Isai and Kevin

Isai in the middle with his beloved glow n the dark PJ's

A lot has happened in the last year for Isai. Academically, he went from not knowing the alphabet or any numbers to doing addition, subtraction, and reading short words. After months of tutoring and frustration, something clicked. You could physically see a lightbulb go off around his little brain once things started to make sense to him. His confidence soared. I'll never forget afternoons which would turn into cold evenings when he'd finally finish his homework and we'd all scream and cheer and throw him in the air to celebrate - the look on his face of accomplishment was priceless. In moments like that, his adorable little dimples really shine. Isai is a calm, sensitive, helpful, quiet and polite little man. He knew how to just melt my heart to the core. He'd come home from school, see me, throw his back pack on the floor and walk by saying, "Caroline... I just love you so much." Isai was always the first to ask me, "Caroline can I help you with that?" He spent a few weeks this winter with a cast on his arm after a little accident on the trampoline that Douglas eventually got rid of due to safety issues. Bath time was an adventure and so was trying to get a long sleeve shirt over the big fat cast. I was getting him ready for bed the night they called him to office to tell him that he was going to leave forever to live with a family. As it turns out, this beautiful child is now living with a Christian foster family of sorts here in Monterrey. I'm thrilled for him and have met his foster parents. I often ask myself, "what is the best option for this child?" I honestly believe that Isai is living it out right now and I could not be more thankful to God for orchestrating it all.

Kevin (center)

No more than a month later, a new boy, Kevin, was dropped off at Douglas and literally took Isai's old bed. Kevin is super loud, smiles all the time, always wears a pair of white air Jordans, smart, and affectionate.

Kevin's first adventure in a pool and first trip to Back2Back

Me shaving Kevin's hair with my new clippers

I find it super interesting to see how new children interact with the others in their first hours, days, weeks, months. All the other boys were super welcoming to Kevin. All except for Israel who did not appreciate the way that Kevin challenged Israel's status as lawyer/rule enforcer/boss of the little boys' dorm. But I wasn't surprised by that in the least. It's strange to see one child leave and another come and sometimes all in the same day. That's just how things work in an orphanage I guess. I love when children get to leave after their parental guardian has had time to get their life in order but I absolutely hate seeing new ones get dropped off. My entire being gets angry at everything. But I can remind myself that at least Douglas is literally a world better and totally different than it was years ago. Kevin at least landed somewhere that he is loved, appreciated, valued and cared for and I pray that Kevin and the rest of them are only at Douglas temporarily.