“Mommy”

“Mommy, I want a baleada,” (the Honduran version of a “burrito.”)“Mommy, I want to jump on the trampoline.”“Mommy, I want juice. Mommy, I want candy.”I looked down into the faces of 6 little girls surrounding me at their school Open House. Instead of feeling annoyed at the whining sounds directed at me, I felt pure joy!

Our family was just finishing up a month of volunteer work supervising children’s activities at the PAHS campus. We had become acquainted with the children when we came as part of a volunteer building team months before. Why was their whining sweet to me? Because you cannot whine with that intensity at someone you don’t love, someone you are not 100% sure loves you back unconditionally. Their whines meant one thing to me -- they truly meant “Mommy” when they called me that! People ask me, “What do you do in Honduras?”They want to hear about some amazing building project, a medical/dental clinic that helps hundreds of people a day, or at the very least an energetic vacation bible school in the evenings. These important activities God has called others to do.

What He called our family to do is very simple and may seem unimpressive….to model and provide the love of family and a home for these beautiful children who are separated from their own parents and homes for a variety of reasons.No, it is not impressive. It is not the type of calling that fills one with pride in the re-telling of mission stories when returning home, but it is a calling of deep joy and immense satisfaction: I am called here to be “Mommy.”Our days are filled with homework, applying band-aids accompanied by hugs and kisses, attending school functions, fixing healthy snacks, playing -- and just plain being there. We have had many children sitting around our table at night, learning (hopefully) manners and how a family functions in a home. We have been able to enjoy the normalcy of life…baking a cake to take to a class party, watching “our kids” play soccer, seeing “our kids” in the school program, talking to the teachers to know what is happening at school and how the grades are going.

No, it is nothing extraordinary, but it is the very “ordinary-ness” of it that makes it so special. Sometimes God’s greatest gifts come in very simple packages….and that is what He has given us here in our Honduras home.“As far as lies in your power, make a home for the homeless,” Ellen White reminds us. “Let everyone stand ready to act a part in helping forward this work. The Lord said to Peter, ’Feed my lambs.’ This command is to us, and by opening our homes for the orphans we aid in its fulfillment. Let not Jesus be disappointed in you.”I am honored that God has called us to serve by just being a family.

I am honored to be called “Mommy”. 

They are not different, they are special

Keny sees a world that is completely different than what most of us perceive. His reality has given him much bigger obstacles with a higher degree of difficulty than most of us have. Why? The circumstances of his birth took him to a group that is different, and special.

The innocence of his condition helps him to see the good side of life in spite of his condition. It was a privilege for us to lend our services in support of a Medical Team from Michigan, organized by Brad Alcorn, who every year brings physicians and nurses to our area to lend a helping hand to improve the health of our communities. Around 60 people, the majority of them children with disabilities, were transported by our bus from the community in which they live in Las Vegas, Santa Bárbara so that they could receive attention from the Medical Team that was kicking off their week in Honduras by holding a clinic on our campus. They attended to 130 patients.

It was a beautiful thing to watch the marvelous care that these compassionate physicians and nurses gave each of these special children. They always started with a prayer and shared words of encouragement and a warm smile besides providing them with their professional medical services. These special children had a wonderful time on our campus as they soon discovered the playground and set out to explore and take advantage of its location near the health team. One by one, each of them was taken to see a physician. Some could not talk, however, their eyes communicated what words could not express and were filled with life and love. Some could not hear, but their smiles showed their gratitude. Some could not walk, and yet their parents were there to carry them. For others it was mental slowness or Down’s Syndrome that affected their bodies but not their ability to smile. The conclusion I came to is that we should give thanks in everything for everything that we have that perhaps others do not have. For many of these children who have apparently so little it appeared that they do have a better capacity to be grateful than those of us who appear to be well.

• It is estimated that 14% of the Honduran population has a disability.• A disability is considered to be anything that is a deficiency that limits the ability to engage in activities and restricts participation in them. It is a complex thing that reflects an interaction between the characteristics of the human body and the characteristics of the community in which it lives.