Photo of the week - 6/22-6/29

this isn't the best photo i've ever taken. but my best work doesn't necessarily mean the photo of the week. i chose this photo solely for the subject matter.

little yajaira.

she is actually andre's sister. she's feisty. disobedient. excellent hugger. loving. nurturing. and she's got a bit of a twinkle in her eye. but the day this photo was taken, wasn't her best day.

we'd just gotten down to the hole and were about to feed the kids. i was chatting with felix abreu, the pastor in the hole, just wondering how the kids were doing. he said it wasn't that good of a day there. the police had been around all morning. i asked if anyone was taken. sure enough. the police stormed a house that morning, kids all watching in horror, as their dad was grabbed and escorted out. yajaira and andre's dad.

i immediately scanned the tables to find her, to see how she was doing. there she was smiling, hugging, playing with an american woman as if life was as normal as could be. i couldn't help but wonder about her. about her demeanor. did she really feel ok about what went down that morning? was life just like that, that it's no big deal to see your own dad dragged out of your house by a bunch of armed men? has she seen so many awful things in her seven or so years that a scene like that just doesn't phase her? or is she just so used to these things that, in her seven or so years, she's already learned to bottle it up? to push the hurt and pain, confusion and sadness, as far down as she can as to not feel it?

my heart ached for her. whether she was aching or not. that a little girl should see something like that and go about her day as if it were just a normal day. but there was hope after all that. she showed up at the feeding center, greeted by people who love her. people that were there only to love her and give her some attention. let her know that not all things end so painfully. that hope is revealed through love. and who else to show her love but the god who is love.

Photo of the Week-6/15-6/22

i know, i know. how dare i pick my own son as the photo of the week? but let me explain.

there is nothing more that i want for landon than for him to love Jesus. although i grew up in a christian home and had loving parents, i definitely chose a different road for a few years. that road was paved with nothing but heartache, pain, despair, loneliness, guilt, emptiness...i could use about 8,000 more adjectives but you get the point.

i don't want landon to walk that road that his mama walked.

so when i took landon to vbs with me because i was out a babysitter, i knew why God let it happen. this picture.

the team began to sing a song in spanish that i have known for probably more than 20 years. it goes, 'halle-lu, halle-lu, halle-lu, halle-lu yah...alaba señor (or 'praise ye the lord' in english)' landon loved the song. he sang it with all his might. he clapped and threw his hands up in the air to his creator. and this mama just sat there, mesmerized. i really wanted to bawl my eyes out, which i would normally do, but i just smiled and watched and listened as my almost-three-year-old praised our God. and that is why this is my photo of the week.

Photo of the Week-6/8-6/15

meet andre.

i haven't had the opportunity to get to know andre very well, other than what I observe. he's rowdy. he's rough. he's aggressive. he desperately needs attention. he is another little boy that lives in the hole.

how you can pray for andre:

-for him to grow physically and stay healthy

-for him to be a light in his community and take a different path than his peers

-for him to desire to learn more about God

-for him to learn to be sensitive and more caring towards other children

-for him to be able to grow up and witness to his family and neighbors who are not believers

-for him to not fall into the traps of drugs, alcohol and abuse that will be finding him soon