Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Kurt and Jackie flew home today. As you can see in the photos, Bill is still working hard with some local help. They finished cementing the blocks around the sidewalks and also cemented the railing going into the girls dorm. (it was loose.)

It rained hard this afternoon - hopefully that won't harm all the cement work that was just done!

Bill journeys home tomorrow.

I met with Candi - the director and made more plans for our construction projects as well as doing a VBS for approx 100 children next summer!

Through God, all things are possible - especially when we give our projects and lives completely over to Him!

In Christ's Love, Barb

Monday, June 29, 2009

After taking Eric and Robin to the airport, Kurt and I went to Home Depot to pick up a few supplies for some minor projects (Kurt and Jackie leave tomorrow and Bill leaves Wednesday.) Kurt also made a list of supplies we'll need to purchase for next summer to be able to paint the interior and exterior of the Dining Hall and Girls Dorm. (he found the supplies at Home Depot and wrote down how much they currently cost and also where to find them as well as their "vin" number so we can order things ahead of time to make sure Home Depot has enough supplies for us next summer!)

Bill began a project with a couple of the older boys re-cementing the blocks around the sidewalks near the dorms.

It's nice looking around the property and seeing all the improvements we've made!

Barb

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Today, Robin, Jackie and Kurt did various painting projects around the property. They painted the front gate and some of the playground equipment and repaired some of the playground equipment. We're at the point right now where there are lots of minor repairs to make...(we don't have enough time to start any big projects.) We're also in the planning stages for next summer... putting our heads together for all the projects we'll be doing with the youth and what materials we'll need. Then Kurt and I will head down to Home Depot on Monday to get an estimate of cost (and also get an email from the construction desk so we can make sure they'll have all our materials we'll need...that was one of our frustrations that they didn't have the right sizes of things we needed this week...or enough of what we needed. But if we can order them 4 weeks ahead of time before we arrive things "should" run smoother next year. (hence why we did a "pilot" mission trip with adults this year - to work out the bugs"....(no pun intended for all the interesting bugs we've seen since arriving...)
AJ and I were going to take today off....after spending the morning at the beach, AJ decided he had enough beach time and wanted to go back to work...he is really enjoying spending time at Hogar de Niños and working (even though he complains sometimes late at night after the long hours of work.) Next summer we'll have our time scheduled better to include scheduled breaks. This time I think we were all focused on trying to get as many projects completed as possible so that we can return next summer with our youth.

Tomorrow is Sunday.....our group is going out to breakfast with Candi at a local restaurant in Mazatlan called, Panama, so we can continue our group discussion planning for next summer. Afterwards we'll get a little more work done before worship service at 3pm. We'll be saying "Adios" to Eric and Robin on Monday....it'll be very sad for the kids (and us) to see them go.

Blessings to you all!

Barb

Friday, June 26, 2009

¡Hola!

We've been working on various projects..yes with more trips to Home Depot! The fence and awning for the Director's home are finished. The new projects being worked on yesterday and today are sealing up the leaks in the laundry room (which is where they had wash the clothes and hang them to dry)...it's also the tool room so it's very humid in there.... we're looking for another location for the tools. The other project is placing an awning over the area outside the back of the dining building where they wash dishes...(before they had to wash dishes outside in the rain and other elements.) Bill & Eric mostly worked on this project with a little of AJ's help.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Boys will be boys....

That was the theme today. But before I get too much into the theme I'll update you on our projects: the fence is looking good!!! The cows aren't too sure what to do when they try to get into their normal pathway through the property...they keep looking for the holes in the fence...but they aren't there any more! Unfortunately 2 cows found their way through the front entrance (the gate isn't finished get). Kurt had AJ round them up like a cowboy. He gave AJ a rope and said to "round them up"..so AJ was snapping the rope making some noise and those cows (ou know..the typical Mexican cows with the big horns..) starting running away from AJ toward the other gate as fast as they could...it was too funny!!!

We had lots of people helping Jackie, Kurt and Robin with the fencing - we hired 4 locals so that really helped. We had the electrician and his assistant working on finishing the outdoor lights (which are now done.) We had Bill, Eric, AJ and 2 other people helping to almost finish the awning on the Director's house...and a few other projects (like hauling the old fence posts to the metal junkyard for $$ (a big $5 USD..but that helped go toward 1 of the workers for part of the day.) It's good that we're able to hire good inexpensive local laborers to help us since there is so much work to do!!!

This afternoon we were scheduled to take all the kids to the beach...that's where the theme of the day comes in... several boys have been getting in trouble lately...and today was no exception, unfortunately, since they were really looking foward to going to the beach. Apparently the majority of them (and Kurt and Eric weren't sure who were involved) messed up the boys dorm really bad and had jumped on Eric's air mattress - luckily didn't pop it...so Candi and I had no choice since we didn't know who did it and they wouldn't tell, but to let only the girls and the older boys who had been helping us with the work (and the really young boys who had been with Candi) go to the beach. Talk about really sad faces....

