What A Day

Just a warning before you start reading this....you might get bored with this blog before I even get to lunchtime in our day. It was a packed day with lots of new experiences that I am sure we won´t soon forget.

We started the morning by touring around here at Hannah´s Hope. There are about 30 kids. All but about 8 of those are 1 year olds. Needless to say I am in love. These kids are just so adorable. We just help them and took lots of pics. Unfortunately I will not be able to upload pics until we are home so make sure you check the blog after the 3rd.

We then headed to the grocery store. We were surprised at the selection of food they had there even brands that we recognized. We loaded up on breakfast foods for us here at the house. Ashley also had found out from the orphanages that we are visisting what some of their needs are so we were able to buy some basic supplies for them as well. That was alot of fun.

We took a tour of the city. Wow! Words can´t describe the contrasts you see there. The sad thing about Guatemala is that there are a fair amount of rich people but they think that you are born with what you deserve, so if you are poor you deserve to be poor. So you will see these huge beautiful malls and shacks right around the corner. We visited the City Cemetary which was heartbreaking by itself. They are all buried on top of the ground. The rich folks have huge beautiful mosuleums that they buy. The poor have a slot which they must rent. Of course they probably can´t afford to pay this yearly bill so after 5 years if they are behind on payments the city removes their body and throws them over the side into the city dump. Most of those that are buried are young men that if they are lucky are older than 30. There are alot of widows down here.

Of course this leads into the city dump. I have never seen anything like this and words and pictures won´t do it justice. We were standing on a hill overlooking the dump. It reeked. Tons of huge vultures were just circling overhead. Trucks were backed up dumping trash and there were adults and kids sorting through looking for anything salvagable. Ashley would walk on ahead of us to make sure that we weren´t coming up upon any dead bodies that had just been thrown over. It was a very sobering experience. If any of you ever hear me complain about anything again please call me on it. On Sunday we are planning on going to the edge of the dump were people live and hand out bread and the hygeine packs that we brought along.

Lunch was next. We traveled all this way and were ready to taste new foods and we went to McDonald´s. :) The kids of course liked this. It tasted very much like home.

Mama Carman´s Orphanage was our next stop. This orphanage was in a very bad section. They had approximately 40-50 kids there and only 10 beds for all of them. Some of the babies just napped on the floor and some just sat in high chairs and slept. These kids never get outside ever. They play in a garage approximately 10x20. We took some rubber playground balls and a parachute. They were in heaven. Some of the boys bounced ball back and forth with us the entire 2 hours. None of us saw any other toys there at all. I told my kids they can never say they are bored again. One little girl just stole my heart as well as the girls´. I reached for her and she came to me and just hugged me around the neck as tight as she could. She would do the same every time she went to someone else. So precious!

We came back to Hannah´s Hope for a little while before dinner. Morgan & Makenzie wanted to go back to the babies, Nicole & I wanted to nap.....so the girls won. We got there and it was supper time. There were 4 caretakers, called special mothers, feeding all 20 some babies. We asked to help which they allowed us. They put us to shame. The one special mother had spoon fed 3 babies before I even got done with 1. Next it was on to changing them into pj´s and brushing their teeth for the night. They go down to bed at 5:30 so that they are all sleeping by 6. They almost always sleep through the night till 5 am. Again if I wanted a job here I would never last because I am so slow. There is nothing better than snuggling a baby that is already for bed unless of course you are snuggling a baby that just woke up. :)

Dinner was at a great authentic Guatemalan resturaunt. The food is alot like Mexican only less spicy. We are all exhausted so after showers we are all off to bed and ready for another day. I am not sure if it is more physical or emotional tiredness. Coming here is really expanding our world view. Being able to be here during the Thanksgiving Holiday gives it even more meaning. I knew we are blessed but to see conditions like we are seeing and all the kids that just want love..it is overwhelming.

So goodnight hopefully that wasn´t too long of a blog but if tomorrow is anything like today we will be writing a book again tomorrow night. So goodnight, sleep well, and thank God for everything you have no matter what.