We have arrived safely home in Minnesota.

The trip home was quite an adventure. First there were car problems at night, in the middle of the desert. It was dark on the freeway and out of range of all our cell phones. Fortunately, we were still in Texas and it wasn't too cold! We ended up waving down a couple semi trucks that accompanied us safely (one in front, one in back) to the next town, 40 miles away, as we drove without lights to save battery power.

By the next day the van had been fixed and we were on our way again. We took a side trip to New Mexico so Egla and William could visit family. We stayed their two nights. We were eager to head back to MN but glad we didn't arrive any earlier! There had been a terrible storm in Iowa the day before we drove through. We saw 100 abandoned vehicles that had slid off the road or been in accidents. Very eerie. We were suddenly grateful to have been slowed down a couple days!

We are humbled by the generosity of people we have met. We have so much to learn from them! Some have so little, but give so much. One family we met didn't have glass in the windows of their house. They must have been very cold at night because while we were there it was unusaully cold, in the low 40s at night and in the low 50s during the day. A week of unescapeable cold. Their means of income is selling fried plantains. They were incredibly generous to give us all a bag of fried plantains and show us how they are made (i.e. give away their source of income and use gas to heat up the oil, just to show us the process). They wanted to give us more, but absolutely REFUSED TO SELL them to us. Finally we agreed to let them use the too-ripe plantains that they wouldn't be able to sell otherwise.

There is a lot more we'd like to tell about our time at Casa Hogar, only some of which we can post here. Recently, some orphanages in Mexico where children have access to the Good News have been under intense scrutiny by the government. Some have been closed down. The government has been watching Casa Hogar closely in the last months.

It's also difficult for Casa Hogar to maintain integrity under pressure from a corrupt government. Recently a government official wanted to take a girl from Casa Hogar as a "gift" without paperwork. Since they love the children, Casa Hogar leadership put their necks on the line by refusing this request. Thankfully this did not lead to the closure of Casa Hogar.

If Casa Hogar had been shut down some of the kids might be sent back to their parents. Given what has been done to them by their families, this would be bad. We pray they can remain open.

So much for keeping an updated blog of this trip. We have not had much internet access. When we have, Duane has been working on a personalized Snapfish calendar to send to Casa Hogar. We begin the trip back to Minnesota tomorrow.

I will try to record the main events in a series of entries.

We visited Casa Hogar on three occasions. The first was to celebrate Dia de los Reyes. Duane and two other men dressed up as the three wise men. We arrived with a bag of presents for each child. Many people were involved with delivering the gifts, so it was very exciting for Casa Hogar kids to see a multitude of people arrive carrying big sacks of gifts. After passing out gifts, we sang, read books, goofed around, and had dinner together. The children were incredibly sweet, polite, and well behaved. They were full of love to share, and even more willing to accept hugs and love we could give. It was amazing what a big family they seem to be for each other. Their ages range from 2 to 20 years old, with the majority being young teens. Duane, Charles, Daniel and I left the first day wishing we would spend more time at Casa Hogar.

Our second day with them was spent doing crafts, singing, reading, playing around, and celebrating the birthday of Conche, a 14-year old girl. Charles and Daniel especially enjoyed playing with the boys who were rough-housing and making scary faces in the dark together.

The final meeting with kids from Casa Hogar was an afternoon of fun playing outside. Up to then the weather had been rainy and cold so all of our activities were inside. The final day we played tag, badminton, SPUD and just enjoyed the sunshine.

Much of our time in the state of Veracruz was visiting other people, many of whom are associated with Casa Hogar in one way or another. Everywhere we went there were people to meet and meals to be eaten. Duane and I were overwhelmed with the kindness of people, especially Jorge, our host, and his family.

We have arrived safely. Tuesday night we stayed in San Antonio at the house of Egla´s sister. We got a late start Wednesday morning, but made it across the border. We spent two hours waiting while paper work was being done at the immigration and customs office. During the wait Jorge arrived to accompany us the rest of the trip. We had planned to stop at a hotel along the way but, for various reasons, none of them worked out, so Jorge ended up driving 12 hours straight to our town. It worked out perfectly for Charles and Daniel as they were able to sleep the final leg of the trip.

We will go to Casa Hogar to deliver presents, shoes, underwear, socks, etc. today. Yesterday we spent the day preparing the presents and visiting with Jorge´s family.

It is unusally chilly here. Also rainy. Friday it was so cold, school was cancelled. Last night it was in the low 40s.

Happy New Year!

In two days we begin the long drive to an orphanage, called Casa Hogar, near the gulf coast of Mexico. The purpose of the trip is to love the kids at the orphanage and to build a relationship with the people there. We will be bringing supplies, gifts, games, crafts and a desire to spend time with them. So far we only know the names and ages of the children. There are 25 of them. Most of them aren't actually orphans, but have parents who are not able care for them because they are in jail or high on drugs. Some of the kids have learning disabilities, which has made them particularly vulnerable to abuse from their struggling parents. Others who have visited Casa Hogar have given beautiful reports of these children. We are eager to meet them and hope we can teach them as much as they will teach us!

Our traveling companions, Egla and Will, have arranged for us to travel in the US with a Mexican-Minnesotan man who makes this drive frequently. Another Mexican man, who used to live in MN and attended our church, will meet us on the Mexican side of the border and accompany us the rest of the way to the orphanage. These guides are a relief as we were concerned about safety while driving, particularly in Mexico.

The primary reasons we accepted the invitation to take this trip are

1) To expose Charles and Daniel to a different life style. Whose heart and mind can possibly grasp that they are privileged until experiencing differently?

2) To further our Spanish skills

3) We are able to! The timing worked out perfectly as Duane will not be teaching next semester.

We cannot imagine a better way to begin 2010. What a privilege to begin a new year with a dream already coming true!

In the meantime, we have many names to learn. There is Brayan, Eduardo, Alfredo, Gustavo, who is new to the orphanage, America, Rosalinda, Erika, who has cerebral palsy, Cherlyn, and...