one of my favorite ways to love

this weekend i was suppose to be traveling to mexico.  i am sooooo sooooo wishing i could go down there.  i have a lot going on at work that taking time off is not my option.

a large group of volunteers go down to an orphanage to teach, love, care, play with and tend to the kids needs.  it's amazing.  i have only been down once with kaiizen 

we had a little carnival for them.

i was in love with these two little ones.  they called me "gato"

this was after we played the flour game with them.

so sweet.

after the orphanage, we went down to one of the poorest areas in town and delivered rice and beans.  it was truly one of the most humbling experience seeing how most of the people lived without water, a real roof, food and privacy.

this little man was my "adopted" child for the night.

he was so cute.  i had the youngest of the bunch.

he didn't say anything except get into everything.  i could handle that... easy breezy.

the founders organized "santa" delivering gifts with his elves.  it was so cute.  the volunteers made breakfast burritos and smoothies.

it just made me so emotional leaving the children when we were driving away.  i thought of how they got there.  in mexico they don't have a fostering system.  they only bring children that come from abusive homes into orphanages.  it pained me to see when one of the little girls wanted to show me her room that she shared with all the other twenty girls and the windows had no screen, no cover, the room was freezing, no carpet and shared one bathroom.  the room smelled, the beds looked dirty but the girls were all happy.

i couldn't help but think of that motherly touch they are missing out.  they don't have a mother counting their toes, playing games, reading them books, scratching their backs to sleep at night and being told all day how much they are loved.

those thoughts kept my tears coming down and i tried my best to hide my face from the kids as we were walking away.  i love those children so much.  they were all so humble.  they were so grateful.

i wish i could be there this weekend.