We found the Monarch Butterflies!

 

Twice a day the kids clean up around the property. There's a lot of vegetation here and there're always leaves to sweep up.

I'm not sure if you can see, in this picture, but this broom is COMPLETELY worn out. Here things are used as long as they possibly can be.

Things are not just thrown away.

Every year when I return home, I'm reminded about this fact and try very hard to take this virtue with me.

This was the last day for these two workers. They are both in their 20s, one grew up in the orphanage and the other came from Peru as a missionary. For most of the last 10 years, they've been working in the houses helping to supervise, prepare food, do laundry and a ton of other responsibilities with the kids.

They're venturing out on their own to try to become independent. They'll have their own home and jobs. It's extremely difficult when you go out on your own. Do you remember those days and how broke you always were?

One of the weekends, a group of us 6 adults headed out to find the butterflies.

If you don't know the story of the Monarch Butterflies, you need to quit reading this and go watch a video about them! It takes 4-5 generations for them to leave Mexico, fly as far North as Canada, then return to winter in Mexico from November to March. This wasn't even know until the 1970s!

They clump up in groups and hang from the trees. They are surprising dark in color when at rest.

Here's a quick video of what we saw. 

As we traveled together on this adventure, we created new friendships and deepened others.

It was a great weekend.

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This weekend I was reminded of my favorite quote of all time.

Today I challenge you to spend a minute or two, slow down and think about the caterpillar and what it must of felt like near the end of it's life.

It was dark, it couldn't move, it's body was going through an incredible metamorphic change and ...

 

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.

Never give up! Never ever, ever give up!

YOU HAVE NO IDEA what you will become or what the future has in store for you.

When everything is dark and it feels like the world is closing in on you, when you are alone and hurting, DON'T GIVE UP. 

That leads me to my second favorite saying...

You didn't come this far to only come this far!