I'm sitting in the dirt my dress covered in grimy little hand prints and sugary mess from a

dripping sucker and yet I'm smiling from ear-to-ear. It's one of those moments that I love so much that it makes my heart want to burst at the seams!!

   Ever since I returned from the United States, I have been dying to have some time at the corner house to see my beautiful Baby Junieth. I am so in love with this little girl- I would LOVE to adopt her as my own!! (To read more about her, read The Road to Relationship & Redemption Part 2, Dedication, and A Momma's Heart). Yesterday I finally had time to go and visit.
   "Buenas," I yelled as I walked into the yard. The family all waved and greeted me and Gema's (Junieth's mom) told me that she was sitting a playing in the dirt. I walk around to the other

side of their makeshift outdoor kitchen and there is my gorgeous baby girl sitting on the ground covered from head-to-toe in dirt. I plopped down in the dirt beside her, picked her up, kissed her filthy cheeks, and sat her in my lap. I spent the next 1/2 hour just playing games with her, lifting her over my head as she giggled and giggled, and kissing her dirty little cheeks. Somewhere along the way, someone from the family brought her a sucker which, of course, was dripped and flung all over my dress, legs, face, etc. It made my heart so happy just to spend time with her and to see her laugh and smile.
   As she rubs her dirt-covered hands across my face, her mom asks, "Ella es necia, verdad?" (She is bothersome, huh?)  to which I immediately responded, "No she's precious!!!" I really do believe that Gema loves her daughter, but it continually breaks my heart to see parents in this community not realize the power that their words have over their children's lives.
   I continued to play with Junieth as before, but each time that I lifted her over my head and then brought her swinging down into my arms I would whisper words of the Lord's love for her. I told her:

   It's a tiny moment, a small fraction of my day. However, there is nothing I love more than sitting in the dirt, cradling this precious little girl, and whispering of the Lord's love.