Christmas

Christmas was so much fun! I had such a good time with the kids. It was cool to spend Christmas with them. We had a big supper and we invited a family that was reunited a little while ago, the two children, Anita and Geovany, were two of the first children in the orphanage. It was so good to see them again. After supper we had a piñata and we hung it out in the street and broke it with all the neighbour kids and did fireworks. After that, at midnight, we went up to the Christmas Tree and opened presents. The kids were so excited to see their gifts. I missed my family a lot, and it was hard to be away from them, but was a good Christmas.

Back Again

I am back at the orphanage, and things are going really well. My babies are growing fast. One of my babies, Paola, went home about a month ago and that was really sad for us. We all loved her so much. The house is really different without her, but she is doing well with her family. I got a chance to go see her a few days ago and they are happy and I can tell that her family loves her.
All the other babies are doing great. Josecito is learning how to walk and that is so much fun. Levi is growing so fast and gets cuter every day. His first teeth are starting to come in so he has been a little fussy lately. Alejandra is even chubbier than before and she is so beautiful. I love it when she smiles. Jose is starting to talk and he learned how to say my name the other day, and now he calls me Mommy Mandy like the other kids. He gives me hugs every time I finish dressing him in the mornings and he is always giving me kisses. Brandon is as fun as ever and he loves to sing. He talks like crazy and he is so cute.

Quick Update

I have been home for over a month now, and I can hardly stand being away from the kids. I miss them so much! I am will be going back on December 10th but that isn't soon enough.
Things have been going well there, we got a new baby on Monday, he was five days old. I am sad that I wasn't there when he arrived at the orphanage. Apparantly his mother is in the hospital with serious health problems. Paola, Diana, and Estuardo also went home to their families recently, and that was sad for everyone in the orphanage. We all loved them so much. But they are happy with their family, and all we want for them is to be happy and loved and taken care of. They live with their grandmother, who has a lot of love for them. She struggles financially though, and is having a difficult time paying for Diana and Estuardo to go to school. We are still involved with them and hope to be able to help as much as we can financially.
We also just had a few volunteers who went down and were able to build beds for the volunteer house, which was really nice. So now we are all set to take in more volunteers on a regular basis, and we could definitely use the help!

Leaving Saturday

Well, I thought I would write one more time before I leave this Saturday. I am definitely not ready to leave. I love the babies so much, and I would honestly do anything for them. I would give anything to be able to take them home with me!
I feel like this was a successful trip, and I was able to accomplish a lot of my goals. We were able to get the last of the legal work done, and to finally start receiving babies into the orphanage. I also was able to hire a worker to be here with the babies while I am gone, and she has done an amazing job so far. We found some land to construct my own building on, as for right now I am still sharing with another orphanage. We also had some great volunteers this trip who did some awesome work, and who brought donations of diapers and formula, which really helped.
I will miss the kids so much, but I know that I will be back again soon!

Mayerly

On Monday one of Guillermo´s kids, Mayerly, went back home to her family. It was so sad but good at the same time. She seemed happier. I know what Guillermo means when he says that you can tell when a family has changed. As soon as I saw Mayerly´s dad put his arms around her, I felt the spirit so strong and I felt so good about them. I am so glad she will have the chance to have a better life with her family.
Next week, one of my babies, Paola, goes back to her family with her brother Estuardo and her sister Diana. I will miss them so much but it really is better for them to be with their family than in an orphanage if their family treats them well.
Jose Daniel has changed since his first day here. He is a lot more calm and we have gotten him to start eating a little. He doesn´t cry as much anymore. I was worried about him with his head injury but he seems to be getting better.

Busy!!

Things have been busy around here, as usual. I got a new baby yesterday, his name is Jose Daniel and he is 6 months old. The police brought him because he was being abused and he had a fractured skull. He has not stopped crying since he got here. I think the head injury just barely happened and the reason he keeps crying is because his head hurts.
I have 6 babies now, Jose Daniel, Levi, Alejandra, Paola, Jose, and Brandon. Besides Jose Daniel, they are all doing great. Levi is a month old now and he is growing so fast. Alejandra started to smile and laugh this week, and it is adorable. I love to tickle her because her laugh is so cute. Paola and Jose are still as much fun as ever, they love to dance and give kisses to everyone. Brandon is a little older and we just started trying to potty train him this week...we´ll see how that goes. I got a call from the government 2 days ago and they asked me to take in a baby that was born that day. I told them to bring him over, but they still haven´t brought him so I´m not sure what´s going on with that. They might be waiting until he is a few days older or something.
We have been working non stop to find out where all the kids from the orphanage that shut down went to. It seems like we have been to government buildings here in Chimaltenango and in Guatemala City almost every day. But yesterday we FINALLY found the papers for a couple of the kids so we could put in the request with the government to have them come to our orphanage. So hopefully we will hear something about that soon.
The cargo box finally came yesterday. It took two months to get here. We are sure it took such a long time because the guy who was in charge of the shipping here in Guatemala got more money for every day it was in the port. Every day he told us it would be leaving the port the next day. But then he would call with another charge and we ended up paying A LOT of money for it. But we went to the company yesterday and asked to talk to this guy´s boss and we told him everything that had been happening, how much money we had spent and how long it had taken to get the shipment. He was really apologetic about it, and he said he didn´t know why it had taken so long or what any of the charges had been for. He told us if we come back on Monday he will do something about all the payments we have had to make. Anyway, it was awesome to finally get it! I saw it before I came here but I forgot how many donations were in it. There were enough supplies to last us for probably a year or more, plus clothes and a car and two clothes dryers, along with some other things. Guillermo and I are both so thankful for everything that everyone donated.

