Mother's Day

A little behind in the postings - so here's some catch up from May.

We celebrated Mother's Day together at the orphanage on the Saturday before. We realized Mother's Day is not just a Hallmark holiday. Even though many of the children do not have good relationships with their biological mothers, we celebrated the amazing gift of the madre tutoras that live and care for the children day in and day out, as well as the other women who work at the albergue. The children made cards, sang songs, memorized poetry and did a skit about the importance of motherhood. It was a great reminder of the work the mother tutoras do day in and day out and the way their love effects the children in their care.

Madre Tutoras: Melva, Veronica, Sylvia and Sarita

Nancy (Director of Project's wife) and Mirian (Social Worker)

Hand made cards for each mother

Drama presented about the importance of giving life and being a mother

After church on Sunday, Joel and I helped Lurdes and her brothers celebrate their mother. I helped cooked the chicken, mashed potatoes and rice, while Joel entertained us with some music.

Joel, Mirian, Juan, Alicia, Elmer, Joy, Lurdes and Robyn

And, before the day was done, we called our own mothers. We are thankful for the blessing of both of our mothers and the love and support they have offered us over the years and especially during our time in Peru. FELIZ DIA DE LA MADRE!

Santa's Cousin

Santa's cousin lives in Trujillo, Peru. I don't know why this isn't public information, but he's been visiting the albergue the past 5 years. He usually comes around Christmas and delivers presents on behalf of his cousin. However, lately he's been bringing gifts on the behalf of many people from all over the world. Most recently he brought new soccer balls, volley balls, jump ropes, games and recorders from a wonderful lady in Germany. Santa's cousin with our high schoolers; Yamelit, Josue and Maria Liz and Santa's cousin turn the rope for Yamelit
Jose David loves his new soccer ball. At 2 years old, he's already a great player!

El Mercado

We are very spoiled, here! The orphanage has 2 wonderful cooks on staff who provide meals for every child and worker. So many orphanages have a bland diet of beans and rice with hardly any variety. We, however, are blessed with wonderful, delicious, traditional dishes from Peru and it's a different menu every day! How do these cooks do it? Quick easy recipes? Super Target? Well, Friday is when our head cook goes out to el mercado (the market) where she buys all of the food for the upcoming week. Joel and I decided to come along and see what shopping for 75 people looked like here.

These boys were ready to help us carry our goods... new friends everywhere!