Hello Friends and Family! This is comin at ya from ya girl Grace...haha...but seriously--after almost three days of asking me to write this thing...I finally caved in to our 'fearless' leaders (by the way--the word fearless isn't in quotes because I'm being sarcastic...actually...I don't really know why they're in quotes, but I thought it looked cooler)

I really don't know where I even want to start...well, I guess the beginning haha. I was born midday on March 29, 1987 in a hospital in Los Angeles...and the rest is history. I bet your getting really annoyed at the fact that you have yet to get to the part about how OUR (the team's...the reason why you're reading this) day went...but I think you guys also need to understand that its really late right now, we haven't been getting much sleep, and I'm probably delirious right now.

So anyways, this morning once again was an early morning--my alarm went off at 6:25am, but we didn't actually get up until about 6:40am. I should note that Samuel Adams was supposed to wake up me, Tyler and maybe Steph, at 5:45am so that we could go running, but as soon as I heard my alarm, I knew that he failed to do so...again (as a side note, I should point out that I play soccer and he plays basketball at APU and we BOTH need to get in shape for our sports...clearly not a disciplined athlete).

Geeeeez, i seriously need to get to our day. Okay, so we had devotions after everyone was finally up and ready and bug sprayed and hydrocortizone creamed. Miss Samantha supplied us with the inspiring verses that would hold us for the day, and after her reading we had our quiet reflection times, ate breakfast (consisting of french toast and sausage), prepared our lunches (pb&j), and headed off for the orphanage. During the thirty-five minute drive we may not have had the privilege of watching our bus driver, Chris, scale a mountain to pick us some fruit that tasted like flower petals, we did get to hear his silly antics and hear the much unwanted cat-calls of different passersby.

When we arrived at the orphange, the children were in full swing. They clearly had woken up much earlier and were extremely energetic. Not long after we arrived, we had the opportunity, nay, the privilege to take some of toddlers into the pool...well at least we girls had that privilege. I bet the boys would tell you that their 'man work' was a privilege, but I'm gonna have to say I was much happier in the pool with the little ones. The boys (Tyler, Garrett and Sam) went off with Sefton and Glaston and continued the process they had started yesterday. They macheted large trees and battled spiders and red ants the size of New Mexico. All of this was done in the blaring heat of the sun, but around lunchtime, it began P-O-U-R-I-N-G! Of coursed it was well received by the boys who still had a mile to walk uphill to get to the bus for lunch.

While they were basking in the Lord's great cool blessing, Jennifer, Katie, and I had just taken a lunch down to the young children (3, 4, and 5 year olds) in the schoolhouse lower down on the Robin Nest Property (MUCH lower down...lemme tell ya--it was quite the trek). While we were assisting the teachers as they served the children lunch, the out pour of rain came. We were stuck in the small schoolhouse, because we had JUST dried off and changed back into our day clothes from our pool clothes, and we didn't want to get soaking wet like we knew we would if we tried to go back. Eventually one of the teachers called Glaston to come and pick us up, and even the sprint from the door of schoolhouse to the van got us pretty wet...it was raining that hard.

After lunch we all were able to play with the babies. By this time in the week, its clear that we all have our favorites...I have Shana Kay (pictured to the left), Tyler has Neon, Sami has 7-month old Shamoy, Jen has Baby Grant, Katie has little Senika and so on....

I must say that I know that it is going to be soooooooooo hard to say goodbye to them on Friday. I'm probably more attached than I ever thought that I would be, and I think that my teammates share the same sentiments. So, if it seems like our suitcases are bigger the next time you see us, or like we have little bodies under our shirts, don't be alarmed, we just decided to take some kids with us.

The afternoon was really fun, though. When the older kids returned from school at around three o'clock they were able to watch a movie, Angels in the Outfield (an oldie, but a goodie).

We left the orphanage at around 4:20pm, and came back to Fairhaven. I napped while everyone else chilled and showered, and we went to dinner at 7ish o'clock. Overall, today was a grrreat day. ;)

You thought I was done, huh? haha PSYCHE! Anyways, I still need to make my own shout outs: mom, dad, angel--I love you and I miss you all a lot. I hope you're all doin okay...keep the comments comin!

ruthann stone: today was wednesday, and if you truly are a fan of Top Model, you should have had something very important to do tonight at 8pm...can u puh-leeeeeeze post who won???

polley, leigh: thanx for the comments...u guys are grreat

rachbbgirl, bundie: where's the love???

anyone else I forgot: I love you!!!

okay peace!