Day 6 - July 26

It was hard to roll out of bed this morning – we were up late last night with the MH girls. But it was definitely worth it!  To be able to love on those girls was THE BEST!!

Our first destination today was BG to take 15 “schoolers” to the beach!  I know that I’ve been looking forward to this day for that past 6 monthsJ  We had a bus to take all of the kids and a few team member s – the others team members were in the van.  While on the bus, Ryan sang some fun songs with the kids – BOY do they LOVE to sing!  They were really getting into it and it was a beautiful sound to my ears.  We had the amazing opportunity to take the kids to a private beach just for us!  It was perfect.  We lined everyone up and fitted them with a lifejacket (b/c jamaican’s don’t swim ;)  - and for safety ).  The team went out to the water with the buckets & goggles and then shortly behind us the kids came running down.  They had a blast – so did we!  We were actually right next to the airport and the kids loved watching the planes come in for landing.  We all had a wonderful time just swimming, scooping water & filling up buckets with sand, building sandcastles and searching for shells to collect – all the things “ordinary” kids should be able to do and to think that this is a once a year (hopefully) thing for them makes my heart sad and happy at the same time – happy that EO is here to love on them the way they/we are doing.  Our next surprise was  to take them for a ride in a glass bottom boat – it was exciting for them but scary for some too.  They loved watching the lion fish swim under & around the boat and even more fun was watching uncle carl swim under the boat – our teen boys got to do the same too – it will be a great memory for all! We got back to the beach with just enough time for a snack of fishy crackers & pineapple – yum! And another last minute swim… 

After taking the BG kids back home, we turned around and headed to Granville Girls Home.  I was able to take a picture of the outside – I hope it turned out & will try to post it… we didn’t get there until about 3:00 and many of the “good” girls were on a field trip.  So, when we arrived the court yard (made of dirt) was pretty empty – slowly the girls started to emerge to visit with us.  I brought UNO and was happy to meet “Ashley” – she had a Jamaican name but I had her repeat it about 3 times and then she finally said  - “just call me Ashley – that’s what I go byJ “ and she smiled – her smile lit up her beautiful face.  She didn’t look like the others when we were there the other day – she looked to “nice” – no scars and a fresh face with a twinkle in her eyes.  As we played THE LONGEST GAME OF UNO EVER, I began to ask her questions about her experiences at the home etc… Come to find out, she had just gotten there yesterday – I immediately asked her if she was doing ok to let her know that I knew that this was a rough place.  Throughout our conversation/game I discovered that her mom died when she was 2 (not sure how, yet) and that she’s been living with her older sister.  The social worker took her to the home b/c ashley’s sister can’t take care of her and needs a job L  My heart is breaking for this girl too – I’m worried about her there and if she is safe from the other girls – they are a very rough bunch in more ways than one.  We began to finish our visit around 5ish and ended with worship and a quick devotional.  We said our goodbyes and I prayed with Ashley – I just felt so strongly that she needed it.  She then asked me if I would be coming back and I told her that I sure hoped that I would be next week!  I’m curious to find out what I will see in her eyes then – I hope and pray that it is the same sweet sparkle – please keep her in your prayers too…

After dinner tonight we had a very short time of sharing (everyone is tired) but one thing that was shared that I think that we all agreed upon at our table was this: Now that we are here and have experienced and seen what we have with the plight of the orphan here in Jamaica -that as true Christians, we cannot not do anything.  As Christians we cannot turn our backs.  And you as a reader of this blog – it is my prayer that your heart has been pierced for the orphans too.  Please join us in prayer as to how we can best help. 

Another thing that I learned today is that there are NO child sponsorship programs in this country at all.  World Vision & Compassion do not have programs set up here – I’m not sure why… It seems this country isn’t really getting ANY outreach from very many organizations.  I’m so glad that Embracing Orphans is here and if you would like to help the children here, please pray about contributing to them – they could really use your help.  I’m pretty certain that they would be the first outside organization to own a home & to run a girls home.  Their connections and relationships with the officials here is amazing and I pray that they can continue the work God has planned for them.