Wednesday

The final full day in Mexico.  As intense as this week was, it is still hard to believe that it is coming to an end.  The morning was split into teams - construction, mural and party prep.  The guys worked hard to use up every piece of drywall in the house while the girls finished the mural and finished prepping for the birthday party.
This afternoon we celebrated 13 birthdays from the kids at CDL.  We made sure each child had their face painted first and then had tons of fun with games and relay races and playing with the parachute.

What Mexican Birthday is complete without a pinata? So out came the pink elephant and there were a few close calls, but the kids managed to just hit the pinata and not each other!  After singing Happy Birthday songs in Spanish and English, the kids and staff and team enjoyed some yummy lime cupcakes and then we presented our Casa De Luz gifts - 7 new scooters with helmets and 2 new tricycles for the kids to play with while they are at CDL.

Reaching for the candy!

Parachute Games

Pop the balloon relay race!

And just to jam-pack the day, we split into two teams and headed right out to give away food hampers in the community.  There were some very impacting moments during the afternoon.  We prayed for each family that were given a food hamper and they were all so very grateful.  When you depend on God for your next meal, there is something so beautiful about your faith.  The people's gratitude and love poured out as we prayed for and interacted with them.  Seeing the poverty that some of the children and families live in and that they are still feisty, fun and joyful children is so very amazing and challenging to me.  How is it we can have so much and feel as though we have so little and these families have so little and yet possess so much?

To end our trip here, Mike's very favourite meal - Carne Asada!  We ate so wonderfully all week, but this was the crowning dinner - thank you so much to our wonderful cooks - Rosa, Susanna, and Nora!  


 Tomorrow we head to Casa De Luz one last time to say goodbye to our new and old friends and love on the kids just a little bit more...there are so many highlights it is very hard to pick just one.  I am blessed to be part of such a great church that provides opportunities to build relationships abroad and see His Kingdom Come here on earth.

Tuesday

Work Day at the Team Housing Building!  The whole team got out there and put in vapour barrier and did more drywalling for the morning.  

The afternoon was spent with the Casa De Luz Ninos playing sports, doing crafts and painting the mural.  The team set up a ropes course in the park and also made a giant skipping rope for the kids to jump in!  They loved it!

A small team went into Rosarito to buy all the food hamper supplies.  We plan to give out 20 food hampers on Wednesday.  An abundance of cupcakes were also made to prepare for the Birthday Party tomorrow!

I spent the afternoon at Priscilla's salon.  It was such a nice time to sit and relax and get my hair cut and coloured and know that I am helping her in her business.  Later in the evening, we had Priscilla come back to the compound and do pedicures and haircuts for some our team. She was able to share her story with some of the girls on the team.  I walked in and girls were full of tears.  The team was able to encourage her in all the positive changes she has made.   Priscilla was very blessed to be able to work for the evening and be a part of hanging out with the team.  Sadie, my daughter, also made a new friend in Priscilla's daughter, Dulce.  We had her come over to our room so she could sleep a bit with the girls while her mom worked.  

Wish I could have taken a picture of Abbi and her curled up together in bed!  So sweet.

Monday

Monday was a great day!  Half the team spent an early morning at the former Tijuana dumps.  They served a hearty meal of mashed potato and sausage burritos.  The other half of the team stayed back to do construction and prep for the ladies night.

In the afternoon, the team was split into three groups - dance, sports and crafts/games.  The older girls headed out for to learn a dance to share with their moms during the spa night.  The older boys went down to do some sports at the local park and the little ones hung out at CDL and made some crafts and headed for their afternoon nap.

After dinner we quickly got back to the compound to decorate for our Ladies Night for the moms at Casa De Luz!

The compound where we are staying is wonderful and spacious and the perfect place to have a spa night! It was even equipped with a massage table and massage chair!  So along with hair, nails, facials, and pedicures, we were able to offer back massages to the hardworking mothers of Casa De Luz.  Kate did an amazing job and wasn't able to get through the long list of women who wanted to enjoy the massage room! Jess was kept busy serving mocktails - Margaritas and Pina Coladas as well as a fruit platter and chocolate cupcakes.

The women also had a chance to go through the freestyle clothing and pick two new clothing items and we had a t-shirt tote bag that was full of pampering items for each of the ladies: perfume, shimmer lotion, shower gel, lip gloss, necklaces and more!  Thank you so much to all the women in Abbotsford who sponsored the gifts for the moms here in Primo Tapia!  They were greatly appreciated.

To end the evening, we brought the women upstairs and had some of the girls from Casa De Luz perform a dance that we taught earlier that afternoon. The song was called 'Bloom' and talked about how these women were born the Bloom - flourish and grow - and that God has GOOD plans for them.

The BEST part of the day for me!  There was a little girl named Karen who has some special needs and walks with a walker.  The plan was not to bring her along to learn the dance but after talking with the staff I thought maybe she could come and hold the signs that translated the songs....soon into learning the dance, we found that she would fit perfectly following our arm movements and being a part of the dance...even the focal point.  It was such a sweet moment to be able to see her smiling and being a part of her peer group and performing for her mother.