Team coming!

Nothing quite so special as having one of my little ones falling asleep in my arms.
There is a sense of trust and love as their eyes get heavy and as they snuggle down deeper into me and relax and breathe deeply. It fills my heart with a strong love and sense of protection for these little ones.

I am so excited for this next week!

A team from my church from Minnesota and 2 other sister churches are on their way to Bolivia right now! They will be serving here at Casa de Esperanza and putting on a  new roof, working on the water system, painting, helping out with the kids and the houses and as many other things as they can do. I am so excited to have them here!

The part that I am SUPER excited for is that my mama is coming for the first time! So excited to see her and share my life here with her! It's been two years of my parents supporting and encouraging me to follow God's calling in my life. I know it's not easy for them to let me go and let me live so far away in a different country, speaking a different language and raising kids that they can't really even communicate with because of a language barrier. I have been so amazed to see their trust in God as they continue trusting Him and being so supportive and loving. I am so blessed! So excited to share my life here with my mama! :)

So blessed by you all! Thank you for all your love and prayers and support. So blessed!

Been amazed by God's love for me lately. It's been such an intense week of feeling God delighting and loving me in an intense way. Seriously so amazed that He delights in using little old me when He could do it all by Himself. Sometimes I picture Him smiling and laughing down at me as I live my life. It's like how I laugh and smile as my little Emanuel tries to walk clumsily. He's learning and trying and pressing forward and I hold unto his little hand so he doesn't fall. God does the same with us... He delights in us holding onto His strong hands and trusting Him so that we don't fall down.

So many blessings and much love from me and all the kiddies!
In Christ Jesus who blesses us beyond compare,

Lily Fluharty

Precious

Last night I was feeling overwhelmed...

Feeling so much love for the little one curled up next to me whispering, "mommy"

Feeling exhausted after a busy week

I was frustrated with myself for reacting in frustration

It was a couple of days with stubborn little kids

It was a week of lots of hugs from my oldest

I was feeling excited/impatient waiting for my MOM to get here in a week!!!!!

Lots of feelings all mixed up together... and I felt overwhelmed.

Wanted to curl up and sleep but I couldn't even sleep.

I opened up my Bible to Isaiah and prayed that God would show me His truth.

And He whispered this to me...

Because you are precious in My sight and honored, and because I love you, I will give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east [where they are dispersed] and gather you from the west.

And it blew me away. 

In all my frustrations and insecurity and feeling inadequate- God whispered to me...

"Lily I love you. You are precious to me." 

It made me weep. 

It blows me away that He uses me. I fail so many times and fall short. He could and does love these children 10000 times better than I do. But He delights in using me in all my imperfection to share His love. He loves seeing me learn and grow and laugh. 

He delights in me. How amazing is His love and grace!!!

Much love and many blessings from Bolivia,

Lily Fluharty

Smells like onion

My hands still smell like onions.

Saturday night I stayed up until 1am cutting up onions with the older girl in my home.

It was her turn to stay in the kitchen and cook for everyone on Sunday and she had two buckets with onions, carrots and potatoes to peel and cut.

We laughed and played and cried onion tears. We laughed more when we couldn't even open our eyes because of the onion tears.

I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

But we kept cutting up onions, and cutting up carrots and I kept scraping away at the pot of rice which I had accidentally burnt. Whoops.

This past week was a week of...

All the houses getting sprayed for bugs which meant we had our eyes burning from the chemicals for two days. Monday night we pulled our mattresses outside to  "sleep". I finally fell asleep at 4:30 am with four little ones taking up my whole mattress with Peniel's foot in my face, Javier sleeping with my pillow, Ely sprawled out on half of my mattress and July snuggling my blanket. It made me smile.

Spontaneous water fights in my house with the other Tia (house mom) that I work with and the kids. The kitchen very quickly turned into a lake as we all got SOAKED and the little ones just started up at us. So much fun.

This weekend is Carnival which means lots of water balloons and getting ambushed by boys with buckets of water and more water balloons. I have the day off today and am catching up on rest.

One of my little guys looked up at the sky earlier this week and goes, "Tia Lily!!! Look, the sky is sooooo clean!!!" I looked up at the clear sky which had some wispy white clouds. "God is cleaning the sky with his clouds!!!" he explained to me. So sweet.

There are hard days and good days and days where the smell doesn't leave my hands.

The smell of onion reminds me of nights that I don't want to forget.

God is good. In the good moments and the hard ones.

