New Friends and Old

My favorite picture today.  Veronica helping clean the porch area at Hermano Pedro.  She is one of the most sweet spirited girls I have ever met.  Always eager to help.  And my heart melts every time I walk through the gate and hear her call out, "Patty."  Veronica has so much potential.  I pray we can find some way for her to put it to real use in the future!

Today has been a day for me to introduce a number of old and new friends to my kids at Hermano Pedro.  This morning we had a very large team come through, so, rather than spending time directly with the kids, I tried to help the team members find a kid to love on.  (I did get to hold Leonel and Leslie for about an hour, though, before everyone arrived.)  I have to admit that I don't like this "supporting role" as much as I do directly working with the kids.  However, it was well worth it when I looked out and saw more than a dozen young people feeding, holding and playing with kids.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's not about me.

I also have to admit that I like it alot better when the courtyard is full of kids and volunteers than I do when it is silent and all the kids are in their beds.

I also received a visit from a friend from Omaha, who is visiting her sister in Guatemala City.  Patricia, her daughters Annabelle and Annemarie, and her sister, mother, nephew and his girlfriend all came down.  I was pleasantly surprised when the first stop they wanted to make was Hermano Pedro.  I was even happier to find that the "gifts" they had brought for the kids were disposable diapers, baby wipes, formula, and other useful items along with cookies for a treat.  So many times it seems that the kids get small plastic toys that are lost or broken in a day.  Their sensitivity to the real needs of our kids touched me deeply.

This family dove right in and met, played with, and talked to the kids.  The kids had just been put to bed for "siesta," and since we weren't staying long I didn't want to take kids out of bed for just a few minutes, and then make them go back.  I think these folks were a bit overwhelmed by the severity of the handicaps present in the children, but that didn't hold them back from sharing their love with them.  I'm so grateful for the way they touched our kids lives, if only for a brief moment.  I also got to enjoy a wonderful lunch, great company, and an opportunity to make new friends before I returned to the orphanage for supper.

Tonight one of my housemates, Gideon, came along with me to Hermano Pedro to feed the kids dinner.  He's a 17 year old from New York here studying Spanish for a few weeks before moving to California to start college.  He only has classes in the morning, and wanted something meaningful to do with his afternoons.  He met a number of the boys, and immediately took to feeding Henry, who is quite the character.  Henry is one of the few kids here who has pretty good verbal skills and understandable speech.  They seemed to get on quite well together, and I think Gideon now has a Guatemalan admirer.

I guess I'm really sharing these events of today to remind you all that I'm not really doing anything remarkable.  It doesn't take a Mother Teresa to fall in love with the kids.  I sometimes wonder how people cannot fall head over heels for them.  It does take what I hope we all are committed to.  A willingness to do whatever God asks of us--not in some future "grand work" but in the here and now, responding to his invitations to serve every day.  My goal in coming to Guatemala was not really to feed kids and change diapers, but I am daily blessed through these activities. I have to tell you, I receive much more from the kids than anything I could ever give or do for them.

I pray you are blessed by what He calls you to do today.