"Does Your Sister Live On the Street?"

It has been a great, albeit exhausting, week. Honestly, the first few days here were hard for me-adjusting to unpleasant smells, uncleanliness and very dirty children. However, these children have stolen my heart. Their eagerness and desire to be loved is both heartbreaking and precious. The toddlers physically fight each other for our attention. The preschoolers act out or throw temper tantrums. But nothing broke my heart like what I encountered today. First, we worked with the babies and toddlers, and I found this sweet little girl, covered with a terrible case of chicken pox. She was crying for attention, wanting to be held. The caregivers at the home are good, but they just don't have enough hands. So I held her while she slept.

Then, this afternoon, my little friend Christian wandered in to where we were sitting. We met him yesterday when he came into where we were eating lunch. We asked if he was hungry and he came over and sat on my lap and proceeded to devour a sandwich and drown two juice boxes. Then, today, he was sitting with me and I asked if he had brothers. He said he had two younger brothers, but one of them lives on the street. I told him I had a little sister and he asked if she lived on the street. I almost lost it. That's all he knows...life in an orphanage and family who lives on the street. Isn't he precious?

Some more pictures of the week....if you want to see more, check out the Buckner blog, itsmymission4kids.blogspot.com

This is Sagrada Familia, the home where we were at all week. The sun finally came out yesterday!

This pretty much sums up how I'm feeling :) But it's a good tired.