Where the Wild Things are

There is just something about my boys' silliness and wild outbursts of laughter, jokes, spinning in circles uncontrollably, pretending to fly while landing flat on their faces and blowing bubbles in their milk that I absolutely love.

This past week another one of the orphanage workers noticed how energetic and down right crazy the boys were acting at dinner. The entire table was uncontrollably laughing and goofing around, pretending to make farting noises and doing everything except eating their dinner. At multiple points, I the "adult in charge" just sat back and laughed with them. The other caregiver said, "what in the world did you give them?!!?!?" I like to think that I'm giving them a plateful of attention, with a glass of my own jokes, a spoonful of stories and the freedom to have some imagination.

These precious little boys can't even be serious when they are on the toilet. After dinner, I had a whole army singing about spiders and swaying back and forth as they sat on the toilets, 3 pre-schoolers all in a row singing and swaying like drunken miniature pirates.

I'm finding that all too often, orphans lose their playfulness, joy and imagination far too prematurely for their physical age. They grow up too fast because their abandonment forces them to. I'm grateful to see evidence of the contrary every now and again... even if it means a little chaos.

The impossible

It is with extreme excitement and joy that I post the following prayer request....

We now have reason to believe that with the new laws in the state of Nuevo Leon regarding the rights of minors living in orphanages, several of the sweet little faces I see everyday might become adoptable sometime in the next few months or years. I am not known by anyone to be patient. I don't exactly have the best track record in "waiting patiently for the Lord" like the Bible tells us to do over and over again. But I do believe God is answering some of my prayers and some of your prayers with this advancement. What was once impossible - to actually see a parent's rights to a child who they haven't visited or provided for in YEARS be severed - is looking and sounding like it might actually be possible. You see, many of the sweet children I care for daily have spent years of their lives without being visited by a single family member. Yet, those same family members - mom or dad - still hold the parental rights to the child - which leaves the child stuck in an orphanage for their entire childhood and without the legal "go ahead" to be considered "adoptable." To me, that is a crime. These sweet children need to have their rights defended and at some point have their "voice" be legally heard.

Thus, would you join me in trying to be ardent in prayer and to wait with eager anticipation for God to open some legal doors for my favorite orphans out of 170 some odd million orphans around the world? Some of my little men, will never go live with their families. They will never know what it would have been like to grow up in a family. They will never have their "mom" or "dad" attend a school function when all the other parents come to celebrate their children's accomplishments. But if the new law is enforced and their individual cases examined, I do believe that with God's hand moving some things around, some of these precious children could become adoptable. Please pray with me.

A new kind of request

"Caroline do you have another one for me? I finished the last one already. Can I trade it for a new one?"

During my 4 years here in Mexico, I've been asked questions like the above almost daily regarding donation shoes or clothes because they don't like their old ones anymore. These days however, the kids at Casa Hogar Douglas are asking me for something other than clothes - they are asking for BOOKS. The past few months, one 10 year old and one 11 year old boy read Diary of a Wimpy Kid for fun, on their own, in their free time. I believe those particular boys reading is the fruit of me forcing them to read in the afternoons all last year. But now another group of children in the orphanage have started reading on their own. The oldest girls dorm has started asking for fun chapter books to read. They come to my car and ask to trade out their books. Some are finishing a book each day.

If you ask me, God is letting his blessings just rain down on the lives of these children through literacy. I am determined to see more of these children be at grade level. Reading is the key. They can't complete their assignments for any other subject if they can't effectively read and write.

I am so thankful for the abundant resources we've been given over the years. We already have a library at Douglas. We already have a ton of books. We just didn't have any kids interested in reading anything. I think the tide has changed. The "build it and they will come" concept seems to be on full display right before my eyes.

Yesterday, I witnessed an 8 year old boy who has never been to school a day in his life read a Dr. Seuss book. I like to think that I had a small role in his learning to read these past 2 months. Just incredible - doesn't matter who you are - I think God wants the kids at Douglas to read.

And to think.... the spark that set this all rolling was a 4 year old boy 16 months ago who fell in love with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

Pray their love for reading grows and matures. Pray that more of the girls would start reading for fun. Pray that a miracle would happen in the oldest boys dorm and that even one boy would desire to read. Pray for more titles to be available in spanish. The boys want more of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series but only 5 of the 8 books are translated in spanish. The Nate series would be great for a ton of the boys but it's not available in spanish. Pray we'd find something to spark their interest. Pray for God to be glorified as their knowledge grows.