Mexico Day 1

So a week ago two friends and myself decided to take a leap of faith and come to Tijuana, Mexico to spend time with kids and babies in an orphanage.  The orphanage is called Siempre, which simply means always but there is a heart behind siempre that should break all of all hearts.  Siempre is named because the kids who are here have always been cold, always been helpless, always been dealt a rough deck of cards, always been abandoned...so there sense of siempre is broken.  So Siempre is here to fix, to mend, to redefine always.  Here they will always been cared for, always be loved, always be shown who God is! Siempre has a meaning that has been lost in this nation, but now is being rediscovered in this poor, yet beautiful village that overlooks the ocean which spans out as a reminder of hope, a reminder of God. 

I have found myself already moved by these incredible kids. For the most part they were not too guarded, but they did need permission to love.  Our smiles, our hugs, our games, and our effort to communicate with them despite pathetic attempts at Spanish allowed them to see that we wanted to love them! I was so shocked though at how their faces lit up when they heard that we would be staying a week.  To them it seems like forever! It seems like enough time to invest in us, it seems like enough time to love, and it is definitely enough time for everyone to leave a permanent imprint on the lives of one another...THIS COULD BE EPIC!

I'll leave you with one last story.  As Mackenzie, Carly, and myself were saying good night to all the kids and wandering around just hugging and laughing, we were each handed stuffed animals. Mackenzie received a pink cat with an oversized head, Carly got a cute white dog with a purposely off-colored eye and a pink flower, and I got this epic aqua colored monkey that velcros together.  The stuffed animals are cute and all, but for me it was simply a reminder of what love is!  Love takes action, these little girls in mexico get it!  They love, they hug, they give, they share, they live love!  Love is not somethign they take for granted, love is something they embrace and chase!  Which makes me wonder if we truly embrace each others love? Which makes me wonder if we even remotely embrace the love of God?  And if we are embracing the love of God is it over-flowing in our life! 

There will be more, but adios for now....which by the way if you literally translate adios it means to God...I like that!