The Opportunities We Give Our Kids

I get up earlier most Fridays to flex my writing  muscles with Gypsy Mama and her five minute Friday prompt. It's the one kind of exercise I truly embrace. Join us as we write for five minutes without rewriting and without overthinking. Today's prompt: opportunity


Parents throw this word opportunity around like it defines their success. I want to give them opportunitiies I never had they tell me. To learn French. To play tennis. To see big cities and national parks. To have the best education. 


Somehow we believe that if our kids don't experience it all and experience it early we are denying them. But really, so much of it is a marketing scheme. Have you ever watched 3-year-olds play soccer? You paid for that? And I know 2-year-old art class is fun. You could embrace the joy of toddlers painting at home with friends, a sunny day, a porch, and a hose (double fun!)True parenting opportunity is more about time and connections than activities. 

But sometimes we want to create opportunities for our kids to see the world through Jesus's eyes. And personally, we wondered if our girls could understand the state of this world and His heart in the abundance of this country. So early on we prayed to find an orphange in another part of the world that we could love, probably forever. A place we could visit, support monetarily, and pray for. We had criteria for this opportunity we wanted to create. 

The cost of going there had to be reasonable because we were brining all 4 of us. We didn't want the cost to be so extravagant that the money we spent to arrive would have been a bigger blessing than our presence. The philosophy of the orphanage needed to match God's word. They had to welcome visitors. 

We settled on Central America. We found Casa Cielo in near La Ceiba Honduras online. A couple, working for the Lord, without organizational support. Fourteen kids at the time (praying for a permanent home). There are 28 now.  And one summer day we flew away, all six us (grandma and grandpa too), to this opportunity in Honduras that we found online. I was sure we were crazy but the peace was strong and the excitement stronger. 

And we've been back. Grandpa more than a dozen times, dear hubby three time, and the girls and I twice. We will go again. We will pray, support and try to find more opportunities locally and internationally to love like Jesus.