These are the kids of Hogar Miqueas, or Micah's Home. They have all come to this place in the past three years. They range from one-year to twelve-years of age. They all have different stories as to how they got here, but this is now their home. They are cared for, they are fed, and are attending five private schools in the area.
The house parents came from the US to live here at the orphanage knowing little Spanish, but also knowing that this was where God wanted them to be. It is such a privilege to get to work with these kids every day!! A typical [week]day for me looks like this:
6am: Wake Up
6-8am: breakfast, personal devos
8am: worship and team devos
9am-noon: Play with toddlers
Noon: Lunch time for the toddlers
12:30-1:30: Nap time for the kids = free time for us
1:30pm and 3:30pm: Kids gets home from school
1:30-5pm: Tutor/Help with homework and play with kids afterwards
5pm: Dinner time for the kids = dinner time for us
6-7pm: Entertain toddlers in their room while the nannies bathe them
7pm: bed time for the kids
7-8pm: Team time/feed back time
8pm-?: Free time (shower, blogging, internet, sleeping, etc)
So far, I have gotten punched, pinched, mocked, drooled on, and spit up on [Marvin kindly rubbed it in for me afterwards]. Not too shabby considering others have already gotten peed on and pooped on. Yesterday I got to spend the entire day with the toddlers, since the house parents were away and they were short on staff for the day. I focused the day on teaching them how to take turns and play with me one on one. I tried to teach them how to wait their turn and allow others to take their turn as well. At first, they cried when I wouldn’t pick them up and even when I put them down. I was trying to be intentional in giving them one on one attention. It was such a blessing to see so many of them catching on to taking turns and even giving up their time with me for someone else to play with me.
There is so much that can be done in this place! I can't believe we've been here for a week already, but at the same time I can't believe its only been a week. We are staying on site, so if you don’t wake up early enough, you are woken up by the sound of kids running and playing. We got one day a week off and even on days off, you still find yourself playing with the kids and interacting with them. How can you not? Great things have happened here already and greater things have yet to come!
