I just got back from almost 2 weeks at Gabriel House!
Words can hardly do justice so I've included lots of pictures...

Poughkeepsie United Methodist Church stopped by for an afternoon while they were in Ensenada serving with Mexico Outreach. It was so great to see them - it felt like a little taste of home! Even though they were with us for just a few hours, the students jumped right in and made strong connections. I was able to visit them later in the week and their leader said that kids on their team were still talking about Gabriel House. Always a good thing - I love when people can't get the kids out of their heads! It means they need to come back :) Or find a different way to not forget them!

Hopefully they'll be able to come back next year...

Another group I worked with was from Reality, a church with several different locations in the LA area. They've been several times before, which is always great because we can just jump right into working and playing with the kids. This time we really stepped it up - we created a water park for the kids! It was madness...but the best kind. 

No one wanted to get out...

Sergio loves his bananas!

A couple from the Reality group came down to help fit a lot of our kids for wheelchairs. It was amazing - this tends to be a frustrating process of trying to make a chair fit a child that it was never intended for. There are always adjustments to be made, parts to be yanked off or taped on, and so on. This weekend was one that we will never forget, because every chair fit each child almost perfectly. Jim and Meg couldn't believe it as they put child after child in his or her new chair and there were no more adjustments to be made. Needless to say, it was very encouraging for us and the kids!

One of our newest boys enjoying the sunshine and swings.

This area used to be soft dirt and rocks - now the kids can play on their scooters!

Absolutely necessary for any summer night - S'MORES!

Teddy took this very seriously.

  After that, the GH kids and I hosted a team of 12 from Charlottesville, Virgina for the week. No one in their group had ever been to Mexico before, although they did have lots of other international missions experience. It was an incredible week. They had a lot of high school boys who were eager to do some work projects, of which the group started and finished many (no small feat!). The wonderful thing about this group though, and it's my desperate prayer for each group, is that they'll get it. That they'll understand how important and meaningful it is to "just" hang out with the kids. How their 10th trip to the park is just as exciting as the first time they went. How being held for half an hour is so much more than it seems. How a conversation between two different teenagers from very different places who speak very different languages is something that at least one of those teenagers won't forget soon. All that to say, it was great! Exhausting but incredible, both for the team and for the GH kids. "I can't believe this is my job!" was a phrase that I often had running through my head. A good way to start things off, I'd say!

Calvary Chapel of Charlottesville, VA. We loved having you with us!

Friends from college and faithful supporters who came down for the day! We made a crucial stop for tacos...