Heavy Hearts

Wow! How can I begin to put into words everything we saw and experienced today?! I think I can speak for the group by saying that our hearts are heavy.  This morning we drove to the state orphanage where currently 700 children live.  700!  Soon to be 1000 children.  Phew.  We probably saw a third of this facility today and of course only what they wanted us to see.  Our scheduled appointment was with the teen girls and then the teen moms, but first we got to visit the special needs kids and the babies.  It broke our hearts to see these children with 1 maybe 2 special mamas in this big room of little ones.  Where was the nurturing?  Some of the babies didn't even respond to our touches, just stoic expressions.  Heartbreaking.

the government run orphanage

loving on the babies that barely get picked up out of their cribs...

Still even writing this I am at a loss for how to explain this experience at the state orphanage.  *Insert Deep Breath Here*  Okay moving on...

 Like I stated earlier we had an appointment with the teen girls and teen moms.  From what we understand there are 300 teen girls at this facility.  Thirty-two teen girls ages 10-16 years old were pulled out for us to share time with.  We shared the gospel with them through salvation bracelets which we made, next the girls either did a craft or got their fingernails painted by us, what a joy to see how excited they were about this simple activity. Next we were able to bless these girls with a big "Powerpuff" cake and some soda pop ( a very rare treat for them).  Lastly, we prayed over these girls for God's presence, protection, and blessing over their precious lives.

craft time with the teens

painting their nails :)

Our next stop was to the teen moms.  These young (and I mean young, 12 was the youngest) girls are in the orphanage with their little ones because they were all victims of rejection in their own families.  Their stories are heartbreaking and ones we can't even talk about.  We handed out bags of goodies to each mom and their child.  Again we were honored to be able to pray blessings over them.

I am not sure we have even really begun to process all of this.  We don't even know what to do with this....these emotions and knowledge.  Now we need to pray that God reveals His will for us regarding this experience.

 On a lighter note, our day was brightened when we came back to Dorie's Promise and got the opportunity to take the kids to a beautiful neighborhood park.  What a joy it was to spend the afternoon with these precious ones.  Seriously I am tearing up now thinking about leaving them here.  Even though they are soooo loved and taken care of, most of them don't have Mommies and Daddies.   Lots of these kids come from horrific experiences or were abandoned and you can't help but ask yourself how anyone could ever hurt or reject these gifts from God!  Oh how we have fallen in love with these kids here in the last few days and our hearts are breaking thinking about leaving.  (If only we could bring them all home with us!)

off to "el parque" with 20 kiddos...

find someone to hold your hand!!

Kristie and her Brayan

"Help me, Mama!"

Loving on the babies that didn't get to go to the park...

Dinner time....there was even a little food fight!!

With much love,

  Kristie along with Missy