a little sun, a little storm

we just got hit with a killer storm, it felt like the whole place was going to collapse! we've finally got some power...

today was an awesome day at the beach with the kids. the truck pulled up at about 9am busting at the seams with the Hope House kids; it reminded me of the prison truck from shawshank redemption...blue with benches and the whole bed caged in. getting into the back of that was like stepping into a lion's den... the kids swarmed us and it made for a very hot and sticky ride. like every other ride it was very bumpy and we had to drive through water twice.

the beach that we went to was property owned by Brad and Vanessa (the owners of MOH). It is absolutely beautiful...crystal blue ocean with banana and almond trees...a solitary canoe out on the deep ocean...for a moment i felt like i was on vacation!

three girls were assigned to me...Doony (8), Bernadine (9), and Meeslyn (10)...they did not let me rest for the entire time we were there! the only time we were able to get out of the water was to eat. the rest of the time they were hanging all over me bc they didn't like when their feet touched the ocean floor...it was quite the workout! The HH orphanage kids are all really well disciplined and naturally are much healthier than the other children that we have been around. MOH is very strict with them and sets a lot of ground rules...they are all very lucky to have been taken in by MOH.

the kids taught me how to crack almonds and i taught them how to catch crabs.

it was a long day of lots of water games and plenty of sun. we're all pretty sunburned despite reapplying sunscreen continuously...the sun here is so strong! this is certainly the most tired i've been since i got here.

we spent the rest of the night planning for wiki's surprise party. i am the bait bc i am going to be "sick" in my room when it is time to go out to lunch. i'm too tired to write more tonight, but i will be much better tomorrow. bonswa.