The beach was a lot of fun! AJ even taught those who came how to skimbord...or at least tried... (I have some great photos!!) The original plan was once we returned was to have a pizza party, then afterwards to have a surprise Christmas in June party and give out 1 pair of shoes to each child that Robin had donated from Crocs (she had more than that donated - in fact 60 pairs), but Candi would wait to give out more later. We would have a big party....WELL ....when we returned, Candi was in the boys dorm and all was quiet... I guess things hadn't gone well after we left...the boys ate cereal for dinner and when to bed early.....we never saw them again after we returned this evening....so we continued to party with the group who went to the beach. Robin walked in with a big snack behind her back saying, "Ho, Ho, Ho!!!" The kids giggled! They loved their new shoes!! Jackie had also brought bracelets for everyone so it was like Christmas for them!!! We will eventually..."hopefully" ...and we will continue to pray that we will be able to very very soon see the boys to give them their new shoes and bracelets!!!

We have a little bit more to do tomorrow on the fence and awning...then a few more little projects we can do around the home. I purchased some inexpensive rugs for the inside of the 2 dorms and the dining hall so they won't track in as much mud and dirt when they come inside...we already noticed a big difference! Just little things like that can help!

And we all can see the big differnce since we hauled off all the garbage - that had been all around the property...that with the improvement of the fence makes the entire property look so much nicer!

It's bed time - Buenos Noches!

Barb

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tropical storm just south of us...lots and lots of rain this morning and early afternoon. The dining room had 2 inches of standing water this morning. School was cancelled today because of the rain and flooding.

Due to the rain, we couldn't do much this morning. Robin arrived this afternoon. I brought 2 girls and 2 boys with me to the airport to pick her up...talk about a big smile when she saw who was there to meet her!! The kids were excited because it was their first time at the airport or perhaps going that far away from the home and Robin really enjoyed seeing the kids right away!!!

We we returned, Candi (the Director), left with the other van with the rest of our group (except for Jackie) and one of the older boys to head to Home Depot for more supplies. (I guess they had the idea that I didn't want to go there today?!? I wonder where they got that idea??) I put Christian to work along with some other kids picking up burnable yardwaste that Jackie had raked up around the yard. That's when Jackie got a great idea about since I had a truck why not load up and haul off all the "junk"...and we're talking about metal dump type garbage.....we had a bunch of kids load up the truck and I drove off to the dump 2 times this afternoon!! It was GREAT FUN!! On the way home the first time, the boys were in the back of the truck singing songs (it was like we had just gone to Disneyland!!!) When we returned people starting taking our photos!! It was GREAT for their egos!!!!

The rest of the group worked on another project at Candi's home...they are building an awning off the side of her kitchen. We did have a couple of the older kids paint the 2 x 4 x 10 we purchased.

Well, hopefully tomorrow will be better weather. Kurt and Bill said no matter what the cement we did from Monday will be "dry" so we will be working on the fence...and in the afternoon when the kids get home from school we'll take them to the beach and have a pizza party afterwards...for those of you who have been down to Casa Hogar..sound familiar??? Yes...that was Eric's idea!! He said it was a CUMC Mexico Misson Trip Tradition and we couldn't break it!!!

I'm exhausted so, I'll sign off now...all is well. Most people go to bed when it gets dark (around 8pm).

Continue to keep us in your prayers.

Barb

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Where to begin??

This has been a frustrating day for me....I was at Home Depot 5 times and an Electrical Store twice! 2 of the trips to Home Depot were for returns...let's just say being the "Runner" for this trip has ended up being an exhausting experience!!

We did have some pretty cool "God-sequences" today. While at the Electrical store...let me back up..the first time we were there, AJ and I arrived and it was like a big open warehouse in the middle of no where Mazatlan and inside there were about 15 stationery stools with contractors sitting around waiting their turn and then people standing around behind them also waiting. AJ was awkwardly holding on to a glass globe (twice the size of a large earth globe) outside light cover and looked at me as if to say, "where's the back of the line?" Since there was no line..we just picked a spot which looked not quite so crowded and waited until we got someone's eye contact...anyway to make a very long experience MUCH shorter...we ended up getting a 50% discount at that store and then later when I was there with Kurt...(this is the God-sequence), a man walked up to us and asked if we needed an electrician. I asked Kurt and he said, "sure". So I translated and next thing we hired the guy starting 2 hrs later!! (He lives in that same village and really needed the money.)

