Here is a picture of a little girl we found sitting all by herself.  She wouldn't let us get close to her so I tried to take a picture of her from a distance so it is blurry.   The next time we go to that village I will be prepared for her with a soft stuffed teddy bear and some clothes and food and Tootsie Pops. 

This little Sweetie  is the youngest of 5 children, the oldest is 7 and the Mama is 24 years old.  No papa and again living in a place that most people would not live in at all.  We took the children some clothes.  We didn't know where we were going , we just went to look for a girl who we heard about and went down a dirty old alley and there were the 5 children.  We have now adopted this family to help and also to help the Mother.  We went back and took books and toys to them.  This sweetie only wanted this little pink stuffed toy. Amazingly we gave her 2 toys and she looked around and saw a child with no toy so she gave one of her toys to that child.  This little one does not talk, she only sits all day on a stool and never moves.  We also saw the children go and get other children who had no toys and bring them to us.   I am going to try to get her to trust me and see if we can get her to talk and smile.  Her brothers and sisters are more outgoing but Mama is gone a lot so the children sort of are on their own a lot. 

We had a birthday party for everyone in our little group (those 6 who help us here) and we invited the  Mama of the 5 children to come and enjoy.  We just had some chicken and macaroni casserole and rice of course, and some macaroni salad, no cake because the humidity here makes the frosting slide off all over the place LOL. But here is the same little girl below still sitting on a stool and not moving. We had balloons for the children and we play with the children but she never moved.  Breaks my heart.

This little guy and his Mama live in a place that would be condemned in most countries.   He is the sweetest baby and so is his Mama.  So we took him some clothes and some formula because many times the diet here does not make it possible for Mama's to breast feed for very long.  

This little girl got new clothes and a doll.  The picture is dark because many of the places they live do not have electric or running water.  She is such a cutie and so pleased with her new clothes and doll.  I don't know that I have in the almost 3 years we have been here seen a child with a doll.  But a wonderful woman sent us a box of dolls and watching the children when we give them a doll is amazing. At first their eyes get so big and then they are hesitant to take it.  But when they do they hold that baby like it is gold.

This is a village next to the river. The river is very dirty because it is where they through their garbage and human waste.  The children swim in it and also use the water for bathing with buckets of water  and doing their dishes by hand.   We went there to take supplies and clothes to them and again another bunch of Tootsie Pops.  They had never seen Tootsie Pops and you cannot get them here so it is a real treat.  They are all lined up for the treats.  If we didn't have them line up they would  bombard us and almost knock us over.   It just makes you want to take them all home with us  ;) 

Aren't they adorable.  They were standing behind me looking into my tablet  so I  hit the button that allows you to take a picture of yourself and instead took a picture of them.  I tell you,  I never get tired of these cuties,  We took  clothes and Tootsie Pops that were sent to us by some wonderful women in the U.S.  It is such a privilege to go to these villages and take clothes and treats and when we have toys for them,    They have never seen people like us but it only takes a smile and a kiss on top of the head to win them over.   I can't believe how blessed we are to have the privilege of helping these children and people.  

I am sorry I haven't posted since December.  It has a been a busy couple of months.  But I want to give you an update.  We have been going to different churches and seeing great things happen .   Here are a couple of pictures. This little open air church is way up in the mountains and it is so beautiful there but this is the only way because of finances they could have a church.  The sun was beautiful with an awesome breeze.  No real humidity there so it was refreshing.   I hope you enjoy the pictures. We took up Tootsie pops and chips  for the children but the adults had never had a Tootsie Pop  so they wanted one too.  It was so much fun to watch as they got close to the chewy center.  Here are a couple of pictures:

Aren't they just adorable.  And it was as I said so beautiful up there and we had a wonderful time even though it took about 4  hours to get there.