The Lord brings a child into Shadow of His Wings with a plan and a purpose. We at Shadow have no clue to what that means, but we get to see growth of a redeemed child.
Family visits are important for the children, but are complicated. We had permission from Verbo Sur, the church we attended before we moved to Monjas, for these visits. The social worker set up the visits with those requesting to see a child. The judges involved gave permission depending upon the situation. Not all requests were granted. The day before the visits there was a contact made to confirm that person would be coming for the named child. At the Project, preparations were made for the four-hour bus trip to Guatemala City.
Upon the arrival at the church, the children had a room with a TV and movies to watch while they waited for their turn. All eyes turned to the door when it opened and names called out for the children who had family in another room. At the end of the time for visitors there was usually one sad child whose family didn’t come. Someone would console and present possibilities of why that might have happened.
Elvia went through this many times. The aunt would confirm the visit and then was a no-show. What a surprise on one particular time when the aunt came with Elvia’s mother, sister, and little brother.
The aunt was involved in the rescue of Elvia that included Yeimi, but the pregnant mother disappeared with the sibling. The same thing happened a second time. We had a court order saying Yeimi could come to the Home when the police found her. This day, here she was with her mother.
Yonith and I decided to contact the court to see if we could take her back with us. The judge replied we could if the mother gave us permission.
For three years prayers were said for Yeimi to be found and brought to the Home. Elvia took part in those prayers and when she saw her sister she grabbed her in a hug. “I will not let her go.”
The mother, obviously a street person, saw how good and happy Elvia looked. She graciously gave permission for Yeimi to come live at Shadow.
Yeimi adapted to life in the Project with her sister and started the education program. Years later she completed her studies and is now working in the educational system.
These are God’s children and He uses people to rescue them and help them find their place in His plans. He redeemed both Elvia and Yeimi. The enemy had them and God took then back.
A year passed, and we received a call from the court saying that a man claiming to be Najera’s father had called. The woman who had cared for Najera after the death of her mother contacted Julio*, asking for permission to adopt her. Julio had been on a hunt for Najera ever since he had heard that his ex-wife had been killed. He had come up short in finding any information about Najera’s location until now. The lady at the court told him how to contact us, and Julio made the call to see his daughter. We explained to him the legal procedures he needed to take through the court system, including getting permission from the judge.
confirm his biological claims. It turned out that Julio had lived and worked in the same area as Shadow of His Wings Orphanage for the last four years. We passed by his workplace frequently and didn’t know that the target of Najera’s prayers labored in a shop yards away.