Good afternoon! It's another hot day in Belize, and right now the team is at the work site putting in another long day. We have loved working on this project for John and Patti. It's been a ton of work, always something to do. But it's been easy to track our progress. The work site has been transformed from a big pile of dirt to a sturdy foundation. It's been awesome, and now that the foundation is nearly done building the rest of the house should go very smoothly. We've learned a lot about construction, and shoveled A LOT of dirt.

Yesterday turned out really well. We went to John and Patti's to help do some spring cleaning and organizing for the baby, and then headed to the orphanage at about 3:00. Our visit there was really wonderful. On the first day the team is always a little cautious, not really knowing what to expect. The kids are a little guarded, getting to know us. We're a little guarded, trying to figure out how to react and respond to the kids. The kids at the orphanage are quite different then the kids we know back home. They're extremally independant... always willing to play with us but not really needing us around. Yesterday all of the walls came down and we had a fantastic time with the kids. Everyone on the team seemed to make at least one special friend, and we spent the afternoon helping with homework and playing at the park. The kids were so excited to have us there, and we were able to give out a ton of hugs and kisses. We bought the whole house fried chicken for supper (57 orders in total!), and it was a blessing to sit and eat with them. Their family supper times are very different then back home. There are rows and rows of kids in a very small kitchen, but all the kids were very polite and well behaved. After supper we got to stay for family devotions. This always brings tears to my eyes, watching the kids sing worship songs with their WHOLE hearts and reciting scripture by heart. They're such a wonderful family, everyone looking out for eachother and loving eachother. There is much to learn from these kids. They've been dished out more than their fair share of challenges, but they're overcoming them with so much grace. They are incredible, and I know we will cherish the time spent with them for a long time. We got to stay until bed time, and help tuck them in. It was so nice to be able to give them good night hugs and make sure they were all tucked in. It was very hard to leave there last night. Many of us were very emotional already, which doesn't bode well for our final good bye on Sunday. Please be praying for us as we lead up to that. The team started facing the reality last night that our trip is more than half over, and soon we will have to say good bye. It's hard to imagine our lives with out these kids, it seems like we've known them forever. It's only been a short time, but now the idea of never seeing them again is feeling very foreign.

That's all for today, I need to get back to work. But here are some prayer requests for today:
-Pray for the Nicaragua team. They are close to our hearts, and we feel close to them as we both work hard at completing our work projects. Pray for continued safety and grace for their team.
-the YWAM staff. They are facing some changes and transitions as a staff team.
-Continued safety and health. There has been hardly any illness at all, and we'd love to keep it that way.
-Team moral. We are starting to get tired. These have been long days in the sun. The team is doing an awesome job of keeping up their energy on the worksite. Pray that we can finish our last day tomorrow as strong as we started.

Thanks so much for reading! We love and miss you....

Kristin and team