Day 11 – July 31, 2012

Please visit the EO blog - it is a private blog (you will need to register for a username & pw) and has some pics of us & kiddos:) http://www.embracingorphans.org/blog/

At our nightly meeting tonight, Julie shared a great verse of encouragement for the team – 1 Cor. 5:18 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”

As we are working hard at BG this week, this verse seems fitting… sometimes doing the menial “grunt” work does not feel very rewarding but knowing that it is the work of the Lord – He has each of us here for a reason – makes it worth it! He called us here to this mission field and boy is it big!

Again, we spent a wonderful day at BG – not sure where all my energy came from today! Maybe the Joy of the Lord!!  I got to spend the morning with the toddlers today.  It started out as the usual morning of hanging out on the veranda – having children sit in our laps to read or sing to, or refereeing any little squabbles about toys… today we were blessed with a Jamaican tambourine singing grandma – boy was she FILLED with JOY!  She came bounding in and all the kids were extremely excited to see her.  She asked for song requests and the little toddlers answered – so precious!  The next thing I know – I looked to my right toward the baby’s veranda and there were 5 little heads peering through the steel latticed walls enjoying the music as well – I so wished that I had my camera and could take a picture! L I will just have to picture it in my mind…  Soon after the tambourine lady left we took the kiddos outside – it was definitely a day to be under the trees – not very many clouds and thank goodness there was a somewhat of a cool breeze.  We tried to let the kids color sesame street pictures – we had to keep a close eye on those toddlers! Many of the crayons ended up in mouths or coloring on the outdoor furniture –oh well… at least they had the opportunityJ  the todds seemed a little crabby and tired this morning – it was a bit of a challenge to keep a few awake until lunch.  And that’s pretty much what we did the rest of the day… played outside with various toys etc…  Brayden enjoyed playing with his buddy Kwan (sp?) and begging me to adopt him – J I had a sad moment seeing Breanna dressed in her best – her and her brother had a court date this morning.  I’m hoping to find out what happened tomorrow – maybe I’ll get to see her again, maybe she’s with her parents or maybe she’s gone to a permanent children’s home??? We shall see…

Another mission group has arrived here to do work with EO.  They are meninites from the east coast – 19 of them and most are teens.  We had dinner with them tonight – tomorrow their boys are doing work at the Father’s house and the girls will join us at BG.  After dinner we had our devotion/team mtg with just our group.  Please keep Crystal in your prayer as she had an asthma attack tonight.  We were able to get her breathing ok with her inhaler etc…

Tomorrow (8/1) is our last full day at BG – we are planning on pampering the nannies with a little pedicure/spa treatment – we are hoping to bless them as they do those precious children every day!

Monday's project with schoolers

lunchtime in the volunteers breakroom

monday project - "He knows my name"

waiting for our vans to go to BG...

Day 10 - July 30

We began our day with an interesting breakfast - jamaican porridge (yum) and swordfish (no thanks - for me:) )  I think we all were wondering if we were going to make it through the day today - it was to be a long hot one!

As we arrived at BG, the toddlers were on the veranda excitedly chanting for us to come! what a sweet sound to our ears.  We quickly put our things down, prayed for God to carry us through the day and for divine appointments.  I got to go to the schoolers room today - it was a blast!  I had about 15 min. to figure out what devotion/story that i would do and it went great!  Brayden & I acted out David & Goliath - the kids loved it:)  We sang, did an activity, sang some more, had snack, sang some more, and then another activity to keep them busy for 3 hrs. - whew - we did it:)  The rest of the day we spent outside with all of the children.

Brayden has attached to a little 3 yr old boy named Quan - he's trying to talk me into adopting him.  I told him i'd pray about but just not too sure about that right now... however, i have fallen in love with a little girl that was abandoned last week and brought to BG - last week when we were there she didn't make a peep.  today, i got her to do raspberries and babble a little bit saying dadada or mamamama - so sweet.  Then she fell asleep in my arms  -as  i looked at her precious sleeping face, i wondered if her mom misses her and wondered if she will someday have 1 mother again to rock her asleep - i guess for today, i was that mom...

It has been sweet to see the team fall in love with all of the children at BG - we all tend to have our favorite:)

