Here's a video of some boys having a dance off. My boy is in the grey shirt and blue pants. Abraham is the main one competing against him in the white shirt. Juan Carlos (light blue shirt) and Macario (red shirt) try to contribute some.... In case you notice, yes, I will be talking to Jesus about doing the double flip off after Abraham softly slapped him when they were doing their signals for the other to go...



Here's a video of the girls doing one of the dances they know... When the lighting changes, it is because all of the boys were practically on top of each other looking in all the windows. The dancers are Pati, Ruby, and Dulce. Perla & Carolina were trying to learn... I though they were participating, but they weren't.. :)



Lastly, here's a 5 second video of some kids enjoying the summer and finding creative ways to stay cool. Perla has the hose, and Carolina, Angel, Rosa Elizabeth, and Juan Ignacio are the sliders.

With highs and lows, this weekend was all over the place.

Here's a few highlights:

• One boy left when I was at the boys soccer game, so I never got to say goodbye. He's with his family now.
• There are 11 new kids in the past two weeks. They now have 107 kids and they might be sending some to a new orphanage that will be opening up in the city.
• I used up almost an entire First-Aid Kit due to the amount of kids that needed some bandages and some extra tender love and care... My dad was right, I should have been a nurse... or at least went to school for it.
• 2 kids had to go to the doctor for some bone checks. They're fine.
• The one year old boy that's there... said my name. Yes, "Ana" was his first word!
• One of the girls that goes down with me (not Madi) went home early, which I was happy about since one of my kids saw her drunk in town. Her parents are debating if she'll ever be allowed to come down again.
• I have tons of videos that I might post on here. They're pretty cute.

I might be going to Tampa for work. I'd leave tomorrow at noon and then get back Friday at 2 just to turn around and go back to Mexico at 6... It's a tightly scheduled week. I'll find out in the next hour if I'm going or not.

I lied... One more story. :)

During the baseball game, Elyot was catcher. He definitely needs some practice being catcher - it's just that Edgar did it for so long. He's done pretty good in other games I have seeen, but this one... was making me lose any faith that he had any skill. I think once he messed up once, he got totally discouraged and didn't even try. He would walk instead of run if he didn't catch it (while someone was batting), and one time the other team even stole home. After a while, he got out of his funk, but it was so hard to watch him struggling like that. Jesus Humberto got taken out as pitcher during the first inning! I felt so bad for him. They are such a team, but when one person starts second guessing themselves, the whole team goes with them. They were missing easy catches, dropping the ball, and seemed to have no coordination...

Oh, but here's the intense part. It was the top of the ninth (so to speak) and the bases were loaded (with Jesus Guadalupe on 3rd, Roberto on 2nd, and Mario Cesar on 1st). There were two outs and Elyot was up to bat.. I was of course nervous because he wasn't hitting that great up to this point. I know his potential and I've seen him hit lots of home runs before, but it just didn't seem like it was going to happen that day. He's now at 2 strikes and 2 balls. Great... two and two. He hit it. It was almost to the back wall. In came Guadalupe, Roberto, and then Cesar. The ball was thrown to the pitcher when Elyot was running. He was throwing it to the catcher as Elyot was getting ready to slide in. Check out the picture. The umpire called him out, but he was clearly safe - completely under the other guy. The game was then over.

It should have been a grand slam - it was... the ump just didn't see it. I showed the boys my picture and Mario (the psych - their coach) and they were so mad that the call was made like that. It was a fun bus ride home as everyone was passing around my camera, proud of Elyot, and just happy that they ended the game on a good play with an unjust call. Elyot saved the day.

Now, you tell me... what do you think the call should have been?

Even though I'm going tomorrow and I'll have lots of new stories next week, I wanted to share one last one with you before I go.

