A Typical Day at Eagle's Nest Orphanage -- Julie Waterhouse and David Bonilla

Today was our first full day at the orphanage. We had beautiful weather with only a little rain in the evening. We started off the day with a team meaning out on the grass. Then we had a delicious breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and fruit. Next we went to the children's home to help get the kids ready for the day and have the Bible class. Many of the toddlers need help getting ready, so we changed diapers and got them dressed. A few of us played and hung out with the kids before the Bible class. For the first Bible class, we did a get to know you activity. Everyone had a piece of paper taped on their back. We walked around and wrote what we liked about each person. At the end the kids enjoyed reading the nice comments on their paper.

The next two hours were the classes. One class the kids had was arts and crafts. With both age groups we made paper maché hot air balloons. The kids got messy with glue, while covering their balloon with newspaper. Once the balloon dries they will get to pop the balloon and paint the newspaper. A second class the kids had was mad science. The theme for today was rainbow. One experiment was elephant toothpaste. You mix soap, food coloring, hydrogen peroxide, yeast, and water. When you mixed the ingredients it shoots in the air and turn into bubbles. The second experiment had to do with milk, food coloring, and soap. When you mixed everything the soap and food coloring separat away from each other. The third experiment was with a triangle prism. When light goes through the triangle prism it makes a rainbow. The third class the kids had was team building and sports. The first activity was playing with giant parachute. The second activity was launching water balloons off a cliff. The third activity was a water balloon toss. The 0-5 year olds had some fun activities too. They played with playdough and alphabet cookie cutters. They would cut out letters and make words. The second activity they did was going outside to play on the playground.

After the classes we had a good lunch of steak, beans, guacamole, cheesy potato, salsa, and lemonade. Each team sat together, talked about the morning, and their game plan for tomorrow.

In the afternoon we our work project for two and a half hours. We split up into two groups to conquer two projects. One group dug dirt for a construction project. The second groups was in a bathroom sanding doors and painting them. After the work project we had some free time to either relax or prepare our activity for tomorrow. A few people used the time to played basketball with the kids. Then we had a yummy dinner of soup and pasta. To end the day, we had we our daily meeting and team talk around the fire. The team talk today was about the importance of friendships.

I hope you enjoyed this preview of a typical day we have at the Eagle's Nest Orphanage.



 
The 6-9 year olds having fun playing with the elephant toothpaste.