George

Yes, I’m still blogging about our trip! :)

Journal excerpt from our last day in Asikuma:

We got back into Asikuma from Larteh by dark last night. I took my time this morning and allowed myself to sleep in until 8am and it felt so refreshing. Because of that, everyone else was ready to go before me. Jake, JJ & Justice decided to get a head start and went down to the schoolyard to check on the electricity project. By the time I was dressed and ready I walked outside to catch the tail end of breakfast and found that everyone else in our group had already gone off somewhere as well. That’s when I realized that I was going to have some precious time alone this morning, and God had already laid on my heart what I should do with it. I knew I was supposed to just walk through the village housing and as Jake always says ‘see who God would put in my path’. Immediately my mind landed on a starting point. The little boy who I had sat with for awhile on our first day in Asikuma – the one who the Holy Spirit told me needed to be comforted and held that day –

I decided that I would try to go and find him and see what his story was. I set out towards the area that I had found him in near Yaa and Adjoa’s house, all the while praying that God would make my day purposeful. As I approached the spot a group of kids and a few adults were sitting around under a hut. Upon taking notice of me the kids came up and asked curiously where I was going. I told them I was looking for a ‘small boy’ that I had met a few days ago in this area. The kids chattered together for a minute and then Mabel [who is actually the older girl to my left in the picture above] asked me for more details - his age, about how tall he was, etc. I explained to her that he had seemed sick and tired that day and I tried to recall more details about him. At that moment I realized that I should have brought my camera to show her the picture of him, but since that camera’s memory space was full I had left it at the hotel and brought a different one. After a little more chattering amongst the children Mabel looked at me and confidently said, “I know who you are looking for – I’ll take you to his house.” Well alright then! Perfect! And off we walked.

As we made our way to his house Mabel turned to me and said, “His name is George.”

“Oh, George, ok,” I replied. Since it seemed like Mabel knew some details about him I then asked the question that had led me to look for him in the first place, “Who cares for George?”

She replied, “He has two sisters.”

Hmmmmm….that was an interesting answer. Maybe she didn’t understand what I meant. So I asked again, “Who takes care of him? Does he have a mother and father?”

“George’s mother is dead,” she answered.

The way she said it so quickly, without even needing to think about it sent her words repeating like an echo over and over in my head. Right then it was confirmed in my heart that God must have planted this inkling inside of me to go and look for him this morning. He clearly had something to say about his situation and I think He just said it. With that answer, I didn’t even need to ask again about the father. Another sad reality here is that fathers are just gone. Usually if they aren’t in the picture then there is no mention of them, and it is assumed that they aren’t coming back.

After just a few minutes we approached a little mud hut. Mabel pointed to it and said, “This is where George lives.” Some of the kids that had followed us ran into the hut to bring George out, and much to my surprise, out came this sweet little boy who had also caught my attention that first day….

This wasn’t the little boy that I had held and comforted that first day; rather, this was the little boy who I had taken one look at and just felt in my heart that he was really suffering (and for some reason was prompted to take his picture that day too). Although this was not the ‘small boy’ I had set out looking for this morning, I knew that God was speaking and had brought this other boy up again for a reason. In fact, by the time I had processed all of these thoughts Mabel had taken George’s hand and brought him up to me and said, “This is him.” Her words were like more confirmation that God didn’t get it wrong, this is who He wanted to lead me to today.

A few other children came out from inside the home and among them I was introduced to George’s two sisters - Ruth and Josephine - who were probably about 7 and 5 years old. Within about 30 seconds of this there was a whirlwind of commotion as the neighbors caught sight of the white lady right smack in the middle of the huts. Pretty soon a circle of about 20 children had surrounded me, in addition to some adults who were out selling that had decided to come over and see what all the ruckus was about. Since I was now around George’s neighbors I decided to ask my question again to see if I got the same answer. “Who takes care of George and his sisters? Who gives them food?” Everyone started chattering with each other as my question was translated, and then pretty soon one of the children pointed to a neighboring hut. Mabel had set herself up as my communicator by this point so she translated for me that the neighbors were saying that the woman who lives next to George and his sisters takes care of them. I wanted to be sure that I understood everything right so I said again, “Does George have a mother?” More translating and then plain as day, for the second time in the last 5 minutes I heard the reply, “No. George’s mother is dead,” this time coming from one of the older neighborhood children.

