Candlelight Service at Douglas Church

This week, we have a really fun group of women serving with us here in Monterrey to celebrate Christmas with the children in the orphanages. They bake cookies, help the kids make ornaments, decorate christmas trees, sing Christmas carols, put up christmas lights, watch christmas movies, and they bring a lot of presents. Basically, they are santa's elves. And our LDM building becomes "Santa's Workshop" for a week. It's a total blast for everyone involved.

But this year at Douglas, after dinner, presents, decorating cookies and ornaments we went up to the church to have a time of carols and some worship.

Then they gave every single child a candle and we sang silent night in english and spanish.

My little man, Oziel who is 5 years old said it best, "Caroline!! Look!! Look around Caroline!! It's so beautiful!!" It was definitely a first for the Douglas church. All the workers were so nervous. But the kids loved it. It was beautiful.

And we didn't burn the place down - total miracle.

Miguel read an ENTIRE chapter book

Twice each week, I work for one of the full time caregivers at Casa Hogar Douglas so that they can have a day of rest. The workers leave and I'm in charge. Thus, I am in charge of our daily schedule, chores, procedures, activities - more or less.

The boys hated homework time. Many could hardly read at all which only made homework more painful because their assignments were often above their skill level. They often wouldn't complete all of their homework and almost always skipped the assignment to "read for 15 minutes daily" and then get a signature. We as the ministry of Back2Back hope and dream that each of these children would one day be able to go to high school or college. Seeing day after day how far behind they were in school only made me nervous for their academic futures.

It was about one year ago when I decided to try to force my "big boys" (the dorm of boys ages 9 to 11) to read extra in addition to their homework. They needed it so badly. I am in charge of them for an entire day. If they aren't reading, it's 1/7th my fault. I was scared of their reaction so I twisted their arms by allowing them to play with my N64 after they took turns reading books for me. At first, they whined and complained. They'd read because they wanted to play video games.

As the months went by, the boys completely expected this as part of our daily routine. The concept of "read to play" became engrained in their minds. It got easier to get them to read for me. Some read so poorly that they could hardly finish reading one page of a story in 15 minutes but their confidence levels improved.

I was in charge of this dorm this past Friday and decided to test out how well they'd respect my books if I left a few with them to use for the reading part of their homework later in the next week. When I returned on Monday to take care of them again for the whole day so their caregivers could rest, I was absolutely shocked to find every single book still in the dorm and in good condition.

But then one of the 10 year olds told me something that honestly almost made me cry. He said he finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid over the weekend on his own. Friday night, I had a hard time putting him to bed because he wanted to sit in the bathroom where the light was still on so he could keep reading even though the entire dorm was in bed.

THE WHOLE BOOK. He read the ENTIRE book!!!!! His first ever big boy chapter book!

He loved it. He thought it was hilarious.

When I told him that a donor had just given me the books for the entire series literally that same day he smiled ear to ear and asked if I'd bring him the next book so he could start reading it that same day.

Unless you've struggled and battled to get your own child to read (which my mother did with me my entire childhood) you might not be able to comprehend how huge this is. But to see it in an orphanage dorm with a child who I can guarantee never had a book read to him as a little boy growing up is insane to me.

One year later, one of the 10 boys in that dorm likes to read for fun.

I've decided that if he reads all 5 books in the series that I'm going to give his entire dorm a pizza party one weekend. Miguel has already told me many times that he hopes and dreams to study and go to high school and college someday. He's said that he wants to be a psychologist to help people with their problems. As much as I like to think that I believe in him and that I'm his biggest fan - I don't even come close to loving him like God does. God is this little boy's biggest fan and I can imagine God just cheering Miguel on as he reads. Thank you God that one of these boys likes to read. Thank you Jesus for video games and the pull it has on little boys. Thank you God that this is working even if it's just one boy.

Miguel, buddy, I believe in you and in your dreams. I can't wait to see the man you'll become years from now. I am so unbelievably proud of you.

When they say, "Thank you"

My thoughts this past week revolved around Thanksgiving. I figured that I'd write a post or two about things I'm thankful for.... seemed appropriate. This was my 4th Thanksgiving in a row spent at a Mexican orphanage. I've been blessed for the past 4 years to live outside of the prosperity that I'd grown accustomed to after spending my entire life in a well to do Floridian beach community. Living in Mexico has really opened my eyes to some many things that I've taken for granted - like clean water, electricity, education, public safety, and my family. But tucking my boys in last night left such a big impact on me that I've decided to share about that instead...

