Siempre Update 5.9.08

Central Community Christian Fellowship

everybody's waiting!

This Week at Siempre

Mother's Day, in Mexico, will be celebrated Saturday, May 10. Some of us received the gift of an amazing mom. Many of Siempre's strongest supporters and hardest workers are incredible moms. Each of our workers at Siempre does their best to love the children with a mother's heart. Even still, Mother's Day's not easy around Siempre. Kids will participate in projects at school and hear wonderful stories about loving mom's in Sunday School and Lord only knows what they must be thinking. Debi brought cupcakes this week for Bianca's birthday and for Mother's Day as well. Every little cupcake said "Mom" on it. The kids went nuts, ate the frosting first, the way kids in every country eat cupcakes, then ran a dozen different directions to play. I heard one, running after Bianca, shouting out: "Mama Bianca! Mama Bianca!" Turning with a smile, Bianca waited and addressed the child's need... as well as she could... Mother's Day's not easy around Siempre. Keep our kids in your prayers. Little Ricardo, pictured, with us since infancy, has no memory of any mother but the "mama's" at Siempre. Pray that God gives these Godly women strength.

"It Could've Been Me."

Watching the kids at play, one of our first time visitors looked at me so seriously and said: "I was adopted. My birth parents abandoned me as an infant. My parents adopted me and I've never felt any kind of urge to look for the people who left me. Watching these kids, I realize how easily it could've been me." It could have been any of us... as children abandoned through poverty, death and disaster, laughed and played all around us, I couldn't help but look at Vanessa, her story's so heart rending. Just like in the novels, "It was a dark and stormy night." Siempre's doors were closed and everyone was in bed when Vanessa's mother abandoned her: filthy, starving, scared... Mom came prepared, birth certificate, legal documents and ready to sign her daughter's life away and then she was gone. They fed and bathed Vanessa all night long... scrubbing her skin until it was pink... washing her hair over and over. No matter how much they gave her, she cried to eat again. It seemed there was no end to her hunger. Weeks went by and she wandered around Siempre with little vacant eyes, Seasons changed and she fell in love with the people who had been loving her. No family connection... no one ever visited or called... it was as if she'd been blown in with the storm. Then her birthday approached- a Wednesday -a woman visited for a few moments and said she had a gift for Vanessa, in her arms a beautifully decorated store bought cake. Then she left. Alejandro said- "That's Vanessa's mother." We've not seen her since. Looking at the children again, I thought of Vanessa's mom, of her Mother's Day. If anyone will remember her? Thought to myself: "Could've been me."

I'm a pretty good story teller. That said, when I look at pictures of the children, becoming young women, in the care of Siempre... it all seems like a dream... it couldn't be possible that God's given us Grace to share these lives, to build this work, to participate in it's growth, to know each child by name... God has blessed us with blessings "pressed down and running over." People tell me they want to "feel" God. I invite them to join us at Siempre Para Los Ninos. God's Working. It's not all been easy or without concern. There's been an incredible amount of time, effort and money that's helped fund God's Dream for the children of Siempre. There's no way that we're somehow past all the challenges. In the current economy, numerous families in financial crisis have cut back their giving to Siempre and we've had to dig into reserves to make monthly budgets. The new building's paid for the property's purchased- all by the generosity of great people like you, who could have spent your hard earned money on something else, but instead, chose to fund the dream of a world where children don't go to bed hungry, frightened, abandoned, abused, alone... but instead they have the promise of Siempre - it means always -always safe, always well fed, always secure, always loved. Jesus was pretty direct when it came to kids, He said to be good to them... because they're the stuff of The Kingdom. And that's the dream we share for Siempre... it's a Kingdom kind of dream... one big enough for children everywhere... one that allows people like you and me, those of us who've been so wonderfully blessed, to be a blessing. Thanks so much to each of you who've given so generously to insure that each of these children grows up in love. May God richly bless you as you continue to be a blessing. Thanks just doesn't seem to do it... but thanks.

Siempre Para Los Ninos

phone: 1-951-689-5806