Sunday, July 31, 2011

Hallelujah...

On our third day in Ethiopia, we visited an orphanage about two hours outside of Addis Ababa.

The views along the way were gorgeous. With each mile, I fell more and more in love with this beautiful country and its people.


















While we were at the orphanage, we had the privilege of dressing the orphans in new clothes...head to toe. One of the orphanage employees brought his two young sons. He was so proud of how they looked in their clean, new outfits. Especially the shoes. 

What struck me most was this man's gratitude. He gave God the glory and offered up the sweetest song of praise. I don't understand all the words of the song, but I understand its message.


And here are his handsome sons.
Hallelujah.


Friday, July 29, 2011

Ethiopia...Day 2

On Monday morning, we met these boys.  They're shoe shiners. You'll see dozens of them as you drive through the streets of Addis Ababa. But these boys were special. They showed up every morning...without fail. And if we told them to come back in the evening, they were there. Ready to clean the mud and dirt off our shoes.




We spent time at two different orphanages on Monday. 

The first was a Catholic orphanage. The children there touched our hearts. And so did the women that cared for them...you could see how much they loved the children.

After visiting with the older children outside for a while, I went upstairs to see the younger children and babies. The first room I walked into broke my heart. They were babies...tiny. Some were sick and some were obviously premature. But I'll never, ever forget looking down into the first crib. It held a little boy who appeared to have hydrocephalus. His head was terribly swollen and he was unable to make eye contact. He just laid there. I guessed that he was around two-years-old, but later that night our team leader told me that he was six. 

Here are some pictures from my time there...
(I wish I could show you the beautiful faces of these little ones, but I have to cover them to comply with Ethiopian laws designed to protect the identity of orphans.)

In one of the rooms for younger children, I found this happy girl. She enjoyed hammin' it up for the camera.
 

These little ones are ages 3 to 4, I imagine. There were about a dozen cribs in this room alone.
They were so happy to see us. They loved the camera! As soon as I pulled it out of my bag, they started smiling and saying...photo, photo, photo!
 Sweet dreams...this cute little boy asleep in his crib reminded me of how my Evan often slept in his own crib. Evan even had the same pajama pants!

Little stinker! 
This boy and I were fast friends, but when it was time for me to go...oh, he was mad! He arched his back and yelled and cried. It was so hard to walk away.

This sweet girl blew me away. She was so smart and so kind! Her English was excellent. During our visit, we talked about school, Ethiopia, church and...Justin Bieber! I learned that she's also a fan of Hannah Montana, Katy Perry and Usher. Too funny!
 

And these girls melted my heart. After taking their picture, I showed them pictures of my kids.
They then asked...Do you have a mother? A father? 
When I said yes, they responded...You are very, very lucky.

After we left that orphanage, we immediately visited another. 
Karen and I enjoyed watching these boys play tether ball. And I think they enjoyed having an audience.
 

Craft time was a big hit with these kids...they beaded necklaces, made butterflies out of clothes pins and coffee filters and got their nails painted. And, thanks to Kate, got some really cool face painting!

There were so many wonderful moments in this day...smiles and hugs, laughter and fun. Yet, my heart was heavy. For more than a year, I've read about the worldwide orphan crisis...I know all the information, all the statistics. But it wasn't until I was there...in the orphanage, with orphans...that I really got it. And once I got it, once it became real...it broke my heart.  

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Home...looking back at the first days of our journey

Late Monday afternoon, I was greeted by the sweetest homecoming party a girl could ever wish for.


Seeing the precious faces of my family and feeling their arms around me did my heart good.
It's good to be home.

But I must say...I can't wait to go back to Ethiopia!
Funny, huh?
This from a girl who once said about missions...I'm just not called to that.


You know what else?
This girl who said yes to adoption and yes to a mission trip but still feared what God may call her to next...well, she's no longer afraid.
Instead she's praying for and eagerly awaiting God's direction.

God has done such a work in me. 
I'm going to tell you all about it, you can be sure of that! 
But I'm still processing it all...trying to find words to do my experience justice.
So for now...I'm going to show you some pictures from the first days of my journey.

Saying goodbye to my little ones on Friday morning. 
Sniff. Sniff.

Saying goodbye to Dallas. Bound for Washington D.C.

From Washington D.C. to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

An empty seat on a crowded airplane...right between Karen and I.
We counted this as a blessing! 

My first Ethiopian meal. No comment.

Up in the air.

My first glimpse of Ethiopia.
Love at first sight.

Sunday morning in Ethiopia.
Loading up the vans outside the airport.

Along the streets of Addis Ababa.



The guest house.

Our bunk.
Poor Karen had to climb on top without a ladder.

The view outside our bedroom window.

Time to start sorting donations...



Making new friends already. 
This is Bira. LOVE HIM!
 

And then we were off to visit our first orphanage. 
They call it Restoration...read this and you'll understand why.

It wasn't long before my lap was full.

And there were no complaints from me...the more the merrier, right?

The children sang and danced for us. It was precious.

This little girl is adorable! Wish you could see her smile!

They loved craft time! We had lots of fun with crayons and stickers.

And they love to have their pictures taken.
What a handsome boy this was!

One wall of the baby/toddler room...
 

The other wall.
Can you imagine caring for all these little ones?
Take a moment right now and pray for the precious women that do.

And just like that...our first day was already behind us. 
Needless to say, we slept well that first night.

Stay tuned. 
I've got more to share tomorrow.