At this point one of the older women who had become part of the crowd had walked over to her house and come back with a little stool which she had kindly brought for me to sit on. So, I sat down and had about 20 pairs of eyes curiously wondering what I was going to do next. This is when it comes in handy to have a stash of things in your backpack! I ended up deciding to first hand out food but had to tell all the kids to “shhhhhh….” so that we wouldn’t attract a mob. They seemed to understand and quietly I was able to give each of them a pb & j cracker sandwich and they all smiled and ate them up. Then I brought out some books and read to them while they eagerly took in all the pictures and pointed to the animals and objects that they knew. As the crowd sort of caved in around me little George started getting smushed and trampled on so he ended up getting the front and center spot right on my lap. Some other women joined the crowd and I heard some chattering. Then Mabel got my attention and pointed to one of the women who had come along. She said this was the neighbor who was taking care of George and his sisters. I started to connect the dots in my mind and realized this was one of those situations that I had heard about when we first started our Ghana adoption journey. The slogan we had heard was that ‘there are no orphans (in Ghana)’ because it is said that the communities/villages will absorb orphans into their care. It sounds nice, but clearly from the sight of George he is really suffering. I don’t know every detail of his situation and whether or not this neighbor is related to George and his siblings or not. But my heart can’t help but want to educate this community that there are other options to help orphans. If orphans are only ‘absorbed’ because of a sense of obligation and duty, when in fact the caretaker has no desire or means to provide for another child, then the children are going to get less than adequate care and love. I have no doubt in my mind this is what is going on with George and his siblings, and why God decided to lead me back to him today on our last day here. In fact, I’ve started getting that same ‘buggy’ feeling from the Holy Spirit that I got when I met Christian. Something is not right. Look into this.

I spent about an hour outside of George’s house playing with him and his neighbors. We of course got the wand bubbles out, which was a blast. I also found an inch of time to escape the crowd a bit and tried to give George some extra attention, held him on my lap, and talked with him. Eventually I said my goodbyes, knowing that I had received the information that I believe God sent me out for this morning. As Mabel and I set out to walk to the schoolyard some of George’s neighbors followed us. I began going back over the details of George’s situation out loud with Mabel to confirm that I had gotten everything straight, and had heard all the translations right. As we talked and walked another young girl had come up next to us and joined our conversation. And as if I needed any more assurance of the echo still stuck in my mind, this young girl settled it with the same sentence that I would now hear for the 3rd time from a different child, “Yes, George’s mother is dead.”

***

Since this day I’ve taken the only next step that I know how to take. I’ve notified Chief Nana as well as Kofi so that the proper social investigation can be done in this situation. I believe God’s hand is all over this, and I wait in eager anticipation to watch what He will do from here….

Inauguration of Kwahu Orphanage

In the days leading up to and following Jake’s previous trip to Ghana in January, we felt that God had re-connected us with Kofi, our case worker who had handled the in-country tasks of Justice’s adoption. On that January trip Jake and the team got to spend a day with Kofi in an area called Kwahu, viewing an orphanage project that he had started but didn’t have the funds yet to finish (you can read that post here). Kofi had an inspiring vision for the project which also included future hopes to build a Christian boarding school next to the orphanage, as well as an apartment complex that would help generate income to support the orphanage.

For the time being, Kofi had been taking in orphans to his own private residence in Mpraeso (a township of Kwahu), which he had transitioned into a foster home. But this place is not ideal – at all. When Jake visited the foster home in January he was so perplexed about the conditions that he felt a sense of responsibility to do something.

Meanwhile, Jake and I had been following God’s leading to consider constructing our own foster home in Asikuma. But last fall the Lord ended up closing the door on our plans for the time being. So our hearts had already been stirred to do something along these lines – then, seeing the conditions of the Kwahu foster home, and catching Kofi’s vision for what could be sent Jake into action. By the beginning of February Jake had met with the global missions director at our church and put in a proposal for a donation that would bring the new orphanage to its completion. Our church approved our proposal and by the end of February the donation was in Kofi’s hands. He was bound and determined to have the construction finished in time to hold the inauguration ceremony during our March trip. And he got really close. Everything was finished except for the electricity hook up, and once that is completed the kids will get to move from the foster home to the beautiful new orphanage.

Here are pictures of the current foster home, where all the orphans in Kofi’s care are residing [including our two girls] until they can move to the new orphanage.

Bedrooms:

Everyone in the house shares this shower:

And this toilet:

Living room:

Outdoor space leading to gate. The road is right outside the gate.

Playing alongside the road right outside the gate:

But just take a look at what is waiting for these children now that the construction on the new orphanage has been completed. First of all, the new orphanage is not located on the house-lined streets in town. Rather you drive about a mile or so outside of town to a beautiful, serene setting located on green and lush rolling hills. The orphanage sits off by itself on a huge plot of land.