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Blogged By Ronnie: It was a long day , Hence its Monday ;) So into Blossom Gardens to serve the Aunties and Love on these precious children with God's love. It was enlightening to have the lack of energy knowing that all that came out of me would either be my flesh fleeing to lay down on a bench or God showing up in a mighty way and holding me up.So forward on  I went to the baby room for the first 3 hours and just held sang and fed them.One little girl was getting her hair done all pretty and a brand new outfit was picked out for her along with a new pair of sandals. They got her all dressed and she left escorted away as one of the Aunties turned to release tears- there was a handful of children that left BG today with good promise to be adopted out which is so wonderful but at the same time so heart breaking for these Aunties who love these children and do such an amazing job at caring for their needs- these children are definitely loved by these women. After feeding time I was beginning to feel the lack of energy again and needed to eat to regain stamina. I ate and read from my Bible the Proverbs of the day. What really stood out to me was the verse from Prov.30:5 "Every word of God is pure : He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. 8: " Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither  poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be full and deny thee, and say Who is the LORD ? or lest I be poor, and steal and take the name of my God in vain." I have had this burden and fear that leaving Jamaica and returning back to my normal life would soon erase what I have seen and experienced while here and I feared the shame and guilt that I would have to live with- I made this verse my prayer and was just asking God to help me to serve Him and please Him with my response to what I have obtained through this that it wouldn't be vain. I left the break room heavy and began talking with the Financial Advisor of BG and was asking him how he was doing. He responded by telling me that he was heavy spirited and I told him how I was feeling that a couple days ago. I listened to him as he poured out his heart and burden for providing for his family and the trying to understand why he chose to put his faith in God. He serves the Lord, He loves him and has brought up his children in the Lord and while he struggles to provide he sees the evil prosper in their ways and it really dissuades him and leaves him feeling heavy. After just reading this chapter from the Bible I realized that this was very relative to what we were talking about. As we were both sitting very tired after such a long day - God showed up and encouraged us both. He was asking me where we were staying and he lit up and said he knew where we were because he goes to the Verney House once a month for meetings with the Gidions Bible Association. He brings Bibles to Nursing Homes, Hospitals and the Homeless etc. I was telling him how we were kicking ourselves about not bringing Bibles after their being a number of requests for them at the Granville Girls Home (Prison) He was quick to say that he will bring them Bibles - what an awesome encouragement to him to be reminded how he is making a difference and for us because we had been praying that God would provide Bibles for these girls wanting Bibles.Thank You Jesus! Please pray that as the girls receive these Bibles that they will grow and desire after God and His will for them and that His word would not return void- Oh how He loves them <3

Day 9 - July 29

Trying to get up to date...

Sunday - July 29 - we had another day of rest & relaxation.  We were able to sleep in a bit and then had our own worship and church/devotion/sharing service - it was GOOD!

After lunch, we headed back down to the hip strip to finish up some souvenier shopping and then to have our last chance to put our toes in the jamaica beach!

It was a time of GOOD relaxation - a time to charge our batteries for the week ahead.  We are supposed to spend the entire day at BG on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday (9-4) and then Thursday morning at BG and afternoon at Granville and our final day on Friday we will spend the morning at BG and the afternoon at Melody House.

Keep us in your prayer:)

Day 8 - July 28

Today was a relaxation/fun day to rejuvenate ourselves.  We had to say good bye to Ryan yesterday and Carl today - they both had commitments back in Walla Walla.  They will surely be missed!!!

The team journeyed to YS Falls - about a 2+hrs. drive but definately worth it.  Taylor & Brayden are still not feeling 100% and Jane has come down with a bad stomach bug.  Jane did not come with us.  We had a great time - most of us did the zip line and played in the falls. i hope to post pictures soon but i wanted to get the blog updated.  Here's a link so you can see what it is...YS Falls website

We ended the day with delicious Jerk Chicken at "Jerkies" - YUM!

Day 7 - July 27 (sorry for the delay in posting...)

Part 1 - I didn’t get to go to BG (blossom garden) today – brayden woke up with a sore throat, headache & stuffed up head.  Taylor doesn’t feel well either & stayed back at the VH too.  Many of the team members are starting to have the same symptoms – Alyssa has been stuffy since the 2^nd dayL she’s been a real trouper and always smiling and ready to go!  What a blessing it has been to get to know everyone better on the team.

So… while back at the ranch – Debbie & I got some laundry done – yay! And  I finished reading 2 books that I had started about 2 months ago. I had read them a few years ago but since Tom Davis is going to be our keynote speaker in November at the orphan conference, I wanted to re-read them. I’m so glad I did – I love his books – definitely recommend you read them.  “Red Letters – living a faith that bleeds” and “Fields of the Fatherless”.  While refecting back to my post yesterday about as Christians and now knowing first hand of the plight of the orphan in jamaica – I thought that I would share a bit of what I read in “Fields of the Fatherless” that really resonated with me and thought it might too with you – so, here’s a little excerpt from the chapter: The Old Enemy: Fear – “ THE PADLOCK ON OUR COMPASSION: FEAR – There’s a common, very human reason for our resistance.  You see, the reason we don’t help the beggar on the road, or the single mother we know who is working herself to death, is the same reason we won’t help the orphan dying on the other side of the world.  We flee from the need in front of us because of our ancient, ruthless foe, fear. – When we see or hear about the atrocities happening to children in America or other countries, the fear of our lives being rudely interrupted enters in the equation of our attempts to help. We think, what if I became too involved? – We are afraid of changing what we’ve always done.  Our lives have become comfortable and manageable.  If loving the stranger, the widow and the poor have never been a part of our lives in the past (even if we know it should be) it’s much easier to keep on living the way we always have…The idea may cross our minds to sign up to take a meal to the elderly widow who broke her hip last week.  But then maybe we rationalize our lack of follow-through by telling ourselves someone else will do it. – What if these impulses are from God? What kind of joy might we be cheating ourselves out of? – Ironically, it turns out that fear is what prevents us from growing and changing.  Fear wants nothing to change; fear demands the status quo.  And the status quo leads to death. – Who wants the status quo?  It is stagnant and stymied living.  On the other hand, compassionate involvement is vibrant and fulfilled living.”

