We have only been at the orphanage a few
days, but we are blessed to be able to witness a wonderful celebration
yesterday! One of the children, a little
girl, has been adopted and is going home with her parents to Spain in a couple
of days. They had a party for her at the
orphanage to celebrate. Her parents
looked so happy and were so welcoming of having 5 Americans, 1 Canadian, and 1
Irishmen at their party. In Bolivia you
have to live in the country for one month in a hotel with the child you are
adopting so that the social services in Bolivia can be sure that the adoption
is a good fit. It makes me think about
all those parents had to go through to adopt their little girl. I could tell they thought it was worth it and
how excited they were to be able to finally take her home to Spain. The mom kissed our cheeks and the dad handed
us pens. The other children in the orphanage
got a piñata, balloons, and goodie bags.
A child being adopted is hard on the other
children, though. Yes, they were excited
for their friend and who doesn’t enjoy a party, but we could definitely tell
today the effects of it. Marisol, the
director of the House of Dreams, told us that some of the kids would have a
hard time with it, so she was glad that we were here. She said having more people to distract the
children and give them attention would be helpful. All the children were excited to see their
little friend and she was beaming. The
wife of our ministry contact told me how different, in a good way, the little
girl being adopted was after only a month of being with her parents. The House of Dreams is great and has
wonderful, loving, caring people running it but what a difference personal attention,
love, and discipline make in a child’s life.What a wonderful thing adoption is
and what a great opportunity our team has to give affection, attention and the
love of Jesus to each child at the House of Dreams.