Walking up the road to the orphanage – the tan wall with blue roof is the security wall that lines the entrance:

A picture showing once you are inside the entrance and looking down to the road you just walked up – that’s the orphanage on the left - just look at how beautiful this setting is!

Probably my favorite part about the new orphanage is the fact that it sits all alone in the midst of wide open space. The hills and land are perfect for running, digging, exploring, and playing. There will be no more confining spaces and lots of room to just BREATHE! Hooray!

The exterior as it sat in January, before our church's donation:

The finished exterior:

Water borehole:

The living room [the blue door frames on the right lead to each of the bedrooms]:

This is a look into one of the 4 bedrooms – each bedroom has its own shower and toilet which is greatly needed when you have both genders and all different ages residing together.

A peek into one of the bathrooms:

New bunk beds (donated by our adoption agency) waiting to be arranged in the rooms – they are so low to the ground because Kofi gets worried that the kids will fall out of bed!

The day of the inauguration came and we all got to celebrate and bless the new orphanage.

All the important people were there from the community including various chiefs of the towns that make up Kwahu, social welfare workers, pastors, and a bunch of others with prestigious titles that I can’t remember! I think what was so moving was listening to how this community has opened up to the idea of orphan care and adoption because of Kofi’s vision. There was one speaker in particular, the District Chief Executive, who spoke of how over the last year he really forced Kofi to prove himself, prove his vision, and prove his credibility in order for this project to come to completion. [The important people in the community have the power to shut down a project like this at any time if they don’t like it or don’t trust the person in charge.] As I listened to the speakers and recalled some of the stories of hardship that Kofi had told us on the drive, I began to see that Kofi is a man of perseverance. It has not been easy for him to stick with this – he has faced persecution, mistaken judgements and perceptions, and has even been the subject of some good rounds of community gossip! Through it all Kofi has become a living, breathing example of trusting in the Lord’s commissioning, just as Joshua did ~ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). You did it Kofi!!!!!!!

Ribbon cutting by Chief:

Pastors from the community’s Methodist churches prayed a blessing over the entrance to the orphanage.

Jake and I feel SO EXCITED to have been able to play a tiny part in this, which really only happened because our church ROCKS and has been so on board in supporting our heart for the orphans of Ghana! Yay for Cornerstone Church of Ames!

My heart is also dancing in this project knowing that this orphanage is a place that we will stay forever connected with, be able to supply donations for, send volunteers to, visit on our missions trips, and have confidence in knowing that it is a loving, safe place for orphans to be cared for - because we will get to check-in often!!!!!!! I will keep you updated as the last few details of the place get finished up, and of course will do some major rejoicing here on the blog once the children get to move in!

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. ~Helen Keller~

Awful-Beautiful

There are a handful of Christian songs on the radio right now that have this line in their lyrics: Father break our hearts for what breaks Yours. Going into our trip, I felt like that lyric was the most appropriate prayer for our group. And on this trip we were confronted with more heart piercing moments than we ever have on any other trip. Some situations were extreme - such as the baby in the bush – others were subtle, yet still showcased the deep needs here. The interesting part is that in one moment you can experience something so awful that your heart literally sinks within you. Then you can walk about 10 steps down the road and be part of something so beautiful that you know you’ve just experienced God’s Spirit moving in a mighty way. This sort of roller coaster of awful–beautiful experiences was part of our everyday when we were in Asikuma. The emotions we felt seemed to contradict each other from one moment to the next – often leaving us drained yet also in a state of excitement as we anticipated God using us as His instruments and making our days purposeful. I think the depth of it all is also what seems to lift the black and red text out of the pages of my Bible and cause the gospel to come alive in Ghana in such bold ways. I see verses being displayed right in front of me in pictures so vivid that they feel engraved in my heart forever. I will try to explain a few of these moments the best that I can, fully knowing that these pictures and my words don’t really do the moments justice….

There was one day in particular in which we were out in the middle of the village and it was extremely hot. About every 5 seconds the street children were begging us for water because they were so thirsty. Joe from our group ended up buying a large sack full of bagged waters. But as he went to hand them out the kids began fighting and pushing and shoving each other because they were afraid that they wouldn’t get one.