Back to our 2nd God-sequence...it has to do with one of our returns at Home Depot. We purchased 10 more bags of cement using only water to mix...but when they loaded it for us, we received the regular kind of cement...but didn't realize the mistake until we got all the way back to Hogar de Niños...so had to take it back...(unfortunately 3 bags got torn in the process) and the return - exchange process in Mexico is a real slow process. (even when I brought 4 of the boys from the home with me!) After having to process all the paperwork, return the old...buying the new...we learned they only had 2 bags of cement which mixed only with water!! (and they couldn't get any more for 10-12 days!!!) I phone the home and spoke with Kurt and asked his advice...he said something would work out....God keeps helping us out!!! (on the way home the boys and I stopped by 3 other cement stores but they didn't have any cement which mixed with water only...) By the time we got back to Hogar de Niños, one of the women who were there for a women's meeting had spoken to her husband who does cement work and he had agreed to bring a load over to us the next day or 2!!!! (God is taking care of us!! So I guess I don't have to work so hard????)

Projects today -- we continued to work on the fence project and also worked on the outdoor lighting project with the electrician. (Even though we purchased the longest ladder we could, we still had to put it in the back of the truck bed to be able to reach the top of the outdoor lights!!)

The kids at the home are really enjoying having us around....they were thinking on Tuesday that AJ and Eric were brothers (I guess because they are both so "guapo"!!!!)

I found a hat for Bill late Monday evening...I took a bus downtown and bought one from one of the vendors so he is set for the heat!!! (I took the bus because of lack of parking in the city center.)

We have 3 older teenagers who we have also hired who are working very hard. We are paying them 25-30 pesos an hour. The younger boys who are helping me out, I am paying them by allowing them a ride in the truck with me. (easy $$ for me!) I also told them because they are such good helpers we'll take them to the beach on Thursday and they are very excited about that!!!!

PS. Hogar de Niños was without power from 430am - 1pm (not sure why??)

Barb

Monday, June 22, 2009

A hot, humid, but very productive day!!! While Kurt was shopping for fence posts and various other items on our list at Home Depot, I was signing up myself as a Contractor so we could get 10-25% discounts every time we shop this year and for years to come as we do projects at Hogar de Niños. (and for those of you who know my construction background..you can stop laughing...but it is rather amusing that I would have a contractor's ID at Home Depot in Mexico!!! tee hee hee!!) I guess I am good at networking!!! Most of the workers at Home Depot already know me...I've been there 4 times already since AJ and I arrived on June 20th!

Besides purchasing fence posts and other things for the fences we also purchased 18 bags of 50 kilo of cement...so the back of our truck was really weighed down on the drive back to the home.

When Kurt and I returned, Jackie was busy up on the top of the hill working on putting pieces of the old fence together while Eric, AJ and Bill were digging holes down at the other end of the property. We hired 2 of the older boys here to help out as well today. AJ also had the 2 skateboards we got from Wal-mart and during breaks he taught the boys how to do some tricks...yes - that proved to be very popular!!! The kids had dance practice this afternoon. That was fun watching.

I ended up going back to Mazatlan for more supplies..(since the truck was too full earlier.) Bill forgot to bring work gloves and a hat...but after searching 3 stores couldn't find any the right size....(we bought some earlier at Home Depot which didn't fit.) I'll check with some local friends tonight to see if they have some suggestions. Kurt already has a new list for me for Home Depot for tomorrow morning... (I refused to go back there a 3rd time today!!!) I'm glad we decided to rent a truck - we've really needed it. I'm not sure how we would have been able to transport everything otherwise...and it's a good size truck!!! Tomorrow I'll be taking items like light bulbs and the big cover for the outside light (we need to replace one of them and it's HUGE!) I figured that way I'd be sure to get the right size if I had it with me...maybe I'll understand construction more by the time I get home (but I'll understand it in Spanish, not English!!)

Jackie helped get the roof put back on top of one of the areas that had blown off from the storm which hit the day before AJ and I arrived. (there are still lots of trees down and other signs of destruction from the storm all around the area.) After getting the fencing holes taken care of some of them were put in with cement today. I guess it is going to take 3 days to dry completely. The total fencing project will take the entire week... we will probably do a couple small projects in between the fencing project as time permits (like fixing the outdoor lighting and perhaps fixing the leak in the roof in the laundry room - which is also the tool storage area.)

We are also putting rods and Jackie is helping to put shower curtains to cover the toilet stalls in the bathroom. (I think privacy is important...at least for the girls.)

Then we've purchased drinking water, toilet paper, cleansers for the bathrooms (so the kids can clean and make it more sanitary)...just a few essentials (at least things we consider essential living here....

That's the update for today.

Blessings to you all!

Barb