There are so many things we take for granted in the United States. Intangible things. Personal history is on that list. Most of us know our parents, our grandparents, in some cases, our great-grandparents. If we come from large families, we have aunts, uncles, cousins, great-aunts and great-uncles and second cousins… I grew up with this kind of extended family. More than fifty of us reside within a ten-mile radius. My cousin is one of my best friends, and as such, we have a lifetime of shared history. Our parents grew up together, so they have shared history. We have only to ask a parent or grandparent about something from the past, and photo albums are quickly whipped out. My grandmother even has old home movies of her mother!
I love having shared history. Having this sense of family. Of being connected to each other. Of belonging to a tribe. Of knowing my past. The children here at the New Faith Family Children’s Home don’t have that. For some of them, the only memories they will ever have are of this home. Various groups who come through here take many pictures of the children, but the pictures are not often left behind.
For the next two weeks, my ministry is to create photo albums and scrapbooks for each of the children at the home. To document their time here. With forty kids, I am thankful that we have snap-happy teams here; many cameras will make light work! We only have to start eighteen albums from scratch as some of the children have albums that were started by a World Race team that was here in January. My hope is that future teams will contribute to these albums, helping to create that sense of history for these amazing kids.
Some of our racers have made special connections with the kids, and they will be adding personal notes to the books. The girls who spent hours praying over the babies in the hospital will be able to tell them how much they were loved, even though they won’t remember it. The hope is that when these beautiful little people finally find their real families – the families who will adopt them and take them home – they will take their albums with them, knowing that they were loved from the moment they arrived at New Faith.