Once a mob like this starts, it’s absolutely impossible to organize the kids into a nice orderly line and hand them each one and teach them to say thank you. These kids are used to fighting to survive, and when their instincts kick in it can seriously leave you heartbroken as you watch their neediness come to the surface. But then seconds after this mob I saw a beautiful moment when Joe was offering drinks to those who didn’t get their own water bag. And the gospel came alive. “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink”…..Lord when did we see you?.... “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” ~ Matthew 25:35, 37, 40~

There are certainly children in the village who capture your heart on an individual level. One day when we were out in the middle of Asikuma I noticed a little tiny boy sitting all alone along a concrete ledge in the hot sun. I watched him try to hold his head up, and realized that he was very lethargic and fragile looking. I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to just go and hold him for awhile. So I went and scooped him up.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but this boy was very undersized for his age which I guessed was around 3 years old. He literally was the size of a 1 year old. This little guy was on my mind constantly in a haunting sort of way. On a different day I tried to go looking for him again but I never did find him.

On the same concrete ledge minutes later I was part of a beautiful moment as some of our little friends asked if I would get out the books I brought. The kids here crave any sort of educational materials they can get their hands on – especially books. They seriously beg to be read to. This group ended up wanting to practice their reading skills, which they did so out loud in unison. Hearing their sweet voices speaking truths about Jesus made my heart dance.


Felt the same way when a young boy named Evance sweetly came up to me and asked if I had brought my children’s Bible with me in my backpack. When I answered yes he excitedly asked if he could take it for awhile and read. With joy he skipped off to a little quiet spot where he soaked up the pages for almost an hour. And the gospel came alive. I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ~Matthew 18:3-4~

I get used to a lot of the cultural things here, but I will never get used to seeing little tiny ones left to themselves during the day. Or siblings that are no bigger than JJ, caring for their little brothers and sisters - sometimes all day long - so that their mothers/caretakers can work.

So many times the little ones trip and fall down in the dirt and scrape up their knees and there is no one there to pick them up or console them as they cry. And there are just so many children that you take one look at and know that they are really suffering. Like this little boy who was out with his 5 year old sister….she ran around and played while he sat under the tree in the shade.

Although he was in a dress, I saw that he was a boy when he was laying around naked in the dirt later on. If you look close you’ll see that he has the reddish hair line around his face which points to severe malnutrition, as well as poor skin condition and distended belly. God led me back to this boy on a different day which I will share about in a later post.

And then there are the hernias through the belly buttons. Another very common sight here – this has to be painful.

During our time with the orphans of Larteh we met a little boy who had burn scars covering his entire face and most of his scalp. We found out that he had fallen in a pot of cooking oil that was boiling over a hot fire. As we listened to the story being told by one of the women in the community she mentioned their hope that he could be adopted. Upon hearing that word ‘adoption’ JJ turned to me and whispered, “Who is going to adopt that little boy?” I answered, “I don’t know.” Then he said, “Well, we can adopt him. He can come to our family.” He was dead serious and needed no more time to think about it. He was ready to take him home on the airplane.

On a different day our family went to visit the baby that had been found in the bush. We sat and held him, played with his older brother, and pondered what the baby’s name should be. When we left to walk back to the hotel JJ turned to me and said, “Is that baby going to be adopted?” At that time we didn’t know yet so I told JJ that he would need to ask God about that. Then he said again, “Well, we can adopt him. We can take care of him and he can be in our family.”

I know that God will bring loving families for each of these little boys, but I adore JJ’s heart of concern over what was going to happen to these precious children turned orphans. Going into our adoption of Justice one of my irrational fears was that adoption was going to ‘ruin’ my biological kids and take away something that they deserved. Instead, adoption has GIVEN my children a living & active gospel that I could have never taught them with just my words. I am now getting the joy of watching God grow something beautiful in their hearts as they come to the realization that there are children in this world living in such need, and that we can do something about it.

There was one day in particular where we were confronted with children who had deep medical needs. One such boy, named Graham has a hole in his heart. We visited him and his mother because our foundation had donated the funds to get him an appointment with a cardiologist to see about surgery. Here was his original story:

“Little Graham is a boy of 1 1/2 years, born with a serious form of heart disease, and weak legs. The disease makes him unable to breathe normally and he struggles just to take his next breath. He is so sick and weak that he is still not walking nor crawling. Graham’s mother has just come to Asikuma to live with her brother since her husband has been without work for a long period of time in Juapong. She feared if she stayed where she was at her son would eventually die from his illness. She decided to move in with her brother to help with day to day living, all the while praying that God would work a miracle for her son.”

