"Yes & Amen" A "Yes" day at Chayah. Aug 19th, 2014

We headed for Chayah early this morning, stopping in town at the bank, a place

for card stock and a box of water bottles.   A flat tire on the boda boda meant

we traded for another at about the 1/2 way point.

We met with the kids first thing and talked to them about the temptations of

this world and that Jesus was worth everything they may have to walk away from. 

Our destiny is heaven where there is more than we can every imagine.

Then we told them it was "YES" day and encouraged them to meet in small groups

and write down what they would like to do today.  Their excitement was so fun. 

Within just a few minutes small pieces of paper were turned in to us.  Their

smiles grew as each one was read aloud and Dann responded with a "yes!". 

Thankfully there were not 19 different ideas, but over and over again we saw

"swimming" "water balloons" "net ball" and "sleeping slide" (slip n slide)

 

We announced that they should put on their "swimming costumes" and there was

some of the most joyful and creative and risky slippin' that I've ever seen. 

 

 

After about an hour, they were tired and cold, so they bathed, washed their

suits and found something a little quieter to do.


After lunch a boys against

girls net ball game ensued and some of the rest of us played UNO.  The youngest

ones had a mattress in the yard and talked Dann into being the sardine that was

piled upon.  The laughter was contagious, especially when he was at the bottom

of the pile. 

   We taught them to make human pyramids...

 

We taught them to make human pyramids and then filled water balloons for a

series of tossing games.  There was no pouting, no crying over being the first

one to break the balloon, just sheer screaming and fun at the grand effort and

splash of water when it broke. 

Tomorrow we'll keep our promise and bring them to the hotel to swim before we

say our good byes. 

It has dawned on me over and over again this week, that these particular

children may have rarely if ever been recipients of attention, praise or the

affection of a father.  Surely it has not been constant or recent.  Watching

Dann with them, playing, wrestling, teaching or nodding approval at their

singing and dancing makes me pray they understand a little bit more about a

father's love, most importantly the love of their Heavenly Father.  

He is capable of showing us everything we need to know in His word, but every culture in the world clashes and falls short of a true father figure.  So grateful we can love them in the best way we know how and that God himself will cover where we fall short.  In the meantime, having a "yes" day at Chayah was more than fun for them and a wonderful gift to us.