May 10th is Mother’s Day here in El Salvador. Salvadorans take this special day so seriously (rightly so) that the Love & Hope kids had the day off from school! Celebrating Mother’s Day at Love & Hope Children’s Home is important for our kids. The children view Rachel as “mami,” and they have many more motherly figures present in our house or involved in our ministry. We often joke about the fact that our children don’t have to answer to one mom, they have to answer to about 10!
The day before Mother’s Day, our two littlest boys put on a show at school for all the moms. They even had to dance! We also had a little party at home where Rachel was honored with lots of hugs and handicrafts that the children made at school. Some of the kids dressed up like moms, we sang songs for the moms, played “Mother Says,” and all of the “moms” received a present!
On May 10th, we took it easy and went out for pupusas for lunch. Afterwards some of the children visited the Puerta del Diablo with some visitors. It was nice for Rachel and our other “moms” to relax and spend time with the kids.
The word “mother” means a lot of things in this house. It means Rachel’s tireless mothering of 20-plus children. It means biological moms that come for visits. It means caregivers that come to work every week ready to give their all to these children.
Proverbs 31 says, “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” We have found this to be so true. The acts of love, service and patience that we observe in Rachel and the other Love & Hope moms are certainly noble beyond measure. No one ever said that being a mom was easy.
Moms are awesome! Felicidades, Mamás!