This poor boy had the most labored breathing, I feared every time he got through a breath that the next one wouldn’t come. His legs turn inward and are like jello, and he just collapses in your arms when you hold him. We’ve been able to pay the funds for him to receive the medication he needs to help his heart get strong enough for surgery.  From there we hope to be able to help him get the surgery he needs. Seeing little Graham in his need made me think of all the other little boys and girls out there in Ghana who will die of things like this because their family can’t afford medical care.

After visiting Graham, who had come to the house of our friend, we walked about 5 steps out the front door to meet this boy who had been living with a compound fracture in his forearm for over a year. You can see the bone sticking out there close to his wrist and that the muscle in his upper arm has wasted away.

This one especially got to Justice. I think that he was able to put himself in this boy’s shoes, and imagine going around day to day with that sort of injury – all because your family can’t afford the medical care to fix it. Since meeting this boy we paid for his cab ride to get to the hospital (our clinic in Asikuma cannot handle injuries like this) and an appointment to see about surgery. Because he had such a severe infection from living with the open wound the doctor has put him on medication to attack the infection first and we are told he is supposed to have surgery soon.

In the U.S. for the most part you would have to be a doctor or a nurse in a hospital to encounter medical needs like this. But not here. You just have to walk down the road as these sorts of scenarios are everywhere, and out in the open for all to see. And in this the gospel comes alive yet again. When I see the diseased, the blind, the crippled, and the sick here along the dirt roads I can picture the awesomeness of what it would have been like to witness Jesus simply touch someone and heal them with his power. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”….Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. ~Matthew 9:1-2, 6-8~Sometimes these medical needs can make you feel helpless and inadequate. But there is one physical need in these people that we can instantly do something about: HUNGER. Our very last day in Asikuma we hosted a meal for the children in the village. We handed out sacks of food which contained a large serving of rice and two fish to each child.

We had 500 sacks of food, and gave out every single one. But there was one little smile out of the masses of kids in line that made the gospel come alive to me –

My sweet Yaa with her little half-smile. She stood in line along with all the others, stretching her arm in the air while waving it back and forth as I walked by with the sacks of food. Her expression said “Pick me! I need one! Don’t forget me!” As I handed her a sack of food and saw that smile a gentle whisper appeared in my heart from the Lord, “Take care of My sheep.”
And my heart whispered back, “Yes, Lord.”

Awful-beautiful moments. All mixed together and sprinkled throughout our days. Each trip the moments are different and our reasons for coming different. Our compassion gets a little deeper, the hurts feel stronger, and the needs seem greater. But one thing always stays the same – God’s hand is on display here. In every moment He can be seen. Clear and distinct. Showcasing that this is His heart. Confirming what these people have already taught us to be true….

Christ has no body on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out;
yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good;
and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.
~Saint Teresa of Avila~

Meeting Our Girls

Below is a [very long] summary of Days 3 & 4 of our trip – the days we got to meet and get to know the two little girls that we are adopting! Just as a reminder, I can’t post any face pictures of them until we pass court in Ghana so you’ll have to use your imagination – but let me tell you they are BEAUTIES! :)

Once we arrived into the foster home we approached the gate, and chaos ensued as the orphans in the home saw that the awaited visitors had arrived!