On our last trip, we were all at the boys soccer game. When we go to their games, I have learned to try to bring enough water for the boys. See, in Mexico, with orphans, there is no "team mom". The other teams don't have one either. One time, I went to the store and brought the boys back lots of fruit, chips, and water to drink. It's hard to watch them drink out of a spout on the ground which is really no different than the hose they drink out of back at CdE.

Anyway, back to the game. Patty, Shannon, and I were the only women there. It's the boys, the coaches, and no spectators (besides the extra boys from CdE that can't play). One of the boys on the other team tripped and fell. I know this is common, but when the boy got up, his hand hung in a way that it's not supposed to. His wrist bone (maybe his ulna) was sticking out a lot more than normal. His coach asked me if I could take him to the doctor. Without hesitation, talking to Patty or Shannon, I went.

We went to the Red Cross. No one was there, but as we were knocking and waiting and knocking again, one of the women that work there came and talked to us. She said that they couldn't help and that we should take him to his dad.

He showed me where to take him and he pointed to a cute little green house on the side of the road. Not knowing what is culturally the right thing to do... to go with or stay in the car... I followed because Adrian did. He walked on the side of the house so I thought that maybe his mom would be in the back making tortillas or doing laundry. She wasn't. We walked down a small hill and then there was a woman making tortillas. Awe, his mom.

Nope, not so much.

We walked down another hill, a small building on the left the size of a common living room. Maybe this is his house. Nope. There was no one there.

We walked down a tire step in the hill, saw another little house - this time on the right side.

Nope.

Lastly, we walked down a steeper part of the hill (it's all the same hill), and then there's all sorts of men stirring cement and pouring it. Past them, there was a little woman. Yes, this was his mom.

His coach told her about his wrist and how bad it was. She didn't necessarily believe it and she said to tie it with a rope. The little boy moved his hand that was holding his wrist to keep his hand attached to his body, withholding all of his tears to prove he can handle it. His mom didn't even gasp (like the rest of us) and kept her same solution.

The coach didn't like that solution, so he then talked to his dad who was admist the men diligently working with the cement. His son then showed him his wrist, and he finally believed that he should be taken to the doctor. We walked back up the hill past the other 2 houses and then finally up to the top one. He then said we could go and that he would take care of him from there.

Did he? I will never know. It's hard, I had never seen that boy before, but just imagining him walk around with weeks with a rope tied to his arm is hard to handle. I really hope his dad took care of him...

Theres's something about the forest that is so soothing. I am not sure if it's just being admist God's creation, seeing the trees that seem to never end, seeing water so clear that you can see the clouds reflection in them, or just being around His animals, His creations, that we're not expected to like and have as pets. (In the tree trunk pic, if you click on it, you will be able to see the squirrel/chipmunk.)
I had a great time with my family after I made it through the almost 8 hour drive on the way there thanks to my sister that acts like everything is a school zone - I should have just had Keith drive - just kidding!
It was absolutely beautiful, and it was a great time with my family and a bunch of my dad's friends that I haven't seen in years. There's nothing that beats being able to have a fire and enjoying the heat of it. I love the consuming part of fires - It always brings me back to God and how much I need Him to be the consuming fire in my life.

Wow, it is an insanely busy month for me. The first weekend of the month was the only one that I was in town for. I was in Mexico last weekend, this weekend I'm going camping with my family for Father's Day, and then the following two I'll be in Mexico. I expanded the trip on the 22nd-24th to the 26th due to my boy graduating on the 25th. We're coming back super early on the 26th for Patty to be able to go to work. There was going to be around 8 people going that weekend, but Jared G. backed out since his brother Jordan and his friend can't go. He didn't want to go by himself without his brother. It's getting hard though. There's all these teenagers that want to come and bring friends, but they can't drive. If Patty can't go, we would have had to turn people away due to lack of cars and drivers. I was kind of glad he cancelled solely for this problem.
Even though I am personally ecstatic that I will be down at CdE with all of my kiddos for 3 weekends this month for all of their celebrations - it's definitely hard to be away from my Amadeo family for that long. I am going to miss church for 4 weeks in a row. I was really trying to not go on this camping trip so I could go, but I haven't been on a camping trip with my family since before my dad's brain surgery in 1999. I'd say I owe it to them. :)
Love you guys. I hope you have a fabulous time at church this Sunday. I will still see some of you next week at the Missionnettes end of the year ceremony. It should be a fun night.

