Our Week - A Quick Video Summary

We had such a great week serving the kids and caregivers of Hogar de Amor!  Here's a quick video glimpse into our time together.

A Big Thank-You from Colima!

As if the hugs and smiles of 85 kids and their caregivers weren't ample thanks, look what arrived in my inbox today!  The caregivers at Casa Matriz took the photo frames that the kids made on Wednesday and made a super-cool mural that's hanging in the entryway of the home.

Team, thanks so much for your willingness to serve long, hard, hot, dirty hours on behalf of these kids - you made such a difference to the kids and caregivers at Hogar de Amor!

Friday - Faces of Hogar de Amor

It's astounding how quickly these little faces with their ready smiles and open hearts have worked their way into our hearts.  Tomorrow we leave Colima, but we take with us our love for these kids and our fervent prayers for their protection, growth, and health.

We are so grateful for the privilege of serving the children and caregivers of Hogar de Amor.

Please join us in prayer for these kids. Pray that despite and even through the difficult circumstances they have faced that they would know the love of Christ that conquers all fear, all hurt, all brokenness. Pray for each caregiver, that every day they would receive ample grace and overflowing love and vibrant energy that would pour over into each child. Pray for the finances and stability of Hogar de Amor and Grupo Amor, that this group would have all the resources they need for decades more service. Pray that each person here would experience and represent the very name of the orphanage - that Hogar de Amor would, every day, be a House of Love.

Thursday - Finishing Well

Today was our last full day of service and we finished well! We worked hard and played hard and said goodbye to our new and dear friends with tears and hearts full of love.

Casa Famoso has 7 rooms with new curtains and The Sparrow House is completely sealed with most of the ceilings and walls newly painted.  It's been a big week and we are so grateful to the children and caregivers of Hogar de Amor for their open hearts, open arms, and welcoming smiles.

After morning devotionals we started the day with an hour of futbol with the kids.  Team USA managed to hold its own against our pint sized competitors but man can those kids play!

Playing against smaller opponents does open up unique opportunities for holding.

While many kids played soccer, the rest received our parting gift - a new box of crayons and coloring book for each!  The loved them! I think today is the only time in human history that sitting quietly trumped a rowdy game of soccer for popularity! All of you who donated crayons and coloring books, you put huge smiles on the faces of a whole lot of kids today!

I have never seen these kids work so diligently for so long!

Nothing smells better than a new box of crayons all for you

Everybody loved their books, boys and girls alike

And all ages got books of their very own!

Even the caregivers got in on the fun, picking out their own coloring books and getting a brand new box of colored pencils.  It was such a blast to see everybody blessed by our little gifts.

And after the soccer and coloring book extravaganza we headed to the new house for our final day of work.

Putting on paint is so much more rewarding than applying coat after coat of sealant over the cement and we enjoyed putting a little polish on The Sparrow House.

And Team Sewing put the final touches on our seven rooms of curtains in Casa Famoso.  Making the house look a little more homey and polished felt great and seeing the joy of something new and beautiful in her home put such a big grin on the house mother's face that we couldn't help but smile with pride and joy in return.

We toasted our final full day of service this evening with giant cups of horchada, dinner on the town, an evening walking around Colima's city center, with all of it capped of by hot homemade stuffed churros.  It was the perfect way to celebrate a week finished well.

Please pray with us that the small acts of service that we performed this week would encourage the kids and caregivers of Hogar de Amor - that through our love they would each know the love of God in an even deeper way!