Magical Moments

A most beautiful thing happened this week.  One little girl, after living all 9 years of her life in an orphanage, walked out the door with her forever family.  I (and I’m sure others here at Hogar de Esperanza) feel so blessed to have witnessed and participated in uniting this family.  No blog post could capture the wonder and anticipation that has filled this place this week, but I’m going to share a few of my favorite moments:

Tears of love and joy were shed during conversations between the Peruvian workers and the family—the workers here have so much love for these children; their work here is so much more than a job. Hearing from the staff how this process of adoption has encouraged/changed/blessed them were some of my favorite moments. I am amazed at the long, long journey that adoption is.  It’s a process that is beautiful, laborious, filled with disappointments and challenges, but, ultimately, filled with promise and hope for a better future. 

During a family excursion (which I had the privilege of joining), as I looked in the rearview mirror of the taxi, I watched a beautiful little girl steal a look out of the corner of her eye at her new mother (beautiful as well).  She thought for a moment, and then her face broke into a beautiful, joyful smile. 

Heartfelt conversations with the parents taught me so much about trusting God, His plan for our lives, and His timing.  This little girl is entering into such a wonderful family.

The same morning that this precious child was to leave the orphanage with her forever family, a group of ladies from a local church were arriving to help around the orphanage for the day and play with the kids.  A pastor accompanied them and had the chance to talk to the adoptive family.  We found out that this was the same pastor that had first brought this little girl to the orphanage as an infant.   He had arrived this morning at the orphanage without any knowledge that her adoption was taking place, much less that she was leaving that particular day.  He was able to see the work come full circle and connect with the family—God is so good!

As our work on this adoption finishes, would you pray with me?  First, let’s pray a prayer of thanks and praise for successful adoptions and for families who are in the process of adoption.  Let’s pray for strength and wisdom for adoptive families in the times when adjustments are difficult and challenging.  Pray that more families would be found for children who so desperately need them…children not only in Peru, but around the world.  Pray that more and more resources would be made available for families who are called to adopt. And finally, join me in praying about what God wants YOU to do to care for His precious children--whether they be just around the corner or all the way around the world.

With love, C

"The Poor will Always be with you"

In Matthew 26:11, when Jesus says "For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me," the focus of the verse in normally on its second part, about how to treat Jesus.  However, the first half of the verse is pertinent as well.  In Peru, it is far easier than in America to witness the impoverished conditions that many people spend their lives in.  Here, where public services are sketchy at best, and government aid is more or less non-existent, there are many people who work long, hard days every day just to sustain themselves.  This poverty isn't a temporary thing, caused by some bad decision or lack of motivation by a breadwinner.  It is simply the life that many people are born into with very little hope of getting out of it.  It's not a problem that can be solved, let alone solved all at once.

Here at Hogar de Esperanza,  the kids receive not only their basic necessities, but also get opportunities to experience things that many of them may not have had access to if they were living at the income level that their families were at.  These things include hot water (crazy how much more that seems like a luxury down here), movies, internet access, clean clothes, trips to day camps or restaurants, and good education.  In fact, although we are normally happy when kids here can be reunited with their families, it is often difficult for them to acclimate to the impoverished conditions that their families live in. 

Recently, we had one sibling group go home to live with their grandparents.  It was exciting--we knew that their grandparents cared deeply for them, and that they would love them well.  However, love does not magically provide dollars and cents, or in this case, the Peruvian currency of soles.  The oldest girl in this family was privileged while she lived at Hogar de Esperanza to be able to attend a good, private, Christian middle/high school.  This privilege is only available to a few of our oldest kids, and only if they take full advantage of it.  This past year, she was the only child at the orphanage who proved herself motivated and responsible enough to attend there.  Now that she has gone home with her grandparents, though, the orphanage no longer pays her expenses, and her grandparents would barely have enough to pay for books and a uniform, let alone tuition.  (the lower class public schools here don't even use text books, so those books would seem like a luxury for many families).

Courtney and I, along with one other volunteer here, have decided to put the extra money that we raised for the new sheets for the kids for Christmas (which they love, by the way--thanks for your support!) towards paying for this girls continued Christian education at this great school she is at.  However, combined, this only comes to about $600, and the school that she is at costs about $1500/year.  She has received a scholarship that cuts the cost down to about $850/year, which is very exciting.  However, that still leaves a shortfall for this year, let alone the three years she has left there.  Courtney and I have committed to paying for her first year, whether or not we're able to raise the money from outside sources, and we're turning to you for help.  It will be great if we can raise the $250 we need, but far better if we can make a dent in her tuition for years to come as well.  If you'd like to help, you can make out checks to Hillcrest CRC with "D and C Mission fund--School" in the memo line and send them to Hillcrest Christian Reformed Church, 3617 Hillcrest Rd, Hudsonville, MI 49426.  If you'd prefer a more convenient way, you can pay through paypal by using the widget in the upper left hand corner.  


A final thought: I considered not even writing this post, thinking that maybe people are sick of giving, that it seems like people like us doing mission work are always just asking for money, and that when you give us money we just ask for more.  However, as the verse that I began with says, the poor will ALWAYS be with us.  We are not going to reach a point at which there are no needs, where there are no people less fortunate that us who need help, and as long as that need exists, it should be made known to those have the power to do something about it.  Thanks in advance!  -D

Word of the day- lumberjack

Before beginning to share about the English classes I am teaching this summer, I must apologize for the lack of posting that has happened lately.  Things are starting to seem so normal here that I often don't think that people back home would be at all interested in the current goings-on. 

For this reason, I am writing this post today to tell you about my favorite  part of summer here--my opportunity to teach English to the kids.  Monday through Friday I teach one hour a day to kids of a wide range of levels.  We mostly work on vocabulary, although in the past couple weeks I’ve been delving into parts of speech and verb conjugations with the older kids.

The biggest challenge for me is targeting each class at what will be most useful for the kids in that class.  If they are on the pathway to an international adoption, I try to give them the words and phrases they'll need to know when they get dropped into an English speaking family.  If they are approaching the end of their education, I need to teach a much higher level of English--trying to tie together all the vocabulary they've learned to make real-world conversations possible. My experience this summer has made me wonder if maybe I do want to teach after all.  (It was just a fleeting moment of curiosity, however. I am SO excited to go back to school for my MLIS in the fall!)

These are the girls in 2 of the 10 classes I teach.  I am so proud of the progress they have made over the last 2 months! -C

P.S. I did teach the word "lumberjack" last week to one of the boys classes; we were discussing another volunteer's crazy red beard, and there was no way to converse without this valuable English word :)