Thankful

Just a little bit of what I'm thankful for…


God- my creator, faithful Father, Savior, Shepherd, Love, wonderful councilor, truth, my king
God has led me through mountains and valleys and I have learned over and over again in this past year of his love and faithfulness. I can not even imagine my life without my Jesus and am so blessed that by His grace He saved me from a life of darkness.

My families… I have two now…

My parents have been such an amazing blessing to me. I have seen them selflessly serve God and each other and also encourage me to follow God's plan no matter the cost. I love them and how loud and hyper they are and how they point our family to God.
My sissies… well there's not enough words to describe them… loud, hilarious, beautiful, hyper, caring, artistic, talented, Godly… so blessed by my beautiful sisters and their love for our family and most importantly for God.

And my Bolivian family. My 69 kids. The staff. My heart has exploded time and time again for these kids and I am so blessed that God has brought me to Bolivia to love on them and get loved back. I have learned soooo much and have grown. I am blessed to be a part of Casa de Esperanza.

I am also so thankful for my church family and the opportunity to worship alongside them for the next month at Sovereign Grace Church. I have missed living life together with them.

Plus there are tons of other stuff I'm thankful for…
FOOD-pizza, steak, chocolate chip cookies, mountain dew…
Warm blankets in winter
fast internet
bracelets
Psalm 37:1-4
American candy
puppies

And lots of other random and beautiful stuff…

So blessed by God's love and grace!
So thankful!!!

Thank you ALL for your love and support and encouragement these past few years. I am so blown away by God's unending goodness to me.

Much love,
Lily Fluharty

Highlights!!!

It's honestly very hard to process the fact that I'm home. It feels like life paused, I showed up on my doorstep and now I'm waiting for it to go back to normal. How do I process 16 months away from the States? The only thing I keep turning to is how faithful God is and has been these last 16 months. It has been an amazing adventure and I am grateful that God directs my steps.

Here are a few of the highlights…

*Watching July transform from a scared, hurting little baby to a laughing, happy little girl. Love wins.

*Lolina learning to eat by herself, then walk!

*Eating Capybara

*Waterfalls with my gringo group and bridge jumping with the teenagers

*Loving on 70 beautiful children

*Milking a cow!!!

*The teams from Sovereign Grace

*My mama and my sissie coming down to visit me!

*Beautiful sunrises and sunsets

*Pizza on Sundays with the teenagers

*Seeing God's faithfulness time and again

*Bacteria in my stomach and the exciting hospital trip to Caranavi… well not so much a highlight but it was an adventure…

*Fighting a fire!

*Devotions at night with my babies

*Carrying a sheep through the mountains of La Paz

*Learning, growing, laughing, trusting, working, LOVING

I want to thank all of you for all the support, prayers and love!!! God has been soooo amazing and I am so excited to see Him continue to work in and through me and the ministry at Casa de Esperanza. All the glory to Him!!!!!!!

What can you do??? We are looking for sponsors for the children! For $25 a month, you can sponsor one of these BEAUTIFUL kids and make a lasting impact on their' hearts. Please consider!!! For more information or to be connected to your' sponsored child, please email me at

cdesponsorbolivia@gmail.com 

Much love,

~Lily Fluharty

Home in my other home

Wow… I don't even have the words to write this post but here it goes…

I'm home… well at least in my other home.

How do you explain leaving one place you love with people you love to go back to the other place you love with the other people you love? Haha…. it's pretty confusing honestly.

Came back to the States for about a month and a half for vacation and even though it was really hard to leave my kids, it feels good to slow down, spend time with my family and recharge.

It's crazy going from nonstop work, early mornings, being responsible for 10 kids, never being alone, bolivian food to being home with my family and pretty much nothing to do except for enjoy my time with them and relax. Honestly, it feels great… but it's still hard.

The morning I got home I got to Skype with some of my kiddos and it was amazing to hear them all screaming, "Tia LILY!!!!!" I miss the chaos. :)

Even though there is culture shock coming home and it can be emotional and hard to figure out, I am so blessed by this opportunity to be home and spend time with my family and also worship alongside my family at church. I have missed my church soooo much!!!

I have lots of pics and posts coming soon!!! So excited to see God continue to work and guide my life. His plan is always faaar better than anything I could imagine. Love this journey He has me on…

Thank you all for your love and support and prayers!!!

Much love,
Lily Fluharty

Sponsor a Child!

Want to share a part of your heart with me?

I am soooo excited to write about the opportunity to sponsor one of the children here at Casa de Esperanza!!!

It is an amazing opportunity to bless and love one of the “Least of These”. The sponsorship program is just starting up so we are learning and growing as we go but all donations are 100% secure and go directly to the children. 

Am I your sponsored child?

There are 69 children at the orphanage which is located on top of a beautiful, green mountain overlooking the town of Caranavi. The children range in age from 5 months to 18 years old and are separated into seven houses where they live with their “Tias” or house moms. All the school aged children are blessed to be able to go to a private Christian school down in Caranavi. Sponsoring a child helps cover the costs of food, medical care, school fees, 

Thank you for supporting us!!!

Ideally, each child needs eight sponsors to be fully supported. As of now, they each have several sponsors from Holland but we are now trying to raise support and awareness from the States. For $25 a month, you can help support one of the children here and make an impact on their lives and heart. 

