Monday - The Real Work Begins!

Shew! Day 1 of our whirlwind first day of service is just winding down and boy are our beds calling us. So please excuse the short post and enjoy the pictures :) We promise to tell all the stories when we get home.

We started with a devotional

After the devotional we went right into activities. Because our 2 groups combined have 26 people, we are running 4 different activity groups this year: Indoor games, outdoor games, music, and crafts. All stayed within acceptable levels of organized chaos today, so we deem them complete successes!

Indoor games played with stamp pads and stamps

The results were fab

Music amused everybody with their fun, catchy songs and hand motions

Sports mostly just bounced around

(lots of bouncing by leaders and kids alike!)

And crafts outdid themselves with two activities - necklaces and nametags!

Just remember this photo when you feel like you have a lot of socks to pair - you could be washing and sorting laundry for 45 kids!

And after 2 hours of activities with the kids, the real work began (As if 2 hours of crafts and jump rope with 70 kids wasn't work enough)!

We had two big painting projects today, one at Casa Matriz (the main elementary kids' home) and one at Casa Famoso. We'll post more pics of the Famoso painting tomorrow.

Those orange walls are going to look so much better in cheery light yellow

Limited tools made taking down the shelves difficult, but we perservered

One monkey loved painting on top of the wardrobes

The crew at Famoso and Galondrias were such troopers, painting in the hot, bright sun 

One of this week's projects is painting the newly poured concrete entryway

We even got a few sewing projects queued up today, with more on the way

Our last project - filling another few hundred Easter eggs just to round things off

We paused in the afternoon to sample some new candies (tamarindo spoons). Most found them... unappetizing

...but some folks uncovered a new taste sensation!

For the rest of the evening we got to host Easter egg hunts for the kids - first up, Casa Cuna, the baby house

Next came hiding 1,150 eggs for the bigger kids!

Hiding eggs in a field is challenging, but the kids didn't seem to mind

And two kids even found real eggs during the search in the field, courtesy of the neighborhood roaming chickens!

Lastly, our tired-but-happy crew hit the playground for a little romping

And we finished up the evening with delicious tacos

This team has been so hardworking and has had such a great attitude about every task, even the hot and messy ones. Please join us in prayer that:

• Our bodies would stay strong and healthy
• We would be wise and drink lots of water, eat healthy meals, and get plenty of rest (to support the prayer request above!)
• The team's amazing attitudes and hard-working spirits would continue
• We would continue to connect with the kids and caregivers of Hogar de Amor and demonstrate just how deeply they're loved