Shell

 So this last weekend, I was lucky enough to be able to travel with Katelyn, Julianna and Mrs. Shedd to the town of Shell near the jungle. I first went to Shell back in the beginning of January and I fell in love with it. It's a cute little town and it doesn't have danger like Quito does, which I love. It's nice to walk down the street and not really have to worry about being robbed. Also, Casa de Fe is located, an orphanage, is located in Shell. I love that orphanage so much. There's just something different than For His Children about it and I just love being there.
 While we were there we stayed in a little apartment a couple miles from the orphanage. It was the cutest little apartment. I could have easily lived there, and we were able to stay there for free! It had wood panels on the walls and I just fell in love. The features of houses that people usually find out of date and ugly, I usually fall in love with.
 Our first evening there, we got settled into the apartment, had some dinner, drove around town a little bit and then headed to bed. The next day Katelyn, Julianna and I walked to the orphanage at about 9am. It was so amazing to see the kids again. There were all so happy to have people there that held them and gave them love and played with them. Unlike For his Children, whose mission is to get kids adopted by the time they are 2 or 3 I believe? Casa de Fe is more focused on giving the kids the skills they will need in order to be able to go to college or just survive in the world. Knowing that makes it pretty sad when you look at all the children there and realizing that they will probably live in the orphanage until they're old enough to be on their own. It is a very wonderful orphanage and the kids all seem very happy, but it just makes me sad when I think about how spoiled I've been with my family. I have awesome parents, and even awesome step parents, amazing siblings and amazing step siblings. I've had people that I could call Mom and Dad and know that they will always be there for me. It really just breaks my heart that I have so so much in my life, and these kids probably won't get that. A lot of the children there either have a mental or physical handicap. Most of the children are from villages in the jungle and if you have a child that have one of these issues then it means that the child is cursed, it will curse the whole village and it must be killed. Because of this, most kids are just abandoned and that's how they end up at the orphanage.
 While I was there, I met a little girl named Lucita (That's probably spelled wrong, I'm sorry). She is about three years old I'm guessing and she's missing a foot, her left hand only has a thumb and she has scars all over her body. I really fell in love with this girl and she fell in love with me. She wouldn't let me leave her side for the two days I was there. She was one of the most determined little girls I have ever met. When we would sit on the ground, she would always crawl off of my lap, grab my shoulder for support and then try her hardest to stand up straight. Everytime she was able to get herself to a standing position she would call out for the tias or anyone around to look at her. When they would, she would get a huge smile on her face and then collapse into my lap. It was such an amazing thing to see. She was very persistant on doing everything herself like reading a book and turning the pages by herself, using the bathroom without any help, and crawling into my lap by herself. It was hard saying goodbye to her. I picked her and and said I was leaving and she gave me a huge kiss on the cheek. That brought me close to tears.
 While I was there I was able to hold, play with, tickle, hug and kiss so many amazing children. One little baby, probably about 5 or 6 months old had the biggest and cutest smile I've ever seen. We were told that he was sick and to not hold him so we wouldn't get sick but I just couldn't help myself. I figured I wouldn't get sick so I held him a lot in those two days. And now I have a horrible cold, but it was definately worth it!
 This weekend Ecuador celebrated Carnival. Usually it consists of people throwing water at you, but apparently Shell does something a little different. On our way back to the apartment one day, we walked by a group of about 15 guys. There were yelling Hello! Carvival! and they were covered in black paint. We tried to ignore them but when we looked back, they were all charging towards us. They caught up to us and completely covered us in black paint. It was pretty scary, a little painful and they knocked off my glasses in the process. We then had to continue walking home covered in black paint. Along the way random people started laughing at us. It was definately worth the memory though! That would never happen in the States.  The next day they just threw water balloons at us which wasn't so bad.
 It really stinks that that was my last trip to Shell. I leave Ecuador in two weeks and I just can't believe it. The time here just flew by. It makes me really sad when I think about it too much. I am super excited to see my friends and family again but I just don't know how I'm going to be able to live in the States again. I've been showed a whole new world and going back to my old life would just be selfish. I know that God wants me in the States now though and I am really excited to see what he has planned for me. Hopefully I'm wise enough to listen to everything he tells me. That's what i've been trying to do so far and look where that got me (: I don't feel like this is my last time in Ecuador though which makes it easier to leave soon. This place is just so amazing. I can't just go home and forget about everything I've done and learned here.

 I was pretty positive I wasn't going to go to college. To me, going to college meant that I was going to have to have some career that I didn't really love just so I could make good money, and I really hate money. I would be happy with being poor. Then I realized that going to college didn't mean I would just be stuck in the states with some boring job. I have a heart for special needs kids and If I went to college and got a degree in special education, then I would be able to go to a place like Shell and actually be able to help children, not just visit for a couple days and then leave. I don't know if this is God's plan for me but last night all I dreamed about was being in Shell and helping those amazing kids. I guess we'll see what God's next step for me is.