Bitter and sweat…

(Noela, Stephanie and Joselin coming from school.)

It has been 7 months since we started The House of Dreams Orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Currently we have 19 children between the ages of new born to 6 years. Many people have asked what is like to have so many children. To tell you the truth it has its ups and downs. Sometimes its sweet times where it is the greatest thing in the world and other times it has its bitter times where it has its pains.

Bitter

One of the first children that we received was a little girl by the name of Neola. Neola’s story is that she came to us one afternoon when the state department called our office asking us if we would accept her. We had just been watching the news that night and her story was featured. She had been abused by her grandfather and for that reason was taken away from her family. One of the striking things about her was that her feet were so badly cut from walking without shoes on that I it took a few weeks for them to heal.

Because of her situation it took a little time for her to warm up to the orphanage but not long. In the beginning she missed her mother and cried pretty much every night. But after a while of showing her the love that a stable home can give she began to open up and let the world see her beautiful character and what a lovely child she is.

Then one day it happened; we got the phone call. We never truly know when or even if it will happen but we always know it is a possibility. The courts had made the decision that it was okay for Neola to go back to her mother. One day the child is happily playing with the other children and the next day the bed she sleep in is empty. Technically it was not Neola’s mother that abused her but her grandfather. So when the judge ruled that it was time for Neola to go back to her mother a part of us was happy. It is probably the best thing but that does not mean that it still does not hurt a little. Actually it hurts a lot.

Sweet
Like I said before the orphanage has its high points as well. I like to call it the sweet times. The times when you get to see a kid take its first steps or when the light bulb turns on in their little head that you are their friend or when the scream your name from the upstairs window. The little miracles that let you know that you are actually pleasing God in the things that you are doing.

The other day I had one of these moments on father’s day here in Bolivia. We have two children in our orphanage that have started to go to school (kindergarten). It is actually pretty fun to see them running off to school with their little back packs. One of these children is Stephanie. A very social 6 years old that came to us because she and her sister were abandoned. In her class she had to make a card for her fathers. There was only one problem, Stephanie’s father abandon her a long time ago. But some how, in the mind of this little 6 year old, she found an answer; she wrote the card to me. She could hardly wait until she got home from school to give it to me. As I opened it I saw the words written in very bad grammar but still legible “Te Quiero Papa (I love you Papa)”.

In my office I have many different things hung on the walls; posters from pastor’s conferences we have had, picture of small victories we have experienced in the ministry, pictures of my family, but this one will definitely have a special place on that wall. To help me remember the sweet times. The times where God smiles down on you and says well done.