Jesus had the Heart of a Servant.... So de We.

Throughout the semester we have been studying what it looks like to have the heart of Jesus. What did his heart look like? Even though he was the Son of God and the king of the world... he washed FEET! Dirty feet. So thats just what we did in Bible class. :) We washed each other's feet. You should've seen the look of horror in my kids eyes when thats what they were going to do. But it was incredible how much they got into it.... they washed, dried, and changed out the water for each person without me having to say anything after the first time. And, after each person went, I always heard a "thank you". Of course they pointed out that Jesus probably used warm water with his friends (the water we had was quite chilly)... but I think they really grasped that Jesus served others.. gladly. I pray that this activity will be one that they will always remember!

Esteven Setpember 11, 2009 - January 26, 2010

Today was a hard day. I woke up to a phone call from Patti Sue telling me that baby Esteven passed away last night. Esteven was brought to us in September as a newborn because he had so many health problems. His 4 1/2 months of life were filled with oxygen tanks, pulse monitors, and hospital runs. But this little kid was such a trooper. He fought harder for his life than I've ever seen anyone do. We called him "el buen luchador"... or the good fighter. Somehow though, in all of his pain, Esteven had such a peace about him. As Patti Sue said in his obituary, when he looked at you it was like he was looking at your soul. I think its because to him, thats all he knew- his soul. A body that worked was a foreign concept to him.

So when I got to school this morning I had to tell my kids the news. Jeniffer and Jessica, the two girls who live with Patti Sue, already knew because they had been living with him. The other kids never really saw Esteven, but they had been praying for him since he was born. When I told them this morning that he passed away, they all kinda looked disappointed and then one of them said, "why?". The kids could tell that Jeniffer and Jessica were hurting and they all looked at me with this puzzling question of... "but why???"

So I told them this: When I was getting ready this morning I asked God the same question... "why God? why this precious little baby that was fighting so hard? why couldn't you have healed him.. given him a miracle?" I wanted so badly to talk to Esteven 10 years from now and tell him how he spent his first year of life in a little bed with tubes hooked up to him. But God quickly reminded me of this... He said, "Alison, I have healed him. I did give him a miracle. He's with me now. I sent him to this world to give you all joy. To teach you the beauty of someone's soul. But I am ready for him... I've missed him.. and its time for us to be together." Now Esteven gets to be a normal baby. One who breathes on his own, laughs and crawls and runs and talks and plays games with Jesus.

Some of the kids started crying when I told them this (I was tearing up too) and then they started asking questions about heaven. I asked them if they were 100% sure that they too would go to heaven when they die and many of them said "mmm yea".. and others shrugged. So we talked about how you get to heaven.. about how you cant do anything good enough to get there... its not by your actions. But by.... (and Maribel said) "Grace, Miss Alison". What a beautiful heart that girl has... she was totally right. So we talked about grace, and about having Jesus in our hearts. Then the kids decided we should pray together to ask for Jesus' grace.

At Esteven's burial, Patti Sue had Tia Heidi read Isaiah 55:8-13. I started crying when I heard it because it could not have been more appropriate. I already know one of the reasons why God sent Esteven to this earth... his life was a witness to seven precious little students in my class. They learned of God's grace and how to invite Jesus into their lives.

I praise Jesus for the little life of Esteven. And as my mom just wrote to me, maybe my Nanny is up there rocking him right now....

My Baby..... Nanki.

Hi Everyone! Today is a good day because the internet is fixed and I am sitting at home in my pajamas able to connect to the outside world. :) What a great feeling!

Christmas break was such a great time with family and friends. It was so refreshing and rejuvenating. It also made me realize how MUCH I love these kids and missed them. Especially Nanki... who I like to call "my baby". I had so much fun with my Mom and Grammy over break going down the baby aisles at all the stores and looking for baby clothes for Nanki. One of these pictures is of what we ended up buying. :)

Nanki grew so much during the 3 weeks I was gone! He's getting nice and chubby and learning how to smile and make funny faces. He is also exploring his sounds and loves saying "goo". He is SO precious.

One day after school when I went over to play with Nankipoo, I had the opportunity to meet his dad. His dad came in from his village in the jungle to visit him and see how his foot and hip were doing. It was nice to meet him and learn more about Nanki's family out in the jungle. By the end of the visit, he had taken a picture of me with him and Nanki and asked me to be his "madrina", or godmother.

Please pray for precious baby Nanki, that God will provide the surgery he needs for his hip and his foot and that He will grow him into a strong man of God. And for the 5 years he is with Casa de Fe, that he will learn how high and deep and wide the love of God is for him.

