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Summer Vacation!
it all happens so fast...
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June 27, 2008 - Vol 3, Issue 15
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It happens every week... Tom Barker, who's worked his way into our weekly line up, unloads a special care package for the kids and's quickly surrounded as he prepares to share carefully selected treats and toys for the day. Tom and his wife Marilyn are both educators, parents and new grandparents and I'm always impressed that there's still so much energy left over for kids abandoned by their own families. This week Tom brought a GIANT tetherball set up that the kids quickly attacked as if they'd been playing tetherball their entire lives. Something about the attention that comes from people who're able to work the children of Siempre into their schedule on a regular basis... the children begin to look forward to not just my SUV filled with people... but special people they've come to know and love... to ask about when they're missing, to appreciate the afternoons they're with us. It's one of the best parts of Siempre Para Los Ninos, we can get there quickly and on a regular basis. News from Kenya has been so distressing lately. Praying for the community's we've worked with there, I often wish they were just two hours drive away... that it didn't cost $4,000- to spend time with the children... to let them know we haven't forgotten them... that they're loved. Even still, within miles of Siempre, children, living without the protection of a family, fight to survive. Little bodies sold to sexual predators, child pornography, the slave trade... and even if a child's able to avoid the worst of the nightmares on TJ's dusty backstreets, there's still hunger, the elements, loneliness, ignorance and crime... Thank God for the arm's filled with love, hearts sharing hope, that join us week in and week out. With the rising cost of gas I sometimes wonder if the trips are still an effective use of our funds... and then I see the faces of the children and remember they represent the children we can't reach around the world... those too far away to see every week... and I wonder how we could not go.
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Remembering... it seems such a small thing... Debi and Julia remember every birthday at Siempre. We celebrate almost every week with a cake, singing, a special present. Seems a small thing to those of us who've had so many special days remembered... some we'd like to forget... but children living and fighting for survival in poverty, without loving parents, quickly forget the special days... even their birthdays... so we make sure they're never forgotten. We want every child at Siempre to know just how incredibly wonderful they are. That in a world, where in the rush to meet our own needs and fill our own desires, where little children on barren hillsides, filthy streets and hiding in dark places... living the silent pain of desperation are not just forgotten... but we don't even know they exist... we don't want to know they exist... that in one spot a promise will be kept- siempre, it means always -always remembered. It's a promise that needs to reach around the world... until then... we'll make sure that Jason knows he's loved. Jason's more blessed than most, he has a brother and sister at Siempre. Though he may never see his parents again or know their reasons for setting them on our doorstep- he has his Siempre family as well as Enoch and Abbey to love and set an example for- he's the oldest, the big brother... he looks pretty happy to be remembered in this little shot next to his cake. My prayer is that someday he'll share the picture with his children and tell the story of the people who raised him, loved him, who never forgot a birthday. Jesus said that to understand the Kingdom of Heaven we needed to have the heart of a child... a heart that cries out to be remembered.
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Thank You... I know in this hard economy everyone seems to be seeing a little of their financial security slip away... thank you for remembering the children of Siempre. This week we had an almost new refrigerator and microwave donated to Samaritan House @ Siempre. Thanks Ted and Karen! If you've been waiting to donate that almost new couch, bed, SUV... we'll take it! Before you donate that boat, RV or other item to some unknown non-profit, give me a call. We can give you the same tax break and we'll probably actually use it with the kids! If you'd like a working vacation- schedule some time at Samaritan House @ Siempre Para Los Ninos. Good friends just emailed yesterday to set up a weekend- you can too! And if you'd like to give your life to something great- the mission's position at Samaritan House is still open... ocean view and all. We're not going down next week- July 2, kids at camp - we're headed back Wednesday, July 9, you're invited, you're needed, now, more than ever.
siempre,
Eric M. Denton
Siempre Para Los Ninos
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