Family Dinners with Becca

Several months ago, a recent college grad joined staff with Back2Back here in Monterrey.  Her name is Becca. She played soccer in college and likes to play soccer with the kids at Casa Hogar Douglas (the orphanage where I live). She has been nothing but a blessing to me and to Sammy and to our 10 boys.  They love it when she comes over to play soccer with them, read with them, help them with chores or stay long enough to tuck them into bed at night.  And Sammy and I love having someone to talk to and someone who helps us do all the dishes and the million other things we have to get done throughout the day with 10 boys to keep up with. 

As soon as we got back from Christmas break, Becca asked if she could cook our boys dinner.  Of course we said wholeheartedly, "YES!!" Since then, she's cooked multiple times for all 13 of us.  A trigger for a lot of emotional pain in the lives of a lot of orphaned children is food and meal times.  Meal times in a big dining hall with like 100 other people are loud, chaotic and often a reminder for a kid that they are part of a huge group, don't have a mom and it makes them feel unloved a lot of the time.  It triggers a lot of emotional hurt every time we sit down in that dining hall for whatever reason with a lot of my boys.  But if we eat in our dorm - they eat a lot more.  They are more calm.  If it's something I've cooked or Sammy or now Becca - they wouldn't care what it is or how it tastes - they think it's special and they know that YOU made it for them.  YOU care for them.  YOU went out of your way to make something for them.  They feel loved.  And Becca has insisted on doing just that.  For the record - she's a great cook and has lots of good ideas for kid friendly meals that are always spicy because that's what my Mexican pre-teen boys like. 

Typically in the dining hall, my 10 boys will run in, shovel all their food, refuse to ask for seconds even though they are hungry later, and run out in all of about 7 minutes.  I in turn have to eat in about 5 minutes to keep up with them.  But when we sit down as a family in my dorm with Becca to eat a home cooked meal - they linger for sometimes 30 minutes. We talk.  They joke and laugh. They ask for seconds.  

So Becca... thank you.  We couldn't be more grateful for you.