Saying goodbye...

Well, as you may have guessed...our relaxing day turned into a very busy day!! We received a call from the director of the orphanage, Maria Jose that the Sadino children were leaving TODAY to go back to their family. The Sadino kids are Yalina, Richard, Katiel, Lucia and Angel. Five siblings...all leaving. I had very mixed emotions about this news - what a blessing they would be going home to their parents but how sad for me and everyone else who loves these children and have been a part of this family since we started coming here.

The girls and I left this morning to spend time with all the Sadino's and to understand more about their situation. Lucia and Angel have been favorites of ours from the beginning - my husband has always wanted to adopt Angel (a little boy who is now 5 - we met him when he was 2) but let me explain their family situation...Their Mother comes to visit them every month - all her children look forward to her coming and love her very much!! Their Father lives in a neighboring city but does not come often to visit. They also have an additional brother who lives with their Mom - he is 3 years old now. So the Mom has no work, and will be taking care of 6 children ranging in ages from 3 to 12!!

In Nicaragua they are reviewing all the "orphan" cases and if they find that a child is staying at the orphanage because of economic reasons only - they want (insist) that they go back to their families and that the government will assist them in caring for their children. I think this program has a lot of merit....children should be with their biological family whenever it is possible - the issue .... is it possible? Is it the best for the children?

For the Sadino's...the situation is dire. Their Mother doesn't have a job, beds or food to care for this large family. So as the kids are waiting for their Mother to show up today...Mi Familia calls and tells Maria Jose that she cannot have her children due to the lack of food and accommodations. It has now been postponed until July 2nd. When the children heard this news, they were sobbing... I held Lucia as she cried and we just kept telling her that we loved her. Angel was about to take a nap when he was told, he too started crying and Scarlett just held him and kept rubbing his back. I came back to check on her after about 15 minutes, and Angel was asleep on Scarlett's lap. Little love!!

We often ask a question to the groups' we bring to Nicaragua...If you could live with your parents but have to live in the dump, where there is no food, toys, beds and you have to go through the trash to live OR would you want to live in the orphanage where you go to school, eat regularly, and have beds.....which would you choose? Tim and I are always amazed at what the answers are and why - we had a sweet girl Sydney (9 years old) on our last mission's trip and she answered that she would live in the dump because all that mattered was that she was with her parents. Amazing, isn't it?

In a world of big houses, multiple cars and 401K's....can you imagine having to make this choice? That's what the Sadino family is doing and they have chosen their parents.

I don't know how to feel about this - I don't know how to pray for these children. I want them to stay healthy, to be loved daily, to go to school, to have a future......do their parents have any idea what these children are giving up to be with them? Do we appreciate the fact that our children will never have to make this choice? I will have to say "goodbye" and it won't be easy - I have a little more time to love on each of them and to tell them how special they are - I just pray it makes a difference and that their future is bright...