We are back, and I have to say it was the most amazing trip ever. The boys had a soccer game yesterday and a baseball game today. Yesterday, Adrian, Jesus, and I helped Juan Ramon and Jose Isaac learn to read. Isaac doesn't even know the letters k, ll, f, r, or x. It's amazing. They were stoked to pracice reading and writing though. I watched my Jesus read my bible to Jose - hands down the cutest thing ever! I hope Patty will download her pics soon so I can show you guys the pic I made her take. The kids loved their pics likes always, and as normal, they go insane asking for them on months I bring them down. I kept 625 pics out of the 900 I took. Anywho, here's us enjoying time with our kiddos.

Patty with Jose Isaac - he now knows "k" - pronounced "ka".
Shannon with Rosario (new), Angel, Diana, Wendy, Cruz, Irma, Elyot, & Rainny.






Me with Diana, Rainny, Sofia, Macario, & Adrian.
Below is Patty and Shannon playing a game with the kids on Saturday night - the party night. Can you guess what game they are playing? Check out this classic party game and witness
Shannon getting some love.





Last, but certainly not least... check out what happens to innocent kids when they are exposed to our culture. Here is Antonio - quoting an American movie

We're almost out of here - less than 12 hours to go. I am really excited that it's just going to be me, Patty, and Shannon on this trip. It's nice to only take one car and have a really small group for once. Next trip there is going to be quite a few people: Patty, Jessica, her friend, Jared, Maddison, Jared G., Shannon?... and I can't remember if anyone else is going or not. This weekend is going to be nice.

I finished sorting all of the pics on Tuesday. Between the 44 girls, they are getting 865 pics. The girl with the most is Dulce with 67 and the girl with the least is Leticia with 4. The average girl gets between 19.65 pictures. Now, between the 40 boys, they are getting 804 pics. The boy with the most is Mario Alberto with 66, and the boy with the least is Hector Santiago with 4. (I'm so thankful to Jessica for having 3 of his 4 pics.) The average boy gets 20.1. Now, the staff gets 104 pictures between them and their kids. This is a grand total of 1,771 pictures.

Speaking of pictures... you Prim parents, wait until you see the slide show in 2 weeks. There are going to be some awesome pictures of your girls in there from last Wednesday. :) There are only two weeks left, and I don't think very many families are bringing their kids for the movie this next week.

Oh, and let me just say how happy I was to hear that Lyndsay O. is going to be the girls camp counselor next week at youth camp! I think she's going to be great, and I can't wait to hear about how God moved her and used her. She's nervous, but some of that has left, and she's already starting to get excited about it. Make sure you keep her in your prayers - we don't want her to be a bad influence like me in years past. ;)

Well, I finally found out when the kids graduation is at CdE. It's going to be on June 30th. What does this mean? I'm taking 3 trips down there this month - this weekend, the 22nd-24th for the High School graduation, and then on the 29th-July 1st for the whole graduation. I'm so excited for the graduation on the 30th. There are 2 boys graduating from kindergarden, 15 from elementary school, 2 from junior high, and 2 girls from high school. It's going to be a great time. Patty and I had a great time on our last trip watching them pracice their dances for it. It takes a lot of time and preparation to run that one.

This week is going to be an ultra crazy one for me. I'm going to be working lots of hours helping people get used to the new system. On Wednesday, we're having a Prims party since there's only 3 left and the other 2 are a movie and the ending ceremony. I get my pictures from Snapfish, so I will have to sort the 1,176 pictures into 90-something piles - always a good time! It's going to be good though and having the reward of spending time with those kids this weekend is better than anything else!