Open Arms Overview 2!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry that it's been so long since I've written. I'm kind of a perfectionist and if I don't have time to correct what I write..I don't want to post anything. But here it is! Sooooo much has happened in the past month that I don't even know where to begin. My homesickness has melted away almost entirely. I've made several new friends and some close relationships have been formed. Heidi and Daniel (the couple who started Open Arms) have taken me in as family and they're awesome to hang out with. Like I told you before, I work with the kids ages 4 months-5 years, and I adore each and everyone of them. The workers here are constantly filling the campus with laughter and joy and I look forward to their company each day. Although my surroundings are foreign, I feel as though this is my home. Over the 6 weeks that I have been here God has been transforming and maturing my heart in ways that I can hardly explain. His great love has become so apparent that my joy is overwhelming. Each smile, each hug, each loving touch has impacted my life and caused me to desire more of Him who is my creator, my savior, my love.

I've obviously never had my own children but when I look into the eyes of the kids here, I feel this love that is so strong that my heart leaps. Their little faces are so precious and I lock away each smile in my heart. When I embrace them in my arms or spin them around I am filled to the brim with God's joy. It seems silly to receive so much joy from something so simple, but the only way I can give account for such emotions is to say that it's the result of God's love for me. God chose me. He chose me to come here, to spend my days changing diapers, to put kids in timeout, to dance to silly songs, to race little boys to the end of the courtyard, but most importantly: to share His love with HIS children. Everyday I ask Him, "Why me? Why did I get to come here and do ALL this?" A good friend that I recently acquired told me, "I'm not amazed by what God has done in my life, I'm amazed that He did it in MY life." How perfectly true is that? God can do whatever he wants whenever he wants;he doesn't need me to show his love, but he wants to show his love through me. He WANTS to let me be apart of his great gift of love.

Now child care is not all rainbows and daisies; it's often frustration and prayer for patience. When I change the same little girls pants 3 times in one day because she doesn't want to potty train, I kind of want to scream....really loudly. But then I take one glance at her little smirk and I can't help but kiss her on the cheek and laugh out loud. I have formed specific bonds with each child and each bond grows as I watch them learn and grow. I love hearing them yell my name when I enter the room or seeing their faces light up when I spin them around. It's also heartbreaking to know that some of these kids don't get all the love and attention a little one should receive. But knowing that they need love makes me feel all the more crucial to God's kingdom. I'm here to love and they need more love...sounds like a perfectly orchestrated plan to me. Gloria a Dios!

There is one little girl in particular,Jenny (above), who my heart cries out for. Her father died a few months ago and she is slowly healing from the tragedy. When she first arrived at Open Arms she arrived in shock and confusion. Heidi rescued Jenny and her brother Miguel from an orphanage. Jenny's mother reached a point of desperation and felt as though an orphanage was the only option for her kids to receive sufficient care. Heidi knew the mother and heard that she had taken Jenny and Miguel to the orphanage. The same day the kids arrived at the orphanage, Heidi raced over and brought them to Open Arms. Their mother was called immediately and offered child care for her children at Open Arms. Jenny and Miguel now live with their mother but feelings of abandonment and grief for their father are issues that will painfully linger. When I first met Jenny she wouldn't say a word to me, she simply stared at me. After several weeks of love and attention, Jenny now refuses to leave my side. We have become best buds and she loves to fall asleep in my lap during movie time each day. When I hold this precious girl I feel as though I'm fulfilling my purpose in life, I'm doing what God has called me to do. 

I know that God still has an extravagant amount of work to do in my life, but their is no resistance left in my heart. I want Him to have His way in me. I'm ready to dive in and go wherever He wants to take me. Each day I am presented with a divine appointment. Whether its a conversation with a brother or sister in Christ or getting some one on one time with a child, God is using so many different people and situations to bring me closer and closer to His will for my life. God has completely confirmed that missions is for me.

God's Word That Keeps Me Thriving :)

2 Corinthians 9:12-15
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!