There was a mix of people as house mothers, children, our group of tripsters, agency workers, and another adoptive family all began greeting each other with smiles, hugs, and conversation. I started scanning the faces to see if I could pick out our girls from the image in my memory of their referral photo. I spotted our littlest one first, sitting with one of the house mother’s right outside the gate. But as I surveyed the crowd I saw a lot of little ones about the same size, so I began to wonder if it was her. The house mother walked up to us and I asked her if the little one on her hip was ‘F’. She nodded and smiled. I reached out to touch F’s little hand and she pulled away, gave me a look that said “who on earth are you?!?”, and then turned in the opposite direction of me and nestled her head onto the house mother’s shoulder. I giggled and went to the other side of the house mother and tried making eye contact with F and talking with her. Again she glanced at me with a look that said, “I am really unsure of who you are, and a little scared too!” and then she quickly turned her head in the opposite direction of me. I knew it was going to take some time for F to warm up to us, and it was strange how my first interactions with her reminded me so much of Jake’s first meetings with Adjoa in Asikuma! The running away from him, the crying, the looks of complete terror – and now Jake is one of Adjoa’s favorite people in the world. She actually cries when Jake leaves and she tries to follow him! We were going to have to work just as hard with F over the next few days to help her to become comfortable with us. Jake had already walked in through the gate so I decided to let F be for now. As I was enveloped into the crowd of children I noticed a tiny little girl looking up at me and watching my every move. It was like she knew I was the one she had been waiting for, but I didn’t realize who she was yet. At first glance when I saw her I thought she looked too tiny to be our oldest girl, ‘J’. Her hair also threw me off because it had been relaxed and was longer and straighter than how it was in the referral photo….but she kept watching me. I knelt down and when I got close to her face my heart melted and I realized this was indeed our J! I whispered her name to make absolute sure it was her and she nodded yes and smiled. She was so quiet and gentle and so, so, so much tinyer than the little girl I had pictured in my mind. I scooped her up and smothered her cheeks in kisses and thought that her tiny frame might snap in two with the pressure of my hugs. Jake was standing right there and clicked our picture right as my face started getting all scrunched up as I tried to fight back the tears and keep my composure. There is just no way to describe the warmth that was in my heart during these moments. After taking in my initial perceptions of J’s demeanor, I came to the conclusion that she was perfect. And my heart was humbled. Because, when God closed the door on Yaa and Adjoa’s adoption, there was a tiny part of me that had questioned His plan. Just a little whisper in the back of my mind that sincerely doubted that my heart could be filled again with such a strong, natural feeling love as I had for Yaa and Adjoa. But in these moments of meeting J I realized that God had done something in my heart over the past weeks. Coming face to face with this child that the Lord had literally picked out of the masses of orphans, and gone to great lengths to lead our family to – I just, once again was reminded that God knows us each so intricately and personally. He foreknew J’s deep needs and said, “I have just the mommy for you,” even though I sat on the other side of the world and didn’t believe it yet. Thank you Jesus that your plans are ALWAYS better than mine.

A little while after my mind had soaked up the excitement and emotion of these moments the very kind house mother holding F motioned for me to try and take her. Much to F’s dismay, the house mother handed her over to me and there I stood in the very cramped quarters of the foster home with my future daughter screaming her head off! Yep, more humbling moments! After about 5 minutes F was still not allowing me to console her, so back into the house mother’s arms she went where she clung for dear life and gave me a look that said, ‘don’t ever do that again.’ :)

After our memorable introduction to our girls, we got down to business handing out the loads of donations that we had brought just for the foster home. Shorts, t-shirts, and shoes for the boys, and fancy, decorative pillow case dresses for the girls. It always gets a little chaotic and crazy when the donations start getting handed out (no matter how organized you think you are), and I felt like I was in a whirlwind for about 30 minutes straight. Little J waited patiently in a chair right next to me as she watched me outfit the kids with correct sizes of clothes. Some of our other tripsters got into the groove of sorting through sizes and handing out, so I grabbed J’s bag of gifts that we had brought just for her and kneeled down beside her. We started flipping through the photo album that showed our family, house, and life here in the U.S. With every new photo J could barely handle the excitement of what she saw and she would let out these adorable SQUEALS of pure delight! It was the cutest thing ever!

Eventually our group realized that these kids really needed some face-to-face interaction and attention! There is a quiet street right in front of the foster home, so we led the kids out there and played bubbles, football, read stories, and started getting to know each of the kids individually. Many of the other children that lived near the foster home couldn’t help themselves and ventured over to soak up some attention too.

This also allowed Jake and I the chance to work on inching our way into F’s heart a little bit. By this time she had settled down and was swaddled to the back of the house mother. Jake started trying to steal kisses from F and it got to be hilarious because she was playing the old turn her head trick on him every time he got close. He was able to catch her cheeks in a smooch a couple of times though….

Eventually it started getting dark and our group needed to head back to the hotel which was just a few miles from the foster home. We were given the option of having J spend the night with our family, which we hadn’t realized would be offered! We all agreed that it would be too hard on F to come for the night, but we were so excited to spend more time with J! Since I didn’t know J would get to hang with us, I hadn’t packed any clothes or toys for her. But thankfully we had a suitcase full of clothing donations still at the hotel so I rummaged through it and came up with an oversized t-shirt and comfy bottoms for pajamas, and a couple of pillowcase dresses just her size for the next few days. I also found her some smaller flip flops that fit her better than the ones we had brought for her which were a few sizes too big! And then we also had brought a handful of games, coloring books/crayons, etc. that we had intended to play at the foster home at some point so we had plenty to do. Our night finished out with grabbing some dinner at the hotel, and then J fell asleep on the restaurant chair with her belly full, heart smiling from the day, and Jake gently rubbing her back. I ended up waking her because she really needed a bath, so we went up to the room and washed away all the dirt from the day. Seeing J’s recovering distended belly from her malnutrition, and tiny, tiny frame absolutely tore my heart up – this girl has suffered. I loved getting to lavish her skin in the comfort of cocoa butter lotion, and then get her all cozied up in her pj’s. I tucked her under the covers, read her a Bible story, sang a song, and she was off to sleep and our night ended picture perfect.

