it's my new favorite picture because...

Abbie and Vanessa

Every Wednesday afternoon, almost without fail, I have the opportunity to take a pretty wonderful group of people to Siempre Para Los Ninos, our children's home in Tijuana, Mexico. The first thing I do is hand off my camera to one of the kids to take photos for my email updates. Kid's use to fight over the camera... now, not so much. Some weeks pleading is required to get someone, anyone, to assume the responsibility.

I don't blame them. I can't stand looking at my one afternoon a week at Siempre through a viewfinder instead of out on a bike ride with the kids or just hanging out. Some weeks, dozens and dozens of photos are snapped- I'll use 3 or 4 -the rest stay in exile on my hard drive. Each week, it seems that a new photo captures my heart - usually because it captures the very best of Siempre. This photo definitely fits that category.

Life isn't always pretty... it's a hard lesson every child abandoned into the loving arms of Siempre was forced to learn the hard way... watching a family, friend, a stranger... walk away after signing them into our care, for the rest of their lives. Life can hurt. Every child at Siempre knows this as well. There's not a child on the planet who, having been abandoned- for whatever reason -by their biological family, doesn't lie down at night with dreams of reconciliation, of a fantastic return, of some sign that they really were loved and cared for...

Hope! That's why I love this photo. Hope, through times of hardship and heartbreak, somehow, miraculously, God restores Hope. He's too good... He's God. This snapshot of a fleeting hug between girls born thousands of miles apart- totally different tragedies -today, loving one another like sisters is one small part of the miracle God invites us to share when it seems that life has slipped away and there's very little left to live for... hold on! Hope- just like Abbie and Vanessa have found -is waiting.

"God's not slow in keeping His promise, He's patient..." Wait on God. He always delivers. Hope, restored, is His specialty. He did it for Abbie and Vanessa. He can do it for you. Don't give up. Hold out for REAL Hope in Him. It's on the way.

That's why I love this picture. Besides, aren't they great looking kids?

many blessings for new hope in our lives today,

Eric