Baptist Children's Home

Saturday, we took the kids back to the Baptist Children's Home. This time we worked with the Migrant kids who have been caught crossing the border. They were from Guatemala, Columbia, Honduras, and Ecuador. many have ridden trains to come here. Some are looking for family. Others are looking for work. But they were caught, and they are housed at the Baptist Children's Home until they can find family who will sponsor them or until they get deported. Their ages are anywhere from 13 to 17. I read a book called Enrique's Journey that talks a lot about these kids who are traveling to the US and what they go through. You can read about that here.

We go out there and play soccer and volleyball with them. We make a ton of hamburgers and hot dogs and eat with them. Some kids dance with them. Others make necklaces and bracelets with them. It's always a lot of fun.


We played some 7 on 7 soccer on a small field. These kids are amazing. It's like the soccer ball is attached to their foot. They make quick passes and hard shots. If they dribble, they rarely lose the ball. It was 7 of us against 7 of their guys. They pretty much could have scored any time they wanted. They took it a little easy on us. I scored the first goal for our team. I got a header. I was happy about that. I think we only scored like 4 or 5 all day. They probably scored about 20. In the end I got asked to play on their team. I thought that was cool. Maybe they just wanted to make it harder for their team.

Only 2 people got hurt. Luckily, it was adults. Mitch got kicked in the "woo hoo." I was the other one. I play hard. I was running for a ball and I tried to save it from going out, and when I kicked it, I turned around and started to fall back, and I rammed the wall of the house, right on the window. It has a brick window sill and I hit it hard with my arm and back. I got a cut on my arm. I'm surprised I didn't break the window as hard as I hit it.

We had a great time. Our kids did great with meeting the kids and hanging out with them. There is a big language barrier. But somehow it seems like we overcome it and can have a good time. I played soccer and cooked the entire time. But when I looked around, it seemed like all of their kids were talking or hanging out or playing with some of our kids. Here are some pictures from the day.