The two women who couldn’t get along

Sometimes when working with different personalities, it just doesn’t go well for some strange reason. Last year, I could not find a solution for two women who were working with me at the baby house. Each of the women has strong personalities, one was evangelical, and the other woman was a devoted catholic. Both of them seemed to have a lot to give to the children. I told them to work it out. The Catholic woman never complained but kept working with all of her heart. Finally the evangelical woman decided not to ever talk to the catholic woman and asked her co-workers to do the same. There was an incredible amount of tension in the house at the time. At the end, the evangelical woman stopped her time of working with us. Later I got to know the catholic woman, and one time while I was at her house, she told me that working at Lar Feliz was God’s gift to her. She was never able to have children of her own, and she loved each one of the children of the baby house. She said that she had been so lonely, and when she first moved to Holambra, she had no one to talk to. She said that she had gone to the shopping mall just to find someone to talk to. The other women who worked together with us at the baby house went to her and asked her forgiveness for how they had treated her. Now the love is flowing in the baby house in a special way, and this woman also can see more of God’s love.

Playing house....

-- I have noticed while working with our children at Lar Feliz is how much they love to play house. They make houses under trees, and bring their toys and sit and play. They build houses in the trees out of cardboard and pieces of wood. One day we were making pictures with the babies and I drew a house for one of the quiet little boys. I drew a picture of him and his brother and sister at a house when suddenly he let out a squeal of delight I will never forget. He was so happy with the house and laughed and smiled into his hands. It was the first time that I heard a sound come out of him. This week, I am making a doll house for them out of a cardboard box that we found while we were going for one of our walks. I am quite sure that it will be something that they will all love.

Making something from nothing

This morning with the babies, it was priceless--arts and crafts time! One of my most favorite things to do is to give each of the children a blank piece of paper, and just let them color whatever they want. What makes it even more special is when I pass out some scissors and glue, together with little bits of scrap paper. The babies and toddlers sit working on their masterpieces for a good long time, cutting up little bits of paper, that would normally be thrown into the trash, and pasting them on the paper to make a beautiful collage. It is one of their most favorite things to do. Things that one would normally throw away, I save for one day that it can be created into something beautiful, and usable. It is the same for us and parts of our lives, things that we wish we could throw away, or never have done, we can give them to God and he uses the different pieces to make a beautiful complete picture

Do you remember me?

I looked into her green eyes and I asked, "Do you remember me?" She replied, "No," but had a smile on her face. She was in the baby house when she was very young, and had gone to live with extended family, but it didn't work out. She returned to Lar Feliz, now four years old, having suffered again. Her dark blonde curly hair was extremely damaged and was beginning to fall out because of stress, the doctor told us. She was moody and would hardly let me go home in the middle of the days, when I went to pick up Elisa and Jeremy from school. She bit and pinched the other children, causing them to not like her. Slowly this all began to change. When we would put on a video with kids dancing, she would sometimes dance the whole time with a big smile on her face. She is a crackerjack, she likes to tease and laugh with us and the other kids. She loves to make pictures, ride horse and swim. Now she is a happy little girl again, she is peaceful, obediant, but full of life and joy.

FITS......

Our babies are actually toddlers now, and one thing that we experience a lot with them is the temper tantram, or fit. It is something that goes along with the age, but I have also found with our kids that it can be even something more. Sometimes when I had to go home in the middle of the day, or when things didn't go like they wanted it would start. What I do is to just hold them firmly in the time out chair. At times I have been bitten, spit on and kicked until they are able to calm down once again. It seems that all of their pain, pressures, and dissatisfaction with life in general seem to come out at that moment. At first it was shocking and hard. but through patience, I found to be firm with love was the best thing for them. After the fit would pass, they would come to me, crawl up into my lap, hug me and let me hug them too. God is like that with us. Sometimes when we are mad and have our fits, we strike out at Him, but he patiently waits for us to return to his lap, where he can love us and we can love Him.