News

I got some interesting news yesterday. I learned that the orphanage that I worked in here in Guatemala in December, the one with the terrible conditions, was closed down. Apparantly the police had been investigating them for months. I had written a letter in December right when I got home from that orphanage talking about the living conditions, and distributed it to as many organizations as I could in the States. It hadn´t made any difference. But I had sent a copy to Guillermo as well, and he distributed it to organizations here in Guatemala causing the police to go into that orphanage several times to view the conditions and the way that the employees treated the children. The other day a baby girl died there because of neglect, and this made the police investigate even further and finally they found that the orphanage was illegal and not authorized to be here, and that they had been taking in children and adopting them out illegally. The first thing I was concerned about was where all the children would go. There are 40 children there and I know that I know most of them. Guillermo and I spent all day yesterday trying to find out where they got sent to. We have been talking to the government and we are hopefully going to be able to take in all the babies and a few of the older children.

Levi

Well, I love the kids more and more every day. I wish I could be here forever. Yesterday Levi´s mom came. She wanted to take him away to sell him, and since that was her intent we refused to let her take him. After she found out that she couldn´t take him she decided that she wanted to put him up for adoption. She clearly only wants money for him, and she says that she can´t take care of him which is sad when she has four other children that she can´t bring herself to leave in an orphanage. I guess the good thing about this all is that we were there to take Levi instead of another orphanage, because I hate to think what would have happened to him if someone else had taken him. I am sure, from what I have experienced and seen in other orphanages here, that other places would have been willing to sell him as well for a cut of the money and who knows what would have happened to him after he was sold. Thank goodness he came to us. The other kids are doing great. Alejandra has become much more calm since she got here, and the two older babies are a ton of fun as always. We blessed all the babies on Sunday and that was a great experience.

New Kids

It has been a long time since I´ve written anything, since things have been so busy! I have been back in Guatemala since the beginning of August. I finally got the last of the legal work done and I now have four babies in the nursery. Levi was the first baby I recieved, and he was 7 days old when I got him. He is about 3 weeks old now. His mom had an affair while her husband was in the States working, and she had Levi. Now her husband is coming back and she doesn´t want him to find out so she gave Levi up. He is about the cutest thing I have ever seen.Alejandra is 3 months old. She is a fatty but she is cute too. She had an older brother and 3 cousins come here with her, who live downstairs. Their story is a little scary. Both of their families were living in the same house together, and all of their parents were part of a gang. I read in the newspaper about the gang, and what they do is they kidnap people and then they tie them up and negotiate with them how they want to die. Within the next 48 hours they kill them and leave them in public places for everyone to see. So the parents had kidnapped this little 3 year old girl, and they were keeping her hostage in the house for money from her family. Last Thursday the police broke into their house and killed all of the parents, in order to rescue the little girl. The scary thing was that all their kids were in the house and saw their parents die. The good thing is that I don´t think the kids know what their parents were doing.Paola is about 1 year old (we´re not sure) and her dad was a gang leader. One day her brother and sister were left alone at home with her, and I´m not sure how it happened but their house caught on fire. Their parents never came home for them and the older brother took care of her and her sister on the streets for a few months before the police found them and brought them here. Her brother and sister live downstairs. Jose is about 1 year old as well. His dad beat him so badly that when we found him he was in the hospital with broken ribs. He still has dark bruises all over his back, and he has been here for almost a month. There were 2 other newborn babies. They died last week. One of them was premature and the other was really sick. That was really hard. I am still so sad about it. But one of the hard things about this is that we never know what kind of condition the babies are going to be in. There are a lot of sad things that we have to deal with, but I still love it here. It is worth everything to be able to take care of the babies and the kids that have been abandoned and to give them the love they deserve. Since I´ve gotten here we also hired someone to be the caregiver for the babies while I am gone. She has started already and she has been awesome. I know she will do a great job.

