Remembering our Brazilian “nieces” and “nephews”

I just wanted to add some thoughts of our February experience which I had written on our last blog. As many of you know, we were in the process of adopting an 8 year old boy in Brazil and it did not work out at the end.

We had some great experiences in Brazil at a very special orphanage last February. We spent around a month visiting with the kids and the director. We celebrated 3 birthdays there. There were 24 kids total on this orphanage. This is a special needs orphanage because it houses siblings and children with disabilities. I love that place!

I fell in love with the kids so quickly, and I wanted to take at least 10 of them home. I could not find a good reason why not to …. Except that most of them are not quite paper ready. That is the sad truth of most of the orphanages, the kids age there while waiting for either parents to give up their rights or the government to finish their paperwork

The top shows the pictures of some of my friends – my forever “nieces” and “nephews”

I had so much fun holding them on my lap and playing with them – one of the social workers told me how sad to see how much in need these kids were for a mother’s type of affection, love and care …. And it made me think …. I realized I was starving for the love of a child to call my son or daughter also.

Do you know who these are? The director asked as we were at the gate of the orphanage, “these are “Tio” Brian and “Tia” Rebeca!”

We were able to meet all the 24 kids!!! While my husband Brian went on playing soccer with a group of boys, the rest of the kids just kind of surrounded me, came by to say hi, specially 2 girls (Jasmin and Beatriz) and a little boy (Gabriel), they just got a hold of me. I just sat at a bench and the three of them sat next to me, Gabriel (4) got on my lap, Beatriz (6) and Jasmin (7) sat next to me each in one side and hold my hands.
Beatriz and Gabriel are siblings and they have two more sibling in the orphanage. Jasmin is the sister to Ivan(9) and Aletea, a very cute 13 year old.

Do I have to say it? Or did you figure it out by now? Yes, I wanted to take them all!!
My Brazilian friends will never be forgotten!!! I cannot wait for our next Missions trip to Brazil and see them all again!!!

The director of this orphanage is a great human being! Brian gave her a copy of “the purpose Driven Life” devotional book as a gift.

We love her dearly - she quickly became our friend. She is honest, loving, so hard working and has such a big heart!!! Still, a type “A” personality – yes, the character combination does exist! And she is a living proof of it :)

We are already gathering gifts and donations for our next trip – We bought some school supplies and got some blankets also. Brian’s parents are going there in 14 days and we might be able to send some of these with them.