19 Kids

January and February were an interesting time for Jake and I. We took on the job of night shift house parents to fill in for a house mom that had just quit. Night shift is from 8pm to 8am, so basically we got to spend some time with the kids after supper, tuck them all in to bed, then make breakfast for the whole crew in the morning. Sounds fun and pretty straightforward, right? It was! But it was also a lot of other things. :)

With our own three kids in the mix, we had a total of 19 kids in the house, from ages 15 down to 1 month old. I joked to Jake saying we were just like the Duggar's, to which he replied, Who's the Duggar's? lol

 
 

Hector loves his milk

Breakfast is ready! eggs and quinoa 

     

Tahlia 'helps' with the dishes ;)

Breakfast

 

Hector and Daniel

Time to do chores

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

boys with toys :)

Card games

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

They were not too happy about sharing my lap!

This is how we watch movies

  

The boys love to wrestle with 

Bedtime bible stories!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Rosa is a sweet girl who loves  helping care for the little ones. She will make a great mother some day :)

That sweet moment when the house is quiet at last.

Late nights up with a colicky baby 

                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Moises is an expert photo-bomber!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

From left to right: Dayner, Christofer, Luis, Miguel Angel, Brayan, and Moises

This was as close as we got to getting the whole crew together into one photo

Over these two months we got to know each of these 16 precious kids in a deeper way.. just like our own 3 kids, they each have their own personalities and unique things that make them who they are. But there is one major difference they have with our 3 children that I couldn't help but notice every single day, and it broke my heart. These kids don't have someone to call Mommy and Daddy. Sure they called us that when we were in the house, and they call the day shift moms that too, but it is just not the same. These two months opened our eyes to just how huge of a difference it actually makes whether or not a child has a stable home with parents. One of the situations where we saw this the most was when bedtime came around. Our own kids would obey immediately when we told them to go to bed, but the rest of them would rebel and fight and completely disrespect our orders. It took two minutes to get our 3 kids tucked in, and usually about an hour to get the others rounded up, settled down, and into bed.  It was super frustrating I won't lie, but it also broke our hearts, because we knew that if our own kids had the childhood that these kids come from, they would be no different.  Our children obey because they have been disciplined.. these kids have never received real discipline that is done out of love, they have only received beatings, or neglect. Our kids each get some one on one time with their parents daily.. these kids have likely never received this kind of affection. They have to fight and compete for attention, and this is another reason they act out. Our children have the steadfastness of two parents who are always there. These kids have parents who abandoned them, and different house moms all the time.. they are used to people walking in and out of their lives.

BUT, before you get too depressed just want to let you know that there is good news too, and hope. These children were blessed to end up in an orphanage that unlike so many, is Christ centered. At Casa de Paz, the children get taught the bible, and how to pray and live godly lives, they receive an education, and healing as we love and care for them with the love of God. The good news is that no matter what their past, they have hope for a future. And even if they never have real earthly parents, they can still have the best father of all - a heavenly Father! There are kids here that may never have heard about Jesus if they had not come to Casa de Paz. So YES, there is HOPE. And God is GOOD. Praise the LORD.

Matthew 19:14 but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."