Steve and Christy's space

Vita is a wonderful woman. She is the cook for the groups when they are here. She makes them authentic Mexican meals and loves interacting with the groups! She has been working with us for many years now and has made so many relationships with people. We love her!! Today is her birthday, so a bunch of us staff women took her out to dinner at Chili's last night to celebrate!

Yesterday I went over to Casa Hogar Douglas with a couple other staff ladies to hang out with the older girls there. We brought Dominoes and Yahtzee and had a great time hanging out with them. It was nice to be able to give them special attention. Many times people connect with the younger kids at the homes and sometimes the older kids may feel left out. We taught a few of the girls to play yahtzee which was a little challenging at first but I think eventually, they caught on. I was glad we took a good learning game because I was amazed to see how difficult it is for some of them to do simple addition. I am hoping to go back regularly to build into them and hopefully be able to teach them some things as well. Each one of these girls is so special and I hope they know that God loves them so much and has brought other people into their lives to show his love to them.

Last week a group from North Carolina was here and they were able to go to Imperio de Amor and have a birthday party celebrating the kids' birthdays that are in July-September. The group brought money to buy tons of candy and a pinata. They also brought along festival type games to play with the kids. There was a big cake made up of cupcakes, (quequitos) the group blew up balloons, and they had fun with the kids as they opened up their gifts. One of my love languages is gifts. I love receiving gifts but I also love giving gifts. I am thankful I can be used in this way working hard to come up with great gifts that each child can enjoy. It also makes me smile thinking of the kids as they open up something that is specifically for them and that there are lots of people to get excited with them at the parties. Thanks CUMC for loving on the kids and for buying them a pinata, candy, and for bringing the little skateboards for the boys! Also I want to give a big thanks again to the Second grade classes at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy for making the birthday cards, necklaces, pencil decorations, and placemats. They are all so cute and each child received one for their birthday. :)
Enjoy the pictures from the party! (check the album on the right)