“FEE FI FO FUM” yelled the tickle monster as I came stomping up the stairs after Rodolph and Man man, two of my little buddies at the Children’s home.
Within 10 minutes the yells for the Tickle Monster had made a drastic switch and I was now being taunted as the POO POO Monster… complete with fingers in their ears, tongues out, and butts wiggling.
As I yelled “You better hope I don’t turn into the poo-poo monster!” and tore off through the house chasing them again; I will filled with this overwhelming feeling I’ve encountered many times at this Children’s home. This is the way it should be… kids being kids.
Rudolph with a classic 4 year old smile Kids playing Popcorn with Moses on the Trampoline
Another example:
My favorite time of the day is after devotions. We read them bedtime stories and tuck them into their beds. They love having stories read to them. As soon as devotions are over the bagainaing begins with any available grownup. “Tita, you read me 5 books tonight” They are vigilant that you don’t miss a single word and they have a question about everything. Their curiosity is awesome.
The other night we read a story about lightening bugs only to find out they have never seen a lightening bug. After explaining that a lightening bug was a bug with a flashlight on their butt we made a date to turn them into lightening bugs one night using our headlamps set on flash mode.
Here are Rodolf and ManMan running around being lightning bugs in the yard with me last night:
Man man checking out his sweet light, The boys trying to figure out how to make the “bug butt” flash
This month is confirming for me that one of the things that makes me come alive is seeing kids in their element. This is especially true for kids whose lives tell them otherwise. Kids on the streets, orphans, kids in slums forced to work and raise younger siblings.
Seeing a child involved in a big game of pretend or running into outstretched arms for a hug gets me every time.
Angel and Kyle playing the airplane game
New Faith Family Children’s Home does an amazing job of making their orphanage a home where kids are safe and free to be children. Jeff gets so excited when he shares the vision for this home. They commit to a lifetime investment in each child who comes through the doors. They are working on becoming an adoption center. But, for the children who remain in their care, they intend to see these children graduate college, to have huge reunions at holidays and to dance at their weddings. There is no expiration date on their investment in these kids.
Their home supports that vision. Every morning and night the children have devotions with songs and bible stories. They are being raised to know their Heavenly father in the absence of their parents. They dance to worship songs and are thrilled when they have a captive audience. We are working on updating the photo albums they have for each of the kids so that they will have memories of their child hood…. something I certainly take for granted at home. They have swings and a trampoline and love to play outside. They LOVE to color… Lindsey and I can’t walk all the way up the driveway in the morning before they start whining “Tita! Let’s color!” Oh, and the hugs. Colleen turned to me as we were heading out the door to read bed time stories surrounded by kids and said, “you know, I just love being here… so many hugs to go around!”
That’s the way it should be! Thank you God for this amazing model of how an orphanage can become a home.
To close, here’s Rodolf dancing during devotions one night:
Rodolf from Danny Gutman on Vimeo.
You can find out more about our ministry partners this month at:
http://www.kidsinternationalministries.org/
or by visiting our team’s new site:
http://www.becomeless.com/
