Children's Vision is both an orphanage and a school. Richard and Jeanene have 150 abandoned, abused, and/or orphaned kids that they have taken in and with the help of an incredible staff do an amazing job of making each child feel loved and provided for in addition to many other mountain children that attend their school (these children and their families have been displaced by the governent and live in shacks in the mountains).
Over the course of the week, the women on our team had the opportunity to go through the clothes donations and help the kids go 'shopping' for new clothes, which was so fun and totally right up my alley :) The boys on the team worked on the new school that was being built.
Children's Vision is an incredible organization that I would encourage everyone to research and get involved in. One way to get involved is to sponsor a child, so Children's Vision can provide them with food, clothes, and a quality education for around $30/month. I could go on and on, but this website gives more info about what this organization is all about...
http://www.childrensvision.org/
We were given a card with several kids names and pictures on them, so we could focus on getting to know those kids instead of being overwhelmed with trying to get to know 150 of them. It was so funny because as soon as we saw the kids they would grab our cards trying to find which 'Americano' they belonged to for the week :)
Taylor Eddleman helping Tatiana find some new clothes.
Alexia Necessary hanging with the boys
The medical unit. They use this for the kids and occasionally have people come down from the states to do medical missions for the community.
The new school that the boys worked on all week. It is really a neat school.
Nice looking hardhats, boys.
The madness of everyone trying to pick out their clothes at once. It got a little crazy, but it was so fun to see how excited the kids got when they found something they liked.
Andrea Wilson and Deanna Marcella-so cute!
Me and Deanna Marcella. She was a shopper. She was trying about 4 outfits on at a time. She even tried on her socks!
Dinner at the Exodus House with the boys.
Mom arm wrestling her buddy, Juan Camillo.
Cindy Eddleman with cute little Angie. Angie looks healthy as can be, but has a malfunctioning heart valve and something off with her red blood count. She needs some major prayers.
Taylor, Laurel, and Mom
Andrea and Laurel
One of the streets close to where we stayed at the Bethel House.
Dad with his mando in Bogota, Colombia
Lovely outfits, girls! Needless to say, we had some fun going through some of the clothing that got donated. Many went into the 'non-appropriate' or should we say non-acceptable pile.
View from our window
Group pic (minus a few) on the streets of Bogota.
On our walk to Exito (the Walmart equivalent).
Family group pic.
All group pic. We couldn't have asked for a better team. We would be happy going with the exact same team next time!
Laurel and I with Jose. He was one of the mountain children that we helped pick out clothes. The cutest thing...when we were leaving, Laurel wrote him a note and gave him a ball. He let his friend play with his ball, but read that note over, and over, and over again.
Dustin with his favorite...baby Angie.
Look at all those bikes!
Brian. He didn't have time to find matching shoes this morning :)
Da-me with his 'Japenese' buddy, Angelica. One day, she ran around telling people, 'Me and my friend, we're from Japan.' She's 100% Colombian.
Richard and Jeanene...the amazing couple that does an incredible job parenting these 150 kiddos. They were on their way to a Rotary meeting. She got Honorable Mention for Woman of the Year in the entire country of Colombia, which is totally unheard of for an American woman to get recognition like that in Colombia.
Laurel and Brian at dinner.
Josh and Henry.
John and Arnold.
One night, we got to take the 4 roomies, Deanna Marcella, Angie (sisters in the pic below), Carolina, and Valentina for ice cream.
How cute is that?!?
Carolina was so sweet. We're not sure she had ever had ice cream before. While all the others were up running around, she was so intent on finishing that ice cream cone.
Angie.
Can't have it without music...not in this family. Dad, Derek, and Josh did a great job.
My 3 little girls (plus one that jumped in :)
The city of Bogota has a population of 11 million people. This pic only captured about 1/4 of the city.
We went up this mountain on a scary train that went straight up. It had an incredible view of the city!
Laurel started the feeding of the dog, which resulted in her following us the rest of the way.
Dustin and Da-me in front of the church on top of the mountain (along with our new little friend).
The kids loved the fact that there was a 'Chino' around. The squinty eyes was a frequent occurence.
Lisa with the kids at Crepes and Waffles in the mall. We got to take some of them on an outing to the mall, which was a great time to get to know the kids.
Cute little Carolina.
Lisa, Xiomara, Henry, and Laurel at our 2nd trip to Crepes and Waffles.
Xiomara, Tatiana, and John
Carolina and I at church. 
One night we went over to the Numbers house and watched a movie and fixed the girls' hair. It was so fun hanging out with the older girls!
Nikki fixing Beltsie's hair, which was quite a challenge, but it ended up looking so cute :)
Alexia helping a little girl with her hair. 
After we were finished with all the donations, we got to help with a quilt that Jeanene had been working on with the kids. The kids each got to design a square and they are making one to go in each house and 4 additional ones to auction off on ebay.
Taylor hanging with her little boy at the mall.
Gordy (hugging Anderson below) and Cory were such great additions to the team. Cory had been there for 5 weeks when we got there and Gordy and his granddaughter Shyann had been there for 2 weeks. We so enjoyed getting to know them!
Playing around at lunch.
Derek playing with the kids.
Dustin and I eating at the Numbers house with Tatiana.
Ken and Sophie (I think??)
Group pic at the Numbers House
Cindy doing her thing. She worked SO hard on hemming the kid's pants and on the quilt.
Da-Me getting besitos from Angelica.
