Today came too soon. It was emotionally and physically exhausting for all of us. Thankfully, we were able to sleep in, and regain some strength before heading off to the orphanage. The girls and I were able to finish Bible study (thereby finishing our book of James), have lunch, and head to the orphanage. It was a sad morning, as it was our last time driving with Luke to the orphanage. We’ve become a little family; thus, our last trek up the hill to the orphanage was bittersweet.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted by eager faces and hands (all the kids were wondering where we were in the morning). We immediately jumped into our rhythm and began playing with the kids. We had every intention of following our plan today, but as it was our last day, we instead decided to go with the flow and pace of the afternoon. It was such a special day for all of us. There were so many instances where the children came up and gave us hundreds of hugs and kisses, and beautifully drawn pictures and letters. A few even felt comfortable enough with us to divulge their background history about their arrival at the orphanage. It was very emotional for all of us. These children are truly amazing.
We also had our last and final activity- making paper cards and paintings with pictures we had printed of the kids. We came to realize how much the children valued photos of themselves (since they have so little documentation), so we thought it was a great idea to get pictures printed of them. They loved the pictures and they activity. Some even brought out their own albums to share with us. So sweet and special.
Soon after, the monsoon rains came and madness ensued. When it rains, it pours- literally and figuratively. We have never seen the kids so wired and out of control. They were running around like crazy people, jumping off tables and chairs. And conveniently, this is all happening during our two-hour power outage. Yes, that’s right. We lost power for two hours and the generator just happened to also be out of batteries (how that even happens, I don’t know- only in the DR). So we were left in the darkness with about 100 wild children running all around. Crazy.
Finally, the power came back on and we were able to finish the day with some of the things we had planned; namely, the pizza party and movie night. However, we only got through half of “Tangled” because the power starting going in and out again. So we all gave up on the movie and spent the remaining hour playing games and dancing in the common area.
After that, we moseyed over to the church and watched and listened as the kids prepared a dance and song for us. It was so cute and well rehearsed and they were so proud to show it off to us. The dance was followed by some worship music and prayer. Maile and Chanel even got to stand before everyone and sing a worship song for the group (in both Spanish and English)- such a special night.
It was the goodbye that was definitely the hardest for all of us. The kids started crying, and watching them get so upset, made us upset. It was a very long and tearful goodbye and we were so sad to go. It was literally heartbreaking.
But it was our time to go. Yanet was kind enough to drive us all home, but not without stopping at Jumbo (where we were able to buy Chris, Luke, and Eric some thank you gifts). Once we arrived home, we said goodbye to Yanet for the last time and headed inside. We just finished packing, cleaning, and writing thank you notes and now we’re off to bed.
Les is headed to North Carolina for a family reunion tomorrow, so she’s leaving earlier than Maile and I, and will be going out of Santo Domingo. Mai and I have a later flight and we’re headed for LAX. We can’t believe the journey has finally come to an end. This trip that we’ve been talking about for months and months has come and gone. Surreal.
Some memorable moments from today: Running in the rain with the kids; the power going out and the kids literally jumping over and off of everything; singing in the church with the kids; the girls sharing their testimonies and personal stories with us. So incredibly special and shocking. They are some of the bravest and strongest little girls we have ever met. There are so many other memories and moments that would take forever to document and explain, so we’ll have to debrief you all in person…
As this blog message (and blog itself) comes to a close, we wanted to leave you with some thoughts:
We have been so incredibly blessed to have even had the opportunity to come to La Romana. The way that all of the pieces fell into place: the people we met, the place we stayed, the orphanage we worked at- everything was so perfect for the time that we were here, and it can only be attributed to God. He has been so present throughout this journey. God gave us the strength, passion, and perseverance to finish our work here and he has done incredible things with us. Praise God for this trip and all that has been accomplished.
God is good. God is great. And God is love. These facts have been incredibly apparent on this journey. His love has been so evident through His children, who we were blessed to be with for the past two weeks. They were so quick and ready to love- and love unconditionally. What a refreshing and beautiful thing to experience. From day one, they were so willing to hold our hands, hug us, and write us little love letters. What a blessing to experience that child-like love and compassion. Imagine what the world would be like if we all continued to act and share that same love with everyone we encountered.
In the end, we hoped that Love would be the theme we would be able to share with these children- but it turns out that we were the ones to learn the greatest lessons about love from these kids.
Thank you so much for sharing in this experience with us and reading our blog along the way. Your prayers and thoughts were so felt and appreciated and we were so happy to have been able to share this experience with y’all.
We can only hope that we will one day see these children again.
Signing off for the last time…
In His Name,
Las Chicas
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