Friday, our last day

By the Smiths

Friday was our final day in Colima. It was filled with a lot of hard work to finish our projects, and a lot of emotions. It's incredible to look back over just 6 days and see just how much happened. 

It was our final day with the kids doing our activities.

The coloring books and crayons that the people of CenterPoint Church generously donated were distributed to the children, and they were so excited to receive them! During craft time, they just sat and colored, so perfectly content.

During music time, they played games with the giant parachute. 

During sports time, they played a game where they had to hold hands and get a couple of hula hoops all the way around the circle. Then they went out to the field and launched wet sponges in the air while the kids tried to catch them. It made for some amusing photos. ;) 

After the children's activities, we all went right to work, trying to finish as much as we could before we left. 

The guys doing concrete continued working hard on the backside of the retaining wall, to prevent flooding during the rainy season. That is some hard work!

The sewing team finished up their projects, including curtains for the Senoritas' house.

The rest of the team was all hands on deck, desperately trying to finish painting Casa Leonel. We got just about all of it completed, and we're amazed that so much got done in just 5 days! It was a huge project and took many hands to get it done. 

Later that evening, we went back to Casa Matriz for a huge party. It was a super fun celebration, complete with pinatas, balloon animals, dinner and special choreographed dances by the kids. It was such a special time to all be together and just have fun. Then they gathered our group together in the center while they surrounded us and laid hands on us while they prayed for us. Then what followed was a bit of a blur - literally - because there were so many tears we could hardly see as we said our goodbyes and gave our last hugs. It's unreal how we can become so close to the caregivers and the children in just a few days, so much that it literally hurts to say goodbye. 

Hogar de Amor is such a special place, filled with the most selfless caregivers and strong and loving children. We will miss them all terribly and we all hope to return again some day.

 So instead of saying "adios" (goodbye) to them, we said "hasta luego" (see you later). 

Thank you for joining along with us on our journey. We coveted your prayers and your support!