The Next New Thing

Almost everything new is exciting—and sometimes scary. That is most certainly true for the children of the Miriam Home! Today we have nine young people and only one of them was with us when school ended for the year, that means eight children are facing a lot of new situations.

Nearly all of the children in the Miriam Home today are 10 years old or over. All of them come from situations where they had to take care of themselves; now they have what probably seems like so many “aunties”. To begin with that is pretty hard all by itself - it feels less like being cared for and more like being bossed around, by everyone! The rules that keep the Miriam Home from falling apart feel very restrictive during the first few weeks. But the loving hearts of our house moms are quickly winning over the children.

The next new factor in the kids lives is a new school year! Soon classes will begin again and, believe it or not, the children are looking forward to it! Many are going to new schools and all in new grades and though summer vacation is fun for a while it is nice to get back to the rhythm of classes, sports and "normal" life.

The biggest “new” in the lives of all the children is the simple unknown. Every child arrives not knowing how long they will stay with us; most have no idea where they will go when they leave. This isn’t an easy “new” to deal with, even as adults. Imagine for a child be they 5, 10 or 17years old! One of the goals of the Miriam Home is to make this stressful time as easy as possible in the lives of the children. Your prayers make a huge difference! The precious gifts so many of you have sent, have eternal impact! We recently received a boxes of mini-quilts. We are in the middle of summer right now and no one needs help staying warm but the children, even the oldest, love these mini quilts! They hold them when they watch a DVD at night, or a TV program, and they feel loved. Sheets and used tennis shoes, Tootsie Rolls and stickers have all been amazing ways for kids to feel hugs from thousands of miles away! Bless you and thank you!

Editor’s note:  To read more about the new school year starting and meet some of the new children you can read Jonni’s entire newsletter here.