Some Sweet Cheer

Christmas always being filled with traditions, we had to start some new ones this year.  I always remember cooking in the kitchen with my mom, and I missed that so much this year.  I love planning with her and Brittany and spending our days in the kitchen when we are together.  So many memories and so many laughs.  So, the girls and I spent some time in the kitchen playing.

We couldn't possibly eat all of these cookies, so we had to come up with something to do with them.  I wanted to put some smiles on some faces and add some sweet cheer to someone's day.  We planned on taking them to the orphanage that we had visited before and tried to call a friend to see if she though the administration there would give us approval.  After talking to her we learned of a new Children's Home that had just started operating in Atenas the week before.  A woman from Missouri has dreamed of doing this for years and finally was able to accomplish all of the legal hurdles and opened her doors the week before Christmas.  She has taken in 6 children, currently with room to house 7.  These are children who are sibling groups and older, who are likely to never be adopted out of the system.  Her dream was to give these children someone stable and someone who loves and cares for them.  While she will eventually receive government financial assistance it is not even enough to cover the costs of things that will then be required by the government.  She opened the doors with her savings account and is currently operating off of that and praying for God to provide for their needs.

When we learned about her and these children we knew this is where we needed to go.  So, we called her and she said to come on over any time we wanted.  The kids here in Costa Rica are on summer break.  My kids had a blast playing with all of the children, aged 11 to 4.  They were running through the house, playing with the dog, blowing bubbles, and having the time of their life.  Lord-willing we will have lots of play dates with them in the future.  The kids have already been asking when we get to go back!!

And talk about some smiles.  Nothing like some decorated sugar cookies to brighten some eyes and curl some lips up into beautiful smiles....and maybe, a tidbit of hyperness.  Well, I had made enough cookies for an orphanage of 30, not 6, so we had some cookies we needed to give away.  We were headed to dinner at a friend's house and just randomly stopped in the road when we saw people and gave them a plate of sugar cookies.  David and I laughed inside because I think in the states if we had stopped in the middle of the road here and there and handed out homemade (not packaged and sealed) cookies, they would probably have been thrown in the trash can....because "you never know."  But, there were smiles of pure delight.  Loved spreading some "Sweet" cheer and that for sure will be a tradition from now on.  While I always baked and spreaded sweet cheer, it was always to people I knew.  Loved the random spreading!!!  Hope you had wonderful traditions this past Christmas that brought smiles to you...because this one sure did for us.