This is a post I wrote for our family blog back in 2010 when we lived in Mexico and worked in Children's homes. Our background before this was mostly business related, so to go from our nice and cushy life to seeing things we couldn't have previously imagined really softened our hearts. The whole experience above anything gave us new perspectives on life. The black and white filter we saw things through really began to shift and this story was the beginning of that change!
We are in a new foreign world and the natural tendency is to compare it to, size it up and weigh it against the world we know. For some things that is very easy, you learn how many liters of gas can go in your car, kilos of meat will feed a family, and that 30 degrees Celsius is not as cold as it sounds. Sizing up the inner workings of the human heart through the filters of our own limited experience has proved to be both difficult and humbling.
As you’ve seen from the pictures we have posted that the orphanages we work with are filled with the most adorable, loving kids, you could ever imagine. It is easy to judge and think, “How could someone ever leave them?” We have learned that it is a complicated and diverse path that would lead a mother to make the decision to leave her child or children at a Christian Orphanage. This option verses a state run facility allows them the opportunity to bring the child back home in the future and maintain visitation without sacrificing their parental rights.
This week while working at a children’s home we witnessed a mother that was there to visit her son. As they sat in a tree covered courtyard with the sound of traffic in the background and workers buzzing about she held what would otherwise be a four year old wiggle worm during every minute of her three hour visit. As time went by in the heat of the afternoon the boy fell asleep in his mothers arms. It was during this time that God showed us how wrong our judgments had been and how complex this situation truly is. While the boy slept the mother held him closer than ever, sobbing and rocking her son. This was not the scene of a parent that did not care but one of a single mother in dire poverty. A mother making one of the hardest decisions imaginable and trusting God to do something that she can’t at this time, providing care and shelter for her child.
We may never know the final outcome of this situation. We do not know if the mother will be able to take the boy back home or if he will become the next doctor or attorney that graduates from the Back2Back HOPE program for teens. All we do know is God is good and he has already taught us more lessons than we ever expected. Day by day the calluses on our hands are getting harder and our hearts are getting softer.