dancing with grace

I keep pinching myself, just to make sure this is real life, just to make sure I'm actually here.

I am.

This country is beautiful. Absolutely, take your breath away, is this real life kind of beautiful.

I'm living in the volunteer dormitory on the orphanage grounds, which has 12 different rooms for volunteers. Seeing as I'm the only volunteer living here, I had several options. They narrowed down to these two choices: I could either have a bigger bed with the view of a stone wall, or I could have a little twin size bed in a room that had more bugs than the rest, but had a view of the mountains and volcanoes. Naturally, I chose the view.

There's even sweet little truths posted on my door already.

Oh, did I mention that I'm blessed with the most wonderful partner?! You'd never know we met for the first time just last week. Her name is Melissa, and I don't know where I'd be without her! Literally. I'd probably be lost wandering the streets of San Salvador. She is my translator when I don't know what's being said and a girl who loves and adores these residents just as much as I do. I couldn't ask for a better partner!  This is her and one of the sweet girls we get to work with this summer. Though we will soon start teaching afternoon classes, we have been spending our days getting a feel for things and building relationships with the residents. We have a lot of amazing people to get to know, and let me tell you, the process of getting to know them has been incredible. They are beautiful. Perfect. We have spent a lot of our time feeding children in the Lactantes, which is the area in which many of the younger residents live. They are all in wheelchairs, non-verbal, and the most beautiful children I have ever laid eyes on. Feeding doesn't sound like much of a big deal, but because of their physical condition, eating is a struggle. They are on a soft food diet (each meal has the consistency of cream of wheat), and it often takes several hours just to feed the children one meal. We have learned how sweet of a bonding time it is to feed them. They will laugh for no apparent reason, and laugh some more, cry a little bit, but nothing a little tender loving care can't fix, and then laugh again.  I am blessed to work with such beautiful children of the Lord. I say children, but that includes the adults as well. They are just as beautiful and perfect...and have some spunky, hilarious personalities! One of my favorite times of the day is mornings when we get to spend time at the Rancho, where the residents hang out and we get to spend time with them individually or in small groups. This morning, I learned the key to Steven's heart: bubbles and beads. Lucky for me, I had both. Today was the 25th anniversary of the Hogar being founded, so needless to say, we celebrated! And boy, did they dance. They danced their little hearts out. With special musical appearances by Nahum and Memo (seriously, these boys had some mad skills) Somebody danced a little too hard. The girls out here have some crazy jewelry making skills, and we have had a blast making necklaces and bracelets in the afternoons.  And the rest of my time has been spent hanging out with the beautiful people of the Hogar.  The children (and adults) here make it worth every single language challenge I've faced. I'm blessed to spend my summer with these children God made so stinking perfectly. Seriously, nothing beats waking up in the morning and going to sit in the sun having conversations through communication books with Geovanny and Alonso, just a few of the older boys who are non-verbal yet brilliant, or spending hours feeding children in the Lactantes who are also non-verbal, yet find ways to laugh throughout the whole thing. It's worth every single moment, even when I end up with food on my face as a result of a tremendous giggle from a child, or say the wrong word to one of the older residents, because all of those situations make them laugh and those are irreplaceable moments that I cherish so much. "The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and the lilies of the field -- simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest