Day-----3

First of all, Laura and Emily wrote yesterday's blog, to answer Michelle's question. =) They did an excellent job!

The day began as usual with breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. Delicious again!! :)

It was a short bus trip to Reina where we met the teen moms for the third day. Each day the bonds grow stronger and we are more comfortable interacting with each other. This is probably more true for the rookies than the veterans but... The girls were excited about the crafts (making little mini purses with a verse written on a card inside). This was another great idea by Heather. :) The girls seemed to really enjoy the 'learning english' station. Several of them took notes in english and spanish which was cool to see. They encouraged each other to say the phrases in english. While Laura was going things they could say to their babies, one of the them asked how to say "I love you" in english. I'm pretty sure it was Andrea who asked this and this is significant as there was a time when she admittedly did not love her child. From what we can see, she very much loves her child now. Praise God!!

Then came time for fun and games. Each day we have finished our time at Reina with volleyball, soccer and just hanging out. I (Larry) am known as Mi Padre now due to Derek yelling/saying that every time something goes wrong on the volleyball court. Now the girls are also doing it. I hear Padre more now than Larry which is a lot of fun. The girls are pretty darn good at volleyball and very competitive. :)

Today we had the pleasure of getting to eat lunch with the girls and their kids. I had heard about how fun this was last year and was excited to experience this year. It was as good as advertised. The moms love to spend time with us and have us interact with their kids. One of the moms asked me if this was a typical lunch in the USA (we had a sandwich, chips, juice, chocolate)? With Laura's help, I/we answered that it was fairly typical. It is very interesting for me to be on the other side of those type questions. I have always been the one asking that type of thing so that was kind of neat.

After saying our goodbyes (which are very hard even though we know we will be back tomorrow, not sure how that will go our last day. I told Emily she may get to see a grown man cry.), we headed off to San Ricardo. We need that bus ride to reload and prepare for all of those kids. It can be a little tiring but worth every second of feeling exhausted.

Like at Reina, everyone is getting more comfortable with the kids each day. The chaos seems a little more controlled each day and our time feels more productive. One of the boys mentioned during the 'Bible' session, that it is great to have the 'Shoe' visits but those only last for a short time. While visits such as ours, hugs, playing with them, showing endless love last forever. Pretty good incentive to keep coming back. Guess one could read into that statement that they would rather go barefoot and be loved than have shoes and no love.

We introduced kamodo dragon to the kids and they loved it. They also got the chance to make butter then eat it on bread we provided. This was a big hit and went very well.

We noticed when we left that there are more and more kids clinging to the bus as we leave. This could be quite the crowd by the end of the week. The bus ride home was a little different tonight. It was Friday and the traffic was worse than the previous two days. I didn't think that could happen but wow, was I wrong! You all a HUGE THANK YOU to our bus driver. He is keeping your loved ones alive. I can't begin to describe how the traffic flows down here. You just have to come and see it for yourself. It amazes me every time we go out.

OK, I'm tired and signing off. Oh, btw...there will be no wedding, Emily politely declined. :)

Thanks so much for your prayers and words of encouragement. We will need these more and more as the week goes on.

God Bless you,

Larry and Derek