The love of my life Anahi

Spending as much time as I did with these kids I of course have a favorite her name is Anahi, she will be two this year. The orphanage guesses on the ages of children as sometimes they really don't know. They base their age on the size of their body and how they are progressing. The very first day I walked into the cuna she caught my eye. She always is smiling at your through her crib bars. I was really nervous my first day but I remember I bathed her and took my time I just instantly fell in love with her and her big brown eyes. I continued to have a fun time with her but then over time I noticed she started to get sick she just wasn't acting like herself, she had a really high fever, she didn't smile much anymore, and she would just lay in your lap. I took her to the nurse she told me to give her a cold bath and after that she got bad really fast. The nurse found out she had pnenomia, they take it really seriously so she was put in a room all by herself. She was put on oxygen. The nurse was constantly in there giving her medicine taking her temperature, and just sitting with her. To the workers these kids are like their own they have raised these kids so they don't like when any of the kids are sick. Everyday for two weeks I would walk by Anahi in her hospital bed hooked up to oxygen looking lifeless. It killed me I was so sad I just wanted her to get better and to smile again. Through these two weeks her fever began to go down but she still just laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Then one day as I walked by I noticed she was standing up in her crib so of course I stopped and looked at her right when I stopped she noticed me and pointed at me through her crib and smiled. I started to get teared up because my little Anahi was better. I walked over to her and she put both of her arms through the handle bars to reach out to me. The was the best thing I had experienced in Ecuador knowing that she was okay. I seriously felt like her mom for the short amount of time I was there. After she was better she began to play with the kids and she even learn how to walk. I would work with her everyday somedays she didn't appreciate it but I wanted to help her as much as I could while I was there. I just can't imagine giving up a sweet little girl like her but I respect her mother because she knew she couldn't give her all she needed. I don't know her story but I will be eternally grateful to her mother for the choice she made because otherwise she wouldn't have made a difference in my life. 

Right before I left I had the opportunity of going on a fieldtrip with the kids. I was in charge of planning it since it was the site I was in charge of. The activity I chose was to go swimming which was a great choice it was so much fun. All of the volunteers got to pick a kid they wanted to take on the fieldtrip. We picked them up in the morning I think that day I was the most excited I had been to go in the morning because usually it is at 630 in the morning but we got to sleep in until 9! We arrived in a bus to pick the kids up and off we went. It was so much fun to only have one kid all day I got to spend one on one time with my little girl. During the bus ride she fell asleep in my arms it was precious. During this time I had so many emotions run through me but the biggest one was how grateful I was able to go and serve these kids. They have truly left a handprint on my heart. We went swimming it was a blast then we fed them something beside soupa (their usual dish) and headed home. Once we got back to the orphanage I was sad because I knew the day was over the spend with Anahi. I took her to her crib since it was nap time and decided to get in it with her the cribs are huge I put some of the pictures of us above she thought I was crazy but it was funny. It was a great way to end the day. I LOVE YOU ANAHI!!!!

Before my group of girls left the newer girls gave us a gift at our banquet. It was the best gift ever it was a picture of Anahi and I, and her handprints I will always cherish it.