It was the first day serving in Monterrey. It was our second trip as a family to Back2Back Mexico, but it was our first time there since we adopted our five-year old daughter, Yanni, from China three years ago.
The entire family together at the beginning of our week in Monterrey
We worked on building projects at a children’s home. The orphanage basically consisted of three large rooms: a kitchen/dining hall, a girls’ dorm and a boys’ dorm. In the mid-afternoon, Yanni had to use the bathroom. Knowing the conditions of the bathrooms, if I’m honest, my first thought was “Can’t she wait?”
I shooed away the flies and sat my daughter on the toilet. I wanted to tell her not to touch anything but I knew it was futile. As I waited for her, I leaned against the wall praying that she would finish quickly. My prayers weren’t answered, or so I thought. Tired from working in the heat, I slid down the wall and slumped on the floor to wait, as she was taking a long time. I tried to reassure Yanni that the flies wouldn’t hurt her. The other toilet was jammed and swarming with even more flies. The sink was falling off the wall but did trickle water. There was a dirty bar of soap in the sink and not a towel in sight. From where I was sitting, I could see bunk beds and a few cribs all lined up.
As I watched Yanni’s little body on that huge toilet and the flies swirling about her, it hit me. This is where my daughter came from – we saved her from this life. No sooner had I had that thought when God whispered in my ear, “Daughter – this is what I saved YOU from.” I spent the rest of that time saying “Gracias” over and over. From that point on, I was no longer worried about the physical conditions just grateful.