The moment in my life that I realized that fear was starting to hold me back was the moment that I decided that it would no longer!  It was about 8 years ago when we were praying about adopting for the first time and a dear friend of mine said to me “Is your faith stronger than your fears or your fears stronger than your faith?”  it was at that moment that I was determined to no longer let my fears hold me back.  Since then, God has totally changed our life – never in a million years did I think that I would adopt 2 times from china, start an orphan ministry (soon to be non profit) and go on 2 mission trips so far…  I love those dot, dot, dots… because I know I have no “plans” for my life but God does.  I’m just excited to do what He has for me to do –whatever that may be – I’m available and do my best to be obedient to His will.  My prayer for you is that you too will put your fears aside and if you are feeling compelled to do something for “the least of these” that you will do it.

Part 2 – the team returned from BG around 2:30 and they were wiped out!  I wished so bad that I could’ve been there to help.  We teach a bible lesson with the schoolers,  do worship and other “filler” activities.  The Aunties have them in their chairs from 9-12 with a snack half way through – next to impossible to keep them entertained/occupied for that long.  Usually a handful of us are with the schoolers and the rest split up between the toddlers & infants to help the Aunties J

We were invited to the “Fish Fry Fundraiser” at the Melody House – MH is a private home so I think they are doing fundraisers or willing to take donations more than others do.  It was an interesting night – enjoyed some of the entertainment of dancing and a fashion show.  Since it was a public event, we were able to take some pictures of the girls for personal non-public use – yay!  Thankfully, I was able to pry Brayden (Taylor & Debbie made it too) out of bed to come with us to get some fresh air and I think it helped.  I’m hoping everyone is  better tomorrow – (Saturday) we are planning on going to YS Falls for some fun and relaxation.

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.

Day 5 - July 25

WHAT A DAY!! 

If you haven’t noticed by now, we are not allowed to post pictures of any of the childrenL  As we are bonding & building relationships with these precious kids – it is TOUGH!  We want to share with you the faces of the children we are falling in love with but if we do we could end up in jail for 12 months – not a risk worth takingL

Today we began our day at BG – our team of 14 split up to visit with the schoolers, toddlers & infants.  I had the pleasure of going to the infant room today.  It is soooo easy to fall in love with these little guys – so so precious!! I had little Kimberly – she is about 10 months old but was born premature.  She is delayed developmentally and I kind of suspect Cerebral Palsy – she has a side that is very stiff but I’m not an expert & it’s not my job to diagnose her – just love on her and that is exactly what I did and it was a blessing to me to be able to do that.  So tiny…  While at BG, we’ve been trying to visit with the Aunties too – they really work hard and love these kids too – the home and children are spotless.  They put on a stern look but once you start visiting with them they really lighten up and start to smile a bitJ

We got to visit “The Father’s House” today – what a blessing that home will be for the children of Jamaica – please pray that God will provide the money very soon for this home so it can open!  We had time to worship & pray over the house today.

After 5 hours at BG, we came home to clean up to get ready for the party that we were throwing for the MH girls (and it is a girls bday too) an even better reason to celebrate!  We were delighted to treat them to dinner, dessert (bday cake with the candles etc..  – most children don’t get a celebration like this here in the children’s home) a little bit of entertainment/devotional, worship songs, a couple of games & they could choose to swim or a movie (6 out of the 8 swam).  WE ALL had a great time!  It was wonderful to get to know the girls better – they really loosened up and had a great time.  It was a great feeling to just watch them laugh and have a truly good time with nothing to worry about!

I don’t think anything too “deep” happened today but keep us all in your prayers as we minister to these 3 homes.  We are heading to BG in the morning to take the children to the beach! And then to Granville Girls home.

Oh – one more thing that I was thinking about the other day… as we drove to the Granville Girls home  (I think yesterday –it’s all becoming a blur) - was how poor this country really is.  There are many many homes that are left abandoned or unfinished, the roads are AWEFUL (it feels like we are 4 wheeling whenever we go somewhere) there are people out on the streets selling ANYTHING that they can to earn a dollar – it is poor. We drove by all of the “all inclusive” resorts on the way to the home and it got me thinking if anyone that ever goes to those places ever ventures out of the walls to really experience the real Jamaica??  So, I challenge you the next time that you come to Jamaica to get out and experience the country!!  I’ve heard so much about how wonderful it is in Jamaica and now that I’m here  - I’m trying to find out why it’s so wonderful? The beach is pretty but this country needs some serious prayer – not only for the children but for the people.  The churches here can’t even reach out to the orphans in their own country because they are needing to reach out & feed their own church family L And  - I could go on…– maybe next time…