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Showing posts from 2016

Homeless

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Homeless squatters. You wrecked my life. You cause me to lose sleep. You reopened my eyes. You've challenged me. Sadly, I was numb. After seeing and living next to poverty for more than 3 years I'll admit I became a bit immune to it.  I could sleep just fine at night even though the world was a mess....until I met you. You wrecked my life. I remember walking into the shack that serves as a squatting area for all of the homeless, the outcast. We made eye contact, but your eyes were empty. You crawled on the floor trying to peak around the crowds to see what I was doing. Polio stole your hope 14 years ago and you lost faith after your parents abandoned you. And now you are left to crawl around on the dirt floor with your big mighty arms because your legs are crippled and bent. You were alive yet lifeless. You were awake yet dead. You were among the 100 people in this abandoned shack squatting in a place you call home. I've seen a lot of poverty. I've seen death

I am "that mom"

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"That mom" I had my first experience of being "that mom." You know the one that is trying to do 100 things in the morning. The one who is trying to get Noldines uniform on only to find out her shoes don't fit with socks. The mama who realizes I only have purple brets for her hair (hair that I don't even know how to braid yet) and she desperately needs blue brets to match her uniform. That mom that sends my child to school with a lunchbox full of scammbled eggs because there's nothing left in the pantry. The mom who wakes up early to get ready herself only to have that plan destroyed when the baby decides to wake up with a fever. The mom who, admist the stress and the chaos and the wild, arrives at school at 7:03 and feels like they have accomplished the greatest tackle in the world. The mom who selflessly will wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. I am a mom. I didn't become a mom the most normal way, but I am still a mom. And being a mom isn&

Amandalina

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My 6th baby came in July and made her place as the youngest of the other girls. 2 months old and so so adorable! A head full of black curls. One look at you and my eyes lit up. I knew you were now mine. I was amazed at your tiny body but oh so chubby cheeks. Your daddy died before you were born and your mama is no where to be found. It was a breath of fresh air to receive a baby that came without one bit of sickness in the body. Amandalina, you are loved. I had a vision that morning. I would receive a little baby. I would bring another crib into the room and set up your belongings. I saw it all in my head, but shorty forgot about it. Assuming I was day dreaming. But little did I know, you were in route as I was thinking about you. You were on your way to make your grand appearance at your new home. Weighing in at 8 pounds it was a joy to unpack the newborn clothes and start watching you grow from the very beginning. I love you my little sunshine. Welcome home.

The watermelon house

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I was driving down Route one. The main road to get anywhere around here. I drive it a few times a week. Several times a month. For the last 3 years. This road gives breathtaking scenery. Crystal blue oceans on the left and green lush mountains on the right. Usually I am taken away by the beauty of God's masterpiece, but this time something caught my eye. There are watermelons for sale all along this road and there are hundreds of little house huts on the mountainside next to the watermelon sellers. All I know was that it was the push from God to stop the car and walk up to these huts. Fear was in me as I wondered who these people were. If they would accept me intruding in their lives. My mind was racing as I tried to think of what to say. Why after three years did I decide to approach these people? But when I arrived at the house, already out of breath from the hike up, walking on rocks and weaving in and out of watermelon vines, my heart fell out of my chest.  I tried to act

School for kids. Jobs for parents

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Kids in school = Parent jobs I heard a knock at the gate. It was Lovemica and her mama. They had returned to my house to ask once more if I would take the rambunctious two-year-old. She sat back down at my table and I talked with the mom. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she explained to me that she had nothing. Nothing at all. And she was the only one her daughter had. Nobody else was around to help. And my heart broke in two. This was the third time this month someone has arrived at my gate with a child. A child they loved, and cared for, and wanted, but had no way of providing for her. I explained how much a child needs their mama. I told them that their daughter yearns for them. And if there’s any way possible of keeping the child united with family, that is the road we will take. So I drove Lovemica and her mama back to their tiny house where 10 other people slept. Lovemica showed me the floor that she slept on and showed me her closet. Which was empty. Exce

Ketchina

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# 5 Well, I didn’t believe them. You arrived at my gate as a crippled 24- month- old. But you were so small. I thought there must have been a loss in translation. You were so lifeless. But your teeth showed it all. You had a mouth full. Your molars had come in. And on June 30th , I learned how vast, how different, how strong the types of malnutrition are. I’ve seen the swollen kind. I’ve seen the skin and bones kind. And now I’ve seen the crippled and stunted in growth kind. You came from up north. A very desolate, poverty-stricken community. Your care-giver didn’t know how to write her own name, she didn’t even know the day you were born, so I will pick a day for you. A special day that the Lord has made. For you. Your legs are bent and crooked but you can stand. They stay very bent when you try to walk with me, but you are able to walk. My hands in yours, we do physical therapy every day. You were left in the dirt. Afraid of spoons and forks and any kind of food other than c

July pictures

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My girls are growing up so fast! Annia is 4 months old now and can sit up. Ciarha is 7 months old and just got 2 teeth and has started to crawl. Dachena is 16 months old and is finally gaining weight even though she dances all day long. Ketchina is 24 months old and is able to stand on her own 2 feet without assistance now. Noldine will be 4 in August and is the best little helper. She loves to play hide and seek with her sisters.

