“Happy Mother’s Day” was the phrase for this past Sunday. And I don’t think a one of us ever expected to celebrate Mother’s Day, nor any day, on lockdown due to COVID-19. In a time when everything is “instant,” we were all ready for this to be over even before it ever really started to impact our lives, the whole world, the way it has. But yet, here we are – in El Salvador we are on week eight of martial law lockdown, and we all cringe every time we here new restrictions are being put into place.
But we want to take a moment and celebrate the special moms who serve as mom’s to children from hard places in the homes in La Casa. Rosa Elena, Milagro and Priscilla are women who are loving, courageous, full of hope and can fearlessly fight for the well being of any child in their home.
They are all great moms with their own children. They have each mothered and have raised or are raising children/young adults who have watched them serve others and in turn have a huge heart for the hurting in this world. Rosa Elena’s daughter first heard the news of one of the mother’s we work with making a tent out of plastic to sleep under when the quarantine began and immediately began searching for ways to help. She is studying psychology and has placed her efforts and energy into the court system fighting for the rights of the underprivileged. And she’s only one example of the ways that the baton gets passed to the next generation of these wonderful women.
Rosa Elena’s daughter helping with the care of children during the Medical Clinics
But, even above being mom to their own biological children, they have sacrificed above and beyond to serve as “houseparents,” along with their husbands, to children who come from very hard places. That all sounds so loving, and yes, there are moments when it is pure joy. But there are many more moments when you are dealing with thought processes, emotion and behaviors that these children bring with them from the past. It would take a book to talk about all the ways abuse, abandonment and neglect affects the body, soul and mind, but let’s just say that it isn’t very pretty. It isn’t easy.
When a child has been abandoned or hurt by their biological mother, we’ve experienced it can be very natural to take it out on other “mom” figures. And yes, that would be our house moms. They experience lots of pushback, lots of projected feelings and attitudes. But, our moms are also willing to step back and see that it is not them per se. They can wait patiently, love like never before and fight for heart change.
Their job seems thankless many days. The day-to-day can be filled with challenges that could rush over them like a giant wave, but they choose to believe. They can believe because they know that restoration of hearts is possible. . . and the time a child spends with their family may only be part of the journey towards healing, but it matters; yes, today matters.
Join us by giving a big shout out to our three house moms. Thank them for choosing to spend this season of their life pouring into the lives of the children we serve at La Casa!
