Hearts, Tears, and Kidlets...

These past few days have felt like a Lisa Frank folder (thank you Amy for the comment and subsequent reminder of middle school days)... hearts, tears, vibrant colors with swirling patterns, and always, always... unicorns jumping over rainbows. Maybe it's just that our emotions make us receptive to these images...

This happens frequently to all of you too, doesn't it? ;)

Yaneli holding up her heart for Bill... the girls kept asking those of us in the kitchen to run back and get chocolates from the kitchen bodega (pantry) to fill the inside...

Servant heart, my foot... lol. Okay, okay... pun completely intended. But I had to "laugh" since I figured nobody else would when they read it... ;)

Nicole & Katie snuggled up on the couch during our fiesta on Feb. 14th...

VALENTINE'S NIGHT

Wow... what will eight girls do when they're eating lots of sugar, no boys are around, and it's Valentine's Day??? Well... most of that will have to remain a secret, but suffice it to say that our "party" was fun, and that I had no idea that candy hearts with sayings had the ability to be prophetic... lol. Everyone was pretty drained from the past week, so it was a lovely time to relax and have some fun with just the ladies. We eventually progressed to foot massages, and then dragged ourselves home to bed... literally. I believe everyone is coming to realize why parents hit the sack earlier... especially when you have 22 kids. Props to our mentors and Jenna once again... you guys are my heroes/heroines!

The banner we hung from the front gates before Jeff left early Wednesday morning. The brain-child of Jenna, the sheets read, "Goodbye Jeff... we love you!" And in the right-hand corner, "Shhhh... just go!" I think it brought a smile to his face on the way out... =)

The single staff after just finishing a meal from Momo's Taqueria. It's sort of a tradition (gracias DaBID) for whoever is leaving to buy Momo's for everyone else the night before they head out...

ADIOS, OTRA VEZ, NUESTRO AMIGO

We had a good night sitting around the table laughing in Jenna's kitchen, still ignoring the fact that a member of our family was going to head out the next morning. A few of us stayed up pretty late playing "Settlers of Catan," which Jeff managed to win with 12 points... he told us it was the first time he had ever won with that many points (Jenna and I later discussed how it probably wasn't his mad-Settlers-of-Catan-playing-skills... but probably his opponents inadequacy... lol).

However, it was a bittersweet goodbye in that we are all so very happy that Jeff is going where he feels God is calling... but we are going to miss him a ton. Jeff, gracias otra vez por todo, y ojala que tu puedes regresar bien pronto para visitar. Dios te bendiga, amigo... vamos a extranarte mucho, pero sabemos que Dios esta contigo en todo que vas a hacer...

Joe, Jenean (the newest member of our staff), and Gloria watch the sprinkler rain down on the newly planted garden...

The latest addition behind the kitchen. We also have all kinds of flowers, vegetables and a compost pile started...!

THE NEW GARDENER IS IN TOWN

Welcome Jenean Schambach!!! After being here only a week or so, Jenean has already gotten CVE underway with her garden behind the comedor (which we are betting we will have to protect from dogs, kids... okay, and mentors, too...!).

I love the fact that Jenean is here working... and I really feel that this is propelling CVE into a new era of agrarian living. Strawberries and peppers today... why not recycling tomorrow??? In fact, I feel that the rest of the staff is really coming around to ideas that circle around unity with the land, kindness to the flora (perhaps more than the fauna), and an overall desire to just be "environmentally friendly"... especially Joel. In reality, I think he maybe regrets his hasty tag of "tree-hugger" for me, and now wishes to join my environmentalist club. I promise to let him join this club that is full to bursting with one member (namely me), if he will let me take a picture of him clasping a tree's hand in friendship... we shall see.

I was very touched by the kindness of everyone in the staff meeting about these environmental tendencies of mine, and apologize profusely for any harm that came from the throwing of pens at people's heads. It really all comes down to these quotes:

"It's okay, Steph... some of my best friends like trees."

"No... it's okay, Bill... some of my best friends are trees."

hmph... carnivores... ;)

Timi and Andres playing "train"... which actually vacillated between "hangman" and "giddyup-horsie"!!!

Yaneli (I know... again... but this picture is too cute not to post) in her pajamas, modeling her new hair band she got for Valentine's Day, and the glasses of one of the work team members...

WE HAVE THE CUTEST KIDS

Okay, I may be a little biased... but don't you agree? I love these little people with all of my heart, and every day I just have to say thank you to the Lord for letting me know them. One of the brothers on the latest work team told me tonight, "You know, we go back home and get into our regular routine... but you down here are just giving of your time and love, and there's such a blessing in that." I don't want to disagree with that completely, because I do think it's true to an extent... but I feel that what we are learning and receiving is so much more than what we can ever possibly give. And one day we will realize (thanks to Denise for this wisdom) that God always had this planned so that we could certainly help spread His word to others, but maybe more importantly so that He could change our lives and our hearts to serve Him to an even greater degree... and we have our wonderful CVE kids, and this Magdalena community to thank for that.

Thank you all for your prayers and love, y Dios les bendiga!