Abby’s Garden is open!!!
More on that below because I’d like to take this opportunity to share a quick story which happened at We Belong recently (the after-school kids program I work with in Portland.) The kids were putting on puppet shows with some puppets and a theater they had created. A young girl whose father died when she was little was voicing the puppets with another girl, while an 8-year-old boy and I were the audience. Her daddy puppet said to the rest of the puppet family, “I’m leaving and I’m never coming back!”
This made me feel sad, and then the boy sitting next to me turned to me and quietly spoke: “That’s what happened in my family.” He told me that his dad left when he was three years old and he doesn’t see him often. I empathized with him about how much that must hurt. He was very open and vulnerable with me and expressed his sadness clearly.
There are a lot of hurting kids today and I am grateful to be a part of their lives, and with Jesus working through me, to be a person who is a loving, stable and consistent presence in their lives. I hope that by creating safe spaces for these kids to share their pain, even small conversations such as these will help bring healing.
It is so exciting to have begun the work of caring for kids at Abby’s Garden! It was so gracious of our director, Divina, to open her apartment for the use of Abby’s Garden. However, we do not want to stay there long-term and we need more financial partners in order to move to our own location and accept more kids! Please pray about becoming a member of our support team.
Caring for the children includes feeding them. Here Nathan is eating Sancocho, a Dominican stew we ate often while living in the DR. It is nutritious and delicious!
Thank you so much for caring, praying, and supporting us as we seek to share Jesus’ love with children both near and far. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook at Abby’s Garden and you can click on the link below (between the f and the paperclip) to follow us on Instagram at abbysgarden2022!
With love,
Tonya