Baptism

Yesterday was beautiful. 

After church, the congregation all piled into several trucks and the bus and we rode down to the river and while half stood on the bridge, the rest of us walked down the bank to the water's edge.

It was amazingly beautiful to watch Tatiana and Angel, two of the teenagers from Casa de Esperanza, get baptized. As they came up from the water they had beautiful smiles on their faces and Angel couldn't stop smiling as people hugged him. 

Beautiful. Jesus transforms lives. 

The beauty of the rushing river, the green mountains surrounding us, the bright blue sky and the smiling  dark faces around me was only a reflection of the beauty that God is doing in the hearts of these two teens. They are made new. Alive in Him!!!

Please pray for Tatiana and Angel that God would continue to work in their hearts and they would grow closer and closer to Him every day. That in their weakness they would cry out to their Heavenly Father and lean upon Him! And pray that the decision these two have made would be an example and encouragement to the rest of the kids here at Casa!!!

Praise the Lord oh my soul!!! 

In Christ,

Lily Fluharty

Special moments

I barely have time to post even though I love writing! So sorry for those who are checking in regularly! I'll try to post more frequently!

But life moves on and all my little munchkins are getting soooooo big!!!

Sabina took 4 steps by herself yesterday which made me scream because I was so excited!!!
My little man is FINALLY potty trained!!!
All my little ones keep telling me, "I love you so so much!" every day which fills me with smiles!

One of my favorite moments of the day is when we do devotions after dinner. Singing (screaming) "My God is Greater" in Spanish with hand motions and even Lolina and the babies join in and lift their arms and wave them back and forth! I was telling them that Jesus is God's son and explaining the gospel and how he came to earth to die for our sins. The next night I asked who remembered what we talked about. I said, "Jesus came down to…???" and Peniel smiles and goes, "to bed!" haha! Made us laugh!

So many special moments with them that make me smile! YES there are hard moments and moments where they don't want to obey and those moments are hard!!! God is gracious and I am learning more every day! Continually amazed at His faithfulness to me.

I'm about to head to church!!! Hopefully there are more updates coming soon!!! :) Much love and thank you so much for your support and prayers!!!

In Christ Jesus,
Lily Flu

Healed by His hands

The blog has been quiet lately… but my house and my heart have not…

On the few days I get off, I always try to write but end up falling asleep… raising kids is tiring! All moms are my official heroes because it is a 24/7 job that never ends. But what a joy it is. 

This past week we ended up all moving into a different house that is closer to the sala where we eat lunch and away from the pool. It was exhausting! I didn't sit down until I went to bed at 1 in the morning. 

I have been so encouraged these past few weeks by God's grace and faithfulness. So many times I rely on my own strength and fail. But when I turn my eyes towards God's love and perfect plan, I can rest. Sometimes I don't understand why things have to be so difficult. But I know that ALL things work together for good because God's plan is good. 

Right now I am living with a Tia who is hurting. She has a very difficult past and her current home situation is very difficult and sometimes even dangerous. She is hurting and angry and doesn't understand. My heart aches for her to know God's love for her and to find rest in His strong arms. Last week I pulled her into my arms as we sat on the floor and just prayed over her as she cried. Prayer for grace and peace in a heart that is hurting and has deep scars. Only God can heal. And He does heal!

I have seen His healing love time and time again. Oh the beauty of God's love. 

We have been talking about the gospel in our devotions every night with my little ones. One of the little three year olds was broken over the fact that Jesus had nails driven through his hands. Owies for little ones are very important. They hurt and they remember them for several days and will show me their owies until they are completely healed. Every night, little Aaron reminds me to tell him about Jesus' hands with the nails in them and how there was blood and it made my heart break. I forget that Jesus hurt for me. That His hands bled and he had nails pounded through them because of His great love for me. And that by His blood, I am healed. I can't forget. I don't want to forget. Because by His bloody hands, I am healed and have life!

When I am hurting, He pulls me into His arms and comforts me. It's beautiful. It's painful but God is good and has defeated death. And I look forward to spending eternity with Him where no more tears will be shed and there will be perfect peace and joy.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement and support! God is faithful and so wonderful!

BLessings from Bolivia!!!

~Lily Flu

Melting

Their eyes make me melt! I know my posts have been few and far between but there hasn't been great internet… these pics are from a few years ago but how precious are they? How blessed I am to be able to love on these beautiful children! We are still looking for sponsors for the kids!!! Please consider supporting a child for $25 a month. Email me at cdesponsorbolivia@gmail.com

Jesus THANK YOU for each child. Thank you for each moment. Thank you for each heart you are transforming!

18 years ago

3 years. This past Sunday was 3 years in Bolivia. 

18 years. Yesterday, was 18 years since Jesus opened my eyes and saved me. 18 years since He made me alive in Him. 

3 years made possible because 18 years ago Jesus made me His. 

This past week was a week of changes for all the kids at Casa de Esperanza. Every year, there are changes in each house as kids get older or graduate and sometimes the changes are great and sometimes they are hard. My three first graders moved out of my house and two little ones moved in. Little Abigail, who is ten months and oooooh so tiny moved in and so did Lolina. It was a crazy adjustment, adding another baby to the schedule and a precious little one with special needs. The assistant Tia in my house also ended up switching with another so we are in the process of getting into our new routine and getting used to living life together. God is gracious and very patient and I am learning patience. 

