Every parent knows that
the smile on your kid makes it all worth it. The sacrifices, the toil, the
tears everything seems so inconsequential when you know your kid is happy. This
is the same feeling we have at Miracle Garden. The happiness of our children is
the ultimate joy we experience.
We try to do the best we
can to provide a safe, secure and nurturing environment for the kids. The
emotional needs are the toughest to meet. Each child comes from a distinct
background filled with negative connotations. To decipher all this baggage and
be able to bring them to a state of stability and real happiness takes a long
time. We are not professionally trained, but we learn from experience how to
minister to the children.
It’s not always so easy, an
orphanage is not a 2 parent or for that matter a single parent environment. In
an orphanage love must come from everywhere. The staffs have to love the
children, but the children have to love each other and support each other too.
Teaching kids to be supportive of each other is a big part of orphanage
culture.
Regimen and rules have to
be followed, much more so than in homes. But these rules cannot become a
burden, or they must not be perceived as punishment. It is imperative that orphanage
kids must be taught that rules help to make their lives easier and more
enjoyable.
Sometimes people may romanticize
life on a mission field, but when it involves trying to keep a smile on an
orphan; it is more than what a human can do. Jesus loves these little children,
all over the world, living in orphanages, only He can help us touch their
hearts. Yes, He surely does and I can vouch for it!