The beautiful quilt that Cindy sewed with the help of Alexia and the great artwork of the kids!
Picture time. Getting these kids to be still long enough was quite a challenge.
Our favorite eating place was 'The Chicken Man' (name compliments of Nikki), where you could eat a huge meal of chicken, guacamole, and french fries for about $2 American dollars. Da-Me decided to venture out and get a steak, which was massive!
The last night we were there they had a 'Celebrate Life' party honoring a little girl, Karen, who died a year previous. The boys got to sing the song, 'God of this City', which is kind of a prayer over the city. It was neat to be able to sing it with all the kids and Richard and Jeanene.
Mom and Dad with Jeanene
Me and Jesus (my little crush)
Group pic with Richard and Jeanene
This trip was truly an amazing experience. It was sad leaving, but getting to be a part of Children's Vision and getting to know these kids will be something we won't forget and will do again for sure. Thanks to Geron for sending us and for Children's Vision for letting us be a part of your incredible organization!
Dad with his mando in Bogota, Colombia
Lovely outfits, girls! Needless to say, we had some fun going through some of the clothing that got donated. Many went into the 'non-appropriate' or should we say non-acceptable pile.
View from our window
Group pic (minus a few) on the streets of Bogota.
On our walk to Exito (the Walmart equivalent).
Family group pic.
All group pic. We couldn't have asked for a better team. We would be happy going with the exact same team next time!
Laurel and I with Jose. He was one of the mountain children that we helped pick out clothes. The cutest thing...when we were leaving, Laurel wrote him a note and gave him a ball. He let his friend play with his ball, but read that note over, and over, and over again.
Dustin with his favorite...baby Angie.
Look at all those bikes!
Brian. He didn't have time to find matching shoes this morning :)
Da-me with his 'Japenese' buddy, Angelica. One day, she ran around telling people, 'Me and my friend, we're from Japan.' She's 100% Colombian.
Richard and Jeanene...the amazing couple that does an incredible job parenting these 150 kiddos. They were on their way to a Rotary meeting. She got Honorable Mention for Woman of the Year in the entire country of Colombia, which is totally unheard of for an American woman to get recognition like that in Colombia.
Laurel and Brian at dinner.
Josh and Henry.
John and Arnold.
One night, we got to take the 4 roomies, Deanna Marcella, Angie (sisters in the pic below), Carolina, and Valentina for ice cream.
How cute is that?!?
Carolina was so sweet. We're not sure she had ever had ice cream before. While all the others were up running around, she was so intent on finishing that ice cream cone.
Angie.
Can't have it without music...not in this family. Dad, Derek, and Josh did a great job.
My 3 little girls (plus one that jumped in :)
The city of Bogota has a population of 11 million people. This pic only captured about 1/4 of the city.
We went up this mountain on a scary train that went straight up. It had an incredible view of the city!
Laurel started the feeding of the dog, which resulted in her following us the rest of the way.
Da-Me can even train street dogs :)
This was the scary gondola that took us down the mountain. It was pretty much like an amusement park ride.
Dustin and Da-me in front of the church on top of the mountain (along with our new little friend).The kids loved the fact that there was a 'Chino' around. The squinty eyes was a frequent occurence.
Lisa with the kids at Crepes and Waffles in the mall. We got to take some of them on an outing to the mall, which was a great time to get to know the kids.
Cute little Carolina.
Lisa, Xiomara, Henry, and Laurel at our 2nd trip to Crepes and Waffles.
Xiomara, Tatiana, and John
Carolina and I at church. One night we went over to the Numbers house and watched a movie and fixed the girls' hair. It was so fun hanging out with the older girls!
Nikki fixing Beltsie's hair, which was quite a challenge, but it ended up looking so cute :)
Alexia helping a little girl with her hair. After we were finished with all the donations, we got to help with a quilt that Jeanene had been working on with the kids. The kids each got to design a square and they are making one to go in each house and 4 additional ones to auction off on ebay.
Kimberly helping with the quilt.
Taylor hanging with her little boy at the mall.
Gordy (hugging Anderson below) and Cory were such great additions to the team. Cory had been there for 5 weeks when we got there and Gordy and his granddaughter Shyann had been there for 2 weeks. We so enjoyed getting to know them!
Playing around at lunch.
Derek playing with the kids.
Dustin and I eating at the Numbers house with Tatiana.
Ken and Sophie (I think??)
Group pic at the Numbers House
Cindy doing her thing. She worked SO hard on hemming the kid's pants and on the quilt.
Da-Me getting besitos from Angelica.
The beautiful quilt that Cindy sewed with the help of Alexia and the great artwork of the kids!
Picture time. Getting these kids to be still long enough was quite a challenge.
Our favorite eating place was 'The Chicken Man' (name compliments of Nikki), where you could eat a huge meal of chicken, guacamole, and french fries for about $2 American dollars. Da-Me decided to venture out and get a steak, which was massive!
The last night we were there they had a 'Celebrate Life' party honoring a little girl, Karen, who died a year previous. The boys got to sing the song, 'God of this City', which is kind of a prayer over the city. It was neat to be able to sing it with all the kids and Richard and Jeanene.
Mom and Dad with Jeanene
Me and Jesus (my little crush)
Group pic with Richard and Jeanene
This trip was truly an amazing experience. It was sad leaving, but getting to be a part of Children's Vision and getting to know these kids will be something we won't forget and will do again for sure. Thanks to Geron for sending us and for Children's Vision for letting us be a part of your incredible organization!
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