Redemption

Thank you to a wonderful friend Glenn Vonk for the photograph.
She is a treasure.

Sometimes There are No Words....

Patience

Girl, born 2004
HIV, mild mental delays
Patience has parentage of mixed backgrounds (her father was reportedly a visiting foreign exchange student) and she is treated poorly because of her skin color.  She is not in a great orphanage; she desperately needs a family.
From a family who met her in 2012:
She’s precious and sweet, but was terrified. They said she doesn’t talk hardly at all ever- my guess is selective mutism. She was definitely the racial minority, no apparent physical disability at all, very smart, receptive language skills seemed awesome. We just adored her and felt so sorry for her.
She would press up close to us and slide one little dark hand over and touch my knee and then the others would yell at her and she’d cringe and her eyes would cloud over and she’d slide to the back of the pack and just watch. We just loved her. Truly.



I have no doubt my God is in control. But if I were honest with myself and with others, I would have to say that I do struggle with the "Why" part at times. This little girl has grabbed my heart. It is hard to get her out of my mind. To know that even when I am not thinking about her, she is still there. Living in her private hell. We witnessed this racism. We saw a young, white mother visit her infant everyday in the orphanage only to return it a few hours later to the caregivers and go home for the day. Why??? Because her family was too ashamed to let her take it home because it was a mixed race child.

This little girl deserves better than this. By initiating any contact at all, it shows she wants love, but for how long? How long will she hold out hope? When we close our eyes and go to sleep, she still waits. When we get up to our own comfortable lives, she still waits. Another adoptive mom has met her and in her words says she is "awesome". Does she have issues. Absolutely, who wouldn't after living like that for so long. This mom says that both the children and the caregivers mistreat this little 8 yr old girl. 

God does care. He cares about the birds and flowers and so I KNOW he cares about His children that much more. But WE are His hands and feet. That is how he gets the glory. It is so much bigger than us. If  anyone is  interested in helping this little girl, please go to www.reecesrainbow.org under Newly Listed Children and donate to her account. Adoption is expensive. It is paying the ransom for a child to have a life! Pray for her. "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much" so DO it. Let's pray her out of her personal hell and into a family that can teach her about the Eternal love of a Father who will NEVER leave her. 

Trains & Boats

WAITING FOR THE TRAIN

NOAH IN HEAVEN ON GRANDAT'S BOAT

SNACKING ON THE TRAIN

Noah & Mike got to go on an adventure last weekend. They took the train down to Charleston to take a ride on Grandat's sailboat. To say that Noah was in heaven was an absolute understatement of the century!
They had such a great time and the weather was perfect. Laurel and I got to have a fun girls weekend being silly. Love my girl! When we picked them up on Sunday, we visited the 82nd Airborne Museum. These flags were flying in memory of some of our fallen soldiers. It was a very moving sight.

Up next....... Backyard Bible Clubs at our church. 1 week packed full of games, songs, bible stories etc.... An EXHAUSTING week but looking forward to it an the lives that can be touched!!