***

Woke up the next morning around 6:45am to a little girl playing with my hair. After about 5 minutes she tapped me on the shoulder and motioned to ask for some water. J doesn’t know how to speak English yet, but we’ve been able to communicate quite easily by using hand signals. I could tell that she was ready to start the day so we got her some water, got dressed, and went down to see about ordering some breakfast while the boys slept. We ordered oats, boiled eggs and toast and then went back up to the room and started in on a mini-tournament of the matching game. She LOVES this game! I’ve never heard so many squeals and giggles and just plain outbursts of delight and joy! At the end of one of our matches, much to my surprise, J started counting her matches in English and got all the way to 14 speaking each number out loud. Then, a little while later when we had gotten the coloring books out I noticed her flip to this page and immediately go to town on writing her numbers….

Her hand writing is really good and Justice’s was too. Part of the foster care fees that we are paying go towards sending J to school, so I was thankful to see this. Throughout the morning we got to watch J fit right in with our family – chasing JJ around outside playing tag, allowing Justice to teach her how to play games on the nook, and taking pictures of all of us on Daddy’s phone.

About 2 hours later we were on our way to the inauguration ceremony for the new orphanage. When we arrived I spotted F sitting among the crowd with the house mother. Before and after the ceremony Jake and I did everything we could to inch our way into F’s heart and comfort zone. As we tried to offer F food, loving touches on the arm, kisses on the cheeks, and eye contact/interaction F first clung even tighter to the housemother. But right before the ceremony started we had a small victory as F sat on Jake’s lap for a good couple of minutes while playing with a bracelet. By the end of the ceremony F was dancing to the music, accepting food from us, and looking us in the eye. Right before it was time to go I noticed the house mother slowly inch herself out of sight. We had all been sitting around playing, and F was distracted by dancing with another little girl her age. The house mother tucked herself behind some cars and peered over the hood with a smile as she looked at me – I knew this was my chance! Pretty soon F started looking around for the house mother because she realized she was gone. Then she started wimpering in worry. I scooped her up (huge progress that she allowed me to do this!) and was somehow able to fully distract her by walking over to show her some ants crawling on a tree trunk, and then watching a worker take down balloons. All in all I got to hold her for about 20 minutes – then she caught sight of the house mother and it was all over! No worries though – I’ll take what I can get. We were all headed to the foster home next anyways, so I knew we would get to have more time connecting.

Some sort of switch must have been flipped between our time at the ceremony and getting to the foster home because F completely let her guard down with us! She let us hold the water bottle for her while she took sips, she sat on our laps numerous times and we finally saw her giggle and smile while she playfully interacted with us! Yay!

Our group spent the entire afternoon loving on the kids at the foster home, and the many other street children who happened by. We had brought loads of coloring books and crayons, and I am not kidding the kids colored for almost 2 hours straight. This is considered a special activity to them, because they don’t get the chance to do this in everyday life.

Once evening time rolled around we got all the foster kids rounded up into the van [and a couple of street children who snuck in too] to head to a little outdoor restaurant up the road for a meal, soda pop, and some dancing! It was a great opportunity to get the orphans out of the cramped foster home area and into a fun, relaxing setting.

Little F rode on my lap in the car to the restaurant [no car seats here folks!] and was quite content to sit on my lap for THE NEXT 2 HOURS outside at the dinner!!!!!! WOW! The house mother was at the dinner as well, but she positioned her chair perfectly behind a bush :) so F never saw her. I was able to feed F her dinner of chicken and rice which she gladly accepted from me with smiles. A couple of times other people would come up and say something to F and she would turn away from them and cling to ME tighter. It was huge, huge progress. By the end of the night she was sleepy, calm, and very relaxed in my arms.

