Merm here...

A bunch of the girls got their hair cut off this week due to the lice. Oh me. This isn't even all of them.

More of the group cooking away...



The group that came to visit their new family member, Ramon... they made cookies with Linda. THe kids LOVE Linda's cookies and cinnamon rolls. They were talking about them long before she came.



Look at this precious lil' boy.



I surprised Ana with a cake for her 11th brithday... Chocolate con fresa, su favorito.



Joana and her "computer"... I love the creativity.



I have some more fun pictures, but I'll have to try to load them later... we're totally out of time!

Here Kitty, Kitty:
I mentioned in my last blog that due to the allergy-irritating kittens that had consumed our home I was forced to wear my glasses. Well, I made it my mission to get rid of the little things (everyone was talking about it.. but no one was doing it). Mid-week Maria Elena (the Mexican), our precious down syndrome baby, me and the 7 kittens piled into the car. My plan was to take them to the pound (mama gave me incredibly vague directions), drop off my other two passengers, and then head downtown for the two boys at their special school. We didn't have a box to put the kittens in, so someone put them in a garbage bag and stuck them in the backseat. We weren't two minutes from the house before the things were crawling all over the car... and me.. and Maria Elena and the baby! We were cracking up. At one point there was one on M.E.'s back and head, one at my side and one at my feet... right there with the gas and break pedals. We had to pull over and put them in the trunk, praying they didn't die from the heat. At this point, we were out of time and decided to head toward her drop off point. We stopped once to ask a group of men selling tires and car parts if they wanted a cat. They didn't. One man spoke English- he told me he grew up on the border in Tijuana, learned English there, was driving around the country selling old tires from the back of his truck and smoking lots of marijuana. Yikes. He had enough wrinkiles to make me believe he'd actually never been indoors, and he never did explain how he lost all his front teeth. Adventure. Two and a half hours later after dropping of ME, picking up the boys, and picking up ME we set back out to get rid of the cats. We ended up at the city trash dump. This was the most disgusting, poverty-stricken neighborhood I have been yet. There were people digging in the dumps for their daily needs, houses built literally of boxes and old tin roofs, and so on. But, we still had no home for the "gatitos". After making a couple more wrong turns we came up to the "pound". Maria Elena, the Mexican!, let me do all the talking. Thanks. The man had me bring the cats in (in their trash bag, mind you) and put them in a cell where one little kitten was waiting for company. The thing was pitiful: he had no eyes, his hair was matted with blood and who knows what else, and his tail was hairless, like a rat's tail. For all you animal lovers, I am sorry for sharing this story. It was honestly only one of many insane things that happened this week. I hate it for the cats, but I'm glad to be waring contacts again.

Linda:
So, as we mentioned, we have the pleasure of being in the company of Linda for a few weeks. She's been such a treat and doing some pretty incredible works here. The Lord is doing some huge things with adoption through her. On top of that, she's been an unbelievable blessing to Lauren and I. We haven't had a lot of womanly influence since we've been here, so its been so great to learn and fellowship with her. The other day she rode along with me to pick up the boys and have some pictures developed.. we're on the main road from the orphange talking about the ins and outs of adoption (I had a ton of questions, cuz I don't know anything about the process) when all of a sudden a truck pulls up next to us, trying desperately to get our attention. I hesitantly look over, assuming their creepy men, but it was a young mexican couple interested in adoption. I translated (always hilarious), introduced trhem to Linda, gave them little bits of information that we knew and went on our merry way. This is a place of miracles.
By the way, my dad helped me work on my stick-driving skills while he was here. I've learned to start the car a good 5 times but no one has ever taught me to slow down and stop. Since my two mini-lessons with pops I've driven multiple times. Linda got to help me through Chihuahua city (something I swore I wouldn't do until I had practiced at least 3 weeks). I only killed it once in the middle of a major road.

Fellowship:
Lauren and I spent the weekend with at the home of Paloma and Greg. Paloma is from Mexico and met Greg while they both studied at John Brown. They do a ton with the different orphanges... the two seem to have their hands in a little of all the ministries here. They are stinking amazing. Paloma had the two of us, three other girls serving at another orphanage in the city, and a girl that just started a transition home for girls that grew up in the orphange and are transitioning into the real world. It has been an amazing 24 hours. We all have this insane common interest and experience... and we've been able to laugh a bunch as we share ridiculous stories and life-lessons. We're all about the same age and totally blown away by the work of the Lord here. My mind is spinning with ideas and convictions and thoughts about the Lord. What in the world does the Lord want me to do with my life?!

Growth:
I've been learning a lot and having some really sweet times with the Lord. I'm flying through the books (well, one so far) that my parents sent me and so thankful for the new reading material. I'm learning more about suffering and the goodness of God... I'm so thankful for this experience, these people, and the things the Lord is exposing me to. The weeks are flying by... only 7 left, I think. Ah, I am sick-anxious about leaving. I think I'm going to have the girls sleep with me every night, embrace the lice, just to hold on to these moments. I. love. these. girls. Please pray that the Lord would start preparing me for the goodbye.
I pray you're all well. As always, thank you for loving children that some of you have never met. Thank you for loving and supporting us. Thank you for reading our stories and praying. I'm really overwhelmed and thankful right now.
Peace be with you!
Maria Elena

P.S. (as always) Family, since I've been sitting here writing this, Jim Croce and John Denver have played in the background... I'm in the car with you all, singing along and we're on our way to some fancy family vacation... North Carolina or something. :) Miss ya'll and our road trips.