(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.”