It was turning out to be a stressful week. If there are 24 hours in the day, it was one of those days where you know, you need at least 29hours in one day to minimally put everything in.
My wife and I were headed to Industrial Valley near Marikina. We were quiet in the car as we were busy with our thoughts.
We arrived at the site and I had to wait for wifey to open the gate as I was doing double- blinkers on a small 2-way uphill road. They let us in. We had been there before so we already knew the drill. Change into a white shirt. Walk to the other side. Remove the shoes. Open the door and…
SMILE!
There were 10 – 12 crawlers waiting for us. The youngest being 5mos or so and the oldest about a year old. These are the orphans at CRIBS – http://cribsfoundation.org/
It was my 3rd visit and I was getting accustomed already to the babies crawling toward me for them to be carried. My first visit was during the inauguration of PNoy as President. I was with the toddlers… and as PNoy was walking through the Malacanang corridors, I was carrying two male toddlers at the same time, while a 3rd one was climbing on my back.
But I think the crawlers can give me more peace… baby Paul would immediately stop crying when you pick him up. Nikka would always approach me with her very inquisitive eyes. John Lloyd would find his way to my lap and look at me with his big eyes. Shine has an eager smile on her face. Faurah always looked like she is about to cry.. Genesis was too small I could not begin to start carrying him around.. and on that day, I met Tina and Melissa for the first time.
It was just my wife and I who volunteered that afternoon. And so needless to say, our hands and arms were really full. I looked into their eyes and tried to look at them as if God was looking at them.. wondering what God would tell these babies who were surrendered and abandoned by their parents.
Looking into the quiet eyes of Paul as he peacefully laid his head on my shoulder suddenly made all the previous discussion on predestination moot and academic. Such topics were nicely debated and dissected in the safe confines of the seminary and church halls… but here in the orphanage… topics like predestination becomes non-sensical all of a sudden. For how could a loving God look into the eyes of these precious children and tell them that some of them have been predestined for damnation.
3:30PM is always their feeding time. I ventured into doing that and started with CJ. He somehow reminded me of my labrador because CJ would always give me the ball and then would ask me to throw it somewhere for him to retrieve it. And we would play these games while I am playing with Nikka, John Lloyd or whoever is clamoring for my attention.
Feeding these crawlers are fun! We sit on the cushioned floor and I put my legs around them so they would not be able to move. CJ wanted to play more than eat – so Nikka would approach and would beg for her food. I could only feed about one or two of them as I am still learning the technique of making them eat a little faster with less mess on their faces and on my jeans.
4Pm – the visit ends. We kiss all of them goodbye and they start walking to the door following us. Paul would immediately cry. Nikka would tentatively wave her hand to us and then.. it was over.
It is a different world over there. It is as if time would momentarily stop and the whole universe is just occupied by these beautiful crawlers.
I would tell these babies how stressful the past several weeks had been. I told Paul about a concern in the local church. I shared the Trinity with Nikka.. and I was sharing the gospel with Tina as her head was on my lap fighting off sleep. And I told them “you will never know who I am… because you guys are going to be adopted sometime soon… you may end up in different cities or countries in the coming months… but for this time… I have all of you.. and we have each other.”
Such a beautiful moment.
Peaceful.
Divine.
I could almost feel the love of the Father toward these little ones.
When we go there – I am not a mentor, pastor, teacher or any person with responsibility to make something happen.
I just try to be -
A representation of the Father who cares and loves them unconditionally.
James 1: 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. – NASB 1995.
Holding these sleepy and playful crawlers in my arms surely does feel very pure and very undefiled.
