The Squeeze of Our Culture

It's a lazy day for me, the first day of my husband's spring break from the University. I'm sitting by the warm, fire and reading and writing with a spirit of thanksgiving and prayer. I am one of the few people on the earth that has enough. I am warm and full from a nourishing breakfast. I have experienced, just this morning, the comfort from a warm cup of very good coffee. I should be happy, but my heart still aches for the many children in Ethiopia who need parents. I am fighting to keep remembering these babies and children when everything within my culture screams to forget. In my US world, I grew up believing that it was my right to not only embrace but acquire "the American Dream." I remember as a young mother, yearning for the day I had a dishwasher and a second car. I believed that God wanted to bless me with a nice house and comfort. But now that I've traveled throughout the world and experienced the pain and suffering of others, my soul is stirred to the quick.

Jesus says the poor will always be with me. He knows the impact of sin on His creation. That said, we, the rich by the world's standards, are truly called to do more than we, as American Christians, are currently doing in the world. While we are good at responding to emergencies like helping our brothers and sisters in Haiti or now Japan, we are not so good at doing the things that might impact our lives for the kingdom. I'm speaking to myself here too. I find that I don't really want to do the hard work of downsizing my life financially. Yet so much of my time is spent in the caring for my material possessions. In Ethiopia last week, my friend Stephne, who oversees three orphanges, lost a little girl who came to the orphanage greatly malnourished. She arrived too late and they couldn't save her. Right after she died, the orphanage received yet one more rescued baby, abandoned by her father after her mother died in childbirth. This happens nearly every week. When you hold these little ones, the problem is very real. When you kiss their little, sweet heads and rock them to sleep, you can't imagine the pain and suffering associated with their abandonment. They are real babies. I learned in Ethiopia, this last time, that abandoned babies have characteristics unlike babies who bond immediately with the parents. Abandoned babies have huge, fearful eyes and they flail far more often than normally bonded babies. I was able to be at the orphanage long enough to see one of these little baby boys calm down, gain weight and sleep peacefully. My arms long for one of those babies to hold and my heart breaks for the almost unfathomable problem of orphans in Africa. If you hold a baby this week, will you step out of your cultural responsibilities and the rat race and pray for the babies in Ethiopia...the so many babies that need people to love and hold them ? Pray that God will break through and that the Ethiopian government will find a good solution.

Praying for Sad Boy and the Orphans

Today, I just can't get little Sad Boy off my mind. I have been praying for him in light of all that has happened in Japan....such great loss. Maybe because it breaks my heart that he lost both of his parents and last week the government of Ethiopia announced that they are stopping 90% of all adoptions. I don't know what this means for this sweet little boy so I pray. God loves all his children. He doesn't want anything bad or painful to happen to anyone he loves. The amazing thing is he loves even those who do incredibly bad things on the earth. God is a jealous God and he wants all of us....our hearts and our minds. There are consequences in a sinful, fallen, world. We were made in God's image....Sad Boy was made in God's image and yet he lives on a very fallen earth. It rained yesterday in Ethiopia. While I was there I did a rain dance with my new friend, Karmyn. She sent me a message today telling me God brought the rain. Here in the US we often grumble at the rain....but today, I am so thankful for the rain in Soddo, Ethiopia. There are over 6,000,000 orphans in Ethiopia alone. I have no idea of the magnitude of the problem in all of Africa. It is hard for one person to make a difference and as I sit in my comfortable home with all the water I could possibly drink, my heart goes out to the people of Japan who have no drinking water or food and who lost loved ones within the last few days. I know God loves all of his creation. Oh but that we could all share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those we come in contact with who don't call Jesus their Lord. We really don't know how much time we have and for many.....it will be too late. I pray that my comfortable life will not numb me to listening to the voice of God. I pray that I will keep remembering all the suffering I saw and that I won't let my culture get a grip on me. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would break my heart with what breaks His heart.....it's a serious prayer. One shouldn't pray it unless you are ready for a heavy heart. I have a heavy heart today. Here is a picture of Sad Boy being held by the physical therapist that was on our trip.

