(I got home on the 21st of August but have been gone for the past week, so this is late)

Did you guys deserve a blog post? Probably. Did I have time to write a blog post? Yeah. Did I have things to put in a blog post? Definitely. Did I write a blog post? Ha.

But I’ll catch y’all up now, while I’m on the last leg of my journey home! I’m so excited to be back! But I’m also just really glad I could spend some time with my kids. I have about 2 weeks to cover, so here goes:

So. Confession time. This trip was real hard, guys. It was real lonely, tiring, and joyless for the first week or so. And I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why I wasn’t as ecstatic to be there as I have been in previous trips and it was just really really hard. But God is good, and he answered prayers and taught me to trust him and to pull myself up by the bootstraps. So maybe it wasn’t the best trip I’ve ever been on, but I learned a lot and that’s more valuable than having a good time. And let’s be honest…with these kids, of course I had at least SOME fun. Now that we’re done covering my pathetic feelings and behavior, we can move on to the times that reminded me why I go to Mexico as often as possible.

One thing that I learned while down at the Gabriel House is that the little things matter. It’s the little moments that give me unmatchable joy, remind me of God’s never-ending love, and send me head-over-heels in love with these kids. It’s when I take Raul’s hand to lead him inside and he gives me one of his elusive hugs. It’s sitting on Victor’s bed and feeding him while I call him “guapo” and he calls me “pepita”. It’s Luis repeating things I say in English. It’s Jaime giving me a kiss on each cheek every morning, and thanking me for them. It’s Marcos catching scorpions with me while we’re both shaking with fear. It’s Teddy making me go to TimBukTu with him because the “yellow store has more things than the green store” when all I needed was milk and toilet paper. It’s Betsy and Kimberly and Sonia smiling when they see me. It’s cuddling Javier and Roberto to get the cutest smiles in the world. It’s Usiel holding out his arms to be picked up. It’s Antonio schooling me at checkers. It’s coloring with the crew while we all sing Spanish worship songs. It’s putting new batteries in Sergio’s toy and getting a huge smile. It’s Ne Ne and Pili forcing hugs on me. It’s hearing Ely laugh. It’s holding Miguel and telling him that though he hurts and his body doesn’t work right, he is perfect in my eyes, and perfect in God’s eyes.

And it was great. It really was. Thank you all so much for the financial support, the prayers, and giving me something that I miss so much when I leave. That is incredible all by itself. I love you all. And I’m way tired so I’m overly emotional. But until next time, please prayer for love and healing and joy in my kids.

It’s saying goodbye and being able to tell them “Don’t worry. I’ll come back. I’ll always come back.”

Well I'm back in Mexico. I could get into the boring details regarding how long I'll be here and what the weather's like and how great the tacos are, but I'll opt for story time tonight!!

STORY ONE: DELAYED GRATIFICATION

Once upon a time, there was this really awesome girl named Maddie who went to Mexico for three weeks in August 2014. For two of those weeks, her "job" was to spend time with the most physically restricted kids at GH. One of these girls was named Sonia, and Maddie spent most of her time working with Sonia.

And guys, it was SO hard. Like you don't even know. I would talk to her, and I know she understands both English and Spanish, and no matter what I said, there was no reaction. I spent hours with her, listening to music, talking, painting her nails, doing her hair, looking at pictures, the works...and nothing seemed to get through. ONE time I had the immense pleasure of seeing her laugh. 15 seconds out of days. And it was so hard.

But then...I walk in ONE YEAR LATER and say hi, and this huge smile spreads across her face! And now every. single. morning. I say hi and her face lights up and all those empty hours turn out to be full. All those tears of frustration turn to laughter. And it reminds me why I'm here.

And I think we'll live happily every after.

STORY TWO: 10 LITTLE MONKEYS JUMPING ON A BED

One little Usi on the trampoline. I jump and jump and jump with him.

An Usi and a Jaime on the trampoline. I jump and jump and jump with them.

An Usi, Jaime, Pili on the trampoline. I jump and jump and jump with them.

Luis joins on the trampoline. I jump and jump and jump with them.

Here comes Antonio to the trampoline. I jump and jump and jump with them.

Come on up, Checho, to the trampoline. I jump and jump and jump with them.

AND THEN I DIE OF EXHAUSTION. THE END.

Stay cool, blog-readers, stay cool.