55 world racers are here. And on top of that, you have the regular volunteers and staff members, which basically means it’s pretty crazy here at the house. There hasn’t been too much needed on my part yet. because the racers are still doing their orientation. So for the last couple days I’ve just been working on a few minor details and spending all the rest of my free time at the children’s home.
Me and Armie hanging out on the porch
Playing Simon Says with Angel
One of the things that has been really neat this time around, is to see the kids getting closer to me, simply because of my continuous presence. The last time I was here, I was only around for short spurts over the course of two or three days. Whereas now, they recognize me as a familiar face already (their memories amaze me!), and then have seen me for two to three hours every morning and afternoon for the past three days. The first day I was here, a few of the older children remembered me, but of course, none of the babies did. The twins were 4 months the last time I was here, Andrew was about 6 months, and even Angel and Moses were too young to remember me. In fact, Andrew, Moses, and Angel all didn’t really want to see me at all. Moses started screaming when I was the only one left in the room with him, Angel wouldn’t give me the time of day, and Andrew would cry if I got too close. But now, only three days later, Moses and Angel want me to pick them up, they want to show me things, and they pretty much just don’t view me as a stranger. So I’m excited to see how over the course of this month, the kids will warm up even more and I will be able to hold more babies, snuggle more kids, and love on as many of those children as possible!
Patricia (Marilyn’s sister) and Maricel
Baby Daniel sitting in the cabinet
Me with adorable little Angel
Also, later on this afternoon, I was able to witness something really cool at the children’s home. They got word earlier in the day that there would be 3 new siblings coming in, as well as 1 other child. How exciting! I hadn’t really seen that happen before, but I was glad to be able to experience it. It was strange, because on the one hand, I felt sad for these kids. I felt sad that they had to come to here and be without their family, that this may be the second, third, fifth, or tenth home they’ve been in, that they felt alone in this. But I also felt a sense of relief for them. Relieved that they had come to a good place, a place i know that will not just be a building, but a place they can call home, a place they get taken care, are well fed, and hugged, and kissed, and loved on by the staff and volunteers here at K.I.M. A great place to call home.
So for now I will just continue to love on the kids, and do whatever I can to help out around K.I.M. It’s been so great so far, and I thank everyone for following along this second time around and for all the support you continuously give. I love you all so much!