Sad Boy Giggles

When you are adjusting to an 11 hour time difference you wake up early. Today I laid in bed for an hour and then unable to toss and turn any longer, I got up before 4:00 AM. To my surprise I had an email from Stephne Bowers, the Director of the Christian World Adoption orphanage in Soddo, Ethiopia where Sad Boy lives. Steph said that yesterday she played with him and he laughed and giggled! I rejoice in this wonderful information. God is answering my prayers for this precious boy. How often do you extend yourself in love to another person. When you see a sad person in the grocery store or on the street, how often do you reach out. I am encouraged that reaching out and touching the life of a sad person, whether young or old...makes a difference in the Kingdom of God. In America we are so often, self-focused. In Ethiopia, people are other-focused. Family is everything in Ethiopia and yet family members are dying all the time. A new missionary friend in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Becky Cox is working on creating a Hospice program in one of the poorest areas of Addis, near a large leper colony. Becky says that while as a public health nurse, she is engaged in educating women about HIV/AIDS it is too late for many of them. Young mothers are dying of HIV/AIDS and who is nursing them as they die? Their young three and four year old children are their only care givers. This is what happened to Sad Boy. He lost both of his parents and he is only four years old. Imagine what he has already experienced at such a young age. Oh Lord, do help the children who are watching their parents die. Give exceptional courage and power to my new friend, Becky who is serving lepers and dying mothers. Give exceptional courage and power to my friend Stephne Bowers who is serving so many orphans and making them laugh and giggle!

Sad Boy

I am now back from my two weeks in Ethiopia. While this was my second trip in less than four months...it was a harder trip...one that required me to deal with a broken heart. While I have often asked God to break my heart with what breaks His...when it happens it takes you to a place you can hardly imagine. This is just what happened with the little four year old boy I will call "Sad Boy." Sad Boy lost both of his parents at a young age. After loosing his parents he was sent to an orphanage where he was not thriving. Later he was sent to the CWA orphanage in Soddo, Ethiopia where I spent 10 days. When I first arrived at the orphanage in Soddo I spotted him. While he was walking...he did not lift up his head. I have never seen a child who appeared more depressed. While beautiful in appearance he was thin with his clothes hanging on his dry-skinned body and when you lifted his sad chin you could see dark circles under his eyes. I picked him up immediately and he wrapped his lifeless feeling little body around me and placed his sweet head on my chest..and then my heart began to break. I carried him around thinking he was a girl because that day the nannies had dressed him in a pink shirt and a denim jumper. The Ethiopian nannies have little knowledge of gender oriented dress. I felt him and he felt warm so I asked the nurse to take his temperature thinking he might be dehydrated. He had a normal temperature, he was simply lifeless. The next time I saw him he was dressed appropriately and entering very carefully into play with older children. I prayed, "Thank you, Lord for his play." I remember telling myself that I couldn't get attached to him...I couldn't get attached to any of babies or children, so I spent the next few times with the babies. I learned that rescued babies (those who are abandoned by a parent)have symptoms that I never learned about in graduate school when I studied infants. Rescued babies have large eyes that look very scared and they don't blink their eyes like normal babies. They also are tense and they flail their arms outward until they are hugged and held enough to start trusting. I was there long enough to see one such baby relax, eat well and stop flailing. I held him tight for hours and finally he began to relax. So after feeding, holding and loving babies I had to check on Sad Boy. This particular day he was in the nap room and when I approached him he was terrified by the other boys who were throwing stuffed animals at him. Even two year olds were picking on Sad Boy...oh how young they learn their power. I picked up Sad Boy and held him. Once again, he put his sad little head on my chest and held on for dear life. I sat in a chair and sang to him...he hardly moved. His pants were falling off of him so I asked a nanny for new pants and she obliged. The other little boys were being naughty and I don't speak Amharic so Sad Boy and I left the nap room for time together. I sat with him on a bench. I kissed him and hugged him and told him stories. I prayed over him and told him that God loved him so much and that Grandma Kristi loved him too. I asked the nannies for lotion and Vaseline and rubbed much needed moisture into his dry skin. I tried to play with him with a little black stuffed animal...but quickly learned that it terrified him. My guess was that he had long been abused. So I squeezed harder and kissed his cheeks and his neck and his sweet little head and after two hours he looked up at me..not just any look but a deep into your eyes look...a look of thanksgiving for loving him and THEN....he smiled and my heart was forever broken. Oh how I prayed that he would have good parents who love him soon. It was so hard to give him back. I asked the orphanage director, Stephne to please make sure he could sleep with a nanny so he could feel safe. She said she would do so. When I left the orphanage for the last time, he was playing with Lincoln Logs with an older child and I quietly asked God to protect sweet Sad Boy. If it would have been possible to bring him home, I would have done so...asking permission of my husband later...but that isn't how it works in Ethiopia. He will forever live in my heart and I can't imagine how broken hearted Jesus is when he looks at these beautiful children who have experienced so much pain in such a short time. I love you Sad Boy and I am praying for you.