Robin's Nest: Take 1!

Hey everyone at home! It's Tyler and it is your lucky day! First off, because you aren't covered from head to toe in bug bites, second, your towel gets to reach a dry state between showers, and lastly, there are a ton of pictures posted today! Today, as most of you know, was our first day at the orphanage. It was quite an amazing experience for all of us! I really wish we all could get on the computer and tell you all the funny and heart-warming stories of our interactions with the children, but I think you will have to wait for stories first hand from your loved ones when we arrive at home.

In the morning we started out with devotions and breakfast at a glorious time of 7 am (5 am west coast time!). Then we all headed up the beautiful, scenic hill to Robin's Nest lined with banana trees, coconut trees, guava plants, and all sorts of tropical vegetation... well, all but two of us. Sammy, accompanied by our fearless leader Lindsey went to the hospital today to get her thumb x-rayed. And good news, it is not broken! Although, it is sprained and she has to have it in a splint for the next two weeks (that's going to be a sweet tan line!). But the good thing is is that she can take it off for swimming and showering! Hurray! But as they were headed to the hospital the eight of us walked through the doors of the orphanage and were immediately greeted by smiling children reaching out their arms to be lifted up, and man were they cute! We then proceeded to hang either play with the kids or help out around the "nest" with laundry, cleaning floors, and stuff like that.

I really want to share with you guys about one of the moments today that really touched my heart. In the morning one the first kids i got to play with was a little girl by the name of Neon. She was a lot calmer than most of the other kids, but still enjoyed being tossed in the air! (who wouldn't?) But she was definitely a cuddler, when I held her she would just nuzzle her head into my body. A couple yawns later I could definitely tell she was about to zonk out, and that's when one of the staff asked me if I wanted to lay her in her crib. I've never really done that before, and I'm sure most of you know that it is pretty easy, but I was afraid I was going to wake her up when I put her down. So I laid her down gently and she continued to dream. It was definitely something I had never experienced before and really put a smile on my face! And again, I think you'll have to wait till June to hear about some amazing stories that my other team members have, sorry...

Sammy and Lindsey arrived at lunch time from the hospital and got to hang out with us at the orphanage for the rest of the day. It was nice to have the whole team back together! Also, shortly after lunch the bigger kids got out of school and came back home to Robin's Nest. When they arrived we got the chance to go swimming with most of them and it was a ton of fun! They are extremely energetic little ones! Following the pool we had to head home for the day so we told them all we would see them tomorrow and hopped back on the bus with Chris.

Guess what we did when we got back home... you got it! Took a big long nap!! :-D And it was niiiice! (I think a few of the girls went swimming in the ocean for a little bit actually) But the majority of us woke up just in time for dinner, which was pork, potatoes, and vegetables, definitely needed to restore our energy from playing with kids all day! And after dinner we just hung out and eventually had team time to reflect on our experiences with the kids today.

We were all so blessed today to start what we came here for, and are all definitely excited to go back tomorrow and for the rest of the week! Thank you guys so much for the prayers so far!! And we all love reading the comments! We were so stoked that there were 18 posts yesterday! So please keep the prayers and comments coming! They are really encouraging! We all miss you guys a ton and can't believe that there are still 19 days in the way of us seeing you again, but we are here for a purpose and are eager for God to use us however He wants! Talk to you guys tomorrow!

And the cool thing about writing the blog for today is I get to send out personal messages! Woo hoo! Molls, I am loving the notes each morning, I only wish they were pages each... :-) miss you! Sean, thanks for the words of encouragement buddy, you are awesome! Dad, thanks for the the comments so far! Its always great to see your name while scrolling through them!! And mom, thank you so much for your comments as well! I praying really hard for you tomorrow! God is good and just and everything happens for a reason, whether we will ever see it or not. I love you and will talk to you soon! :-)

Love you all!