Our Brazil Blog: Parks & Rainbows

Bom Dia!

I don't even know where to start with this post cause so much has happened in the past few days.

Do this for me. Think of a middle school aged girl. Now add in all the drama and emotions that comes with that girl. Consider now, all the horrible things that have been done to her, then add the fact that she has never had to follow authority! Good? Do you have a mental idea of what that would be like?
Now, multiply that by ten girls and put them all under one roof where they have to obey rules and follow certain guide lines.
It is very... hectic.

Yet it is still beautiful. In the midst of all the fighting and craziness there is still improvement. Whether that is a smile instead of a frown or a simple "I'm sorry!" or "Thank you!"

You can't expect 10 girls to completely change in three weeks! It's not an overnight change, it's not a three week change, it's not a 3 month change. Heck, it may take some of them 3 years to change! I'm not saying that God can't change them in less time. He totally could! But this whole thing is a process and we're getting to watch the very early, beginning stages of it all. It is unrealistic to think it'll be all glitter and rainbows and butterflies when the worst of the worst has happened in their lives. But every night that they are here, though bed time is usually a struggle and there is always some degree of "fighting", it's another night that they are not on the streets selling their bodies and placing their identity and their value in drugs and boys.
Every fight, every temper tantrum, and every burst of outrage is just another piece and another beautiful chapter to every single one of their testimonies.

Being here, as we have expressed multiple times, it is so incredibly humbling! Even though we've been called "Babuina" more times than we can count! Haha I don't know that we have ever been called a baboon before but hey, there is a first time for everything!

Mama Rachael with her girls.

We took all the girls to the park Friday to get them out of the house and run off some energy! Which by the way America needs to up their parks cause this was freakin' awesome! Coolest. Park. Ever. Hands down! Granted it was right next to the beach and stuff, but, whatever. Anyways, one of the little girls accidentally hurt the other and she said "desculpe(sorry)" without anyone telling her she
had to! That is something to celebrate!

We absolutely enjoyed seeing all of them run around and being kids, having fun and laughing a lot. Shoot, we totally felt like kids too!

Seriously, she's the cutest thing ever!

When we first got there, Maddie and I ran over to the swings with the 3 youngest girls. I took out my camera to grab a few shots real quick, and not 5 minutes later they're running off again. so I start chasing after them when I hear "Mallory! Mallory, come here real quick!" And I look back and Maddie is pushing Rapha in the swing! Y'all, Rapha is the cutest, most hilarious 12 year old girl and I wish everyone could meet her and give her a hug. They call her the "big baby" and she keeps everyone at the house laughing. So to look back and see Maddie pushing her in the swing was too cute. It doesn't help that she has a t-shirt with a teddy bear holding a fuzzy heart. I mean come on, you have to rub it!

There was some sort of martial arts group that was practicing under a bridge/covering thing! Some of the older girls walked over to watch and were talking to the instructor, and he asked if they would like to join them. So everyone else in the class sat down while he showed the girls a few simple moves. It was so cool to watch them laugh at themselves while trying to do what he showed them. These are the kinds of moments that God sets up for these girls. Moments to try things that they never would have been able to.