Adrian

Above is my favorite picture of Adrian. It was taken last summer and was probably the first photo I had ever seen of him smiling. A year ago, when I moved into Douglas - Adrian was what I called "the enforcer" of the dorm. He was in charge. If another boy did something that Adrian decided was punishable - he'd just hit the kid. Obviously, I didn't approve of that and spent many weeks trying to prove to Adrian that I was a responsible adult and that I would handle the "discipline" of the dorm. Adrian is another one of my boys who has shown incredible improvements in behavior over the past year. He used to be so angry and violent. He struggled with every transition. But these days, Adrian is actually a really sweet, calm, agreeable and a kind older brother to his younger sibling - Fernando.

These pictures are of Adrian and Fernando laughing themselves sick while watching a video of themselves in one of those "Elf yourself" videos from their Shelter Sponsors.

Adrian has unfairly been given the responsibility of his younger special needs brother - Fernando for many years. He defends and protects his brother with vigor.

Adrian is highly intelligent and a fantastic reader. Adrian is unbelievably athletic and buff. He can walk across a room on his hands and is often seen flexing. When Adrian plays soccer, he will literally throw himself - his whole body - after the ball. He's intense and fierce on the soccer field.

He has been involved in the carpentry classes at Douglas this year and loves it.

This is Adrian celebrating his 9th birthday. We had the most incredible cake and he felt like a rockstar.
With deep emotion I share the following.... I know that being able to go home and live with his family has been the only thing that Adrian has ever wanted. For an orphaned child in an orphanage, what else could they ever want? With all my heart, I cry alongside these kids when they miss their mom. I pray everyday for God to make a way for them to live in a family - whether it's their biological family or a foster family or an adoptive family. Whatever has to happen to make that happen is worth it. All I have ever hoped and prayed for is coming true this month - Adrian and Fernando will be reunited with their mom. They've lived in an orphanage for almost 7 years now. It's about time. I'm so stoked for Adrian and I know that he will transition well to life at home but I'd be lying if I said that I won't miss his handsome face.

For the last couple of years here on staff with Back2Back, I've clung to Psalm 27:13 which says, "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." I've prayed over and over again that I'd have the faith to trust and wait on the Lord like it says in the verse following in verse 14, "Wait for the LORD, be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." I've prayed to trust and wait on the Lord that I would see his goodness right now at Douglas. And now I'm seeing it. Adrian gets to go home. If that's not the goodness of the LORD, than I don't know what is. Praise the LORD!

Adrian you are a tough cookie and I'm so proud of the big brother you are. I am so thankful for the ways you love on Fernando and are patient with him. You're smart, handsome and a total sweetheart. You deserve a family and I'm so thankful that you'll get that opportunity in just a few weeks. I know that you know you are a handsome dude - so don't go stealing all the ladies' hearts. God will never leave you or forsake you Adrian - He is your protector. He will execute true justice. Perhaps you'll have a future in law enforcement? Love you tough guy

Jahir

If I had to nominate one child from Casa Hogar Douglas to win the award for something like... "most dramatically different" this year - it'd for sure go to Jahir. We always suspected this sweet child had some hearing issues but it wasn't until we actually had his ears tested this past year that we found out how profoundly deaf he is. As soon as that truth came out, he stopped being required to go to the elementary school who had honestly written him off as just plain dumb. Poor kid couldn't hear a thing the teacher said. He was in a 3rd grade classroom and didn't know numbers, colors, sounds or letters so he'd just sleep the entire morning. Jahir a year ago was quiet, shy and reserved. Today he has so much confidence. He walks around with this thug like swagger. He feels cool. He feels handsome -- I gave him the most good looking hair cut ever last week and he just walks around yelling things like, "HEY!! My hair looks good!!" As soon as the rest of his world realized what he knew all along - that he had taught himself how to read lips and can't hear a thing if you just yell a command at him from a distance - Jahir finally felt accepted and smart.

