our scars.
Sometimes I forget the pasts that our kids have. They seem so well adjusted and just like any other kids when you meet them that sometimes it takes a day like today to step back and recalibrate to the children that I am working with. I have five kids that I have bonded very closely with. (they say you aren't supposed to have favorites... but oh well..) These kids are true friends to me, they are not just kids I spend my days with but the people that I am choosing to do my life with. I would very literally give anything to make these kids more comfortable or to take away a pain they are experiencing. The amazing part to our friendship is I know these five would do the same for me.
Today I sat with two of these kids and for a reason unknown to me, one of them decided to share a lot of his past with me. I have known this boy for years and we have grown closer and closer but we have never discussed a lot of the details of his past. He told me how is parents were killed, he told me stories of family jealousy and brokenness. As he is telling me these stories the girl who is with us also starts sobbing. She is reflecting on her family. She is distressed over voodoo that is impacting her biological sister who is not here at Kids Alive. I am sitting with these two, all three of us in tears but there was a sense of hope in the air.
These kids are pulled from the most difficult situations you could ever imagine, and placed here in this oasis of sorts. They never forget their old lives, they never forget their families- nor should they. These pasts have broken them, scarred them, but also made them beautiful. They have been through unimaginable circumstances and God has brought them here. The hope in the air is the thick love that fills Kids Alive. They know they have me forever no matter where I live these kids will always be my people. They know they have their house parents, they know they have the staff here, and they also have each other.
Nobody takes an easy road to come to Kids Alive, but since they are here nobody leaves alone either. A huge family has been started here. A family of support, of understanding and of mutual pain that has turned into mutual scars that make all of us stronger. I tell them everyday it is the scars of our lives that make us beautiful. It is the story that God is playing out in our lives that gives us beauty, and these pasts we should never forget but embrace because God knows what He is doing.
Today I sat with two of these kids and for a reason unknown to me, one of them decided to share a lot of his past with me. I have known this boy for years and we have grown closer and closer but we have never discussed a lot of the details of his past. He told me how is parents were killed, he told me stories of family jealousy and brokenness. As he is telling me these stories the girl who is with us also starts sobbing. She is reflecting on her family. She is distressed over voodoo that is impacting her biological sister who is not here at Kids Alive. I am sitting with these two, all three of us in tears but there was a sense of hope in the air.
These kids are pulled from the most difficult situations you could ever imagine, and placed here in this oasis of sorts. They never forget their old lives, they never forget their families- nor should they. These pasts have broken them, scarred them, but also made them beautiful. They have been through unimaginable circumstances and God has brought them here. The hope in the air is the thick love that fills Kids Alive. They know they have me forever no matter where I live these kids will always be my people. They know they have their house parents, they know they have the staff here, and they also have each other.
Nobody takes an easy road to come to Kids Alive, but since they are here nobody leaves alone either. A huge family has been started here. A family of support, of understanding and of mutual pain that has turned into mutual scars that make all of us stronger. I tell them everyday it is the scars of our lives that make us beautiful. It is the story that God is playing out in our lives that gives us beauty, and these pasts we should never forget but embrace because God knows what He is doing.
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