and then it happened

It was our third day in Peru.  We were visiting an orphanage on the outskirts of Cusco and had just been given a tour of the three story facility.  Some of us were about to begin treating the children with special needs while others of us hung out, played, and loved on the other children in the orphanage.  I was playing with a sweet little boy named Adriano.  I was immediately drawn to him.  I noticed very quickly that he loved to run to the bedroom that he shared with about 7 or 8 other children and run to the bed at the far end by the window.  He would climb up on the bed to open the window and just stand there staring out.  Looking back now, I wonder how many times in his little life he's actually been outside into that world that he loves to stare out at.  Pretty much all of his life has been spent inside the walls of that orphanage since the day he arrived because his parents are alcoholics and unable to care for him. 

 

Every chance he got, Adriano was back to the room... back to climbing up on the bed... and back to staring out the window.  All of sudden I heard crying coming from his room.  I went into the room to find that him and his friend had been playing and he fell off the bed and hurt himself.  He was crying uncontrollably...

 

For a split second I expected someone to come rushing in after me to respond to his cry.  And then it happened....

 

It was the moment a few seconds before this...

 

 

 

 

As I stood there looking down at sweet Adriano crying--- it hit me.  Like. A. Ton. Of. Bricks. Seriously it was a little hard to breathe, and I'm not really sure how I didn't burst into tears right along with him.  In that moment I realized.....he has no mommy to comfort him when he falls down and gets hurt.  No mommy to kiss his boo-boos and wipe away his tears.  No mommy to pick him up and hold him close and tell him it's all going to be alright.  Before I knew what I was doing I scooped him up and sat down with him to try and comfort him while he cried.  I held him until his sobbing softened and his tears stopped.  As I held him in my lap, I prayed that he would one day have a mommy and daddy to bring him into their home and to make him their very own.  Now don't get me wrong.  He is very well taken care of.  The women in the orphanage are so loving and take such great care of the children there.  They love them dearly, but that doesn't change the feeling I have deep within me that says that every child belongs in a family.

 

I'm not quite sure why this incident impacted me so much.  I've been to other orphanages before, and I've held orphans in my arms before.  But this time....it was some kind of different, and I can't fully explain it.  I feel like God is up to something in my heart in this area, and I'm not quite sure what it will mean.  Maybe it will mean adoption in the future, or maybe it will mean advocating in other ways for the orphan.  Whatever it is I know that I am more fully aware now of God's command to care for the fatherless.