Update

"I found my life
When I laid it down
Upward falling
Spirit soaring
I touched the sky
When my knees hit the ground"

This song rang true for me yesterday on my team's first day of ministry at a Christian street kids ministry in Quito.  I found a little girl whom I became very attached to.  We went swinging together, and then she climbed on my back and we went down a slide that was a bit faster than I anticipated.  And so I face-planted into the dirt.

First, we touched the sky
Then my knees hit the ground

It was such a fun day.  My conversational Spanish comes back to me instantly once I'm surrounded by it.   So I spent a majority of my day speaking in Spanish to street children...some of whom understood English but didn't speak it.

I felt at home.  In my element.  Speaking Spanish with little children who are the least of these.  My heart was full, and I didn't want to leave.

After Ellie died in May, God gave me and others who knew Ellie a sign that revealed his love and promise to care for us.  Butterflies, especially blue butterflies.  They appeared everywhere I looked.  And they still do.

When my team arrived at the hotel yesterday morning around 2:30 AM after a full day of travel and 48 hours with about five hours of sleep for me, I was very tired.  But shortly after I walked into the hotel, a butterfly flitted in and out.  And the tears filled my eyes.

Yesterday at the street childrens' ministry, when my team walked inside the gated area, the first thing I saw a butterfly that flew around as we entered, and when I entered the small building where meals are served by a church for the street children, I saw many colors of paper butterflies on the wall.  God's presence was very real to me yesterday.

And when little girls saw my necklace I was wearing, which is a heart shaped glass locket with a pair of ballet shoes and a blue bead inside, they loved to touch it.  One of the girls asked me about it, and in my less than perfect Spanish ;) I said "Es para mi hermana que vive en el cielo."  (It's for/in memory of my sister who lives in heaven.  The little girl, whom I was holding, laid her head on my shoulder and said "Oh... Lo siento" (I'm sorry) and sunk into me.

God has been so faithful to use children to touch my heart and to heal it, and yesterday was no different.  <3


The picture above is what my arm looked like yesterday and still does today.  The children "tattooed" me with various words, and a rough translation is "We will never forget you, you are extraordinary, very happy, and full of love."