On Sunday, our first 'kids' came to visit us.  We met this family at the children's home here about 16 years ago. We sponsored them while they lived at the home and every time we came to visit, we would do something with them, even if it was just a pizza party for them and us.  One of the girls, Karla, has been to visit us in Ohio twice.  Now they are all young adults, and they came with their Mom to see us.  They took a bus for an hour to get here and stayed to hang out for about five hours.  We had arranged ahead of time for one of the teens here at the home to translate for us, but on the day of, he ended up being somewhere else. It was ok. We used our google translate on the phones, as well as our limited Spanish and limited English to communicate.  Five hours is a long time to try to converse, but we were just so happy to see them. We also watched some football (courtesy of Seth) and ate Domino's. All of them have jobs in various factories, and Mimi has a one month old baby. Here are a few pictures.

In storage, I have tons of pictures of these kids when they were little.  Here is just one of Karla, way back when.

And now, Karla, and her Mama.

Benny, waaaaay back!

And today, Benny and his brothers. Noe- white shirt, Carlos- with the hat, and Benny in the gray shirt.  

And Mimi, with her new baby!

As sponsors, I admit, we were not that great at keeping in touch, other than when we would come to visit. We didn't send christmas and birthday presents (although I wish we had). And yet, somehow, by God's grace, we still were an important part of their lives, and we were truly blessed they would all come to see us!  

When we were here in April, we saw Benny for the first time in many years.  He left the home as a teenager, and never finished high school.  At that time, we asked if he would ever go back to finish, and told him that if he did and then wanted to go to college, we would help him. He didn't seem too enthused at the time, and he already had a job in the factory.

But this time when we saw him, he said he is back in school to try to finish his high school degree. Not sure if we planted a seed or maybe a bit of encouragement for him? But we hope so.  We hope to see them a lot while we are here, and just love them in whatever way we can.