Family

Ok so I have been playing with my blog. Got tired of the old boring one I had. Let me know what you think!

This past week I have noticed one major thing here at the alburgue. FAMILY. What a great thing to notice. There are so many different aspects of family here. I see first the family of the individual casitas. Each casita has about 12 kids and one mom. They are most always helping each other out with chores, homework, and just playing with each other.

Next there is the actually family between the kids. Some of them have lots of brothers and sisters here with them. It is really interesting to see them interact. Sometimes they act like they aren't friends and never hangout. Other times they are always playing with each other. The other day I saw a brother and sister playing tag together. They were havng so much fun and it was so good to see them like that. We have a 2 yr old Marecielo and she has an older brother Enrique. The other day I saw here out on the playground with one of the older girls and he was riding his bike near by. He saw her, dropped his bike and they started running towards one another. As they reached the point of contact, they both extended their arms for a great embracment! They then started to play together on the swings and in the playhouse. My heart was so happy. What a great thing to see. Even when sometimes these families cannot live in the same house, they still have that bond. It made me long for my family, my brother and my sisters. How I love you guys!

Thirdly, there are Saturdays. This means family visits. The kids biological families come in the mornings form 9-12 to visit their children. Today is Saturday. For me this time is one of the hardest. Now you have to understand that not every child here is an orphan, even when up for adoption they have family. The kids parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters come to see them. I find it so hard to watch the kids all dressed up running to their families, spending the morning with them and then having to go back to normal alburgue life. Some kids have many visitors while some have none. Some kids get lots of new things, food, and clothes, while some just are content spending the time cuddled up in the arms of their mother. My heart at this time aches for them. For all of them, the crying child beacause the mom keeps promising that "next week is the week you will come back home to me", the mother who is holding her chld and truly wants her back but cannot afford to even keep herself together, the grandmother who wants to be the mother again and take care of her loved ones, but is too old to take in all of her grandkids, for the father who didn't run out on the family and has two or three jobs just so he can bring nice things to his little one and one day get them out. My heart aches. I wish I could magically take glue and never ending love and money and paste all of the families back together again.

Family is such a big part of our lives and without one we feel homeless, left out, and we are always looking to other things for acceptance.

I thank the Lord for my family, for the families that are good and wish good things for their children, for the parents who put their children here because they knew that was the only way to keep them safe for the time being, I thank Him for the many familys here betwwen the children and how strong their bonds are. Thank You Lord for being our Father, escpecially when our own fathers cannot be with us. You are the one and only Father we will ever truly need, and You are always with us. I praise You for being a great and loving Father!

Pray for the families here at the alburgue, that they would continue to be strong and care for one another. Pray for the volunteer's families back at home, that they would know that God is doing good here and taking care of them. Pray specifically for the Hanson family here. That Robyn and Joel and their kids would be able to return to the states very soon!

Love to you all!