Christmas in Ecuador!

Well since Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here, Christmas is in full swing in Ecuador. The stores started decorating and putting out Christmas items about a month ago. It doesn't seem right, since it is about 80 degrees out. Well today we took two babies to the mall on a field trip. The mall had a huge Christmas tree up, a little train that kids could ride around in, and a mini ice skating rink. The girls loved all of the lights and stimulation. One of the highlights was riding up and down in the glass elevator.

Checking out the ornaments

In front of a very large bear

Two Worlds Collide

On Saturday, I took a group of 11 teenagers from the orphanage where I live, to the other orphanage I work at on the weekends. It was so great watching them interact with the kids at FHC. They played, made bracelets, did a puppet show, and helped feed babies. They did an awesome job interacting with the special needs children. It was an all day excursion since it takes two hours by bus each way to get there. I am proud to say we did not lose anyone and no one got hurt...a soccer ball that one of the teenagers kicked nearly missed an old Ecuadorian lady, but other than that a very successful day! I am excited to hopefully bring another group from my foundation in the future to volunteer.

Finger Painting!

Last weekend, we had an awesome time doing some artwork with the kids. They were quite the artists, painting on top of canvasses with baby Mozart playing in the background. It was very relaxing! They also all put their hand prints on a large canvas that we put in their house.