I've put off blogging about it to see if I could process exactly what it was a little more clearly. Nope. It was a big mess of beauty, and grace, and work, and playing, and laughing, and running. It was everything I hoped and more. My church has been going to this colonia a few times a year for a while now. On the Christmas trip we get to take shoe boxes full of shoes and goodies to the kiddos there. We go house to house in groups of about four and talk to the families, hand the kids their gifts, chat a bit, and pray. In between that we get to play and eat and hold babies and sing songs with these joyful little munchkins. I got to hold an eight day old baby, her parents were still deciding on a name and while I held her tiny hand and whispered blessings in her ear, her mom made me some lunch. I can not imagine letting a strange foreigner in to my house, letting them hold my newborn, and then feeding them lunch. Their hearts are just that open. Because of the teams from our church, the leaders who have gone back again and again, we get to sit in these homes and spend time with these families. That's God. Our communication, our Spanish, though we try hard is not great, love has been communicated though and that's God. Lots of my friends were on this trip. Bridge, is herself in Mexico, loving and leading those kids like they were her own little brothers and sisters. She drove her favorite bus, she hugged a ton of little ones and garnered tons of smiles. Paul went and Paul worked, a lot. He walked a lot and he talked a lot. He spent his second birthday in a row in Mexico. Debby went. She smiled a lot, she laughed a lot, she spoke tons of Spanish, she pushed herself completely beyond her comfort zone. Heather went. And she walked with grace through a tough day. She's raising great people, her kids and her friends in Mexico, she is an amazing leader. PJ, the happiest guy in the world, my team leader, he always goes, because he loves. He loves big and loud, more people should love the way he does. A lot of wonderful people were on this trip, Haley, Suzanne, Jenny, Josh, Sean, Tim, Terri, Michael, Melinda, Sarah, Tera, Christina, Kristina, Nykala, Jessica, Tater, each of them shined in their own awesome ways, it was wonderful. And Erin, though she left us early for another important adventure, was our fearless leader. It is largely in part due to her hard work and organization that this trip was so wonderful. Her heart is for missions, and her heart reaches far. And I'm grateful for that, grateful for the opportunities it has given me to reach out too. I fell in love with these faces, these eyes and these smiles. I can't wait to go back. And I have, as the rest of the team does, lots of stories of God's grace. I got to see glimpses of His hand in Mexico. Hopefully we left behind lots of stories. Hopefully these little faces saw glimpses of His hand too. But once again I find myself marveling at what happens when I go to give, I'm blessed beyond measure by what's already there. That's God.
so in love with 
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