Irie

Sorry for not updating yesterday! I was a little exhausted and went to bed before 10. Yesterday (the 13th) was another relaxing day. We woke up for breakfast and all went to the catholic church with St. Francis. Katie B and Brett will be happy to hear that there was a HUGE, black, terrifyingly fast mutterfly swooping around the church all morning. At first we thought it was a bird but no sirrey, mutterfly.

After church we headed back to the villas for lunch and another pool day! After a couple of hours at the pool, the new teams arrived around 2:30. I had some (not nearly enough) time to catch up with Dusty & Corinne and even got talked in to swimming in the ocean- no sea urchin encounters this time. It was an absolutely gorgeous (HOT) day and it was, as always, great to be reunited with the Coopers.

Last night ended with twilight zumba, an early shower and my pillow.

Today we were back at work. All 44 from Northland combined with the 16 from St. Francis at the worksite. Not only did we have the teams out there but Dusty, Corinne, Betty, the guys + 3 of our drivers and the locals in Seville were all helping at the site. It was insane! We had our bucket line going from the cement mixers to the pit-cappers, we had people digging and filling in the trench surrounding the center, we had people weeding out plants from the trench and other people filling in where they could. It's a really neat thing to see so many people coming together to serve one purpose. We even had David offer to buy 5 more shovels so we could have more people working at once. Nobody fainted, no sun poisoning (to my knowledge) just a whole lot of work done in one morning!

This afternoon we had a little extra time during lunch so I uploaded my first set of pictures and listened to the guys yelling about the soccer game. Around 3 we took off for Grace so the team could spend some time with the kiddos. Northland was there for a food basket & to take a walk with Red to his house and we were there to rile some things up. St Francis gathered as many kids as they could and had a big US vs JA soccer game- I didn't watch but I could probably guess who won. ;) I had some time with Jaymar (Aaron's little brother) and some of the other kids I've gotten to know. I also ate the best banana I've ever had in my life that grew right outside the center. Miss Betty even liked it and she doesn't eat ripe bananas!

This morning before breakfast, St Francis had a talk about what it means to be real. David read this from the "Velveteen Rabbit" and I thought it was something we should all think about so here it is:

What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

There are some great things going on down here- many that cannot be explained, only felt. God's not being shy about showing up and leading us where He wants us to go and it feels good to be a part of his journey.

In one of the previous posts I mentioned Cynthia's 6 students who needed a sponsorship in order to go to school next year. Within minutes, God really put it on peoples' hearts to help these kids and not only did we have somebody offer to sponsor all 6 kids, but multiple others have asked for information on how to get involved. Anybody know knows me knows that He's given me a real passion for children and I'd love to see how far we can take this. I talked to Dusty and concluded for at least this coming school year, donations can be made at islego.com with "Child Sponsorship" in the details box OR checks can be made payable to IsleGo Missions Inc and sent to 550 Cidermill Place, Lake Mary, FL 32746.

Bed time. Another day of work/food baskets tomorrow- my favorite! Good night!