Colombia Day 12 - Happiness, Hugs and Tears

Today was the day we said goodbye to all the friends we made at the orphanage.  I truly left a piece of my heart there and I know the whole team would say the same!  We just bonded so much with those precious ones over the past week!I woke up early this morning, even though I could've slept in longer and decided to go out to my favorite devotion spot.  It was raining, so I just sat under the little awning in front of our bunk house.  I had to run back inside for a second to grab something and when I came back out, I saw the most glorious sight!  God couldn't have blessed us more!  There, in the sky, perfectly situated over the orphanage was a rainbow!  The sight of that rainbow humbled and excited me to know that God was and is, IN THIS PLACE!  God put two verses on my heart, in seeing that beautiful rainbow!"I, even I, am The Lord and beside me, there is no savior.  I have declared and have saved, and I have shewed (proclaimed), when there was no strange god among you:  therefore ye are my witnesses, saith The Lord, that I am God!  Yea, before the day was, I am He, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand:  I will work, and who shall let (reverse or prevent) it!" ~ Isaiah 43:11-13"All the promises of God, in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us!" ~2 Cor. 1:20God has been, is and will be at work here at the orphanage and nothing will prevent it!  Jesus was declared here as the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation and YES, that truth will not return void!  Seeing the rainbow was so special because of two things!1) We just taught the children the story of Noah the day before!2) Our whole theme for the week was  God's promises!!!God just sealed His work here, in my heart, by that rainbow!  He didn't have to put it in the sky but He did - because He's awesome like that!!!  He loves to declare His blessing and His glory and I'm so honored that our team was able to be a part of His work here!We had breakfast with the kiddos and passed out little gifts that we brought for them and then joined them for their church service.  After the service, we said our goodbyes.  We were so happy we had this time with them, but it was SO sad to leave.  There were quite the tears and they couldn't stop hugging us!  Many had gone to their rooms and picked out something that was special to them like a stuffed animal, hair clip, and little trinkets and gave it to us to remember them by.  *insert my own tears here*  It was such a bitter-sweet time!We piled all the luggage in our taxi van and then piled ourselves in - lol!  As we pulled out, several of the kids came up to the van and reached through the windows to squeeze our hands one last time.  One boy picked up little stones from the gravel driveway and made sure we each had one to remember our time here!God was mightily at work this past week and His Spirit bonded our hearts together with the children and the tutors of the orphanage!  I'll be forever grateful for the gift of this trip!-Bri for the team