He is faithful. When I'm tired or when I'm hyper.

God is love. He shows me every day.

He is strong. He knows my weaknesses and lifts me up.

God is mine. And I am His.

So blessed by my beautiful Savior.

Much love from Bolivia!!!

Lily Fluharty

Sabina

Sweet baby girl now has a name!

Sabina Danitza

She is gaining weight and so precious and her face is healing so nicely. Thank you all for your prayers for sweet Sabina.

Keep praying for this precious little one!!!!!!

Love from Bolivia,
Lily Fluharty

Welcome baby girl!

Special welcome to the newest baby girl!

She is so precious and we are so excited to have her in our family.
Please be praying for her as she adjusts and grows here.

Please be praying for this sweet baby girl. She has already been through so much in the first three weeks of her life. She was abandoned on the ground and the next morning brought to the hospital where she stayed for ten days. This beautiful baby is healing from where ants ate away at her face leaving a large cut from her head down to her cheek. It has been amazing seeing her transform already as her cut heals and she has already regained weight. What a precious little one.

I will try to get some pictures soon!

Thank you for praying!!!
Much love from Bolivia,

Lily Fluharty

2 years in bolivia

Two years in Bolivia.

Two years ago today an 18 year old girl stepped blindly unto Bolivian soil and started an amazing journey.

I never could have imagine how God has lead me in these past two years.

So much has happened and I've grown and learned so much and can't believe God's goodness and faithfulness and love for me in this time called Bolivia.

It's been a pretty crazy two years.

Traveled alone and with my best friend
Learned a new language
Eaten snake, tongue, cow stomach, armadillo, worms and ants
I've become a Tia and mommy to these little ones
I've worked hard and learned how to wash clothes by hand, clean a house even when there is no water, cut up a cow, clean a pigsty, use a machete, cook, walk up and down mountains and so much more.
I've played hard and made goals and swam and gone to waterfalls and rivers
I've laughed and laughed and laughed with these beautiful children.
I have made some amazing friends
I've had a little baby named after me
I've had problems and felt weak and alone and have cried
I have seen God lift me up and give me strength again and again.
I have fallen short and cried our for forgiveness and God has lavished His grace on me.

I have grown so much and God is teaching me that He is my everything. Oh how beautiful is my Savior and His love for me. I don't deserve it. Amazing love how can it be?

Praying that this would be a year where I would continue to be blown away with God's love.
A year filled with joy and boldness.
A year filled with seeking Christ above ALL else.

I want to thank you all for your love and prayers and support over these last two years!!!
I have grown so much from the 18 year old who didn't know Spanish to where God has lead me today.
Thank you for your love for me and also for these precious children.

So much love from Bolivia!!!


~Lily Fluharty

Rainy update

It has been raining nonstop for the past 2 weeks.

Makes it a lot harder to hang clothes out to dry.
Everything is MUD. Good thing the kids have rubber boots.
The road to Casa de Esperanza from town is really bad right now (super slippery mud) and our means of transportation are limited which means quite a few days that the kids are missing school.

Ironically we haven't had water in the houses for the past four days... so we've been collecting rain water to wash dishes and to clean the house and use in the bathrooms. The joys of living in Bolivia! :)

I've definitely taken water and sunshine for granted in the past!

Juanes and Javier on their first day of Kindergarten

There's been a LOT of changes this past week.

School started for all the kids and four of my littles started kindergarten and they are SO excited.
They love their uniforms and their new shoes and backpacks. So cute!!!

Three of my oldest kids in my house (they started first grade) ended up switching to different houses and little baby Emanuel moved in to my home. The noise level has been reduced significantly. It literally makes me laugh how loud my house can be at times. 8 kids.

Emanuel fell asleep talking on the phone

Enjoying each new day with these crazy kiddos. They make me laugh as they learn and laugh and play.  Their getting soooo big!!!

God continues to blow me away with His love. Living alone in a different country is definitely an adventure and not always easy and God continues to teach me to cast ALL my cares upon Him. Resting in His faithful arms.

So much love from Bolivia!!!

Please be praying for...
-Water!!! That the mud wouldn't clog the pipes and that we could get water ASAP in the houses
-For my 4 kindergarteners that they would be able to thrive in the classroom
-For baby Emanuel as he adjusts to our house. (He's such a good baby)

Thank you all! Lots of love!!!!!

In Christ who blesses me abundantly,
Lily Fluharty