The Zoo and A Room for the Girls Made New

The next day at orphanage #2....was full of blessings for our entire team.  What we learned on the way back to the retreat that afternoon was that the children were supposed to go to the zoo that day.  However it had to be postponed until tomorrow, the day we were coming back.  We would get to accompany the children to the zoo.  A place they rarely get to go and an opportunity probably many missions teams have not been able to do.  

There was also a request from the staff there.  They asked us if we'd be willing to paint the girls and boys rooms during our time there.  Of course we said, "Yes."  It was decided to divide the team, part would stay and paint, and part would go on the field trip to the zoo.  I liked both.  I asked Sean however if he could use anymore people to paint.  He said "Sure."  So I volunteered to paint.

I heard later that the team that went to the zoo had an awesome time and so loved seeing the children's faces when they saw the animals.  It was a very special day for everyone.  We cannot post pictures of the children on the internet, so I'm sorry I cannot show you what a good time everyone had.   Just know it was a wonderful experience to be with the children at the zoo.


My story is about "two rooms made new".....This is part one.

 I didn't think I'd come to Ecuador to paint, but that's what I did for two days with about 8 other team members.  We gave the orphans freshly painted bedrooms. Freshly painted yes, but also with a stamp of the love of our team on it.  We made them special.  You'll see what I mean soon.  

I love to paint.  I've painted every room in my house on the inside.  I don't shy away from it.  I was so happy to be able to do this for the kids.  I could have been at the zoo with them and spent time with them.  That would have been so fun!  I chose this instead and I was blessed by it in more ways than one.  I know when we finished the rooms on Wednesday, our love was all over those two rooms.  We prayed over the rooms too.  We prayed for the children to have precious dreams, for security and protection, for love and for Christ to wrap his arms around them and help them to see that despite their circumstances they are loved by a Father in heaven and are never alone. We prayed for the Mommies taking care of them.  We just prayed for God's blessing upon all of them and that the love of Christ would be felt in those rooms.  I think we all felt a peace when we left that place late Wednesday afternoon.

John, Tim and Cindy,  Tina and her daughter Courtney, and Monique and I all painted this first day and didn't go to the zoo.  Let me mention too, that our team leader Sean, had altitude sickness and had to rest after having to go to the ER the night before for fluids.  He stayed with us all day and took it easy.   I know it was hard for him not to be able to help us that day or go to the zoo.  He said God showed him a lot that day through his rest, that if he could do nothing else this day, he could pray.  So he did.  It was very humbling he said to be the leader of the group and not be able to lead.  God took care of the team and we kept going, with people stepping up to help where needed.  We have an awesome team!  And we serve an awesome God!  Sean bounced back nicely for the rest of the week!

A few members of the team upon returning from the zoo also took up paint brushes and helped us paint in the afternoon.    Here are some pics of before we started and some pics of those I mentioned above.

We started in the girls' room.....  It went from blue, green and white to pink and purple.

The "before" picture

This was the play area for the girls on the opposite side from the beds.

Here are some of our team members....

Cindy peeling glue off the walls.

Monique sweeping the walls to get excess dust off.  No time to sand or make any kind of repairs.

Here I am cutting out.  Pink over blue is a challenge.  Our biggest challenge would come the next day in the boys room where we had to paint bright yellow over the same green found in the girls room and over an apricot orange color too.

Tim did a lot of the rolling as did Courtney and Tina

Smiles from  Cindy.  She and I did a lot of the cutting out.

There was nothing I loved more than seeing the joy 9 year old Lizzie got out of using a roller.  She was so excited to be helping the little girls out by giving them a new room.  She had already been to the zoo that morning with the children and she participated with the painting with her mom and dad, Cindy and Tim when she got back.  What a trooper!

John and Monique... teamwork!  Loved that lavender paint!

Jeannine had gone to the zoo with the children, but helped us paint in the afternoon. 

Here I am, doing the second coat cutting out....  I loved what the director and one of the caregivers said after we had finished.  They absolutely LOVED the room and they noted that they needed to "paint the curtains" next because they no longer go with the room color.  They got a good laugh out of that.

The room is shaping up nicely.  Alyssa in the left hand side of the photo did a great job cutting out those columns with the lavender paint.  She also went to the zoo but then helped us paint in the afternoon.

I must say something about one mother daughter team and their positive attitude.  I was so impressed by Courtney who is a rising 8th grader and her willingness to do anything we asked her to do.  She probably rolled over half of that room twice.  If some little thing happened that might not have gone our way, she was the first person to have a positive comment to say.  Always looking at the bright side of everything.  Tina, you have done a great job as Mom!  I know she gets that from you!!  At one point I had paint on my hands and stopped taking photos, but I will post a pic of Courtney and Tina in action soon.

The finishing touches of the room were done actually the next day, Wed July 20th.  After talking with Oswaldo we thought it would be good to put Biblical truths on the walls in Spanish so as to encourage the girls when they were in their room.  Monique worked diligently on brainstorming ideas.  Cindy helped her with translation and we all pitched in with ideas.  Monique prayed over which words to paint on the walls.  As we started to paint the boys room I suddenly heard Chris Tomlin music coming from the girls room.  Monique was playing the music in there while painting those encouraging truths about God on the walls for those little girls.  It was uplifting to hear the music.  She told us later she was praying as she was painting.  Here are some of the beautiful details that were painted for the girls.  

Balloons, hearts, flowers, birds, and hand prints......  all painted with love.

Monique painting her flowers.

Monique's flower and Courtney's flower pot in the play area of the girls' room.

Lizzie and Courtney made flower petals on the wall with their hand prints.  A little piece of them has been left with the precious little girls.

