As I lay hot, sweaty, and trying to get some restless sleep
I decide to roll over to try and get the fan to cool my face off. As I try and
turn over, I stir more awake as I notice something is in my bed. I carefully
turn over so I don’t disturb whoever has taken over my bed. I look down and see
Teresa who is the youngest girl at the orphanage. She is 6 years old and so
precious. Sleeping beauty.
As I gaze down at her body curled up with her head on my
pillow, I can’t help but smile. I lightly doze back off to sleep, and soon
enough, she heads on out of my bed back to her bed. In the morning, she runs in
and wakes me up with an Eskimo kiss (rubbing your noses together) and a
butterfly kiss (batting your eyelashes against their cheek), both of which I
had taught her the first week. I smile, as I open my eyes knowing that it is
her cute self, waking me up. She smiles at me as I ask her, “Did you know that
you came into my bed last night?” She nods and I ask her, “Was everything ok?”
She pauses before saying, “No, I just wanted my mom.”
My heart broke. This sweet 6 year old had no mom. No mom to
crawl into bed with just to cuddle. No mom to clean her cuts and put a band-aid
on her. No mom to love her when she needed love. I think about all of the times
my own mom knew just what to do or say during different times growing up. How
she would take me shopping, and we would go and see a movie just because. My
mom is amazing and I couldn’t imagine a better mom. Looking at Teresa, she
doesn’t have that. My heart was so sad. This last month we were able to give
the girls the motherly love that every child deserves. The little moments of
reading a princess storybook, or having tickle fights, or saying bedtime
prayers, we were able to show them a little parental love.
It breaks my heart that our month went so fast, but I have
faith that Christ will be their Father and Mother. The little love that we were
able to share is nothing in comparison to the love that Christ can show them. I
pray that even as we leave, they would know Christ personally and know Christ
as their father and mother.
The last weekend we were
able to bring all of the kids bowling, to a movie, and a water park. There will
be more footage and videos to come of our fun adventures! Thank you for
everyone that made that possible!
