A Look Back To 2010

My friend Jose and I putting up drywall at Niños de Baja. Between the two of us we finished off the room pretty quickly. Notice the straight edges! We even autographed the wall to the right.








The below photos quickly became my favorites. While at the orphanage the children were given many different treasures (gifts) from our group. Everything from hugs and candy to clothing. These pictures are of the children right next to the orphanage. They were watching the other children swim in the plastic pool and receive their small gifts, while they could only watch thru the fence.

I had lots of wrapped gifts, so I went over to give them some presents. When I initially went over they ran and hid from me. No matter how much I tried they would not come over to the fence to see me. I decided to just leave the gifts thru the small space on their side, so they could come over without me being there. I then walked away.

After about 10 minutes one of the children at the orphanage got my attention and led me by the hand over to the fence. When I got there, the two boys who were so shy at first had showed me that they opened their presents. Then they just ran away. After several minutes, they returned...... Gesturing that they had a gift for me. It was only wrapped in his hand, but he had this look that he was very proud of the present he wanted to give me.

He opened his hand and it was a rock! A beautiful rock that he wanted to give me. Both boys kissed the rock and passed it thru the hole in the fence. They thanked me in Spanish for their gifts I had given them and I did the same for their present. These boys and their family are so poor that they could only give me a rock they kissed. To this very day, that rock sits on my desk in my office to remind me of how fortunate we all are. That rock has more value to me than if it were gold, because to me it is a treasure!