Because of our progress, we were encouraged by others to have F stay the night with us as well on this night. I went back and forth in deciding, wondering if it would be too much unfamiliarity for her with all of our new faces plus the new surroundings she would encounter at the hotel. I didn’t want to stress her out, but I also knew that this was precious time to bond and help her to become comfortable with us. In the end we decided to make the most out of our time in being with the girls and set out for the adventure of having them both stay with us at the hotel. I mentally prepared myself that this could be a long night. On the way to the hotel F fell asleep in my arms in the car. We stopped alongside the road to grab some ‘porridge’ that she would need for a feeding in the night. By the time we had made another stop at the foster home F woke up and began crying, and continued until we got out of the car at the hotel. The boys decided to hang out at the hotel restaurant, so I took my girls upstairs and started in on their baths. How fun it was to watch F who was expecting cold bath water, to be pleasantly surprised by the very warm water we had access to at the hotel because of the water heater. She was so prepared to cry the second I got her in the tub, but then she completely relaxed. My heart ached though as I took in how teeny, tiny she was. Kofi had mentioned earlier that F was in pretty bad shape when she first came into the foster home’s care. Her hair had lost its pigment along the hairline (we could see this from the referral photo) and her skin was peeling off – both signs of malnutrition. He said she looked very, very sick in the first photos, so much so that he could barely look at them. She’s on the up and up now, but Kofi told us to be prepared that she still ‘looks’ malnourished because she has just started getting proper nutrition.

After baths J got snuggled into bed and was asleep in no time. I had to work the ‘mom sway’ with F because she had realized that it was bed time and she didn’t know where she was. She cried for about 5 minutes, but fell asleep in my arms soon after. Eventually I did the old hold-your-breath-and-hope-she-doesn’t-wake-up-when-you-lay-her-down-move and it worked. She stayed fast asleep.

For about 45 minutes that is.

And then she woke up shrieking for “MA!” So we swayed, she fell asleep, and this routine kept up for a few hours. After the first couple of rounds I realized that F was most comfortable sleeping on my tummy, belly to belly. I think she probably would have slept through the whole night that way, but I was so afraid that I was going to fall asleep and roll over, sending her onto the floor! Eventually I was able to maneuver her off of me, and get her to her belly on the bed and this kept her sleeping for almost 1.5 hour stretches each time. But poor baby just wasn’t sure where she was when she would wake up, so she would start tossing and turning, lift her head up and flail her arms around for me until her hand hit my face. Then she would shriek “MA!” until I picked her up and would sway her back to sleep. Midway through the night I knew in my mom-heart that she had to be hungry, but she wouldn’t accept the bottle of porridge from me and I offered it each time she woke up. Then 6am rolled around and as the light started coming through the window she was up again but this time she happily took down her bottle of porridge and wouldn’t you know it – she conked out right after the last sip for over 2.5 hours. Stinker! Because of course, by this time little Miss J had gotten a glorious night of sleep and was up and ready to roll! Ha! Honestly the night reminded of me of what it’s like having a newborn in the house, and even though I was tired, it was so worth the bonding and getting to teach my future daughter that I would be there to meet her needs. I also did get the sweetest picture of F conked out with porridge running down her face and using JJ’s stuffed bear as a pillow.

The best part was when F woke up later in the morning. You know what it’s like when your baby wakes up in their crib by themselves, cooing and talking and happy as ever? That’s how F was. She actually woke up while J and I had gone down to the front desk to order breakfast! We came back up stairs and she was wide awake just looking around the room quietly while everyone else still slept. I soon realized that a major diaper change was in order, and ended up needing to give her another bath. Once she was all fresh and dressed she sat on the bed with all the kids - giggling, playing, rolling around on the bed and just plain content. As I walked around the room packing up our things she would holler out to me, “Ma!” And then I would say, “Yes?” And then she would just give me this look like, “Just checking to see if that is what I am supposed to call you.”

Who would have known? Who would have known that when I set out in life hoping all my dreams would come true that the Lord had a much different plan than I did. God has opened up my eyes to the needs all around me in this fallen world. He has broken my heart time and again over the lives of His children who are afflicted and wounded and oppressed and in need of something so simple, yet so profound – LOVE IN ACTION. Oh that we would say YES when God asks us to stretch a little further, to bend down to the level of the hurting, to die to our selfishness and plans and need for control, and give tiny pieces of our so called ‘dreams’ away! When we do we may find that life as we know it or as we planned it is LOST, but that the Lord has actually granted the desires of our heart along the way.

Baby in the Bush UPDATE!!

Got on my email this afternoon and saw that Kofi tagged me to this photo on Facebook:

You know what that means right? I messaged Kofi just to be sure – and he confirmed: sweet baby from my last post has made it into Kofi’s care at the foster home where he was receiving a nice warm bath. The birthmother has relinquished her parental rights through social welfare and sweet baby will now be made available for adoption. I don’t yet have the words to express how I am rejoicing in the greatness of the Lord through the outcome of this story. For now, enjoy these precious photos of a life that has been redeemed, and know that as you consider this child, Jesus longs to write a story just like this in each of our lives. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. ~John 5:24~

♥