We enjoyed attending Seth and Manny’s wedding here in Tijuana last weekend. It was outside, with the reception at the same place but inside afterward. It was beautiful… the bride, the attendants, and the palm trees swaying over the ceremony as the sun went down. I let the kids take pictures, so we have about a million, and only 1 blurry picture of the bride and groom! Dinner was great and we heard the dancing was too, but we left at 10 pm. just when that was starting, as we were all tired!

Other than that, this week we are trying to convince ourselves that this is our new normal life, not just a trip. The kids and I are back to homeschooling, although we have been doing a slightly shorter schedule than we did at home, in order to be able to spend time with the kids here. We started interviewing each child living here, so that we can get to know them, and try to learn names! It also is a good way for us to practice our Spanish. So we ask the kids a question in Spanish, then our translator asks the same question in Spanish again, and THEN the interviewee would answer. After a few days of this, our kids are getting better. By the last interviews we did today, I don’t think they had to translate our Spanish quite as much:) Our kids don’t know as many words in Spanish as I do, but they do seem to have much better accents than I do!

One of the girls who speaks English told me her story, and it broke my heart. Yet she has a strong faith and a spiritual maturity as well. I know that each kid here has a story of bad things happening to them… there is a reason they are here. Yet, they smile and laugh and play (and complain) like normal kids. The staff is working hard to both care for the kids, and to lead them to their Father in Heaven who can heal their wounds and give them new hope. The staff has a tough job, that is for sure! We are officially here to help with fundraising, which we are starting to work on. But also, we want to know how to encourage and help the staff and kids and so we are doing a lot of listening… asking questions… more questions… praying… to see how to best do that.

In other, less important news, there has been RECORD breaking heat, which you notice a lot more when there is no air conditioning! We went to three stores to try to buy a fan but they were all sold out, because it is not normal to be this hot, even for here. Finally cooled off today! And the water and power seem to be back to normal… wi fi is still a little finicky, but works at least some of the time. Those are all minor though, and we are just getting used to it.

A few more pictures I am including… the view from our front window… yes, you can see the Pacific
in the background. And the playground where the kids love to be. Even when it is 98 degrees (that is not an exaggeration!) The kids are having a good time with their new friends!

We appreciate prayers for discernment and safety! And emails too… or the “what’s app” app, those are the best ways to communicate with us, we have found. I feel like we have been gone FOREVER and keep thinking I must be missing so much news, til I realize it has been less than 2 weeks since we left. Just such a different world that it seems longer. So catch us up on your news too! :)
-Heidi