Christmas for Orphanage: Taste and see that the Lord is good!

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

James 1:27

Julia's 4th grade class purchased this gift

The box is much more fun than the truck

He kissed the soccer ball.  The ten year old boy was just busting with excitement because he opened his Christmas present, and it was just what he wanted.  I’ve never seen an expression quite like it. 

All of the children, all 133 of them, thankfully opened their gifts at the Fiesta de Navidad, a special annual party for children from a nearby orphanage.   Some of the children have parents who work long hours and need help with child care during the week.  But others are desperately in need of a place to live and have no home to return to on the weekends.

The opening of gifts was the culminating event of the night sponsored by students at the Spanish Language Institute.  But the very first event was a dramatic retelling of Christ’s birth and a proclamation of the gospel message.  Joshua was part of a bell choir that performed several Christmas songs to accompany the story.  Then groups of children rotated through carnival style games, a magic show, and face painting. 

The energy and excitement was at a fever pitch.  After they ate dinner, the popping noise of boys jumping on empty juice boxes echoed through the gymnasium, mingled with laughter and giggles.  Four piñatas filled with candy and peanuts added to the good natured exuberance.

We had already purchased gifts for some of the children, but the real fun was volunteering at the party.  Each person in our family had a different role and was generally too busy to even see what anyone else was doing.  

Sabrina and I painted lightning bolts, Jesus “fish,” gingerbread men, snowflakes, soccer balls, rainbows, and hearts on the children’s faces and hands.  Mark and Isaiah led the children in a game where each team had to lie on the floor and create shapes or letters,  Joshua set up the soda bottle bowling pins each time, and Julia pitched in when it was time to clean up and set up for the next day’s Thanksgiving Dinner.

Racing to make an "M" on the floor

Sabrina spotted the gift she had wrapped in blue Disney princess paper in the hands of a nine year old girl.  The pretty, petite girl held it close to her heart for a moment before unwrapping it.  Just as Sabrina had hoped, she was delighted each time she unzipped a glittery pink cosmetic bag and found another smaller one nestled inside.  She was still tightly clutching the lotion, body spray, and pink glittery bags as she left that evening to go sleep at the orphanage.

In the middle of the organized chaos, wrapping paper flying in every direction, a 7 year old boy opened a gift our family had chosen.  Joshua recognized the wrapping and watched from a distance as a boy his age smiled and held the boxed remote control car with both hands and raised it up in the air like a trophy. 

Many of these children are from immigrant families who have fled to Costa Rica from other parts of Central America to escape drug wars or severe poverty.   The orphanage keeps these children out of slavery or “child trafficking,” a very real problem for parents who know they don’t have food or shelter for their own children.   

I recently heard a woman in her 60’s talk of being sent away from her mother when she was 5 years old to work for the rest of her life.  That day, still vivid in her memory, was the end of her childhood and the beginning of a life of work without a chance for education or even time to play.  The orphanage near the Institute has been bringing hope for a different and better future to hundreds of children for more than 50 years.

PINATA!



It started to drizzle again as I walked home in the dark with Sabrina, Joshua, Julia and Isaiah.  I happened to look back towards the school and spotted two long dingy white buses pull out into the street.  I’m usually totally “finished” after such an event, but in that moment I wanted the buses to stop so we could love on those kids just a little bit longer.  May God bless and keep them and continue using his servants to minister the gospel to them, because I know He loves children.