shout out to rwanda

My sister-in-law, LOREEN, has been in Rwanda for a few weeks now. (She'll be there for a couple of months). She's there...helping out at an orphanage? Well, actually, I'm not sure what she's doing there!?! She's serving God! And going without a shower for 12 days! Can you imagine.? Crazy! Anyways...Loreen, this one is for you. Below is part of her email, recapping her amazing trip. She is so brave.

Loreen, they were totally doing this FULL OUT until I pulled out the camera to film it. They start out great but as you will see...it fades quickly.

Exerpt from Loreen's email dated 7/10/09:

The good parts:
*The kids are so cute and amazing and I was welcomed with open arms almost immediately upon my arrival at the homes.
*I started teaching my art classes this week: We learned about bear hugs, shapes, worked on our cutting with scissors skills (very interesting...) and have had good time drawing and coloring in the evening before bedtime.
*The staff treats me so well here, they always make sure that I have what I need (as far as their resources allow), I feel like a princess.
*I get an excuse to dance around, make up fun art projects, and play with kids all day!
*I have a nice room with my own bathroom in the back of one of the homes (about 1500 Sq ft with 2 "mommies" and 8 kids

The bad parts:
*I forgot my connector thingy that lets me upload my pictures from my camera. That SUCKS! I remember everything else, crammed and jammed everything I could think of into those suitcases and forgot one of the most important things! Hopefully today I will be going into town and see if I can fix that problem.
*NO RUNNING WATER!
*Overall, the food is not bad, I had some goat meat the other day that wasn't as bad as I expected either. But I will definitely have to draw the line when I get home and say NO potatoes or beans of any kind for at least 5 years...

The ugly parts:
*My hair is disgusting - even after trying to wash it in a bucket of cold water, it's just not the same...

God is good, and He has been gracious to see beyond the no water, marginal food, and disgusting hair that when you look into the eyes of those kids and they draw you pictures that say, "I loeva you Loreen", It's all TOTALLY worth it.