Playing with the Kiddos

In Bolivia a foster care system doesn't really exist, adoption is a long and increasingly difficult process, and many parents have more children than they can care for. For these reasons there are many many orphanages or children's homes, full, sometimes overflowing, with kids who's stories could break your heart and who's smiles and hugs will mend it right back together.

A lot of my friends, both in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, work full-time at these homes, and until recently I envied their closeness to these precious kiddos. But now that I'm starting to get settled into a more regular schedule I have plenty of opportunities to have a little one crawling into my lap, climbing on me for a hug, begging to brush my hair, or teach me these hand-clapping games which might be impossible for people over the age of twenty to learn, or at least improbable when they teach me 700 different patterns, instead of letting me repeat any of them. But I digress...

Here are just a few of the recent experiences I've been blessed with. Casa de Amor is a set of three children's homes in Cochabamba. My friend Savannah volunteers in the baby home, so I got to see the kids regularly at church and sometimes help get them there and back or get them fed afterwards, I don't know how she does it. Especially now that they have premature triplets in the house that require constant attention! When I visited Coch last week for Mateo's super-surprise birthday fiesta we got to have a slumber party with the triplets, meaning Savannah stayed up all night feeding them and I mostly slept through it all, but I had lots of fun with them when I was awake.

Cristo Viene is a girl's home in Santa Cruz that my friend Adreana helps run. The home is low on funds, but not at all short on love. These girls love getting their pictures taken and love visitors of whom they will be having plenty over the next few months as they're building a new dormitory with help from many short term teams, such as the one from Mosaic Christian Church in August!

Talita Cumi (in the third picture, and yes that's their parrot on my head) is near and dear to my heart and very near my house so I get to see those kids with increasing frequency. Last night, about a dozen of them and their tias (meaning aunts literally, but is the word for staff at many homes) piled into my car to support one of their long-time leaders, Graciela, at her gorgeous wedding. They were some beautiful and energetic (as in dancing till 3am) teenagers.

Yesterday, over fifty girls ranging from 8-12 years old from many different organizations and families around Santa Cruz were transformed into princesses. I had the privilege of baking some decadent cupcakes and being a table counselor. My princesas were adorably timid, but really excited (much more than they let on in this picture) to have their photo taken professionally and get to create and decorate a little frame for it, while learning all about being heiresses to the King of Kings.

Each of these homes, and so many more, accept interns and volunteers for a variety of lengths, so if you've got some time or need some hugs, pray about how you could be involved or give to these little people with so much potential. I'll continue to play the part of community jungle gym until you come down to fill in for me, and probably even when you do, I just can't get enough.

I put a few more pictures of these photogenic niños on Facebook as well, in case you want to see more of their smiling (or in some cases smiling-on-the-inside) faces.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." -- Matthew 19:14