Not sure that I want to anyway.
Last year we spent this week in Ethiopia. A week that changed Chad and I FOREVER...God opened our eyes and wrecked our hearts. We continue to be blessed and burdened by what happened during this particular week a year ago.
I pulled my journal out this morning and re-read what I had written about this day.
My heart was very full as I remembered what an amazing day we had!
I won't share all the details, but I definitely want to share some.
These words are not the actual journal entries, but my thoughts on them looking back a year later.
**"5 small babies in dark, hot, moldy room...12 toddlers in a very small room....when do they ever get outside? when do they ever get LOVE?"
I will never, ever get this image out of my brain. My heart broke as I held these babies. They were malnourished. The older kids sang a song for us. We played. We shared. We made crafts with them. We hugged. We left formula and other supplies. It seemed so inadequate.
**"Peter Abera. Drop-in center in Kechene"
This is the day we met Peter. I was overwhelmed by his story. He was very poor growing up..the kind of poor that I really don't know the first thing about. He came to know Jesus through a World Vision feeding center project in his area. Now, as a grown man, he DAILY shows children the love of Jesus Christ through his efforts to give them food, education, and clothing. We have been blessed to continue getting to know Peter over the last year and partnering with him in his mission. I count it a complete privilege that in his email to us last week, Peter addressed us as "my family". I will never forget standing out side the small buildings....listening to his story...listening to his vision....weeping....realizing the impact that we really CAN have on the lives of others. When we returned in September, we were so happy to re-unite with Peter and see the new fruit that God has produced through Peter's work.
** "Meat market up close!!"
I think the picture speaks for itself. Be thankful you can't smell it...although when I look at the picture, I am certain I can still get a faint whiff of it!!
** "The walk"
Late in afternoon, before dinner, I went on a walk around the "neighborhood" with Amanda and Dana. The discussion was intense and very heartfelt. The needs of the orphan are overwhelming. What is needed most? Where should our resources be focused? Adoption? Development? Somewhere deep into the conversation, I became more convicted than ever that adoption is NOT the answer for Ethiopia....but it is the obvious answer for some of the children that live within the walls of orphanages right now. Looking back, I have no doubt that God ordained that walk....that conversation...that breaking of my heart....that broadening of my vision. In hindsight, I think it was probably this moment in time that the motivation for Hope For His Children, Inc. was really born. And my reflections on this conversation continue to motivate me to be sure that our efforts focus heavily on projects that will have the LONG TERM effect of reducing poverty, giving hope and promoting INdependence, and therefor reducing the need for adoption in the future!!
** "Rice and Oatmeal night"
This really deserves a post all it's own. So I will save the details. Suffice it to say here that this was the day Chad and I decided to make a weekly habit in our family of taking time to focus on #1) poverty, #2) world hunger, and #3) our Compassion International and World Vision kids.
** And then there was all this: Tomoca Coffee. The "internet cafe" (aka. a small shanty with a couple of computers maintaining very unstable internet hook-up). Meeting Brian's family (the same Brian who later gave us 2 front-row, center-stage tickets for the Michael W. Smith & Steven Curtis Chapman concert!). The kids on the sidewalk outside the second orphanage.
As I glance back over this....it seems like such a feeble attempt to describe January 26, 2009.
But I am blessed to have tried.
