How a Three Year Old Turns Into a Sex Slave - True Story

There are many things that break my heart, especially when it comes to children. I can't judge by saying there is no reason what so ever not to love your child, no matter how God created him or her.  But the more I see children abandoned, especially when the parents are not poor, the more it breaks my heart.  Just in the past two weeks, I've had two different parents bring their older children that were developmentally disadvantaged and just want to 'dump' them on me with no care in their hearts whatsoever.  Last night was the  second one.  The older brother came with his parents and their supposed 15 year old sister (she was more like 25 years old) trying to convince me to take her.  They were practically begging me to take her off their hands.  The sad part is they had never given any care to her whatsoever.  They had never tried to get her any help even though they were not poor, and here she was now, a young adult in terrible condition both physically and mentally.  A child made in the image of God.
What burdens me is my hands are tied.  There was no way possible due to circumstances in my home, and because of the restrictions of the agency I am with here.  So what happens to her now?
There is actually only one place in the city near by that has residency for children who are developmentally disadvantaged and even they are letting children go that have lived there.
Last week a father brought his adult child here for the third time begging me to take him.
Last Sunday, the Pastor of the house church asked me to take in 3 children who were typically developed because their mother had died and the new wife didn't want them.  These children are approximately 4, 5 and 6.  I've been in much prayer the past couple of weeks praying and asking what God would have me do.
The other plight that is increasing daily is children in sex trafficking.  Below is an article from the blog of Tom Davis who is an advocate for children in this situation.
What can you do?  Pray, research, pray more, give, go, even come help me!
The children need us!  We have the ability and resources.  Won't you help?


How a Three Year Old Turns Into a Sex Slave - True Story

Plan C

In my years of training other teachers I've always told them when one plan doesn't work or a child isn't learning than you need to change your plans. I've found the same true in my years of teaching. So, why shouldn't I do the same with the staff themselves? The original group of

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

staff that I trained at the first center I trained in all of the technical stuff and then gave them tons of activities and various ways to try things. So what happened? After they ran through all of those things they came back for more, not looking into themselves at what they could create on their own. After a while (a long period), they finally looked to themselves. This second team at the new center I decided to give them the basics, a few examples, and then let them figure out the rest on their own, leaving with them plenty of resources and materials. The result, not much. It's always been difficult getting the staff to use their imaginations and creativity. It's not that they don't have talent. When I've given them assignments they come with some marvelous, innovative ideas. However, in trying to get them to carry that over into the classroom is like pulling teeth. I do keep in mind that although they are very creative they were all brought up in schools where only rote teaching took place, no hands on experience. So plan C? I'm doing the whole activity myself and teaching the children and letting them assist me! I'm using the same exact materials and resources that I have available for them. We had a meeting this morning and I showed them my literacy board (pictured below) and explained how I was going to use it and they saw what materials I used, they all kind of hung their head down in shame. I didn't want to make them feel bad but I wanted to motivate them and encourage them that they could do the same and more! So what happened? When I peaked in on their planning session today they were busy making all kinds of things and for the first time ever one staff member stayed past quiting time to make some things for class on Monday! Score! Pray for their continued motivation so that the children can have the best learning possible!

Birthdays

I HATE BIRTHDAYS! There, I said it. I know all the good things about God ordaining the special day that we were born, and Psalm 139, and I don't mean to sin against God by saying I hate birthdays but they've always been disappointing. I don't know if it's my expectations, which I couldn't even tell you what my expectations are. All I know is the older I get the faster time goes by and I end up feeling like I've wasted a year by not getting the things I wanted to get accomplished. Now I don't want to say that all of my birthdays have been bad. I remember my 49th was a special treat where friends threw me a surprise party and BOY was I surprised! It was one of those moments when you look your worse and all kinds of people show up at your door! A dear lady, Sara, made me this wonderful poster sharing about my life and work using candy bars.







I think my saddest one was when I turned 21. Life was not going well and then a few weeks after my birthday my father died.
I even thought this last year was going to be a monumental year. I was looking for God to do amazing things through me and with me. I felt it was special because I turned 50 and my birthday fell on the exact same day I was born 50 years ago. I must say the last year WAS monumental but it was negative monumental things that happened in my life... what to say or do?
Well, this morning I think the Lord was sick and tired of my bad attitude about birthdays and decided to put a stop to it. You see, since my return here a couple of weeks ago I've been working on devotions with the staff concerning "Attitudes of the Heart." I feel sometimes that, although these people are Christians, they just don't have a passion for the work. I decided before I did further training on working with the children that I would first, with the help of the Lord, do some exercises in heart surgery. It has been going pretty well and so far the staff have been thinking about it and questioning my motive.
Tomorrow, I am training the staff on using puppets again and it's also our day for the next step in our heart attitude lesson. I decided to look online for some new skits and found one listed under "heart." JACKPOT! I thought what a great way to convince the staff of their heart attitude by doing a skit with puppets! Then I read the skit. Here's an excerpt:
S - "I can thank him that I'm not as old as you! (ouch)
V - "Yes, and I'll thank Him that I'm still getting older. (double ouch)
S - "Why would you do that?"
V - "If I didn't get older, I'd be dead. Plus that gives me more time to live for Jesus." (slam dunk!)
S - "Oh, yea"
V - "If you want to feel better all the time then remember in Proverbs 17:22 it says a cheerful heart is good medicine."
I did laugh after I read that realizing that God does have a great sense of humor. I'm trying to preach to my staff when some areas in my own life need fixing, not that I thought I was perfect, but some things are more obvious than others!
So, what am I doing this year for my birthday? Celebrating(!!!) and making a list of all of the things I am thankful for! So join me on Thursday, August 5th, in thanking God for the last year He gave me (difficult as it was), because I've learned and grown from it, and I know Him more than I did the year before. Looking forward to what He has in store for me in the next year! May HE be glorified in it all! Happy birthday to me!
(p.s. I'll give you my list after the 5th!)