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!