Weak and Out of Controle

This morning at 4:45, I was woken up my an earthquake. It was just a little trimmer, and I looked at the clock and was glad that I had a lot more time to sleep. I´ve felt small earthquakes before and this one was no different. I was almost back asleep when another one hit and this time there were three big bangs where everything was shacken more violantely. I waited til it was over and then ran to Emily`s room and she wanted me to get in her bed with her because she was scared too! So we were almost asleep again and another big one happened, this time with only two big bangs. After that there were a few small trimmers, and I realized how weak and out of controle I am! Its such a wierd feeling to know that the ground is moving under you and you have absalutely no controle of it...only God does. We don´t even know when there will be another earthquake, or even how violant it will be. How much weaker could we be? I´m glad that my faith is in the One who IS in controle!

Another wierd thing that I saw yesterday...I saw a man jogging on the mainstreet of downtown with a horse on a leash! When I told my friends about it, we made jokes about how he had said "Honey, I`m taking the horse for a jog. I´ll be back before dinner."

Welcome to Mexico!

They need your prayers

Emily went to work this week, but I didn't because Myrtille only wants one of us to come, and we will switch off every other week. The one that doesn't go to work, will stay at Casa Hogar and help with whatever Hermano Alejandro needs, which is what I did this week. I cleaned from top to bottom the room that the new intern will stay in (who's coming on November 15), and helped the women cook in the kitchen for all the kids. I cracked and scrambled at least 300 eggs, and then was put to the task of cutting up squid....yes, squid. Don't ask me why that was on the menu. I didn't make any faces, or comments to offend the chiefs, and I tried not to think about what I was touching, and yes, I cut up about 20 whole squids. Eye balls and everything.

The food situation was better this week because money was given and they were able to get more food.

I can't believe its already November! There are a lot of birthdays this month, and I've already made about 3 batches of cookies and this coming week, there have been about 3 more requests for brownies or cookies for their birthdays. So I have a feeling that I'll be in the kitchen a lot this week!

The birthday parties that we give them are a hit. I wish everyone could see the faces of the little kids when we give them a big plate of cake and ice cream and a glass of coke.

Please pray for the children as they face tough decisions each day and for me to be a huge encouragement to them when they come home from school.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

A good vacation with my family

The time I had with my family was so good! I took them to the best beach and introduced them to all the good food. I was so glad that they were able to see where I am and meet some of my friends here. And I'm glad that the kids got to meet them too! They were all counting down the days with me because they were excited to meet them. And I was so glad that Myrtille let me have the week off from work to be with them!

The last night that they were here, we were invited by one of the church elders of Jesus de Nazareth to their house for coffee and cake. He wanted to thank my parents for letting me come and help at Casa Hogar and to open up his house to us. He and his wife and family live in Las Brisas, a very beautiful part of town that overlooks the whole Acapulco Bay. He made it pretty clear that his house is our house and Emily and I are welcome to come over every weekend (and believe me, we will NOT pass up the opportunity).

One thing that happened while I was with the family is that, something happened with Casa Hogar's budget and they ran out of money for food. So ever since, they have only been able to afford for the kids to have a normal sized lunch, but breakfast and dinner have been bread and chocolate milk.

4 Days!

My family is coming to visit me next week! They will get here on Sunday afternoon and stay til Thursday. Please pray for them as they travel and safety and good times while they´re here.

I´ve been counting down the days til they get here for 3 weeks!

Rain and Slumber Parties

There was a storm that left huge puddles of water in our rooms two nights ago. And if our rooms were flooded, think of how bad the kid´s rooms were! They don´t have glass on their windows and lots of holes in the roof! It rains almost every night, but this storm was very big. School was canceled because the roads were flooded and kids couldn´t get to school, and last night, a tropical storm was supposed to come. So Emily and I decided to take the opportunity to sleep upstaires with the girls. The girls in my room, put three bunk beds together and all 6 of us slept up on top. It was a very good bonding time, and I really enjoyed being there with them. Everything was very wet when we woke up!

Thank you for your prayers, because the girls have opened up to me! I enjoy being with them.

Encouraged in Heart and United in Love

Apparently, Casa Hogar used to have a night of singing praise and worship songs, but over time it eventionally ended. So the other night, me, Emily, and one of the boys who plays the guitar, walked out into the Cancha and started singing. Soon, we had about 10 people all singing! All of the songs were songs that we sing in church, so I was able to sing along a little bit. We prayed before and after and one of the kids prayed and thanked God that Emily and I came to help them. It was a blessing to me and I hope we´ll be able to do that ofton!

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I am here to invest in these kid´s lives and really love them with Christ´s love, and sometimes I don´t really know exactly how to do that. Simply loving them is enough. A big thing has been helping them with their homework and studying for tests. I love it when they ask me to help them with their English homework because thats something that I know! There is a 6 year old boy who will always say ¨Help me, Sarah, help me!¨ When I go in to help with homework, and I just melt.


I have started making brownies for the kid´s birthdays. They really don´t get very much attention on their birthdays, and I´ve been trying to come up with ways to make it special for them. I usually take them to the store to let them get an ice cream, but I want to do more than that! So we have decided to have a big birthday part on friday nights for the kids who have birthdays in each month. So for example, last night we had a party for the kids who have birthdays in September and October with cake, ice cream, soda and balloons in our kitchen. And next week, we will have a party for the kids in November and December, and we are going to have parties for the kids who have birthdays when we aren´t even here! So that way, they will all have a birthday party with us. The party last night was very fun, and I think the kids liked it.

My purpose is that they (Casa Hogar) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Collossians 2.2

Please pray for me to be a blessing to everyone here!

Vanilla Ice Cream

¨Why are those people staring at me?¨ - Me
¨Because you look like vanilla ice ceam.¨ - Josefina

Sometimes I find it hard to beleive that I really stand out THAT much, but then when I think about it...I do. I´ve only seen a total of about 10 Americans in the month that I´ve been here, so I am constatly stared at! Although last week, the cruise ships came into the bay, and I saw bus loads of Americans who were going on the cruises. But other than that, Acapulco is where tourists from Mexico City come.

I´m glad that I´m not a tourist - I live here!