Thanksgiving Day Parade

Sorry I haven't posted anything in such a long time! I wasn't very good about planning my internet time around the electrical outages we've been having and then lately the internet in all of Shell has just been down. I am in Quito with Eric this weekend and will going back to Shell tomorrow so hopefully the internet will be back up and running and I can get back to my regular blogging. :)

Lots of things have happened this month, but the highlight has been the parade that just so happened to be on Thanksgiving Day (for us USA people that is). In Shell, it was the celebration of "Shell Days. People come from all over to participate, the town is repainted (literally) and decorated, there are bull fights, a circus, and even a pageant for the Queen of Shell. It was such a big deal... and this year our kiddoes participated! They were soooooo excited about it... everyday they asked me "Miss Alison, when will we march? We practice today? How much time until the desfile (parade)?" So after much practice and lots of singing, on Thursday the kids got all dressed up in their typical Ecuadorian "of the coast" attire (as did I) and marched and sang these 5 songs: I Love You Lord Forever, Lean on Me, Tu Amor Hace Eco en Todo Mi Universo, I'm in the Lord's Army, and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. I cannot tell you how proud I was of them. They did the motions, sang loud, smiled, and at least tried to stay in their lines. You should've seen the faces and heard the applauses of the people lining the streets... they were so impressed that these kids were singing in English.. and so well! Also, when they sang the song in Spanish proclaiming to the whole community that Jesus' love is everywhere and is everything to them..... well that was the best part. I know God used these precious little kids to touch of hardened hearts of many people in those crowds.

As you can see the kids looked beautiful! I am so thankful that I have these kids in my life... and you. Whether there is internet or not, electricity or not.... please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Precious Moments

This is a day in the life of Alison Bowen at Casa de Fe. Its true, I am surrounded by the most precious creations of God.... I LOVE IT. These are a few of my favorite scenes.... Coco being ADORABLE and making a funny face (usually he's blowing kisses), Gilmar and Nicole getting ready to go to Miss Sharon's pre-school class over at the Nate Saint Memorial School, Jefferson and Ivan hugging each other randomly when the rest of the time they are running around like crazy silly kindergarteners, Veronica playing with her dolls and always looking up at me with her pretty little smile (she is SO small), and little Ana eating her popcorn during snacktime.. such a doll. I could go on and on about how cute these kids are... but I thought I'd at least share a little bit of the joy that goes on here. :)

Tu Amor Hace Eco en Todo Mi Universo

So "Tu Amor Hace Eco en Todo Mi Universo" means "Your Love Echoes in All of My Universe". It is such a great song and I will post the lyrics in Spanish and English. My students had to plan a project to help someone, and they decided to do something for the preschoolers. They memorized the words to this song, made up motions, and painted a poster depicting each thing that the song says God is. They did such an amazing job! I tried to take a video of them singing, and sadly it didnt work! I'll have them sing it again and post it another time. This picture is of my 7 students and I in front of the pre-school classroom at Nate Saint Memorial School (where our pre-k kids go as well as some of the missionary kids). The poster behind us is the one they created. After the kids sang, they helped the pre-k kids paint stars and encouraged them to be leaders in the classroom (so cute). Before leaving they sang "Lean on Me" in partners. My kids are so precious!!!

Lyrics to the song in Spanish: (sorry I have to go to class... I will translate it in another post but pretty much it says God is EVERYTHING and He echoes in all of my universe!)
En la cruz se lavó todo lo que mi alma tanto cargó
Fuiste tú, mi Jesús quien pagó el precio de mi perdón
Y no hay palabra que quiera hablar
Ni hay canción que se me antoje cantar
Pues si no es para ti
No hay razón para poder existir
Coro
Eres el aire, la lluvia
La risa de los niños
La fuerza, la calma
La guía en el camino
Misterios, estrellas
Galaxias y sorpresas que llenan
Eres la noche, el día
La luz que me ilumina
Destino, pasado
Tesoro más preciado
La llave, la puerta
La voz que me alimenta y alienta
Tu amor hace eco en todo mi universo
Eres tú la razón por la cual perdido ya no estoy
Mi dolor se marchó por la fuerza de tu abrazo y calor
Y no hay palabra que quiera hablar
Ni hay canción que se me antoje cantar
Pues si no es para ti
No hay razón para poder existir

Our Newest Little One... Nanki

This is precious little baby Nanki. Nanki is the Ashuar word for "spear". He is 15 days old in this picture (taken 3 days ago) and I fell in love with him the moment I laid eyes on him. Every day after school all I want to do is go over to Patti Sue's and hold him. His parents brought him to her because they have six other kids and he needs some special medical attention that they can't provide. He was born with a club foot and a femor that didn't quite form correctly. So, Patti Sue is trying to find doctors who can operate on him when he is strong enough... and praying for the money for the operations. He is SUCH a good little baby... good eater and good sleeper. And even at a little over 2 weeks old you can already tell he is going to be quite the little heartbreaker! :) God is so good. I am so thankful for this little boy!