That’s where you come in! Would you pray about sponsoring one of these precious children? They are so beautiful and God has such a special plan with each one of their lives. Would you like the opportunity to leave your’ fingerprints on their hearts? They are searching for love! 

If you are interested, please email me at cdesponsorbolivia@gmail.com for more information.

Thank you so much for considering the amazing opportunity to connect your heart to one of the children here at Casa de Esperanza. If you have more questions or would like to start the journey of sponsoring a child, I will be more than happy to help you. 

God bless you!

Lily Fluharty

Home for the Holidays!

Excited to announce that I will be heading back to Minnesota in exactly 3 weeks for the Holidays!!!

I haven't been home for almost a year and a half and I am looking forward to spending time with my family and friends, worshipping again at my church, the fooooooood, christmas cookies… the list goes on… it's been a while…

Even though I'm so excited to go home… sometimes it can be a hard transition…

I am leaving behind a busy schedule and a house full of kids that fill my heart. There are other tias who love them and they will be SUPER well cared for but it's still hard knowing I won't be there with them.

It's hard going from working 24/7 to not having anything to do in the States. Sure it feels GREAT and is a good time to rest and recharge but it is weird going from having 10 kiddos totally dependent on my every move to having almost zero responsibility.

Change happens over time. I go home and babies are now toddlers and toddlers are now in kindergarten and first grade and middle schoolers are now high schoolers and friends are finishing college or dating or married or have kids… What!? Haha! I've changed too I guess… I now raise 10 kiddos, speak another language and live on my own… sometimes it's easy to expect everything to be like I left it but change is a good thing just weird to wrap my brain around sometimes…

Culture shock is the weirdest part of going home. I always thought I would get it coming TO Bolivia not back to the States but it hits me pretty hard every time. Hooray for emotional randomness! Waking up in the morning and forgetting English is definitely an interesting way to start the day!

Haha! These are just a few thoughts about going home… It's crazy because in my heart I have two homes. One where I grew up and lived for 18 years with a WONDERFUL family and great food haha! The other has grown so quickly in my heart these past 3 years… lots of kiddos, smiles and every once in a while a Snickers bar!

Excited for the time coming up in the States. Get ready for looooots of pictures and videos since I will FINALLY have good internet!!! YAY!

God is sooo good and FAITHFUL and each new day and new adventure is an opportunity to see more of HIS love and goodness and die a little more to ourselves. My prayer is that He becomes greater and i become less. Excited to see Him work during my time home.

Blessings from Bolivia!
~Lily Fluharty

11 Things

11 Random little things that make Bolivia an adventure!

1.Most everything comes in a bag… shampoo, ketchup, even water...                                       

2.Unless it’s fresh squeezed, all the packaged juices are mixed with soy milk.                       

3.No one uses seat belts.. usually you just stand up in the back of a truck and hold on for dear life.                                                                                                                                     

4.You know you’ve been gone too long when chocolate starts to taste too sweet                  

5.Sardines start to taste good. Sad day for the gringa                                                                                                       

6.Sunrises are unbelievably beautiful                           

7.Every dead animal is edible. “We killed a porcupine! Let’s go cook it!!!”                 

8.You get used to having about a million nicknames... “Leelee Flooflady”                           

9.Feet are never 100% clean thanks to dirt roads                                                                     

10.Everyone freaks out whenever there’s an airplane overhead. It doesn’t happen often.   

11. You end up trying lots of new foods... snake, armadillo, capybara, cow stomach, liver, ants, worms...

God bless!!!

Lily Fluharty

When they suffer in silence

My heart was very heavy this past weekend. Domestic violence is something that doesn’t have a name here but happens very often. It’s something that is “normal” and swept under the rug. “He won’t hit me again,” they whisper. But then a few minutes later more tears slip down their faces as they let the words slip out, “I can’t do it anymore. I know it will happen again.” 

I have seen it in the street as a woman stood with blood dripping down her face, calling out the name of the man who had left her barefoot and bleeding.

I have heard it as I tried to comfort the friend crying on the other end of the phone after her boyfriend had just beat her up for the first time and left her alone.

I have hugged her after he had hit her in the face and wanted to choke her before telling her to get out of the house. 

It hurts to live in a culture where abuse is common and not addressed. It’s hard to look for grace and forgiveness when the cycle continues. 

“I love him. I just want him to love me.”
“I don’t want my daughters to grow up seeing this.”

I feel helpless in these situations. My heart feels heavy. I want to so much to help and fix things but I can do nothing. I pray. I pour out my heart to God asking for peace and healing. I comfort. Trying to listen and continue pointing to Christ and His perfect plan. This world is hard. But God’s love is stronger and His faithfulness is bigger.

I can’t give these women answers. I can’t fix their problems. I can’t heal their pain.

All I can tell them is God loves them. He see’s every tear. He can heal hearts. 

Please be praying for the women here in Bolivia. Women who are many times stuck in sad cycle of domestic violence and abuse. They have suffered it from parents and relatives and now from boyfriends and husbands. They are hiding in silence but are not alone as the majority of the women I have talked to have experienced this violence. Please pray that God would give them peace and also boldness to stand up for what is right and to stand up for themselves and their children. To go to pastors or go for help. 

Please pray that God would heal these broken relationships and families and the broken hearts. God is a God of healing and of forgiveness and by His stripes we are healed!

In Christ Jesus who wraps us up in His loving arms,

Lily Fluharty