David

“God doesn’t see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 And in my eyes, this was perfect truth and validation to the people of David’s day. David was the youngest of 8. The runt of the family, some might like to say. The Hebrew word for “youngest son” is Haqqaton. Not only does it mean the baby of the family, it also means the least. The lowest rank. The shepherd boy. There are 66 chapters in the bible that talk about David’s story. Other than Jesus, he is the most talked about in scripture. And this made me want to dig down deeper and look at the heart of David, after all, he was “a man after God’s own heart.” Max Lucado put it like this: “God saw what no one else saw: A God-seeking heart. He took after God’s heart, because he stayed after God’s heart. In the end, that’s all God wanted or needed. Others measure your waist size or wallet. Not God. He examines hearts. When He finds one set on him, he

If its His will, there is always a way.

“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” I’ve read this verse 1000 times but it never really registered with me until now. I’m able to see Abraham's faith more clearly. He was against all odds, except for Gods. The world probably thought he was crazy for expecting a baby at such an old age. The crowds would have rolled their eyes in disbelief. Why Abraham? They might ask. What makes him good enough to get a son at his old age? The answer is his FAITH. He had faith. I read in a book one time that “even the great Abraham had NOT EARNED his standing before God but had received it as a GIFT when he BELIEVED God. Sometimes God makes us wait. Most of the time I lose faith and patience while waiting. Perhaps Abraham did too. Sometimes we try to accomplish it our own way. We try to "help" God to make something happen quicker. For Abraham, at the beginning, it was easy to believe he would get a son. He was young, his wife was in child-beari

baby #4

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Ciarha. 6 months old. Arrived April 30th. Admitted into the hospital on May 1. And thus starts our journey. You came half alive. Severely malnourished. Diagnosed with a disease called Kwashiorkor. A protein deficiency causing your small 8 pound body to swell. I thought you were mute. Really, you just didn’t have the strength of a voice. You couldn’t open your eyes fully. You had a voodoo neckless tied around your neck. The same day you arrived, I rushed you to the hospital where you were given a bag of IV fluids. Fluids that I had to go and buy, including the needles and tubes. Because the hospital didn’t provide them. She was Cuban, your first of many doctors. She kept praying and praying to God. And shaking her head in utter disbelief. The next day you were admitted into a hospital 1.5 hours away. For the next 17 days. After filling out piles of paperwork stating that I was the only guardian, that I was the caregiver, and if anything were to go downhill, I was in charge of mak

There is always something to look forward to.

May 25th 2016 A very long day! I left my house at 3:40 to take a friend back to the airport. His flight was at 8 but due to the main bridge collapsing about a month ago, traffic has become really bad. My dad was here last week and it took us 6 and a half hours to get home. A trip that usually takes 1 hour. This is the new “normal”! So we watch the sunrise as we drive down the road. About 20 minutes away from the airport, the bus breaks down. I had a driver and 2 security guards with me and they all tried to fix it with no luck. The clock kept ticking and I was getting nervous that David would miss his flight so I sent him on a motorcycle the rest of the way! Thankfully, he made it without any problem. After 13 and a half hours of sitting in that bus, I was finally freed!! I wasn’t allowed to go outside due to being in a rough area of town but they did let me find a toilet, but only once! We ate crackers and drank water and watched the kids go to school, and then watched them leave fro

#3

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Dachena 13 months old. Abandoned. Starved. motherless. These are the words I received when I got the call that my 3rd child was about to join La Limye. On April 29 she was carried into my house, practically lifeless. Hollow eyes, enlarged stomach, weighing 11 pounds. She was so little. Every crevice of every bone showed in her fragile body. She couldn’t even pull herself to sit up from lying down. She didn’t make a sound. I held her little body for what seemed like forever. Holding her tight. Wondering how long she sat on the side of the road, in the dark, all alone. Repeating over and over again “Jesus loves you.” Wondering if I could get her the nutrients she needed. Or if it was already too late. Malnutrition. I hate it. The way Dachena feels is like the way we feel when we are sick, but 10 times worse, and every single day of her entire life. So she is irritable. she is cranky. She is worn. But she holds on to hope. The only movement she had was to reach her right hand out as

Noldine

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Noldine # 2 I have known this little girl for 2 years now. For some reason, I bonded with her more than any other child in the village. She was different. She was special. When I first found her, she was sitting in the dirt. She could not walk or talk at 2 years old. This is what started our journey together. Through the power of prayer, people came together to help buy her food and vitamins. I worked with her everyday trying to get her to balance on two feet. She was malnourished, neglected, and developmentally slow. Her knees stayed bent and her back was crooked. But after some time she miraculously started to crawl, and then walk, and slowly a year later, started to talk. When I opened the orphanage I wondered everyday if she would come. I knew in order to get her the schooling and care that she needed, she needed to come but I also knew that she had family. And sometimes it is best to keep the child with the family. But Noldine was different. All of my family and friends already

My first baby, Miss Ania

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Ania Dorvil (On-Yah) On March 24th the dream became a vision and the vision became reality. 2 years ago I went to the top of the mountain. It was there where I met some orphans and fully decided to build a home for children. Two years after starting construction, the children’s home opened. On March 5th I spread the word that the home was now accepting children. Every day I prayed and TRIED to wait patiently for the first little girl to arrive. On March 9th a beautiful brown eyed miracle was born. Where? On that same mountain in that same village 2 hours away that I went to two years ago. Her mother passed away after giving birth and the father had no way to provide for her. Milk was obviously limited so she was given tea her first two weeks of life. They would have brought her down to me earlier but they didn’t have the money for a motorcycle. I had to send someone up the mountain to bring the father and his daughter down because he didn’t have the $7.00 needed. Seven dollars

February Pictures

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