The Orchard

Hi Beautiful,
I have been meaning to post this for quite some time and just can't seem to sit down and do it! Two Sundays ago, we had a visitor to our class at church who is now running a ministry out of California. For a time, he was living in Romania running an organization that trained churches on how to do youth camps. They had great success and the kids were getting to know Jesus and be loved and have ball. But there was a guy that continually bugged him to get involved with orphanages. And of course he said no, that they were already committed to what God had called them to do.

Over the years (still being hounded by this guy), their role changed and they were able to hand off the ministry to people in-country. So he eventually got involved with the orphanages there and fell in love with the kids. They founded Livada (meaning "orchard") Orphan Care, with the name coming from a dream God gave him where he saw an orchard full of fruit falling off the trees, just waiting to be harvested. You can check out their website here, and they even have blog here with lots of pictures and stories of ongoing ministry. After being so personally involved, he even adopted two brothers to his own family. The stories of the particular orphanage were just heartbreaking - there is a trial currently in progress for an abuser that lived there permanently. I got teary-eyed when he talked about how the children live in cribs even up to the age of 5, and no one really picks them up or holds them unless they need to be changed. He said when you would try to hold them, their body would be awkwardly rigid because they weren't sure how to be held, how to lean comfortably onto you. They needed so much attention and weren't getting it at the most crucial time in their lives.

They began to organize mission trips to visit the orphanages and had groups coming from all over the place. For the older children, they would organize games and health services, group therapy sessions, and more. The younger children were basically just given love and affection for an entire week - just being held and rocked, prayed over, and played with. The volunteers that went said that even in just a few days, the children showed new signs of life. I felt such a tug on my heart because those are some of my favorite moments with you, just holding you close and teaching you that your daddy and mommy are the ones you can trust and depend on.

Someday your mommy will tell you all about our trips to Guatemala a few summers ago. We plan to make another trip in 2010 and I feel pretty strongly that I would like to go. We will be changing some of our scheduling to make sure that we get to work with local orphans there. The visit of this man to our class reminded me that God has called all of us to care for orphans (see James 1:27), and that might mean giving money, offering prayer on their behalf, or it might just mean going and holding them for a few days. I love you so much, and wish every child could have someone to care for them. I hope that by next summer, you will be such happy girl that you will let Mommy make one last trip to Guatemala.

And one last thing - we need to start praying now for Mrs. Danielle and Mrs. Lisa. They went with Mommy to Guatemala, but since we are taking this year off, they have decided to go on a trip to Africa! I am a little jealous and can't wait to hear about all the wonderous things they see and all the beautiful people they meet. Mrs. Danielle has a big tug on her heart to adopt from Africa, so this trip will only make that stronger, I am sure!