Heather's Seed Story

It’s been 592 days since my feet stepped off of Indian soil. It’s the longest I’ve spent away from our friends in Kolkata since they first came into my life so many years ago. None of us knew in February of 2020 how much COVID-19 would ravage the world and bring everything to a grinding halt. We really had no idea that it would prevent us from being together for so long. It’s been 592 days and we still don’t have an idea of when we will get to go back.

It’s a complicated emotion to process; missing people that you really have only spent a cumulative 30 days with over the last 3 and a half years, but I do— I miss them terribly.

It’s a soul-tie. That’s the best way to explain it. It’s a God kind of love. One that is just unexplainable. Your souls are just tied together by a string that only God can bind and you just know that having them in your life is the only life you want to envision.

It took me about three days the first time I went to India for “it” to click; “it” as in why I was there, why it was important and why the Dream Homes were so important. “It” happened when I heard Bishal give his testimony at our first visit to the Boys Dream Home.

At first glance, you don’t notice that he has some physical disabilities. I think it’s because his spirit shines so brightly that you look past it.

He talked about his life in the slum and how people used to make fun of him. He talked about the school he went to and how the kids made fun of him. He was so sad. The pain was so evident.

Then he started to talk about coming to the Boys Dream Home and what it had been like so far. His face...it changed. He smiled. His eyes lit up. His motions became more animated. It was SO obvious the difference from before. 

The Dream Home had already changed so much for him and they had only been there a month. 

That’s when it clicked. That’s when the power of what could happen there started to overwhelm me. I started to cry.

The Dream Homes are truly changing lives. I know that can be a cliche term, but it is so real.

I don’t know what I’ve done to receive this blessing; to know these people; to get to love them, but I’m forever grateful for it.

Each time I go, I know it’s going to be another 365 days before I go back. So I soak it up. I soak up the time with the kids. From the girls providing makeovers, to the board games and giggles with the boys in the Dream Home to kicking around a soccer ball with the kids in the slum. I try to just sit back and not take a single moment for granted.

Had I known during our last trip in early 2020 how long it would be before I went back, I promise you that I would have squeezed them a little tighter, I would have held their hands just a longer and would have soaked up the togetherness even more than what I already did.