Right where you are...

I have to be honestly with you all, there are some days here where we feel completely overwhelmed.

Days where we question if we are making a difference.

 Days where the needs before us seem so unreachable.

 Days where, I am physically and emotionally drained.

 Days where I question if God chose the wrong family.

We have so much to learn, so much growing to do and yet, we are here- here we are.

As I look at the funds we still have to raise, as I look at the needs we have to meet- many times, I just feel like crawling into a ball and weeping.

 And then... we come across these families- and God seems to put everything into perspective in a single minute.

 Yesterday some of us headed out to visit a new family we have just found out about. This family has 6 children- and the mother is blind.

They live on someone elses property and the father walks miles to work every day because he cannot afford a bus. He spends close to 18 hours away from home on an average day. I have been told his feet are so swollen he can no longer wear shoes. His job is to carry supplies from bus to bus- his pay is 25Q a day. (which equals between $3-$3.50 dollars a day.) They live on the side of the mountain in conditions my mind cannot even begin to understand.

Their youngest child is 8 years and cannot walk. She has never been to the doctor so they are not sure why. She speaks and smiles- she is beyond precious. Most of her day is spent sitting in the corner, on a mattress in the dark.

  As we talked with her mother we began to understand their needs and once again felt completely broken. One thing that stood out to me was the absorption well on their property... 40 feet deep.

As a mom, all I could think of was how scary that would be to have my children living there by this... Let alone to be blind... and the fear of falling in. This mother has no choice but to be lead around the property by her teenage daughter.

As we looked around their home in hopes of finding a way we could make it more safe and healthy, I once again felt overwhelmed...

 

bathroom...

 

 

kitchen...

 

 

part of their home without shelter...

 

 

 

As I began to pray, began to try to wrap my head around this... again a feeling over overwhelmness came over me.

 

Where do you begin?

 

They are here all day, unprotected. A mother who is blind. A child who cannot walk. A father who is working as hard as he can and in doing so must be gone all day long. The children are not in school- they must help out to survive.

 

 I beg God for an answer.

 

And then I heard it...

 

I heard the quiet sounds of giggling coming from inside the home. I slowly walk around the corner and at that moment my heart stopped.

 

In front of me I saw what I think the Lord wanted me to understand all along.

 

Our daughter Mya, who was adopted at age 4 from Guatemala, sat in front of me on the mattress with her new friend.  While I had become overwhelmed- she had simply done what she could at the moment- crawled down on the floor and became a friend.

 

I watched in awe as these girls giggled and played hand games.

 

 I watched in awe as they smiled and whispered secrets.

 

 

 

I watched in awe as these two little girls 'got it' before I ever did.

 

Lord I thank you for who you are and for the ways you work. I thank you for the way you meet us right where we are. I praise you Jesus for your unconditional love and acceptance no matter if we deserve it or not. I thank you God for this opportunity to minister to those you care about deeply. I thank you God for my husband and my children who too said yes. I thank you God for our partners, for Christi and Dan who serve here with us. I thank you God for Lifesong For Orphans and for Project Hopeful who always, ALWAYS put YOU first. I thank you Lord for sending us.