Meet Sweet Junior

This is Junior. He is one of the youngest kids at the orphanage and quite entertaining. He is 7 years old and his brother Yimmy also lives at Mission Mexico.
They are not only darn cute but they are GREAT dancers. Any time music comes on they both fall into their mini salsa, merengue, or bachata steps depending on the music. As they came to the refuge quite young it would seem that dancing is actually part of their DNA. Marleny is Junior's default dance partner seeing as she is the only child shorter than him at MM. I think I have seen very few things in life that could come close to being as entertaining as those two dancing together.
I had the pleasure/ torture of helping cute Junior with his homework yesterday. While both Yimmy and Junior both have a flair for dancing in their DNA they also have a tendency toward drama. The simplest task can turn from fun to total breakdown in about 7 seconds. These boys really need to have a large amount of one on one attention and they can easily be overlooked in the crowd. Junior loves to hold your hand on the way to and from school and talk about what happened that day; it is sad to see him get lost in the shuffle some days. It makes you remember that even though these kids' basic needs are provided, they are missing out on so much that many take for granted.
I wish you could meet Junior in person, he is a real hoot I think we could all learn a little about dancing from him:)
Thanks for stopping by!
Hasta luego,
Jessi

Dora

You might think this is Dora la Exploradora in person, but Dora she is not. This is Marleny. She is three and just came to Mission Mexico about a month ago classified as abandoned. When she arrived, her body was riddled with parasites, she would not talk, was lethargic and expressionless. In the last month she has transformed into a new person! She is the most bubbly, outgoing little girl and she already has the cutest sense of humor shaping up. When you take a picture of her she poses and then asks to see the picture in broken Spanish. She calls everyone mama, and is constantly being passed amongst the girls that live here. She is such a bright spirit and brings so much fun to our day. I thought you might like to meet her too!

Just Another Wednesday...

"This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:23

God had this little nugget waiting for me yesterday after a difficult shift, and I was so comforted by it. There is one little girl in particular who REALLY stretches me. She came from a smaller state run home that was shut down because a one year-old died there. The crazy thing is, she was killed by the little girl at our refuge. Pam found out about this after taking her in, and ever since her arrival she has been nothing but trouble. She is constantly causing strife with the kids and she doesn't speak a lick of English so I end up being called over to deal with her since most of the other volunteers don't speak Spanish. She was taken away yesterday finally to undergo psychological examination and hopefully treatment, but her antics yesterday seemed to have reached an all time high as she was hitting kids, breaking rules, and even trying to feed deflated balloons to Marleny, the sweetest and youngest little girl there. The picture attached shows them both, and you'd never know from looking what the older one is capable of. Keep her in your prayers while she is being treated.
Needless to say, I was exhausted and tthe verse above was exactly the reassurance I needed to remember that I am in this place for a reason. This is all God's doing, so I'm just going to rejoice in it and thank him for it.
Hasta luego,
Jessi

Hola de Tapachula :)

This week we are getting settled nicely in Tapachula. We had a very busy and exhausting weekend since it was a holiday weekend, Mexican Independence Day! It was so amazing to get to be a part of such an important cultural event for the kids. They celebrate by dressing up in traditional Mexican dress, dancing, games, and fireworks. We had a blast and the kids in the picture are Luz, Meche, and Christian in their costumes.
I got to push Christian into some waves at the beach yesterday and he was having the time of his life! He is so small he had no trouble standing up in the white water, I think I enjoyed watching him as much as he enjoyed surfing.
Meche and Luz are really fun girls; they participate in a running group with about 15 of the kids. They all pile in a big van on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons and drive to a stadium where a coach has a great workout waiting for them including speed work, stairs, and distance running.
I have been surprised so far at the quality of life these kids are experiencing. Pam and Alan have worked really hard to provide them with opportunities they most likely would never have had. Many of them have traveled to different parts of Mexico and even a few of them to Australia!
Even though they have great experiences, they have come from really difficult backgrounds and many of them are behind in school or have deep deep scars from their difficult and often abusive pasts. It is a bit overwhelming at times wondering what we can possibly do for them and we need direction on how they need to be loved and supported. We are just taking one day at time and praying for patience and direction in our interactions with the kids. We feel so blessed to be where we are right now. Thanks for stopping by, we are so thankful for all our great family and friends and hope to keep putting pictures up so that you can support these kids in prayer.
Hasta luego,
Mitch and Jessi

About to leave!

I can't believe it's finally here! We are so excited to leave tonight, and tomorrow we'll be in Mexico. Even though we are so ready to be in Mexico, it is hard to leave all our fabulous friends and family here in the states. In the last month this is the third time we have had to say goodbye to people we love, and that can be difficult at times.

We have made some great memories in the last month since we started our trek. We got to have some great breakfasts in Abilene:

Had the chance to meet our cute little niece Ally:

Do some Texas fishing with family:

Take a leisurely pier walk:

Watch a soccer pro in the making:

And have some amazingly perfect beach days:

It has truely been a fantastic month of family and friends and we are all packed and ready to go. We are so glad you stopped by and we'll try and post an update in the next few days once we arrive and get settled.

Hasta pronto!

Jessi and Mitch :)

Here we go folks! We are going to give the old blog a try. Since neither Mitch nor myself are especially technology/ social media savvy this could be interesting. Since many friends and family have expressed interest in our trip, we decided to try this format to keep anyone with interest "in the loop". Please don't feel obligated to read all of our musings, but should you be interested for some crazy reason- check here!

So many of our friends and family have contributed in various ways to our trip so we want to share with you our experiences, what God is doing in Tapachula, and in our lives.

Ask us questions if you want, and check out Mission Mexico's website as well!

http://lovelifehope.com/index.htm

Here are some of the kids we'll be working with: