Monday

the work week...
I chose to "work" at the orphanage. Monday morning we had breakfast at the church in Guadalupe and then split up into our groups to go to the different work sights. We took the group to the school and got to tour the campus, it was a neat school. They have seperate buildings for speech/language, vision, motor, mental challenges (this is what they referred to as the building where children with down syndrome, autism, etc. are serviced), in addition to a an administrative building and dentist office that services the children, families, and staff. There are several playground areas, walkways, sensory gardens and adaptive equipment throughtout the campus. We left the group who was going to be working there making more walkways and working on the administrative building flooring. Then we went to the house and it was a tiny little place in a very bad neighborhood, we were able to walk down and see where they would be building the house. It was a lady names Trinidad who had been praying for Charlie and his work for a long time. Trinidad is living in a shed with her 2 dogs to protect the materials that were being used for her house. She was so appreciative of all of the work that the group was doing for her. We left those who were working at the house there and went to the orphanage. I was excited about the experience. We were greeted by children who wanetd attention.
Charlie gave us a tour of the orphange which consisted of lots of houses, play areas, a gym, soccer field, etc. I was greeted with hugs and went in search of the little kids. I found them! I came upon the little playground where the children who were 2-4 were playing. I spent my morning on the playground with these children then we were taken back to the church for lunch. After lunch we made our rounds of dropping the teams off and went back to the orphanage. It was the rainy season in Costa Rica so it rained every afternoon and since the orphanage was so far up the mountain it was really cold in the rain. We spent the afternoon in the house with the 3 and 4 year olds. They were so much fun! They loved my sunglasses and my camera. The children wanted their pictures taken and then they wanted to see their pictures. :) I was happy to do it :). About 30 minutes before time to go Elizabeth, one of the other adult counselors from our group came and told me that she had found a baby. I immediately had to go see him. He was a beautiful 10 month old who has a trach. I got to hold him and then had to leave.
We picked up the groups and headed to the church for dinner. We went back to the compound after dinner and spent the evening playing cards and talking.