Mother's Day

Today we celebrated Mother's Day at church with a special lunch of Sajta de Pollo which is my favorite dish here in Bolivia. It's chicken with chuños and potatoes and a spicy sauce! So delicious! After lunch, as we drove back up to Casa de Esperanza, the truck stopped and wouldn't start up again… which means over a half hour of waiting all squished into a truck. I had two babies in my arms and they were wiggly! haha! But finally, another truck from Casa came back to get us and we rode up with all the younger kids singing praise music at the top of our lungs! Such a fun afternoon!

Blessed by so many little ones who smother me with their hugs and kisses. For little boys who give me Mother's Day cards and hug me and bigger boys who give me Mother's day cards and still hug me! Blessed by little babies who wrap their arms around my neck or giggle and scrunch up their noses. Thankful for older girls who make me laugh and smile. Thankful for a little ones who copy me in raising their hands during worship.

BLESSED!!!

Learning to find joy in every day! Learning to thank God and find His unending beauty. He is faithful! He is beautiful and so worthy!

In Christ Jesus who's love is beautiful,
Lily Fluharty

Because He is stronger

This past week we had three days with no running water. With 9 babies and toddlers, 3 days with no water is NOT easy. Running outside in the rain at night to fill up buckets and bathing so many little munchkins with 1 bucket of water isn't easy. The rain means water but also means mud and on Tuesday, I ran back and forth barefoot to the Sala where we eat lunch from my house carrying the kids two by two under a green plastic rain poncho so they wouldn't get wet. Little adventures haha!

On Wednesday, we celebrated Mother's Day here in Bolivia and it was such a special day. The Tios (Uncles) thanked all the Tias for serving and loving the children here and we received little gifts of chocolate and oreos! A few of the little boys gave me Mother's Day cards and one of the boys told me, "You are like a mama to me. I hug you every day because I love you." It completely blessed me.

There are days filled with laughter and where I want to explode with joy. The kids are HILARIOUS and make me laugh. There are also hard moments where I need grace to love a stubborn toddler who is screaming and screaming and screaming just to show me how mad he is and that he will NOT sleep.

I am learning. I am learning to rest in God's arms. His strength is sufficient. I feel so weak at times and there are times I have no clue what I am doing. But I know God is at work. I know He is leading me. I know that He is with me. I am not alone.

All the glory goes to Him! In the moments where I am covered in hugs and kisses from my little ones and the hard moments when a little one is disobedient or had an accident AGAIN… There are times I react impatiently and can only cry out to God for help.

I am weak. He is strong!!! I still cannot believe how faithful God is. In the good days and the harder days, Jesus is with us! We are called to obey and love Him because He first loved us!

I keep wanting to update more regularly but haven't had time… thank you for those who still check in to this blog… :) Excited to see God continue to lead and guide me.

Much love and thank you for your prayers and support!!!

In Christ,
Lily Fluharty

Feliz Cumpleaños

“Feliz Cumpleaños Tia Lily!!!”

I had a very special birthday filled with smiles, hugs, lots of extra kisses from my little ones, a surprise cake at 4:50 am and a hug that included an egg getting smashed on my head, coming out of the shower at 5:30am and having all my little ones awake and waiting for me outside the door to give me kisses and hugs. A slow, relaxing morning and a beautiful, sunny afternoon of snuggling with my 7 munchkins and laughing with them. Then in the afternoon celebrating with the staff and being afraid of getting more eggs smashed one me... well they added things to the mixture and I found a clementine, flour and egg all smashed on my head again and my face in a cake (several times) plus some icing on my face... oh laughter and friendship. Had a wonderful time eating the cake (with a little less frosting thanks to the fingers and tongue of Emanuel) and singing “Feliz Cumpleaños” with my little guys at night. Then we cleaned the house and I snuggled into bed with my little girls and we read “5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed”. I was blessed by some very thoughtful gifts from a few of the Tias and a very special stuffed animal from Ely! The best surprise was a belated birthday gift of BACON! Let’s just say I freaked out and ended up eating it at 11:30 pm with one of the older girls, Noemi. So delicious!!! 

So blessed by the past 21 years of my life and excited to see what the year 22 will bring! God has been so faithful and His faithfulness and love is unending. Praying that each year, my life would bring glory to God and that as I get a year closer to eternity, that God would continue to conform me to His image and I would continue to die to myself so that Christ may life more richly inside of me. Oh for the day when I am with my Savior for ever! 

Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! I felt so loved! Many blessings and a GIANT hug from Bolivia!

In Christ,

Lily Fluharty

Our great Comforter

There are moments when I don't even have words to comfort these kids.

"My dad is now out of jail. I am so angry at him. He beat me and now I don't even remember what his face looks like."

How do you comfort a twelve year old boy who is still hurting?

How do you share of how God is loving and perfect when this little one has suffered so much in the first eleven years of his life before coming to live here?

God has a plan for you little one. He will never let you go.

"Tia Lily, pray for my mama."

How do you tell a three year old that her mama is gone? How do you explain that her mama, who was just a little girl herself, took her own life?

God loves you beautiful child. He is your Heavenly Father.

It's in the scars and hurt of this world, the deepest darkness that I continually see God's light shining bright.

These children have been rescued out of darkness. They are now in a safe loving home. Yes, there will be struggles and fears and hurt but God has called them out of abusive homes and dangerous situations. They are safe and loved and watched over. They hear of God's love every day and I pray that one day each and every little heart would be broken by the darkness and be filled with God's love and light!

I will fear no evil for God is with me. Our Shepherd. My cup runs over.
SURELY goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

Promises like that! What a comfort in the midst of abuse and death and pain and earthquakes and little ones suffering. We have a comforter who LOVES us and RESCUES us from all the death and pain!

Beauty from ashes. Life from death! THAT'S the Jesus we serve!

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