Saying Goodbye

These pictures are all from our last morning with Ale and Tati.

We had to have them to their bus on Sunday morning before church, so that's why we all look so nicely cleaned up. Otherwise I'm sure we'd be just as scraggly as the other pictures! Tati is all ready to go - this was before the tears.

For the life of me, I cannot remember this lady's name. She was the one who handmade the items that she sold in the Paraguay booth throughout the festival. I bought some earrings from her (the ones I'm wearing in this picture) and also a pretty runner to put across the top of my piano. She was really nice! I wish we could understand each other - she only spoke Spanish, and me, only English. Still, I consider her a friend.

I like how when the team from Paraguay travels, they all wear their matching clothes. This is the team all together.

What else do little kids do when they are wearing their church clothes and have to sit and wait? Of course, they wrestle! We told them numerous times to stop and did they? You guess!

Athena is saying her goodbyes to Ale while we wait for the bus to come.

All the kids wanted to get individual pictures with our girls and Ale and Tati were kind enough to pose for all of them. :)

Now all together. I really like this picture!

Nathan really enjoyed interacting with the men on the dance team. He came up when one of them was bending over to put luggage in the bus and took his hat and put it on himself. He almost looks like he belongs with them, right? Nathan was really sad to see them all go.

We ended up waiting about 45 minutes for the bus to come. We sang "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" in Spanish. Then the country chair lady (the one who organizes everything for the dancers during the festival) gave all the dancers a T-shirt with the U.S. flag on them.

We gave hugs and said goodbye several times. Then when the bus came, we gave our last hugs and Ale and Tati got on the bus. Then they waved from the window. We stood outside the bus for quite awhile and then all of a sudden Ale and Tati were next to us giving more hugs! They were really cute. :) We were sad to see them go, but really had a lot of fun with them here.

On the bus they had this sign to put up everywhere they went. This is the end to our fun week with our dancers!

Last thing, I forgot to mention our gift exchange! We gave Ale and Tati a Book of Mormon with our testimony inside. I wrote it in Spanish. Then we also gave them a little magnet that is a map of Utah, to remind them of where they were. Then we gave them a lapel pin that had a U.S. flag and a Paraguay flag connected to each other.

Ale and Tati gave us a picture book about Paraguay, a beautiful small table cloth to match my runner that I bought, a basket, and a handmade keychain.

Now we will keep in touch through facebook and email. I am grateful we had the opportunity to host these 2 wonderful girls!