God gave me boys. Plural. Two of them.
I can still picture Him laughing down at me. Oh the giggles. Oh what a sense of humor He has.
As soon as we settled into El Shaddai, we were given a quick tour of the beautiful property that overlooks the many hills of Swaziland, and then we were ushered into the small chapel for an orientation. El Shaddai is a ministry site that hosts children who are orphans. They are an orphanage, a school, a church, and a clinic. They have approximately 55 children and teenagers who live here, all rescued from abusive or neglectful families and placed here under the loving care of God. Our job this month is to teach, tutor, do construction and gardening, help with administrative work, run the clinic, and love on the children. In addition to that, we were each assigned a buddy.
I got two. They are boys.
Here’s the catch though: I’m not a big kid person. Shocked? “But wait!,” you say, “You worked at a daycare for two years!” I know, I know. I like children in organized settings. I like well-behaved children. I’m an only child and I didn’t grow up around children, so I don’t know how to act around them. I can only relate to kids who were like me as a child.
But God gave me two boys. Two kids who are male.
My name was called and I walked to the front of the church. As the head of El Shaddai read out the names of the kids who would become my buddies, she quickly and excitedly added, “Two boys!” I felt my face go blank and I could audibly hear the giggles from the people on my squad who know my struggle with children –especially with little boys. I awkwardly hugged my two buddies and took them to my seat. Immediately, one of them sat on my lap and held my hand. It’s almost as if he could sense how nervous I felt.
Why couldn’t God just give me a teenager for a buddy? I like teenagers! Why two eight-year-old boys??
In these past few days though, I have fallen in love with these children. One of them is hyperactive, inattentive, crazy, disobedient, and probably thinks he’s too cool for me. He was severely abused by his family before coming to El Shaddai. The other one is a sweet boy who loves to cuddle and sit on laps; he does his assignments and makes the coolest paper airplanes I’ve EVER flown. His mother died and his family was unable to care for him, so he was placed at El Shaddai by social welfare.
Two very different personalities and stories, that for some reason were entrusted to me for these two-and-a-half weeks we will be here. I am learning so much about what it looks like to choose to love a child who might be out of my comfort zone. I am learning how to interact with them. I am learning how to serve them better. I am growing in patience as I learn. I am learning what it means to be motherly towards these boys who never experienced such a thing. Ultimately, I am learning that regardless of the hardships we have walked through, Jesus gives us a new life that allows us to run around and laugh, find joy in a broken can, skip over rocks barefoot, and carelessly toss paper airplanes with a heart that is just as light.
* Yes, the title is a Gilmore Girls reference.
