

The littlest wolf in our pack...
The main attraction at Great Wolf Lodge is their awesome indoor waterpark. Here's a look as you enter...
This is the area where we spent most of our time with the kids. It's shallow enough that Jake was able to walk around on his own, and fun enough to keep both the boys entertained...

These jet skis were definitely Jake's favorite part. He loved riding with Cohen and by himself, and had a blast shooting the water gun at people...

And we can't forget this beautiful water babe...Another neat thing about the Lodge was their nightly story time. They had a performance each night with a permanent puppet type of set that sang and told a story. Following the show, someone would come out and read a book to the kids also. We definitely didn't want to miss, so we dressed the kids in their pjs to get settled for the night. Here we are watching intently...Here's the view of what we were watching. A little hard to see in this pic, but very cool.Thanks Big T and Nana for an awesome time. We loved it!!!