overalls

Today I feel in love. I love all 17 of the wonderful children at the Childrem's Home and there are a few of them I really am praying they get adopted slash I really want them closer to me in the states because I love them so much. But today when we went to Guerlin's orphanage to bring some food and supplies this absolutely adorable 2 year old comes running to me and lifts his little arms up for me to pick him up and he stole me heart right then and there. He was wearing nothing but a small pair of overalls, no shoes, no shirt, and no diaper. He was smiling and giggling and talking. Just a fun laid back kid. Kind of chunky, but ever so cute. I cannot wait to spend more time with him. I wish smuggling children to the states wasn't such a harsh crime or I would take him home with me in a heartbeat! 

Over the last few days we have spent some time at both the Children's Home and at Guerlin's. They are two very different types of children at these places. It might be because of their past, their present conditions, or the nature at which they are loved, but to me they are just beautiful children. When you go to the Children's Home whether it is your first time or your one hundredth time those kids are standing at the door waiting for you to come in and they run to play and give you a hug. Their eyes are so full of joy and happiness. They play so great with each other and with whoever is there. They love to come sit with you while you hold a baby and give it sweet little kisses before they play. They all are such loving kids. I can see why almost half of them are in the process of adoption. They are so much fun!

Then there are the children at Guerlin's. Everytime we have come there they just sit and watch. Sometimes they are playing and most of them are just hanging out. They just kind of look at you and move on. The younger ones for the most part have eyes of being sad and innocently hurt. They don't quite understand what is going on and are being cared for and protected by the older ones. And when I say older ones I am not meaning teens (they come back this weekend) but middle school 10-12 year olds. When you see their faces you see wounded children with a story to tell. Almost a sense of maturity, but not the good kind you develop as an adult. The kind that only a child can have after a life of pain and agony. They don't want anything to do with us and keep their eyes on the younger ones as sometimes they venture off to see what we are like. Today as I just walked around and watched (because we got to spend more time their today than we have this week) my heart just broke as I looked into their little faces and saw what is probably only a tiny part of what they are feeling and have been through. 

I didn't understand how their could be such difference in these children's faces? Then it hit me. It is not what they have been through (well part of it) but what their future holds. At the children's home these kids have art supplies, and school books and see their friends being loved on and their director loving on them constantly. To them the future has great possibilities. But at Guerlin's, yes they have a huge house, but they have come from a tent orphanage in a tent city in one of the roughest towns in Haiti. They have seen the dark sides of this world and subconsciously just assume that that is where they will be one day.

But these children deserve better, they deserve to be kids. My prayer list for today is a short one: pray for the the orphans at these homes. Pray that the ones in the process of adopting will be finalized quickly so they can return home (it is an awful awful process to adopt from Haiti), pray for the children at the home that they retain their joy, pray for the orphans at Guerlin's that they might find that place that they finally know that they are in a better place, with consistent food, safety and love. Pray for them to be kids again. And finally pray that these orphans find a family, find a home that they can go to.  Because these kids deserve to be loved.