Del Norte part 2

I have a confession to make. Ever since I was 16, Del Norte has been my favorite casa hogar that Back2Back works with. Below are some pictures I've taken there over the last 5 years, and eventually I'll scan some pictures from way back when I was 16 and 17. As usual on Thursdays, I headed to Del Norte with a few other staff to help watch the babies for a few hours. For the third week in a row, there was a new baby boy in the playroom. After feeding the babies lunch, we laid them down in their cribs for nap time. This little niño wasn't interested in sleeping, and I wasn't interested in listening a baby screaming. I stood by his crib rubbing his back and belly while he calmed down and eventually dozed off. While I was rubbing his back I started praying for him and his mom somewhere who must be missing her baby boy. One of my favorite verses came to mind as I was listening to him cry and almost crying myself. "Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them." Psalm 10:17-18. Sometimes being on staff here can be heavy, there are hundreds of broken and hurting children all around us and sometimes it starts to feel like our responsibility to fix them and heal them. Thankfully God promises to do that! He promises to comfort them, to defend them, and seek justice for them in a way that no person on earth ever could. We get to be a part of that plan, but ultimately we want these kids to experience freedom and healing in Jesus name, not our name.

Del Norte

On Thursdays I've started going with a few other staff to Del Norte to play with the babies while the older kids are in school. It gives the caregivers a break from being with the kids, and babies might be some of my favorite people on the planet so it's always a great day. Today I went with Stacy, her husband David, and Lonnie. It was a fantastic morning and we even remembered a camera!

Multiplication

Yesterday I went with 5 other staff women to Villa de Juarez to help with the morning routine and get the kids off to their afternoon school. They've got around 20 kids with one caregiver and a cook, so they can use some help! We got there right around homework time, so I settled in to help a little boy who needed to write each of his vowels 5 times. After 10 minutes of struggle I passed him off to another staff woman who has better Spanish. He made his rounds through 4 of us before finding Kathy who worked a miracle and had his homework done and him giggling in about 10 minutes. Anyways, after the failed vowel writing I found Ruby who is around 11 yrs and and was working on her multiplication tables. Math homework in Mexico is my favorite because I know my numbers and can actually help! This probably just blew my mom away, I think world war 3 may have been staged in our house when I had to do math homework as a kid. Ruby and I made our way through all her multiplication tables and then worked on memorizing them together since I couldn't remember them all either.

One of the huge needs with the casa hogars we serve is that the kids are falling behind in school. Ruby, for example, didn't know the number 80 when I wrote it down and didn't really understand that as you go through the multiplication tables you count up (if 7x2 is 14, 7x3 can't be 6). At Douglas we've been able to hire a tutor and we have staff going there every afternoon to help the kids with their homework. I would love it if we could get tutors at each casa hogar each day, and until then hopefully we can keep getting staff and groups out to the homes to fill in the gaps.

Kids Church

One of the things I miss most about home is teaching Kids Church. Yesterday I went with Hope and Cheque to Rio 1 where Meme has a soup kitchen and every Saturday they have worship, kids and adults split up for church, and then they eat lunch together. I helped Hope and Cheque with the 30ish kids ages 2-12 who have church outside on a picnic table, which was so entertaining. I love that some things about kids are universal. The girls all sat at one table, and the boys sat at the other. The boys finished their craft in record time, and the girls spent lots of time coloring, cutting, and pasting theirs together. Most of the girls sat still and most of the boys were upside-down or under the table. One thing that I loved at home, and still love here, is the emphasis on memorizing scripture. Each week Hope gives the kids a memory verse, and they can earn a silly band or piece of candy if they remember it the next week. Yesterday we put together books with all their memory verses to date, and have plenty of extra pages to add a new verse each week. Now, the trick will be to see who brings their book back next week, they earn double prizes if they remember it!

Carlos

Yesterday I was at Casa Hogar Del Norte (CHDN) with a women's group from Cincinnati. I promptly found myself a baby to hold and he was quickly asleep, surprise surprise! Upon picking Carlos up, I discovered that he had a good case of diarrhea which was now on his clothes and consequently on my arms. After locating diapers and wipes, I went to find someplace discreet to change him. One of the other little boys followed me and just melted my heart.

From working as a social worker, I've learned that the bond between siblings is often stronger than the bond between kids and parents. And the bond between "siblings" that grow up in the same foster home/children's home is often equally as strong as biological siblings. They look out for each other and protect each other with a fierce determination. This little guy that followed me showed me to his bed and said that I could lay Carlos down there to change him. He then handed me wipes, took the dirty diaper to the trash, and helped me pull off Carlos' dirty pj's without getting the mess on Carlos, myself, or his bed. Throughout the day he would check back in and pat Carlos on the back or give him a hug, then run off to play again. I love these glimpses into the heart of a child!

A day in the life

Per my mom's request, here's a look at what my day is like here. Adjusting to the atypical schedule has been an adventure. Some days (like Thursday) you work from 8am to 10pm straight with a group, some days you're doing random stuff around the property or going to meetings, and my days off aren't always Saturday or Sunday. So here's a look at a few days this week, since no day here is ever the same.

Tuesday: Prep for a group and work on campus

7am - wake up, quiet time, and study spanish

10am - meeting

11am - bake 140 sugar cookies for the group with Kathy

3pm - go to Casa Hogar Douglas to help the kids with homework

6pm - dinner with the single ladies

8pm - staff education meeting

11pm - shower and bed time

Thursday: Helping to lead a women's group from Hope Church

6am - Wake up, quiet time, and study spanish

8am - Staff meeting and prep for the group

10am- Take the group to Casa Hogar Del Norte and Betesda for the day

6:30pm - Dinner w/the group

8:00pm - Debrief the group

10:00pm - Shower and crash in bed

Friday: Day Off!

sleep in, go to a coffee shop, do laundry, clean the apartment, read, nap, and whatever else I feel like doing

Climbing my first mountain

This morning I went with 7 other staff guys (I was the only girl!) to climb one of the four peaks of Cerro de la Silla, which is Monterrey's famous Saddle Back Mountain. It was an 8.2 mile round trip, and a pretty serious climb! I'm still waiting on David's garmin watch to tell us the elevation gain to the top, but trust me it was intense. Ever since my first trip to Back2Back in the fall of 2000, I've been asking to climb these mountains. It took me a whole decade, but I got there! It was such a great experience, and fun to spend time getting to know some of our staff men better. We want to climb all 4 of the peaks if possible, although we're not sure if there are trails up to all of them. Here are some pictures of our great trip, and maybe if you come visit me we can climb it again! Or at least to the half way point.

We started our climb at 7am so we could see the sunrise over Monterrey early in the morning, the sky was so pretty!

The view from the halfway point to the top, I told you it was quite a climb!

Monterrey from the top of the mountain

Stopped at the halfway point again to refuel

Colton and I at the halfway point