Because I knew you....

[I've heard it said ....That people come into our lives for a reason.... Bringing something we must learn ....And we are led....To those who help us most to grow ....If we let them ...And we help them in return ....Well, I don't know if I believe that's true .....But I know I'm who I am today Because I knew you....]

--wicked soundtrack

I've been feeling a little reminiscent lately. I usually do this time of year. My thoughts are turned back to the time when my life changed drastically. For the better. My perspective, my experience, my love, my gratitude all increased beyond measure because of this time. It is amazing to me what a mere 3 months of my life has done to make me who I am. Unfortunately, it is also easy for me to get caught up in my life and forget about that period in my life, so I am always grateful when my thoughts are turned back to the time when dozens of little children who had nothing taught me so much.





Six years ago, at 20 years old, I had recently returned home from living in Quito, Ecuador with house full of similar aged girls volunteering in orphanages surrounding the city. I was engaged to Kyle at the time. While I was so excited for our marriage just a few weeks away, I was torn about leaving the children.


I had spent the last three months of my life planning activities, taking kids to the park, teaching children English, and developing relationships with the most amazing children on earth. It was there that I had my first cloth diaper experience. I had my first up-in-the-middle-of-the-night to feed the baby experience, and instead of just for one, it was for 20. It was there I stayed up all night at a hospital with a sick infant praying she'd make it through the night. It was there for the first time I counseled and cried with two young sisters who lost their mother and were abandoned by their father. At 20 years old I learned about love and where true happiness comes from because these sweet children loved so freely and gave of themselves so much, although they had so little. No toys or clothes to call their own. No parents to call their own. But they still smiled, loved and gave because they knew the secret to life that so many of us are still searching for: Happiness is a choice that comes from within, despite the circumstances surrounding you.

I sobbed and sobbed on the plane ride home. While I was so excited to be reunited with Kyle after being apart for so long, my heart broke and I was leaving a big part of it there. Months later after I married I often stayed up at night thinking about the little mother-less souls. Who would love them? Who would teach them? Who would bathe them, laugh with them? The tears would turn to prayers and I prayed for those sweet children every night. When we moved to Chicago, I had multiple opportunities to see Wicked, the Musical. The song "For Good" encompasses the deep feelings of emotion and gratitude I have for these children. Each time I hear that song I can't help but get a little weepy thinking about those sweet souls who changed me for the better.

A year ago I had the opportunity to go back and spend a week in Quito and stay in the house rented by the same humanarian organization I worked for, OSSO (Orphanage Support Services Organization). Kyle's sister had volunteered in Quito with the organization and I went down to "bring her home." It was overwhelming in so many ways. I went back to visit a couple of the orphanages and only 2 children of the dozens and dozens I had loved and bathed and played with were still there. Sadly, it wasn't because they had all been adopted. The others were gone because they had been moved to other orphanages, or they had reached the age of 18 and were on their own. There was no way of tracking any of them down. My heart ached to see a familiar face, or to hear a familiar "Hola Michelita!!!" but instead the orphanages were filled with more children under the same disappointing circumstances of being without a loving family. The healing grace in my visit was being surrounded by several volunteers who were living in Quito and loving the "new" orphans just as I had loved mine. I left Quito with a feeling of peace and hope knowing that even though I couldn't be there, there would be volunteers to do what I had done.

To this day there remains a special bond with the girls I lived with in Ecuador and nothing, not even time, could change that special connection we share with each other. I stay in regular contact with OSSO and get updates on the children, their facilities and the volunteers. I send a check once or twice a year to help with supplies or whatever is needed, I buy the hand-made cards created by the troubled teens at one of the orphanages I used to work in and think back to their little room that they took scraps of paper and made their own paper. They pressed flowers and created beautiful designs, each unique.

Recently I received a newsletter from OSSO and the news broke my heart. The hope that I felt a year ago was diminished. The failing economy has affected the number of volunteers and the organaization is desperate for more. Also, the dollar contributions which they depend so heavily upon to support the orphanages has dropped drastically.

Now that I have my own little family here, it isn't as easy to drop anchor and head down to South America....for now anyway. My small checks and purchases of the cards are just little ways for me to cope with being away, and nothing can replace being there. I wish I could be there.

It is my hope that more people find out about this opportunity and are able to volunteer, or find those who can. The very least I can do is offer to assist in sponsoring someone to go down there. The experience is amazing. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the best thing I have ever done. If any of you know someone who may be looking for this type of experience, send them my way. I'd love to tell them about this opportunity. Speaking Spanish is helpful, but not required. Just the desire to serve and love unconditionally.

OSSO's website is here. If you'd like to see those beautiful hand made cards you can go here.

To learn more about the volunteer experience, go here. And if you would like to donate, go here.


It would mean the world to me if you could help spread the word.
Thank you.