Cargo Box

Kevin Callahan, who is the owner of Green Valley Cabinets in Saint George, has purchased a 20-foot, steel cargo box to ship to Guatemala. On Saturday I drove down to help him load the supplies we are planning to ship. It was amazing what so many people have donated. There was a van, a washer and dryer, a table and chairs, and over 100 boxes full of clothes, food, soap and other supplies. I am so thankful for the generosity of everyone who has donated. Things are still going well, I leave for Guatemala again on August 9th for a few months. Kevin Callahan, Ken Mangum, and a group of volunteers are coming for two weeks to help me build a food storage and to organize the materials from the cargo box. It will be great to be back there again. When I arrive we will be able to start taking in the babies, and I can't wait!

Cobble Creek Ward

Last week, Cobble Creek Ward's Relief Society here in Cedar City put together an Enrichment activity to collect materials for the orphanage. I was amazed with the amount of items that we recieved! They brought garbage bags full of clothes and shoes, packages of diapers, bottles, lotion and shampoo, blankets, and more. I feel like I am always saying this but thank you so much for all of your donations and help. I am overwhelmed with all of the support I have received.

Home!

I have been home for a few days now. Things in Guatemala went really well. It was a busy month but we got a lot done. All the legal work is done, and now that the government and hospitals know that we have a place they can send babies once they are abandoned, we can start recieving them any time we are ready. We also got all the repairs done and painted the whole orphanage. Kevin and Jesse Callahan, the owners of Green Valley Cabinets in St. George, and Jesse’s brother in law Chris Syphus, came down to help and they were awesome. They made over 20 cabinets for all the bedrooms in the orphanage, which was great because we didn’t have any closets or dressers before. They also made shelves for the kitchen and laundry room, and more cabinets for storage. They were so great and so much help, and the kids loved them. We were all so grateful for everything they did for us. I was so lucky to meet them because they have been such a blessing and so much help and support. They have done so much.I wanted to say a few things here about my parents and how much I appreciate them. They have fully supported me from the very beginning and have done EVERYTHING they can to help me, from moral support and advice to fundraising. I want my mom and dad to know how thankful I am for them. All the experiences I have had working in orphanages, seeing these kids without good homes and families, and sitting up at night with teenagers who would tell me about the things they went through with their families before they were taken away; it has really driven home how lucky I am to have a good family. I will always be grateful for how blessed I am with such good parents and brothers and sisters and a good home. I have such an amazing mother and I will always appreciate and be so thankful for her example and her service and how much she has done to make us kids feel important or special. I am grateful for what a great dad I have and how he supports us and helps us and for how understanding he has always been. Every day I wish that these kids had a mom and dad who had shown them as much love as my parents have shown our family. But that is what we are working for, and we are doing everything we can to put these kids back into their homes with a changed family who can support them and love them.

Update

This week has gone by fast. I have been super busy. I had a TON of cleaning and repairs to do in the orphanage. The one thing about here that I have to get used to is that you can never get anything completely clean like you can at home. There will always be dust or dirt or dead bugs or live bugs or something because their houses arent built the same way or with the same materials. I am painting all the walls upstairs green, except for the babies room and I am going to paint that yellow I think. I found a perfect picture to hang up in the babies´ room too. I am having the cribs made for me and they look pretty good. I am going to Guatemala City this afternoon to pick them up. I am also having a cabinet made with drawers for the clothes and a changing table for the babies. I am still looking for dressers for the volunteers. Things are hard to find here. I had to cut all new windows for the upstairs because a lot of them were broken. Also we have a garden in the back with avacado trees but nothing else is back there right now, and I am working on planting vegetables in it. Guillermo and I are working on getting permission to go work in the hospital in Guatemala city and Antigua, in the department where they recieve babies. We are hoping to be able to go for a few hours every day for about a week. We went to the hospital yesterday to ask a doctor for permission and it was complete chaos there. There were tons of babies and not so many mothers, and it was so crazy. We will find out today I think if we are going to be allowed to work there. That is the update for now!

Back in Guatemala

Today is my second day back in Guatemala. I love it here so much. Yesterday I started to get everything set up on my floor of the orphanage, I cleaned everything out and painted the railings. Today I have started painting the rest of the floor and moving a few pieces of furniture in. It has been a lot of work already, but I have a long way to go!Also, just in case, I want to let everyone know that I shut my phone off for the month I will be here, so I won´t be able to recieve my voicemails or anything. If you need to get ahold of me, just send me an email for now. Thanks!

Fundraiser

The fundraiser went well last week. We managed to raise about $750 total, which is not too bad. I have had quite a few phone calls as a result of the article in the paper, however, and I am overwhelmed with the help I have been receiving. I had a donor named Kevin Callahan call me recently, and he generously donated enough money for me to buy all of the furniture I am going to need for the orphanage. There are others who have donated medical supplies, blankets, clothing and other funding. Also, the first four volunteers recently signed up for my next trip. I have received a huge amount of support!

First Entry

Well, this is my very first entry! Things have been going well so far. The fundraiser is coming up tomorrow and I leave for Guatemala on May 7th. I am getting really excited to be able to set up my nursery and work in the hospitals. I just want to let everyone know that I am so grateful for your help and support! So many people have helped me get started. Thank you so much!