Pizza, Playground, and Princesses–Guatemala Day 2

I really can´t think of a better way to start a trip than hanging out with babies…especially when they´re as sweet as the ones at the Buckner babies´ home. I think I´ll let our pictures do most of the talking.

The boys got a kick out of Nate´s stretchy skin.

This beautiful little girl was found in a dumpster.

The boys, minus JuanPi. JuanPi got to spend the day with his future parents, John and Emily.

Crystal (left) just got a new eye! When we came in August, Isabel (right) could barely walk, and she was very shy. Today, she practically ran us over in her attempts to give us hugs and sit on our laps.

100_3227 — We brought pictures we took in August of all the kids. Danny held on tight to his pictures the entire morning. Whether he was playing on the swing set, begging Nate to throw him in the air, or chasing the other boys, he refused to put them down. Here, he´s showing Nate a picture of the two of them playing on the rope swing.

This beauty (Alejandra) came to the Buckner home just a few months ago. Her story is so tragic I hate to even mention it in a blog. However, I want your heart to break for these little ones, so I tell you just a little of what I know. I was told that, even though she´s six, she speaks like a three year old due to emotional problems she´s facing because she´s been chronically sexually abused. — This beauty (Alejandra) came to the Buckner home just a few months ago. Her story is so tragic I hate to even mention it in a blog. However, I want your heart to break for these little ones, so I´ll tell you just a little of what I know. I was told that she has some emotional and development problems because she’s suffered multiple forms of abuse. When I was playing with her the other day, I noticed scars from burns and cuts on her arms and legs.

Even though she was all smiles, all day, she didn´t come near enough to me to be touched or hugged until I gave her this princess cape. After that, she´d randomly come up to me and wrap her arms around my legs and squeeze me tight. She loved being a little ¨princesa.¨ Another fun experience we got to share with her was taking her to her first restaurant! Apparently, she wanted to keep washing her hands over and over and over and over again because she had so much fun with the hand drier! — Even though she was all smiles, all day, she didn´t come near enough to me to be touched or hugged until I gave her this princess cape. After that, she´d randomly come up to me and wrap her arms around my legs and squeeze me tight. She loved being a little ¨princesa.¨ Another fun experience we got to share was taking her to her first restaurant! She wanted to keep washing her hands over and over and over and over again because she had so much fun with the hand drier!

Tomorrow morning, we´ll be with the babies again. Then, in the afternoon, we´ll be at Eliza Martinez (one of the boys´ orphanages) collecting information about the boys there. We won´t have as much time with the boys at Eliza Martinez as we had hoped, so please pray that we work fast, but still help the boys to feel loved. Also, I know that John and Emily would appreciate your prayers. They have another important adoption-related meeting first thing in the morning.

P.S. Be sure to check out Jody´s blog to get her perspective of our trip!