7-19-13
It's about dinner time and it has already been such a wonderful day. Part of the team went to the church in Atenas to help tear down the old children's building that was falling apart so they could rebuild a new one.
The other five team members, including myself, stayed here at Hogar De Vida (children's home)...(you can see pictures of Hogar De Vida below along the left.) We had devotions with the children and Tia's(the women who take care of them...Tia means "aunt"). We sand in English and Spanish. I used sign language as we sang Jesus Loves Me so the children could learn the signs.
It's a strange thought that these children did not know the simple signs for such a well-known song. Growing up in a Christian home and church, I have known such things since I was able to sing and learn the signs. It made me realize even more how much I take for granted. Even something as small as simple signs to a simple song. Some of these children come from very sad and horrible experiences. To think that I took the love of Jesus as some little hand signs and a cute song that everyone knows. Don't get me wrong, those are great things. It just amazes me how different my life in the states has been. How privileged and blessed I am.
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| Devotions @ Hogar De Vida |
The language barrier proved to be just as much a challenge as I had imagined. We had story time with the kids after devotions. This time consisted of having a child on your lap, with a Spanish written book in their hands, reading them a story. Knowing only the word "hola" and a few select others, as you can imagine, it was not an easy task. But as the day wore on I discovered ways around these barriers. I learned to point at things and use facial expressions to indicate what I wanted to say. Of course this didn't work perfectly
(far from it). But I learned to communicate with my actions and
love rather than words.
Later, while we we were playing with the children in the houses, there was one boy particular that seemed a little shy and lonely. I sat down with him and his legos and tried to indicate building a tower. I tried to get him to help me but he just shook his head "no" and watched. After awhile, with a little more persuading, he joined me! By the time the tower was built we were both laughing and enjoying ourselves.
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| My precious lego buddy, Braedan! |
There's still more day to be had, but I know what one of God's lessons for me today is. Besides learning and experiencing that communication can come in many ways such as sign language, playing with legos, and laughing, I have been realizing how much God cares. He cares about us soooo much! And not just about the big things, but even the seemingly insignificant things. I spent hours this afternoon snuggling a tiny baby. She is around 4 pounds and is 2 months old. She was born 3 month prematurely. It was all I could do to get her to drink a 1/4 ounce of her formula. Although this baby is seemingly insignificant, among so many other children, God protected her and chose for her to live. In America, this baby girl would still be in the hospital in an ICU somewhere probably fighting for her life. Yet here she is, despite the challenges, alive and being taken care of by such loving Tia's and staff of Hogar De Vida.
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| Rocking baby Sarita |
I think of one of the Tia's who is getting married next month. She ordered her wedding dress on Amazon and asked my aunt to bring it to Costa Rica with her. As you can imagine, she was nervous about the arrival of her dress and prayed that it would arrive and work according as planned. This also seems so insignificant, but cared about this Tia and the desires she had for her wedding day, and He allowed everything with her dress to go smoothly.
There are countless other children and people here whom God has cared for in such amazing ways and I could tell about so many of them. But it's time to prepare for dinner and so I will write more soon.
Highlights of the day: Holding precious baby Sarita & children's smiling faces! (Pictures below from devo time)
On a side note: Really hitting me today how blessed I am. Missing the kids and Costa Rica. I was sitting on the bench outside of work today, waiting for my mom to pick me up, as I watched a little girl give a fit because her mom told her she couldn't have her Rita's until after they were home and had dinner. The sad part is I probably did the same thing growing up. A fit over not getting ice cream right now, when we want it? How ridiculous is that? It's sad really. We take so much for granted, and appreciate so little.
It's a strange thought that these children did not know the simple signs for such a well-known song. Growing up in a Christian home and church, I have known such things since I was able to sing and learn the signs. It made me realize even more how much I take for granted. Even something as small as simple signs to a simple song. Some of these children come from very sad and horrible experiences. To think that I took the love of Jesus as some little hand signs and a cute song that everyone knows. Don't get me wrong, those are great things. It just amazes me how different my life in the states has been. How privileged and blessed I am.
The language barrier proved to be just as much a challenge as I had imagined. We had story time with the kids after devotions. This time consisted of having a child on your lap, with a Spanish written book in their hands, reading them a story. Knowing only the word "hola" and a few select others, as you can imagine, it was not an easy task. But as the day wore on I discovered ways around these barriers. I learned to point at things and use facial expressions to indicate what I wanted to say. Of course this didn't work perfectly
(far from it). But I learned to communicate with my actions and 
love rather than words. 
There's still more day to be had, but I know what one of God's lessons for me today is. Besides learning and experiencing that communication can come in many ways such as sign language, playing with legos, and laughing, I have been realizing how much God cares. He cares about us soooo much! And not just about the big things, but even the seemingly insignificant things. I spent hours this afternoon snuggling a tiny baby. She is around 4 pounds and is 2 months old. She was born 3 month prematurely. It was all I could do to get her to drink a 1/4 ounce of her formula. Although this baby is seemingly insignificant, among so many other children, God protected her and chose for her to live. In America, this baby girl would still be in the hospital in an ICU somewhere probably fighting for her life. Yet here she is, despite the challenges, alive and being taken care of by such loving Tia's and staff of Hogar De Vida. 
There are countless other children and people here whom God has cared for in such amazing ways and I could tell about so many of them. But it's time to prepare for dinner and so I will write more soon. 
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us Mikayla. It is so good to hear about how Abba moves ...and molds...and reveals Himself to us! I love your words and your pictures! Looking forward to more as the days go on!
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