Meet Vilma, the newest addition to the Hope Family

January has been quite the busy, but blessed month.  Proof of that is the same day Miguel got his tonsils out, 5 year old Vilma finally came to be part of our family!  I say “finally” because we had been trying to make this happen since December 28th, the day that Juana and Willie went home with their aunts and uncles.  Just hours after we returned from their court hearing, we received a phone call from an orphange wondering if we could receive Vilma.  Talk about incredible timing.  God in his infinite wisdom had allowed Juana and Willie to go home, opening up space in the Children’s Home for Vilma.  Awesome!  That afternoon Diana and drove down to the orphanage to get more information and meet Vilma and we both fell in love.

Meeting Vilma for the first time

She was a sweet, smiling, and energetic little girl and we knew she would be a perfect addition to the family (we have quite a few energetic children so she would fit right in!!!)  However as we learned more about her story our heart broke for her.  She had been abandoned at just 4 months old and then taken to an orphanage.  Things looked up when a few years later a Guatemalan woman decided to adopt her, but that was short lived and just 6 months later the adoptive mother decided she could no longer care for Vilma.  She was then taken to this last orphanage.  Unfortunately, this place was only set up to care for babies and they soon saw Vilma’s age and size to be problematic for the other children. They contacted us and wanted to know if we would be willing to take Vilma in. Of course!!  In short, Vilma at such a young age, has already been shuffled around between 4 different places.  Constantly adjusting, never knowing how long she will stay, wondering who will abandon her next.   We immediately knew that the Lord had called us to step in and change this siutation.  We had been given an opportunity to give hope, peace, and love to this little girl and there was no way we were going to say no.

Unfortunately, the transfer took longer than expected but on January 26th, as Miguel was in recovery, I received a phone call from the court saying the paperwork had finally be processed.  I left Diana with Miguel and rushed down to the courts and picked up the paperwork, and then went to the orphanage where Vilma was waiting.

Vilma and the girls

When I walked in she was standing by the door with a pretty Hello Kitty dress and a pink suitcase with her belongings.  She had the biggest grin on her face, but when she saw I was alone, she asked me very bluntly, “where’s the other lady?”  She was, of course, referring to Diana, and I explained that she was with Miguel.  That answer seemed to be good enough for her.   As I was getting some final instructions from the other director, I could tell she was excited about going.  In fact, as we were about to leave, she almost forgot to say goodbye to everyone!  But thankfully, it made for an easy transition.  We talked all the way home and the entire time she called me “Mister”, since she could quite get my name down.

Once we got to the home, all the other children were just in awe, and immediately I heard Lidia whisper over to Amelia, “she looks just like Teresita.”, another girl that was part of the children’s home a few years back.  Vilma met all the rest of the children and then started to play.   The Lord really was in the middle of all of this and we are so happy that Vilma is now part of the family.  It gives us great joy to be able to comfort her and tell her that she has finally found a family that will love her, care for her, and NEVER let her go.

You can learn more about Vilma and even sponsor her here.