Jesus Loves the Little Children...

Today, we rest!

That doesn't happen everyday... but today, I simply didn't accomplish much of anything!

I am okay with that... really... I am not crying over it one bit.

In fact, after the insanity of the last 2 months, I have welcomed this moment of laziness.

That mixed with the fact that Isaiah is very sick so he has required more "Mama love" than usual.

Last week ended out our most recent season of craziness.

After a year end staff meeting the beginning of the week we loaded up 10 people along with 134 christmas gifts & everyone's luggage to head to they city of Caracas.

We took along our family of 5 & 4 of our team members plus our dear friend & Venezuelan missionary, Erica. While in Caracas we added in 2 more friends, Jose & Katherine.

We left behind Salomon who had another commitment & our dear Yanethssy who was just too pregnant to go on such a LONG trip!

The trip is normally about 6 hours... but thanks to traffic, we got to ride for 9! *sarcasm*

The next day, we awoke very early to head to the barrio where our LACC school is located.

For those of you that are not familiar with LACC, let me briefly explain....

Latin American Child Care is a sponsorship program of the Assemblies of God that allows partnering schools the chance to receive sponsors for the children in that school. The sponsors pay a monthly commitment that helps pay for the child's education as well as provides them with a gift at their birthday & Christmas. The gifts we were delivering were due to the generous donations of sponsors in the United States.

We had a party on the 4th story (the roof) of the school that is situated in a very dangerous barrio.

Henry, Frank, & Jose put up the only shade we had when the clouds weren't overhead.

 All of the children lined the perimeter in their red or white polo shirts.

And what kind of Christmas party would it be without a few elves???

(Although I am not sure what Ian was thinking!)

There was dancing & games thanks to Henry, Yubisay, & Isaiah.

Then we fed them hotdogs & juice which is always a hit!

A cloud that had been providing us with much wanted shade finally decided to give us more than we had asked for & the heavy rains began, forcing us all back inside.

We headed next door to the church that helps to manage this school.

Of course, we had to meet on the 4th floor AGAIN... but this time with a roof! *YAY!*

As we called out the names of the children, they came forward like their name had been called to receive a million dollars.

Gifts were presented & photos were taken.

Then wrapping was ripped to streds to reveal gifts ranging from dolls to remote control cars & beyond.

Such happy smiles were on each face as they returned to their classes to get their backpacks to head home.

When all was said & done, we were exhausted.

Nothing expresses our exhaustion like this photo of Imanuel with his trusty friend, Frank Yu.

Waking up at 4:30 am is not this little guys norm!

We also had the privilege of visiting our friends & fellow missionaries, Gary & Patty Heiny. They founded a ministry known as Samuel's House. This ministry is an orphanage that currently cares for 30 children. This farm & all of its fruits & veggies provide food for the kids & staff as well serves as necessary income to care for the children. It is truly a remarkable project & testimony of God's faithfulness & provision.

What a great reminder this week was of just how much Jesus loves the little children.

What a privilege to serve the children of Venezuela.