You would think that after many times saying good-by to our kids at Grace Place, you manage to control your emotions and things get a little easier. Well, not really.
Today was one of those days our team will never forget. This day will forever mark the time in our lives when our love for our kids was sealed with a sense of deep sadness. So often love is labored in pain and sealed in sadness. People swear eternal love in times of war and go on into the night without knowing what the future will bring. We, on the other hand, tasted the sweetness of love in a moment of separation after only a few days, so few the math of love doesn't add up. How can you love so deeply in such a brief span of time. Maybe it is because of a bond stronger than love itself unites us.
This was indeed a day for the history books. Our team cooked pancakes for the children... hundreds of them, non-stop, for a couple of hours. The kids were so fun to watch, especially as they kept coming back to the line to get more. Love is also sealed in the company of food and this would be proven true again later in the day as we took the kids and all the stuff to eat at their favorite restaurant -- an all you can eat buffet that lets you pick and cook the food you want to eat, right there on your own table. Our children were so well behaved and they have perfected dining to an art.
In the afternoon, we divided the team between several units of recreation, art, hair and nail make over, and filling water balloons for a different kind of war that was to be fought later on. Love thrives in the midst of merry-making. And time does fly when you are having fun.
Our parting was sad but it was also rich. We sang with the kids back at Grace Place. RAD led us on a candlelight moment, and then we released lanterns into the dark Battambang sky (Mr. Steve's idea). We also prayed for each of the children in small groups and asked them to pray for us. And then we extricate ourselves from their embrace, hoping they don't catch a glimpse of the adults balling like little children, but knowing full well that their love will always remain more than a glimpse, a blossoming flower that refuses to die.
I wish I could tell you more about this day but I have been up for 19 hours now and can't keep my eyes open anymore.
Sorry for the predictable letters on "page" and no image. Next time.
Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
Today was one of those days our team will never forget. This day will forever mark the time in our lives when our love for our kids was sealed with a sense of deep sadness. So often love is labored in pain and sealed in sadness. People swear eternal love in times of war and go on into the night without knowing what the future will bring. We, on the other hand, tasted the sweetness of love in a moment of separation after only a few days, so few the math of love doesn't add up. How can you love so deeply in such a brief span of time. Maybe it is because of a bond stronger than love itself unites us.
This was indeed a day for the history books. Our team cooked pancakes for the children... hundreds of them, non-stop, for a couple of hours. The kids were so fun to watch, especially as they kept coming back to the line to get more. Love is also sealed in the company of food and this would be proven true again later in the day as we took the kids and all the stuff to eat at their favorite restaurant -- an all you can eat buffet that lets you pick and cook the food you want to eat, right there on your own table. Our children were so well behaved and they have perfected dining to an art.
In the afternoon, we divided the team between several units of recreation, art, hair and nail make over, and filling water balloons for a different kind of war that was to be fought later on. Love thrives in the midst of merry-making. And time does fly when you are having fun.
Our parting was sad but it was also rich. We sang with the kids back at Grace Place. RAD led us on a candlelight moment, and then we released lanterns into the dark Battambang sky (Mr. Steve's idea). We also prayed for each of the children in small groups and asked them to pray for us. And then we extricate ourselves from their embrace, hoping they don't catch a glimpse of the adults balling like little children, but knowing full well that their love will always remain more than a glimpse, a blossoming flower that refuses to die.
I wish I could tell you more about this day but I have been up for 19 hours now and can't keep my eyes open anymore.
Sorry for the predictable letters on "page" and no image. Next time.
Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
3 comments:
Wow! Just wow. Praying for you all as you travel the journey God has marked so clearly for you and as you love those kiddo with His love and as you sense His work in and through you each. Thanks for the updates. Truly.
Bria Wasson
Brings back fond and powerful images when I got to hug the kids, worship in the pavilion, and to feel the heart ache of departing for our next destination. Thanks for being willing to rip your heart open for the Lord.
As I gaze up at the full moon and appreciate it's beauty, it's a good reminder that across the world, we are connected by those things bigger than us.
Thinking and praying and sending love, thoughts and prayers!
Mom -- Traci's anyway ;-)
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