"Tia! Tia! (Aunt! Aunt!)" They were shouting at us as we made our way through the orphanage. As soon as we walked through the door, a crowd of boys latched on to Nate, showing off their muscles and feeling his. Later, he told me that he's never felt so strong in his whole life. They loved having a male there to love on them. We tagged along with Lindsey again to read books on Thursday night. This time I was told that I would not be able to pick up any of the babies and rock them to sleep, like I did last time. They are placed in their beds before 5:30 to go to sleep for the night, and holding them disrupts the schedule. Several of them were asleep by the time we left, but some of them were still standing in their cribs, reaching out to us as we walked back through the nursery to leave at 7:30. After we were done reading to the younger kids, we got to tuck them into bed and give them all kisses. It was so sweet. My heart breaks a little more each time I am there.

On Wednesday we got to join in on a Heda Medica, which is basically just a traveling clinic where we go to a more remote place and just set up shop. We went to the school in Alto Quiel with the Rotary Club. They had several doctors and the dentist from our church came along. All of the kids were seen for both dental and medical, along with anyone who had walked in order to get some medical attention. Originally we had planned to wash the kid's hair with lice shampoo. Their little heads were crawling with lice. When we got there, we found out that they haven't had water since the beginning of school. Rather than wash hair, we set up a little barber shop and buzzed heads. All of the little boys lined up and got a hair cut. We plan to go back another day to wash hair when they have water again.

I have to admit that about two weeks ago, I started to feel really discouraged. Most days, the boys take turns napping, so I spend a lot of time at home. I am used to associating being in Panama with being gone all day long doing some kind of project, visiting people or ministering in some way. I started asking God, exactly what He had for me to do while I'm home with the boys. Not long after I began asking, I heard a little knock on our door. It was Elmer and Jorge, some kids from the church. They were needing help with homework and wanted to use our computer. They have come almost every day for homework help, and have started bringing their little sisters. Elmer has gotten to the point where he can do most of the work on his own. While he works, I try to read books with the younger kids, who don't really have books just to read for fun. I would love to teach Elmer how to use the computer and type. Right now, most of his homework consists of him looking for pictures to paste into his notebook. He is catching on really quickly and watches really intently when I show him how to find things online.

We have had Nate's parents here for the past week. It has been so great to show them around Boquete and what our life is like here. It has also been nice to have a couple extra set of hands with the boys and other projects! We will definitely miss them when they leave this evening.