How many people can you fit in a car??

In Mexico it's not important- they just pile them in! So when we went over to Casa Hogar Douglas to pick up kids to bring them to campus for a pool party, I had 10 people in my little Jetta! But it was so fun. We were all laughing and the kids loved the sun roof! We made memories!

Easter eggs!

I invited the girls from the Ester house to my house to dye Easter eggs. They had never done it and were very curious about it all!! We had a lot of fun and laughs. They were so proud of their eggs that I heard they put them in their rooms, until someone told them they should be refrigerated.

El Retiro Juvenil

El Retiro Juvenil or (ERJ) is a childrens' home 45 minutes south of Back2Back. They are a smaller home run by Martha and Carlos who are Christians and teach the children about God. They have been struggling financially this year when their usual monthly supporters stopped supporting them. We sent out a plea and another church sent money for food. We decided that instead of just buying food, we would cook it and make a meal for them. Last Friday night we took out an italian meal of baked spaghetti. It was very different for them but they liked it. It was funny to hear one of our staff men, Juan, explain how to dip the vegetables into the dip and then eat it. After dinner, we built a bonfire and had smores. The kids had so much fun and we did too!

Karime

I have fallen in love with this precious little girl who lives at Casa Hogar Douglas. About 2 months ago, the day she got dropped off with her infant brother, Jesus, I happened to be with Douglas. We had a group from the States who were taking the kids on a field trip. I met her that day and she looked scared but yet talked a lot when she was one-on-one with a person. She will seek me out when I go there now and during church will sit with me and clap to the songs with me and hold my hand. She even fell asleep on me one night. Karime has a single mother who works during the week and comes to visit her kids on Sundays. I witnessed her mom's goodbye one night as Karime cried and said "No te vayas" which means "don't go". It broke my heart. This mother isn't necessarily a bad mom, since she wants her kids taken care of while she has to support herself, but this is a story too often told here in Mexico. Now that we have church at Douglas every Sunday, my prayer is that her mother will come early and sit in church with us and come to know Jesus. Praise the Lord that they get this opportunity when they may never have if she hadn't come to CHD.

2 weeks ago I was blessed to have friends visit me..Aside from family, these were my first friends to visit. Julie and Tema are friends I have known since 4th grade in Pennsylvania. I felt special that their husbands would watch their children (they each have 4) and Tema would make the trip 7 months pregnant! We packed a ton of events into the 4 full days they were here, including 3 childrens' homes, the Rio (an area we do outreaches), the market, several of my favorite taco places, and they even got to see a scorpion and a tarantula!!! It was a refreshing and rejuvenating time for me to share my life with them.

Hanging out at my apartment


They brought presents for my class!!


We took the Ester house girls out for dinner so Tema and Julie could get to know my friends!!


Shoveling rocks and cement blocks at the Rio...the kids loved helping


Julie playing with kids


Taking care of the girls at Casa Hogar Douglas while their caregivers went to a funeral


Dinner at Douglas


Painting at Casa Hogar Del Norte


...and playing with the babies!!!

the latest with SMCA

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Celebrating Dr. Seuss' Birthday

Going on a flower hunt around the property

Dr. Carter gave us a tour of the clinic and showed us some cool tools

Back 2 Back is expanding again!

This time it's SMCA..The workers have started with the 2nd floor over our school. It will be used for staff housing or more school space. The students are doing a good job of working hard even with hammering going on above their heads!!

"How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven" - Genesis 28: 17

Some of the staff and a few friends who are worship leaders, have started a church at Casa Hogar Douglas...This way we can worship and do church with the kids there. It is located on a chapel on a hill which overlooks the area where we live and the view is amazing. What an experience to be there. I love it!

Last weekend I had an awesome experience of taking some of the teens to a Christian concert. We have a fund for teen activities with money donated and also a few of the staff members donated money. This was their first time going to a concert and they loved it! There were 3 singers: Marcela Gandara, Lilly Goodman, and Alex Campos who sing worship music. It was all in Spanish but I loved looking around at an arena full of Christians. We work outside the city and don't realize how many Christians there are, so it gave me chills to hear everyone singing along and worshipping together!

Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love that here in Mexico it's called 'Dia de Amor y Amistad' which includes friendship on this day! Thanks for your friendship, support, and love!!!

Hope's Birthday

For Hope's birthday a group of us had dinner together in the LDM and then hung out. It was also Tere's party, too.

Of course the guys sang!


In school, we celebrated, too!

an awesome field trip!

To go along with our 'Community Helpers' unit, we got to go to a place called Kidzania. There is nothing like it in the US. It is a little city for kids. The kids get a check when they come in and they have to go to a bank to cash it. Then they use the cash to go places and when they run out, they can work at a job and get more. It was amazing!

These girls were making a special Mexican desert like a twinkie.

They could get a 'license' and drive around

The kids could put on a fire outfit, get on a little fire truck and drive over to a place where they had a fake fire to put out with real water.

Jake and Mark were in McDonalds making a real cheeseburger which they got to eat.

SMCA chefs

My class has been studying jobs and when we talked about chefs and bakers, we all went to my house and baked brownies! I made the hats out of paper and tissue paper...

I had a day off school recently and a few of us went to the Casa Hogar Del Norte. They have 7 babies there and not enough help to hold these babies. They are so precious and don't want to be put down. I could seriously do that every day. My heart was breaking for these helpless children of God. Yet he loves each one of them and has a plan for their lives.

Well again I had to do decision-making. It was time again to decide about the following school year. It's always so early but, if necessary, they need to start looking for someone else to start fundraising. I spent a lot of time last weekend praying and seeking God and then I had my evaluation/yearly meeting with my directors this week. I have decided to stay another year. Any reasons for not staying, were all about me and that is not what God is here for - to make ME happy. I am here to serve him and i was losing the Big picture. We are called to give glory to God and are here for his kingdom and will. (God is more interested in our holiness than in our immediate, temporal happiness) I was reading a lot about Paul and his struggles. I think God's calling for me is to live a life out of the ordinary and disciple girls and love on children. I like getting up each morning and doing what I do and going to the orphanages and holding babies that never get held, and hanging out with teen girls that never had anyone love them. I don't know what my next step is after this next year, so I plan to use this next year to figure that out also. I feel like God will make it clear when it's time to go or I will feel burnt out or tired and I don't yet. I did not let fundraising be any part of the decision because I know God is bigger than that. It wasn't an easy decision but I am at peace with it now. Time really flies here. I can't believe it's already been a year and a half! I love you all and am thankful to have you alongside of me through the months...Thanks for your support, encouragement, love, and friendship!

Goodbye to great friends!

We lost a great family this January, but to God's work. John, Corrie, Gus, Sarah, and Sami Guckenberger left Back2Back Monterrey to move to Jos, Nigeria to work at our new Back2Back site. They are amazing people and it was sad to see them go but God is going to work through them there and they are needed there.

Holiday 2008

My second week was spent in Indiana with friends and Ohio at a wedding on New Year's Eve!! What a fun way to bring in the new year. I enjoyed time with friends hanging out, drinking coffee, watching movies, playing 'Rock Band' , and just enjoying their presence.

Just being goofy with friends!


Jerica's new 'son' Newton

The wedding of Katie, who taught with me last year in Monterrey