Vida en la Casa Hogar

Greetings!

I am finally here in the Casa Hogar (Children's Home) and life is fast-paced and chaotic! I have been here a little over a week so far and it is great! There are many challenges, but I am confident that God has placed me here and has a great plan for how He will use me in the lives of these children.

The children were immediately receptive of me in the Casa Hogar, calling me "mami" after five minutes. They need much love and attention and I usually feel quite incapable of providing for them all that they need. I am praying that God will use me as much as possible, but also provide more people to care for them.

So far, I am trying to learn and observe how life goes in the Casa. Practicing this humility is difficult when the various adults in charge at certain times make decisions I don't agree with, but I am being obedient and submissive to their leadership as best I can. Pray that God would continue to give me a good attitude and patience in this.

God has been so faithful in hearing my prayers for favor with the leaders. They are grateful for my adequate Spanish ability and my cultural competence. ("You like tortillas! Que bueno that you know how to eat like a Mexican..." and "Where did you learn your Spanish? It is perfect!" ...not true, but encouraging all the same...haha.) These are both a direct result of the Spearhead(LAM)'s training throughout the summer and the past month. At times, I felt like I was ready and that not being at the Casa immediately was a waste of time, but now I see how valuable all of that training is. In the past, volunteers at the Casa have had little success because they were not adequately trained and had unrealistic expectations. So, praise God for giving me the training I have had and also for giving me favor and good relationships with the directors and teacher here at the Casa!

The activities I have been helping out with so far have been:

-Supervising the girls in getting ready for school (brushing teeth, hair, getting dressed, etc.)
CHALLENGE: They all have very short hair; it was cut to make treating lice easier, but the shortness makes bed-head more prevalent!

-Organizing their "Cuarto Grande" ("Big Room") with tons of donated clothes, and distributing clothes for the week
CHALLENGE: The children's drawers are not very organized and they hoard clothes because, I suspect, there have been times when it was not distributed often. For this reason, they don't deposit their dirty clothes to be washed, and it is hard to know how to teach them to be responsible with the clothes they have, but also assure them that they will get more when they let clothes go to be washed. I could go on and on in this matter. Pray for wisdom and creativity.

-Helping a volunteer named Linda work with the 4-7 year olds with letters, numbers, reading and writing in the afternoons.
BLESSING: Linda is so organized and generously provides supplies for the children. They love her because of her warmth and gentleness, and so do I! She is going to let me use her cell phone to call for free to the US today (get ready mom and dad!), and has invited me to stay for comida with her husband and some gringo friends of theirs. Praise God for her generosity and kindness to me! She has been a listening ear to me and I know God has her in the Casa with great purpose.

-Putting the children to bed (brushing teeth, putting on PJ's and reading or singing to them)
BLESSING: I am trying to read the Chronicles of Narnia to the children (in Spanish, of course) and so far they are loving it. It is really cool how God came before me in this. They have a "movie theater" in the Casa, installed by the missionary that lives on the Casa's campus, Jacob. It has real movie seats and the movie is projected onto one whole wall. They just watched "El Leon, La Bruja y El Ropero" last Friday, and "Principe Caspian" this Friday and they love these Narnia movies! I have also been singing goodnight songs from camp in English...they love this and are learning the songs slowly. (For you camp people, their favorite is "Lay Down, My Dear Sisters...")

I am praying and thinking about starting small Bible Studies with the older girls as well. You can pray with me for wisdom and guidance in this.

Thank you so much for reading, for your support, prayers and letters. If you want to send me snail mail, you can now!! Megan, Grandma and Dad, your letters were MUCH appreciated!! The address of the Casa is to the right on this page at the top and I think the mail is pretty reliable.

Dios te bendiga! (God bless you!)