Mothers were celebrated around the world this past week. In El Salvador, Mother’s Day is always on May 10th. In the United States, Mother’s Day is always celebrated the second Sunday in the month of May. It is a day set aside to honor mothers and the influence they have on their families and society.
A mother’s role in the family morphs during the course of a child’s life. She can be caregiver, activity coordinator, driver, teacher, emotional nurturer, counselor, coach, healthcare provider, spiritual guide, midnight comforter . . . the list goes on and on. Mother’s play a crucial role in shaping her children.
Within La Casa, children come with a lot of pain regarding family. There’s been significant trauma, significant pain that leads to anger or numbness. Consequences from the hurt and evil in our world. Their experiences having distorted any normalcy.
We believe that the family was God design. We have seen the children long for hope, family, and for restoration. And part of the journey to healing is placing the child into one of our three homes where children live with a set of houseparents and a small group of children, forming a family together as they navigate the healing process and next steps. Definitely, the housemom plays an important role in helping the child feel secure, loved, cared for and open to begin healing. We are grateful for each housemom who pours selfishly into the children.
There are also many other women within the ministry who pour into the children’s lives – founders, administrators, tias, teachers, counselors and volunteers. All women who care for the children in different ways. They have been mother role models.
Yet, our real desire is that God would heal and restore their own biological family whenever possible. Some of our children still have mothers whom they have contact with, so our work with the biological family remains a crucial part of our program. Healing, education, job training, restoration – all a journey. For those who have lost mother’s, we see the pain. Our job is to sit with these children and pray for a path to healing and words to the pain.
Through all of the hard, God has abundantly blessed this ministry through the concept of family. Our hope is that the children encounter a God focused family atmosphere that they, too, one day would want to model. Here’s a shout out to all of the mothers in our lives!
