My sister Amber and I spent the month of October at Casa de Amor. When we arrived, I was more than a little apprehensive. This was my first “extended short term” (ie, longer than a week!) mission trip experience. And it was an experience! Everything from wandering the rows of La Cancha to loving on babies to “marrying” a clown at a birthday party—somehow even ordinary things seemed exciting. I expected to fall in love with the kids, but I don’t think I realized just how completely I would lose my heart in 4 short weeks to 33 precious, darling, all-but-forgotten children and one little girl in particular.
We had only been at the orphanage for a few hours and I was still learning everybody’s name (something that took me a couple of days!) when lunch time arrived. As we helped round up kids and put them in highchairs, one of the tias handed me a bowl of vegetable spaghetti and told me to feed “baby” J. For those who may not know, “baby” J is actually 2 years old, but because she is blind she doesn’t walk, talk, or feed herself yet—so she is a “baby” in so many ways. She had only been at CDA for a month when we arrived, and eating was still something of a struggle with her. So it was that my first new Spanish phrase became “abre la boca” (open [your] mouth) as I spent nearly an hour trying to feed this precious little girl a decent amount of food. By the time lunch was over, I was head over heels in love—and I think she kinda liked me, too, if her shower of kisses as I lifted her out of her chair and carried her to bed for a nap was any indication!
Soon J was responding joyfully to the sound of my voice, my e-mails home were filled with her, and we were pretty much inseparable. All the kids and tias took to calling her “my baby”, and the children seemed to feel the need to point her out to me every time I walked in the room—and drag me by the hand to her side if she was crying! I mostly just played with her, really, though I tried to help her overcome her aversion to playing and interacting with the other kids. She eventually got to where she would play “catch” with some kids, rolling a ball back and forth across the floor (as long as they didn’t make her wait too long!). We also worked a lot on her walking, something she loves to do but just isn’t ready to do on her own yet. However, when I left, she would walk with me just holding on to one hand, and she was even climbing the stairs by holding my hand and the railing!
One evening, when we had only been there a few days, I walked into the room where she was and started talking to some of the other kids. J was all the way across the room, just sitting on the floor folded over like she has a tendency to do if someone isn't intentionally involving her in something in some way. But when I began talking, she raised her head and then started crawling toward me. She crawled all the way across the room, pulled herself up by my arm/shoulder, and gave me a kiss—and a huuuuuge smile. Needless to say, it made my day!
My month at Casa de Amor was filled with sweet moments like that. Not all of them were with J—like I said, I fell in love with all the kids! There were difficult moments too, of course, since none of the children are perfectly behaved angels. And there were definitely moments of laughter! Living with 21 children, aged 4 and under, may be exhausting at times but it yields plenty of amusement, too. There were trips to the park, taking kids to church and out to eat—during such outings, part of the amusement was watching the bewilderment of the passers-by, as they would try to figure out how these “blond” gringas came to have so many cute Bolivian children! Each day was a different adventure, with its own share of smiles and tears and giggles and cloth diapers to change. And as each day brought us closer to goodbye, it also made that goodbye a little harder.
All too soon, it was our last night in Cochabamba. We would be leaving CDA at 5 am the next morning, so we told the kids goodbye as we tucked them into bed. Saying such a final-feeling “ciao” to those sweet little faces was the hardest thing I have ever done. I was strongly tempted to either tear up my plane ticket and stay forever, or smuggle them all home with me somehow! Of course, both options were rather impractical, so I had to settle for extra hugs and kisses with all the kids, and some extra snuggle time with “my” J as I gave her a cup of milk and got her changed for bed. It was certainly a bittersweet moment when I kissed her goodnight and laid her in her crib for the last time. This sweet little girl not only captured my heart, she completely changed my world; the way she faces the world with sightless eyes and a heart that sees everything is a precious testimony to the grace and beauty of our great God. Really, the lives of all these kids carry that testimony and it is something I will never forget.
We had only been at the orphanage for a few hours and I was still learning everybody’s name (something that took me a couple of days!) when lunch time arrived. As we helped round up kids and put them in highchairs, one of the tias handed me a bowl of vegetable spaghetti and told me to feed “baby” J. For those who may not know, “baby” J is actually 2 years old, but because she is blind she doesn’t walk, talk, or feed herself yet—so she is a “baby” in so many ways. She had only been at CDA for a month when we arrived, and eating was still something of a struggle with her. So it was that my first new Spanish phrase became “abre la boca” (open [your] mouth) as I spent nearly an hour trying to feed this precious little girl a decent amount of food. By the time lunch was over, I was head over heels in love—and I think she kinda liked me, too, if her shower of kisses as I lifted her out of her chair and carried her to bed for a nap was any indication!
Soon J was responding joyfully to the sound of my voice, my e-mails home were filled with her, and we were pretty much inseparable. All the kids and tias took to calling her “my baby”, and the children seemed to feel the need to point her out to me every time I walked in the room—and drag me by the hand to her side if she was crying! I mostly just played with her, really, though I tried to help her overcome her aversion to playing and interacting with the other kids. She eventually got to where she would play “catch” with some kids, rolling a ball back and forth across the floor (as long as they didn’t make her wait too long!). We also worked a lot on her walking, something she loves to do but just isn’t ready to do on her own yet. However, when I left, she would walk with me just holding on to one hand, and she was even climbing the stairs by holding my hand and the railing!One evening, when we had only been there a few days, I walked into the room where she was and started talking to some of the other kids. J was all the way across the room, just sitting on the floor folded over like she has a tendency to do if someone isn't intentionally involving her in something in some way. But when I began talking, she raised her head and then started crawling toward me. She crawled all the way across the room, pulled herself up by my arm/shoulder, and gave me a kiss—and a huuuuuge smile. Needless to say, it made my day!
My month at Casa de Amor was filled with sweet moments like that. Not all of them were with J—like I said, I fell in love with all the kids! There were difficult moments too, of course, since none of the children are perfectly behaved angels. And there were definitely moments of laughter! Living with 21 children, aged 4 and under, may be exhausting at times but it yields plenty of amusement, too. There were trips to the park, taking kids to church and out to eat—during such outings, part of the amusement was watching the bewilderment of the passers-by, as they would try to figure out how these “blond” gringas came to have so many cute Bolivian children! Each day was a different adventure, with its own share of smiles and tears and giggles and cloth diapers to change. And as each day brought us closer to goodbye, it also made that goodbye a little harder.
All too soon, it was our last night in Cochabamba. We would be leaving CDA at 5 am the next morning, so we told the kids goodbye as we tucked them into bed. Saying such a final-feeling “ciao” to those sweet little faces was the hardest thing I have ever done. I was strongly tempted to either tear up my plane ticket and stay forever, or smuggle them all home with me somehow! Of course, both options were rather impractical, so I had to settle for extra hugs and kisses with all the kids, and some extra snuggle time with “my” J as I gave her a cup of milk and got her changed for bed. It was certainly a bittersweet moment when I kissed her goodnight and laid her in her crib for the last time. This sweet little girl not only captured my heart, she completely changed my world; the way she faces the world with sightless eyes and a heart that sees everything is a precious testimony to the grace and beauty of our great God. Really, the lives of all these kids carry that testimony and it is something I will never forget.
And now—I just want to go back! :-)
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