  " El Señor es mi Pastor "  Salmo 23

The Lord is my shepherd.  Psalm 23

  Jesús amo a los niños.   Dios me oye.

Jesus loves the children.  God hears me.  

 These are the words we left with them on their walls to fall asleep under and to see when they wake up in the morning.  We pray that those that can read will read the words to those who cannot.  It was a privilege to paint this room for those little girls.  I don't think I'll ever paint another room in my life and not recall the days I painted at this orphanage.

Here are four of us.  John, Tina, Myself and Cindy

Summer Garden Goodbyes

The Black Eyed Susans have bloomed out.... the Daisies are gone.  I've pulled up the Coreopsis Tinctora.  It's time to say goodbye to some of our backyard flowers of spring and summer.  It is August.  So it's been nice to have had some of these flowers blooming for almost two months.  It's time to pull the old plants up and look forward to next year.  I'm just so happy that the Black Eyed Susans will come back again next year.  Usually they multiply in the garden.  They did this year.

The Purple Cone Flowers in this photo are waning too.

My "mini meadow" of wildflowers will come back next year I hope.  I just have no idea in what form or fashion.  I have a feeling every year will be different because seeds fall due to birds and wind and no one knows where those seeds will land.  We found Black eyed Susans coming up in the middle of our yard this year.  My husband was so sweet to mow around them because he knows how much I love flowers.  I finally put some rocks around them and made a tiny flower bed for them.  My sweet next door neighbor was talking to me over the fence one evening as I was putting the rocks down and she said, "Where there are flowers, make a flower bed." with a big smile on her face.  "Yep!" I said.  That's exactly what I was doing.  I've enjoyed seeing this bed outside my dining room window.  They are still blooming.

Black Eyed Susans grass and all

There are still some flowers blooming, but they too are not going to last too much longer I don't think.

Next year I can't decide if I want to keep my mini meadow of random wildflowers or try to make something more organized.  I like seeing what God does each year by letting things just "grow".  I also like some order to the yard.  Maybe I'll do a little of both.

There is nothing I love more than sunflowers.  I've planted many seeds this year a few times during the late spring.  I've used different seeds in a variety of places and have finally decided the sunflowers of 2007 will never be repeated in the spot by our deck.  There is not enough sunshine now due to the Willow Oaks.  There may be a question of the soil too, but these seeds will grow in average soil.  So I don't know.  The Mammoths I've planted are hardly 2-3 feet tall with skinny stems.  When you consider the 6-8 ft sunflowers in the garden plot of our sons and that they are the same Mammoth Seeds, you wonder.....

The colored sunflowers that just "came up" by themselves this year were tall and beautiful.  They are blooming out too.   The Gold Finches have enjoyed them immensely.

My husband convinced me this year to stagger the sunflower planting.  So I did.  Some had automatically resown themselves from last years crop.  I planted others after these were at least 2-3 ft high.  So now there is joy still in the garden because even though some flowers are gone, we've got others that are still blooming.  

And the BIGGEST joys of all are blooming now....
Despite all of these garden "goodbyes", the sunflowers our sons planted in their little flower beds in June are now blooming.  We have lots of Zinnias, and the Mammoth and Colored Sunflower mix are taller than I am.  They look to be about 6-8 feet.  I am in love again.  Just to have 3 or 4 of these giants plants brings me so much joy.  We have found a new sunny spot for sunflowers.  They get sun all day long where they are this year.  Problem solved!  

Joseph

 

PJ.... Wow that's tall!

Our little plot may not be much, but it's ours.  The boys have had the joy of seeing things grow and and "not grow".  We'll have to do something different with the sugar pumpkins.  They are learning by their mistakes.  You have to spread things out in order for things to grow.  Sunflowers will suck the nutrients and water out of the soil, from plants close by.  This is what happened to Joseph's pumpkins.  Philip's pumpkin plant was not watered enough in the heat.  Another lesson learned, which he'll remember for next year.  "Pumpkins need A LOT of water to survive our Charlotte summer heat."    There is joy in the learning though.  I like letting them make their own decisions about their garden plots.  I give initial advice from my experiences to help them.  If they want to make their own decisions about their plots and don't take my advice, then they learn from the experience.


Joseph has won the prize for "Biggest" sunflower this year.  The boys planted them at the same time.  Both wondered whose would grow the tallest.  We call the tallest sunflower the "Granddaddy".  It still has not bloomed yet.  I predict next week!  Stay tuned for photos.

The "Granddaddy" sunflower this year.

I'll be pulling up the spent Black Eyed Susans this week and the flower beds will look "cleaner" and more organized.  Good bye spring and summer flowers....  I didn't mention earlier the tomato garden is waning as well.  Still have lots of fruit left to pick, but they are not going to last much past August.

I've loved the Husky Cherry Tomatoes this year.  They are delicious!!

 Hello Zinnias and Sunflowers!!  We'll have Zinnias and Cosmos blooming until the first frost of autumn.  That could mean the first of November or end of October if we keep them watered well. That's what I LOVE about Zinnias.  They are hearty, bloom if you keep clipping off the dead blossoms, and will bloom until the first frost.  I love cutting flowers from my yard in October!

 

I just wish sunflowers lasted that long.....

79 is a Beautiful Number

79 is a beautiful number.... Dad celebrated another birthday with all of us.  It was a great day full of smiles and kisses.
When I hear this song, it makes me think of Dad.  I found a birthday card that had this song in it and gave it to him today.  When you open it up it starts the play. 

WHEN YOU'RE SMILING sung by Doris Day


Here are some smiles from today.....  

Cappuccino ice cream!

 I love you Daddy.  Happy Birthday.