Have you ever prayed with a child and they beg you to keep praying? Yeah—me either, until last night. I remember the importance of praying with my mom and dad every night before bed and so when we first moved into our house with our kids, we were ready to keep that meaningful routine alive. Bedtime and spending time in prayer together has become one of the sweetest times of the day.
Last night when we were praying with Andres, we said a pretty good prayer (if judging one’s prayer is such a thing lol). Usually Evan prays in English and I pray in Spanish and usually whomever we are praying with is peeking and opening their eyes a little. Last night, Andres was devoutly praying, his eyes were closed and when we finished and said “Amen”, he said “No, vamos a orar mucho, mucho mas!” That is Spanish for “No, let’s pray more”.
We were like, whoa. Listen to this boy! Even if part of it is that he doesn’t want to go to bed quite yet, the earnest response of let’s pray more almost moved us to tears in that exact moment. So we went on to pray, we listed almost everything we could think of and prayed it in Spanish. The first things Andrés said he was thankful for were grapes and Christmas lights.
You see, this little guy is 8 years old. I don’t know all the details of his life and if I did, I still wouldn’t want to disclose it all. But at 8, he has been through more pain than most of us have in our entire lives. He was rescued and brought to Hope of Life when he was about 4 (if anyone knows the exact age, please feel free to correct me). He lived in the hospital for some time (thank You Jesus for Whitney Saulton who was there looking after our babies all that time) and then after that, he was moved up to the orphanage to live in a room with 4 other kids and a nanny. Not a house, but a room. I’m certainly not complaining as Hope of Life has some of the best resources in Guatemala and does a tremendous job of taking care of these kids. What I’m trying to get at is that this may be the first year Andres has ever had a house with Christmas lights and a Christmas tree and decorations and presents and family conversations about Christmas dinner and what he would like for Christmas. We have been talking about Christmas breakfast and how we will have Swedish Tea Ring (one of the family traditions we have) which is like a big old cinnamon roll. We are going to eat some eggs and have a giant fruit salad. I can’t tell you how excited these kids are for the fruit salad, especially the grapes!
So, yesterday when we took the time to hang up a little string of lights in Roxana and Andres’ room with them, and when we spent a little extra money to get grapes from the store, I believe the impact was more than we expected.
Our goal here is to raise kids who love Jesus. If they become doctors or pilots or lawyers or leaders, that will be great. But most importantly we want to help heal the wounds and offer Jesus’ love to these kids so that they can walk in a new light, full of belief and love for Jesus! They can break their chains of abuse and neglect and hurt and abandonment that they have all experienced.
With that, Evan and I want to thank all of you for the support. Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for encouraging us. Thank you for the financial support. Thank you for those of you who are monthly partners who literally make it possible for us to be here with these kids. Thank you to those who donated extra so that we could have a special Christmas with lights and a little tree and decorations and Christmas presents and special breakfast and dinner. Oh, and grapes. You all are helping change these little lives.
