Breanna's (Gingerbread) House of Joy

A few of us girls from the Garden of Hope got to build gingerbread houses with 42 beautiful girls in a Chiang Mai home called Breanna's House of Joy. It was breathtaking.

This is Jane- she introduced us to this wonderful organization and the amazing people here

Stephanie rocked the gingerbread world

And so did her mom ;)

P. Daeng held it all together

And Nanami made sure all the candy was ok for the kids to eat. Thanks ;)

Nikki's team had their house up in record time

with lamp posts and everything

And my team put an angel in the doorway

Roofs are tricky

Lots of helping hands. The girls, ranging in age from 5 to 17, worked so well together! Their quiet concentration and patience inspired us all.

They loved the frosting "snow."

These girls wowed us with their creativity

Look how perfectly they lined up all the little candies! (and do you love the barbeque they built?!)

at day's end we all got high-fives from frosting covered hands.

The aftermath: the cleanup crew moved quickly, demolishing the wreckage and scraping frosting and candy into paper cups to eat with spoons. Reduce Reuse Recycle. Nicely done girls!

After consuming their body weight in sugar, the girls proceeded to play calmly- laughing together. No fighting, crying or meltdowns. Wow. Well done, girls- well done.

It really is a house of joy.