January Newsletter.

Please note info change on donating from U.S. and from Canada. Thanks!

         As we approach the end of January I am amazed. I have been in Guatemala almost 3 years. I am definitely not the same person I was when I first came. I have grown closer to God and tried to follow His plans for me and change to become more the child of God that He wants me to be. Some days I am more successful than others!

         I would like to share with you His calling for me to start a Children’s Home for kids with special needs. I have decided to call it Treasures of God Children’s Home-Casa Hogar Tesoros de Dios, as I want everyone to know how precious these children are to God.

        I continue to volunteer at Rehoboth, but I have the opportunity to start the paperwork process now. In order to start I need 50% of the $5000. USD fee. The whole process to become certified and licensed as a Children’s Home will take approximately one year. A social worker will be facilitating this and has a team of people that work solely on certifying and maintaining certification for children’s homes. He has worked for Rehoboth for many years and is completely trustworthy.

         I am going to start the process as soon as I have the $2500. Please pray about giving. Donations of any size are welcome and appreciated. If you are donating from Canada, you can visit www.ctenc.ca/naomiheye/ to make a donation online. Then choose one-time or continuous giving. On the next page you will be able to enter your country, amount donated, etc. If you are donating from the U.S., visit www.cten.org/giving and do a search for my name. Follow the instructions for giving after that. Please be sure to write me to let me know the money you are sending is specifically for the Home.

         When I was here in Guatemala for a visit in 2006 I met a little girl who had “brittle bone disease”. She had been tied to a chair by her mother and kept in a corner all day sitting in her filth for up to 12 hours a day. It horrified me.

         Here in Guatemala children who are born “different” or have problems are considered a punishment from God or a curse. Babies are often abandoned in the hospitals and the parents are never seen again. Often mothers are told by other family members to just kill “it”. Some kids are thrown on the side of the road and left to die. If the family chooses to keep them, they often never go outside as the family is embarrassed. Public schools won’t allow special needs children to attend. In the out-lying villages there is little education and families feel desperate and without hope.

         God has put a very strong desire in my heart to take special needs children that are unwanted and abandoned and make a new family. I want to take them to the pools and out to the store and down the street for ice cream. I want to provide therapies, medications, specialized surgeries and love.

         I have spent the last 2 years volunteering full time at Rehoboth learning as much about sponsorship, leadership, raising children and administration as I could in preparation for this. Before that I spent 5 months at a home for children with special needs. I learned a lot about the day to day care and needs of some very disabled children.

I am going to do some traveling to small towns with some people who work closely with families with special needs. This will help me get an idea in what geographical area I might be needed, as well as to meet with the families and really get a sense of how I can help them in a broader sense. Is there something I can help with without just taking their child into my care?

         As I near the end of my time at Rehoboth, I ask that pray for all of us. My biggest prayer is that the children don’t feel rejected when I leave. I have already told them I am leaving, as I wanted to give ample time for them to mentally process it. Pray for me. I have become family to these children and the staff there. It will be hard to leave. Pray for the people stepping in to take my place.

                                                                   God bless.                   

                                                                             Naomi Heye

Rough week.

This has been a bit of a tough week for me. Although I knew it was coming, it still hit me hard.

I have my leaving date for Rehoboth Children's Home. I tear up again just thinking about it. As of March 30th, I will not be seeing my kids every day. And it breaks my heart. 

When I think about starting there almost 2 years ago, I think about how I was a different person. I have learned a lot about the definition of love. I have learned what parents talk about when they are so angry with their child they could scream, and yet they love them so much. 

I didn't expect it. I thought I would enjoy the kids, play with them, help them with their chores, and learn what I could about really living and working in the ministry of a Children's Home. And then I thought I would happily leave and move on to the next phase in my life.

I have learned about words and actions. What I say and do affects each child differently. I have to constantly show them that I love them, and that God loves them. I have to set boundaries and limits, and give out disciplines when those lines are crossed (even though that was a great struggle for me to begin with). These kids are physically abused, sexually abused, abandoned and unloved. They don't trust adults. They sometimes don't even trust themselves. 

And now I am just one more person that is leaving. 

I tell them that I love them and I tell them why I am moving on and I tell them that I will visit them. But it won't be the same. I know their personalities and their likes and their dislikes. They tell me what they did in school that day ("nothing". I am sure every parent/guardian has heard that one. I used to say it myself all the time!). They notice when I have a new pair of pants or different shoes on. They express their delight when they are drying dishes and find a brand new plate that wasn't there before. They tell me their little jokes and tell me that my joke is lame. (I really only have one joke that I ever remember and I think it is pretty cute. What did the number 0 say to the number 8? Nice belt! Hee hee.) They tell me bits of their past: unprompted and at random times. They feel safe with me. 

I give them hugs throughout the day and kiss them when I tuck them in at night. And now I won't be there. I am so excited about my next step and yet my heart is breaking saying goodbye to my nephews and nieces. I love to be called auntie. I love just being with them. 

My biggest hope is that I somehow made a difference in their lives. That they will remember me, and most of all remember how much I love them. I want to continue watching them grow up. How much they have changed in the 2 years I have known them! I was talking to one of the 19 year olds the other day. We were talking about how I wasn't married and didn't have children, and maybe I never would. I told him that I was happy right now, but would I be sad and alone when I was old? I jokingly asked him if he would be around to hang out with me when I was old and he replied jokingly that he wouldn't. Then he got serious and said the his kids and his grandkids would be around for me. I pray that this is true. I don't want it to be a complete ending of my relationship with them. But I need to be intentional in my visits with them. I can't let a year slip by without seeing them. And maybe that wouldn't happen, but it so easily could.

So pray for me and my kids. Pray that we transition well. Pray they don't start to reject me before I leave as a form of self-preservation. Because as much as I understand it, it will hurt me. Pray that they will truly understand WHY I am leaving them. I think of individual kids and the absolute sadness on their faces when they found out. And I think of how much it means to me to see their sadness. I know that they truly love me back. 

Pray that I finish up my time with them in a positive way. That I accomplish with them all that God had planned for me and my time with them. 

I'm not sure how the kids will go on without my positive example in their lives. I  am sure my friend Amy sitting next to me wonders how she can go on being my friend.

Just so you know, it is not all hugs and smiles and butterflies with me. Sometimes I just don't want my picture taken!

And please pray for the next steps. I had a medium sized panic attack this weekend when I started thinking about the future. But I will write about that in another post.