The girls have arrived at the orphanage

[pegkerr]

From my sister Betsy's update on the Casa Hogar Elim blog yesterday:

We awoke to a beautiful day and we were full of anticipation about our arrival at Casa Hogar. We arrived in Laredo at about 3:00 pm and went to Sam's Club to pick up food and other various items that individuals had forgotten. Thanks for the prayers for our border crossing into Mexico – God is so good! Our crossing was very easy this time – we didn't even have to get off the bus. As we made the short drive from the border bridge to Casa Hogar, we knew that the children were waiting. Our reunion with our family was so joyous – it is wonderful to see how much individual kids have grown over the year.

After many hugs, we started the process of unloading everything we had brought. The children are so eager to help us. We had a long line from the street to the kitchen and passed item after item. Ultimately, we had a fully stocked pantry ready!

One of the lessons we learn each year in Mexico is to have a plan but be totally ready to change the plan if the circumstances warrant it. We had not planned to feed the children Sunday night, but it seemed that they had not eaten before we arrived. When we did some inquiring we learned they had only had one meal that day. So we improvised quickly and made a meal of peanut butter and jelly on tortillas along with fruit and chips. The children seem very hungry and happy to have dinner – everyone on our team stepped up to the plate to “change the plan.”

Pastor Antonio is very busy making friends with all the children – we are so fortunate to have so many people who speak Spanish this year. It definitely helps for all of us who don't!

As always, many of our team members had projects immediately. Tim Fogarty and John Clark worked to unplug a clogged floor drain in the dish room. After an hour of work, they successfully removed a fork from the drain and cleaned the floor so we didn't have to do dishes standing in dirty water!

What I did today to make the world a better place: Talked to two coworkers about my MyCharity:Water campaign and took a contribution from one. Sent the Charity:Water press kit and explanatory e-mail to the person in charge of administering my firm's charitable donations, asking whether they could consider sponsoring my well. Spoke with a neighborhood canvasser for Clean Water Action and added my name to the mailing list and signed their petition. Added @cleanh20action Twitter feed; signed their online petition asking my Congressman to vote to restore the Clean Water Act. E-mailed Uniform Project to ask whether The Ankanksha Fund, Inc. was a 501(c)(3) organization so that my firm would match my donation.