Every change is hard at times. But I love seeing little glimpses of each child feeling safe and secure as they adjust to their new homes. Seeing little Abigail grin with her raspy giggle last night as I tickled her, Lolina has had a GREAT first three days and her eyes light up every morning when I walk into her room. I am learning more and more of my dependence on Christ as I learn to care and love these precious children. 

I am so thankful for the past 3 years here. For the past 3 years of loving these kids. For the past 3 years of learning and growing and seeing God’s faithfulness here in Bolivia. There are changes and I have changed as God has shown me more of Himself and slowly taught me to keep my eyes on HIM and HIM alone.

I am more thankful for the past 18 years of LIFE! Of new life in Christ Jesus. Where would I be apart from Him? I had such joy yesterday in the midst of the chaos as I reflected on how gracious and loving God has been to me. All I can say is ALL GLORY TO HIM. I want Him to become greater and I want to become less as each day passes. May my life be a song, praising His holy name. 

We've been busy…

Wow… over three weeks have flown by and I have not posted anything… Sorry!

It has been amazing to be back! And also a little exhausting! haha! Getting back into the swing of things and back into the routine of 9 little kids can be pretty crazy. But I missed these beautiful green mountains and these beautiful, dark eyed kids. 

We've been busy reading all the books people donated. The kids LOVE them and their favorite time of day is after dinner when they all crowd onto my bed and we read Curios George or 5 Little Monkeys or Goodnight Moon. What a huge blessing! I love watching them learn and listen and laugh at the stories and pictures. 

We've been busy cleaning the house and keeping it organized. Let's just say there was a colony of cockroaches living in the kitchen window… there was some screaming and some stomping on the heads of those little ugly guys and lots of kids helping Tia Lily smoosh them up. Yucky! But at least we had fun doing it! ;)

We've been busy with the first week of school! Javier, Juanes and Ismael are first graders!!! WHAT!?!?!? Craziness. When I got here, the twins were two years old. Slow down! They loved going to school with their new uniforms and new backpacks they got for Christmas.

We've been busy with birthdays. Sabina turned 1 and is crawling and laughing and growing and wanting to talk. Emanuel turned 2!!! I feel like he just arrived as a two week old baby. I remember holding him the night he arrived and just praying that God would bless the teeny baby who didn't have a name. Now he is 2 and running, laughing, super ticklish and a talker. I love making him copy me in English. My favorites are, "I'm pretty gangster myself" and "Wassup dude?" and "I love you so so much!" 

We've been busy with inventing stories late at night on the porch about dolphins and ducks and sharks and whales. Ismael laughs at EVERY part and makes all the other kiddos laugh too. Every story is good as long as the dolphin teaches the shark a lesson in the end. 

We've been busy playing Sorry and Candyland and learning that sometimes you lose and sometimes you win but you can't cry. Haha! What a lesson to learn. :) Especially when you get the card for Princess Frostine and are winning and then have to go back to the beginning. But sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. :)

I've been busy seeing God's faithfulness and love each and every day. Falling on my knees and crying out to Him as I need my need and my weakness but seeing His great love and his strength. What a beautiful Savior we have. 

Thank you all for your prayers and love! So excited to see God continue to lead. 

We are still looking for sponsors for the kids! For $25 a month you can make an impact in the lives of one of these precious little ones. Please email me at cdesponsorbolivia@gmail.com for more information! Do it!!!! These kids are too precious to be ignored.

Much love from sunny Bolivia!

Lily Fluharty 

Beauty in a Violent World

Everywhere I look there is beauty. Green. Life.  Beautiful green mountains and above me the sun setting below the mountains. This beauty takes my breath away every day. 

Everywhere I look there is beauty. Running. Laughing. Children living and growing and learning on this beautiful green mountain. And the beauty of it takes my breath away.

Have you ever just stopped and watched everything move and live around you? Right now I see two birds flying below me (I’m on a mountain remember) and hear kids voices and a dozen different birds chirping and bugs being bugs. There are two dogs laying next to me. One just finished slobbering all over my arm actually. I can see the river far below moving along and the air is cool and the ground moist from the rain earlier today. It’s beautiful. I feel very, very small. Because I am.

I also see pain a lot. It takes my breath away but in a very different way. More of a sharp pain in my side that makes it hard to breathe. Sometimes this beautiful place is very violent. There is abuse that happens that hurts people deep inside. I wanted to fix it and heal her wound as she whispered to me what happened all those years ago. That now all she wants to do is keep her own little ones safe. But sometimes even that isn’t possible. A vicious cycle that repeats itself. Little ones shouldn’t know that kind of fear and pain. What can I say to her? How can I comfort her?

Many times I don’t have answers. All I can do is lift up my voice and cry to a perfect King who loves us with a perfect love in the midst of brokenness and darkness. We are blinded. There is a Shepherd offering us perfect life and peace and so many times we prefer the darkness. We think we know better. 

The gospel is beautiful. But it is also violent. Jesus was slaughtered. Abused. He died. He knows. He understands. We are not alone in our pain. We have HOPE! A new life, a new love. We may not always perfectly understand but we can trust that what God has started, He will accomplish. 

The cross. Beautiful. Full of pain and violence. Death. But it doesn’t end there. Jesus didn’t just die for us... He rose again!!! He triumphed over death and sin so that we can live with Him! This is our comfort! The pain and violence in this world is fleeting because one day we will have eternal peace with our Savior! Praise God!!!