The road thus far

This is my first post in a really long time. This semester has been really rough. Earlier I managed 12 credit hours alongside work. This semester it has turned tables on me and I’ve barely managed to keep my head above the water.

But the reason for this post is not to bemoan my woes. It’s to pour out my heart about a little girl who endeared herself to me. What I got to know today broke my heart and made me pray a prayer with heartfelt tears, something I haven’t done in along time. That little girl’s name is Erica and she is a 2 year old in my Sunday school class. Erica is the youngest among 4 siblings. I knew that one of her neighbors brought her to church every Sunday. Even at the age of 2, she had a motherly affection in her. Whenever there was a child younger or shorter than her in class, she would go around pampering him/her saying “baby”, hugging them, and caressing them. She walked into class with a huge smile and had a manner that drew all of us to her.

I hadn’t seen her in class for the past two weeks so I got concerned, especially because I knew that she probably came from a broken and neglected home. Her clothes smelled of cigarette smoke many-a-times. So, this morning I asked my co-ordinator where she was. She said the week before last Erica and her siblings were placed in foster care because there was a complaint and that this is the 11th investigation in their case!! Right now we don’t know which family they have been placed with, but are hoping that they can be placed with a foster family from church. This is particularly difficult because most foster families take in children of a particular age group and in Erica’s case, the age range of her siblings is too vast, 2 yrs-11 yrs. Over and above that the 2 older children are supposedly very rebellious, which might end up meaning that foster parents might not want to keep them for too long indirectly meaning that the 4 siblings might not be able to stay together for too long.

I’d like for whoever reads this blog to pray for that little girl and her family. I know that there are many other such cases, in and around us, but here is one that touched my heart and I’d like to entreat anyone who reads this to say a little prayer. It is my own prayer that God would watch over them and keep them from harm’s way and that in due time they would come to know the Lord, despite the harrowing times they are in right now.