My boys in the orphanage where I work say, "thank you," from time to time. Sometimes they say it because I've refused to serve them juice in the dining hall unless they use the special, "please" and "thank you" words. Other times it's because I've brought them some fruit from my fridge for a snack. But last night, one of the boys really caught me off guard with his simple words of gratitude.

All I did was tuck him into his bed last night. I had made up his bed with some clean sheets and helped the little man get under his covers. He seemed kind of surprised by the act and looked me straight in the eye and just said, "thank you." It was as if he was saying, "you didn't need to do that for me."

Of course I told him, "you're welcome. Would you like to pray before you fall asleep?" He agreed and we prayed.

There is just something altogether not right when an 8 year old thanks someone for tucking him into bed. When did I ever thank my mother for tucking me in?

I'm learning a lot these days about how our heavenly Father delights in us as his children. I'm learning more about what that means - because I sincerely delight in the presence of these precious children. I think that's how God must feel when He thinks of us. I hope and pray everyday that these little ones will feel loved - that they'll feel wanted and cared for and payed attention to enough - and some for the first time in their lives - to feel loved enough here on this earth to be able to believe and see how much their heavenly Father adores them. He created each one and made each one perfect. I guess for now, that is why I'm here. That's why I work the hours that I do. That's why I serve these kids. At the end of the day, if my boys feel loved then I guess I've succeeded in something.

God you so passionately love and adore each one of my boys. It is so clear and obvious to see the ways that you provide for them, fight for them and hurt for them. I pray that in this Christmas season, in and amongst all the gifts that they'll receive, that they'd feel loved by the people who matter most - to help them understand and be able to feel how much you love them. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters.

Time to just pray

This morning, like every Tuesday morning, I had the privilege of getting the little boys from Douglas out of their beds and ready for school. Sammy has been going with me for months now to help the inevitable craziness of trying to provide quality care in the institutionalized environment that these boys call home. After the boys' breakfast though, we got to talking about one boy in particular. And if I'm honest with you, which I will be... I'm completely sick of the lack of forward movement for this little man. I'm fed up. I'm over it. I want action on his behalf and I want it now.

Wouldn't it be a shame if this beautiful little child stayed in an orphanage for the next 10 years of his life? I believe it would be. Would you join me in praying for him? Would you pray that the government would produce a "real" birth certificate.... apparently the one he got last year from the pre-school is a fake and has the wrong birthday. He's already spent 4 years in an orphanage without a birth certificate and without a family and without any forward progress from social services. God is the only one here who can change his cards. Let's pray this little man into a family.

Perhaps this Christmas season we could give little Alex a gift - prayers for a hope of a brighter future. God please send heavenly angels to fight on his behalf in the heavenly realms. Join me. It's time to fight.

A First

This past week I had the opportunity to introduce reading to several little girls who were recently dropped off at a children's home we serve. After hearing a snippet of their case history, I was pretty sure that no adult had ever read a story to them before in their entire lives.

So I brought a few books and just started reading. They weren't sure what to do at first. Should they just listen to me or look at the pictures? They chose the first, with their huge eyes just staring at me as I read. Honestly, I think they were shocked that I spoke spanish. After a few stories, their eyes shifted over to the pictures. They were captivated. They giggled. Their eyes got big.

And that was all it took because now I'm pretty sure they are hooked.

We read about 10 books. Several of the Eric Carl's were read 2 and 3 times each per their request.

And then the 4 year old decided to read to me. She had already memorized Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?

I'm not a teacher. But my mom is. She read to me when I was little. She taught me. Orphans need someone to read to them. They need one on one time and attention. I hope and pray that the little boys who I read anywhere from 10 to 30 books each week to are going to repeat the cycle of reading to their own kids one day.

But now I'm hooked. I'm hooked to the thrill they get when they hear a story read for the very first time. Something inside of them just lights up. It's so simple yet so huge for their development.

Mom, thanks for reading to me. Thanks for all the trips to the public library. Thanks for reading Inside Outside Over There about 10,000 times. Thank you for making me read for an hour every day in the summer even though I hated it. Thanks for paying me in high school to read the same books that my 9 year old brother was reading. And thank you for buying books in Spanish for my boys. You never quit.