He has been going to speech therapy since this fall and is able to communicate his thoughts now. I know for a fact that Jahir loves school more than any child at Douglas. He calls his special needs school, "la otra escuela" which means "the other school." At this school for kids with special needs, they treat him with respect and encourage him to keep learning sounds and how to talk better. He is learning so much at school and LOVES it when he gets homework. For years now, I've referred to Jahir as "my favorite child on planet earth" because he can always bring a smile to my face or make me laugh. This past year, Jahir has probably grown about 6 inches. His first teeth finally started to fall out. Boardgames are probably Jahir's favorite afternoon activity - he loves Connect 4, Uno, War and memory. I'm so proud to say that when I play war with Jahir - he can now determine on his own whether or not my 7 beats his 2. Even though Jahir tries his best to put on a tough/cool guy show, he is a total softy and rather sensitive.

With his new confidence, he has started branching out and playing soccer with the rest of the boys even though he has little chicken legs (he was a premature baby and hasn't physically caught up with the rest yet). He'll be the first to recount the day when we were playing soccer on the fields out back and because he was running so hard and so fast that he got tangled up with another boy while going after the soccer ball and bit the dirt hard. He had a bloody face for a week but was so proud of his scars. Fitting in with the rest of the world is a struggle for this little man for obvious reasons.

One of my favorite times of the week to see Jahir is on Sunday mornings during church. The worship band is so loud that Jahir can actually hear them. He is almost always in the front row, paying attention to no one except the worship team with his hands raised, clapping off beat at times, singing at the top of his lungs and worshipping his creator.

Jahir came home from school dressed like an oompa loompa with sparkly green hair and could not for the life of him tell me why they dressed him like this for the school assembly or what the school assembly was about. I had a really hard time not laughing as he walked up and showed off his costume. He just said, "Yeah Caroline, check out my costume! Cool huh?"

Even though Jahir talks a little "crazy" - he says my name probably better than most at Douglas which should earn him some kind of prize. Jahir - you're the man. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of man you'll be someday when you're all grown up - a husband, a father, a provider - a gangster sounding father, husband and provider. I pray you'll never lose your childlike passion for worshipping Jesus. You teach me everyday what it means to love and serve the least of these and legitimately you are my favorite child on planet earth. I'm not sure why God doesn't make them all like you.

Miguel

Words cannot express how much I am absolutely head over heels in love with each of these children. It's frustrating as I try to come up with words to adequately describe how proud I am of each of these precious boys because it's practically impossible. But nevertheless.... here I go. Miguel has changed so much in the past 12 months. He turns 10 years old next month.

Miguel began violin lessons last summer and learned how to play quite a few tunes. He is a very, very intelligent child and is a fantastic reader. He loves to sit down with me and read a few chapters of Captain Underpants in Spanish each week.

His world literally lights up when he hears anything about his Shelter Child Sponsorship family. Thinking of how much his sponsors' words of encouragement mean to Miguel brings me to tears of joy literally every time I speak about this special relationship (fighting tears now as I type).
Over the past year, I've witnessed Miguel go from being angry, disrespectful, defiant, at times violent with others... to a thankful, charming, sweet, caring, respectful, helpful, playful and all around just beautiful. Last June, Miguel prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior and I'm confident that the new and improved Miguel is a direct reflection of that decision.

Miguel is also hands down the most talented soccer player at Casa Hogar Douglas. As a 9 year old, he competes with the older teen boys and schools them on frequent. Sometimes he gets scared and thinks that he can't keep up with the big boys but then he pumps himself up and shows off. I love every chance I can get to see Miguel play and encourage him to keep practicing and to not chicken out against kids easily 4 and 5 years his senior.

I also find his obsession with his hair to be quite funny. Out of all the boys in his dorm, Miguel is the mirror hog. He has to make sure his hair gel is just right. A few weeks ago, the workers at the home made him get a hair cut and Miguel hated his short hair so much that he wore a baseball cap for a week straight in embarrassment. I cut most of the boys hair at Douglas these days.... but I wasn't the one who made Miguel "bald" on that occasion but Miguel laughs every time he sees me cutting some boy's hair because for the life of him he can't believe that I know what I'm doing.

He is mature for his age and down right compassionate. I am so thankful for all the long conversations I've been able to have with Miguel this past year - about my own faith, his faith, his dreams and my own. The day I moved in to be in charge of his dorm last year, he reminded me and yelled, "Caroline!!! Don't you remember?!?!?! You told me that it was your DREAM to be my caregiver and look!!!! Your dream came true!!! You are taking care of me now!" We praised the Lord on that crazy day in remembrance. Miguel doesn't forget much. One day, we were talking about an upcoming trip I had to go on and he started getting nervous because he thought that perhaps airplanes crash as often as cars in Monterrey do. I assured him that airplane pilots go to school for a really long time and almost never make mistakes. Perhaps one day Miguel will be a pilot. God Bless him... Love you Miguel

One year later...

Have you ever noticed how moms of small children sometimes wait till 5 or 10 years later to create or finish photo albums of their children? Parenting multiple kids is a crazy job - it's hard to document. I realized lately that I haven't been posting much on my blog and I've decided to do something about it.

This past June marked the 1 year anniversary of when I moved into Casa Hogar Douglas to take care of 14 little boys. I am absolutely in awe of everything God did to make that happen. He moved heaven and earth seemingly to put all the pieces together and it was all because God, who loves each of my 14 boys so much more than I ever could, has a plan for them. God decided that I would have some small part in their growth and placed me there for that exact period of time. The experience for me was absolutely life changing. In the last 12 months, I've celebrated 14 birthdays, good grades, losing first teeth, learning to ride a bike or rollerblade, potty training, spiritual growth, learning to read, learning to count or their colors, improved behavior, a million "I love you's" or "thank you's" and it's about time that I celebrate that. I spend literally everyday with these beautiful children and sometimes my role in their lives seems so natural or just part of my routine but the truth is - God has done incredible things in the past year that deserve a voice.

So for the next 14 days, I am going to post each day about one of my 14 boys and how they've grown or changed in the past year. Lord knows that I have about 200 photos of each child so it's going to be fun to decide which get posted. Stay tuned...

Celebrating a statistical Miracle

In the Spring of 2004, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. She had a big tumor grow out of her heart and by the grace of God was relatively "cancer free" a year later after radiation and surgery. She made it 5 years after that without any signs of cancer growth until the summer of 2009 when tumors started to show back up again.

Mom's idea of a "bad hair day"

In 2009 and 2010, my mom battled through the harshest and strongest chemo cocktail that the medical world has and was determined again to have no known cancer growth in the fall of 2010. When it came back in 2009 my mom started praying that God would grant her 15 more years like Hezekiah got in 2 Kings 20. When she returned to Houston to meet with her doctors in the fall of 2010 - that's exactly what they told her. Her doctors were again shocked and said, "Wow. You must be one of those statistical outliers because we think you might live for another 10 to 15 years. It's possible."

My mom loves America's National Parks. She has a list of the parks she'd like to visit someday. To celebrate her miracle, I just spent the last week with her and my dad in Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. She called the trip her "Yosemite Victory Tour."

"The LORD has done great things for us and we are filled with joy." - Psalm 126:3

Pray for the Douglas Retreat

Please pray for us and pray for the workers from Casa Hogar Douglas this week. All the workers are going to leave and go on a spiritual retreat for 2 days. Who will take care of the kids? Great question - several B2B staff and 7 interns are going to do our best to handle every single aspect of running an orphanage. We will be taking care of the 70 some kids - getting them dressed for school, driving them to school, running their office, cooking for them and feeding them, doing all the laundry, cleaning, homework, playing, bathing, putting them to bed and then sleeping in the dorms. It's going to be awesome! The kids are clearly excited to have Americans take care of them for a few days but that also puts us Americans in a difficult position - they think that they can walk all over us. Pray that we maintain control, the kids have fun and stay safe. Pray for our spanish abilities, patience, energy levels and for good sleep.

I've been praying that God would just rock the workers on their retreat. Pray for Antonio and Priscilla and the pastor from Principe de Paz as they will be leading the retreat for the Douglas workers. We believe that God wants to do mighty things at Casa Hogar Douglas to make it a place of blessing, worship, refuge, healing, and unity. It starts though with the workers - unified as one body and spirit.

Would you join me in praying for the retreat this week through Philippians 2:1-4, "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." and picking up again in verse 12, "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life -- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."