We are in the city for a few days because a few of the kids from the childrens home needed medical care.  What’s crazy is that we had to ride in a 5 seater Landcruiser for 17 hours with 6 children under the age of 8.    How about that for a fun time…   I had to keep telling myself that it was not a good idea to strap any of them to the roof to give us more room.    But we are here and safe and more importantly for you we have internet access!  That means we finally got to read all of your kind comments.  You were all so nice and make us feel very supported here in our crazy new life.

So, more pictures to come!

Levi

Today we were playing with blocks on the ground outside and Musse just stood there, watching everyone for about a half an hour.  Then after awhile he saw that someone had given up their blocks and he quickly grabbed them and took them to a little corner where he built a tower all on his own where no-one can bother him.  It’s fun to play with Musse because he talks to you with his eyes, he rarely says anything, but you can read more in his expressions than many kids who have been talking for years.

Musse, like many of the other children, has very little information in his file.  One of the things that we are working on is getting to know the back story on each child and figure out what is next for them.  Hopefully we can make, for everyone of these children, a brighter future.

- Levi

Goyiti has been through alot for such a young girl, but she is really starting to thrive.  She got a hair cut a few days ago and looks just darling, she has this little pink dress that she wears, that used to be our daughters, that she looks adorable in.  Goyiti had to endure so much, she is a fighter, if it weren’t for Siretu taking so much of her time to bond with Goyiti I am sure she would be having a much harder time.  We are thankful that she is with us and hope she can continue to grow and bond with us and the nanny in this important stage in her life.

For more later,

- Levi

The youngest, Edlawit (E-da-lao-eat), is only eight weeks old and has the sweetest little smile you have ever seen.  She came to us only a few days old, and is now safe and healthy as can be.  Holding this sweet little girl, like all the other children in the home, makes every day here worth it!  Each day we can see Edlawit growing and learning new things, she is a little cuddle bug and lights up every time she is held.  Although she likes to stay up at night and have a little party around 2 am, not the best of habits when you have to share a room with 9 other room-mates under the age of 5.

We are slowly learning the story on each child and I’ll be putting them here on the blog, with a bit on how they are doing. We hope that these stories stir you the way they have us.

-Levi

Things are going good, this country is a wonderful place and we are ever so slowly coming to understand the culture and the pace of things here.  At time we feel like we are having to learn new definitions for words that we already know, like tomorrow for instance.  A simple term with a seemingly simple definition, but in here that could mean anything from the literal tomorrow as you and I know it, to two weeks from now.

The best example of this is our newly rented and still under renovation home, although lovely and by far the best you can find, back home it would fall somewhere between an apartment in a 30 year old government housing project and a tent cabin in the Yosemite valley.  Simple pleasures like washing dishes in the sink or using the bathroom indoors, are still not part of our daily routine,  but as the construction guy told us, this should all be done tomorrow…..I’ll be sure to let you know how that turns out.

The children in the children’s home are doing good.  We’ve started to tackled the basic problems like the outdoor toilet, a big hole in the ground with more mosquitoes and flies as permanent residents than people in New York City.  It’s the same toilet which we are certain is keeping everyone sick as well as the staffs over-use of antibiotics for every ailment including stomach aches.

All of these things which at home would be so very easy to tackle, here, seem to take the long slow scenic route to completion.  But we are good.  It’s just about changing pace, which at times seems like learning to walk all over again… we could all use that now and again in our life time.

But we have found a way around all of that and you are finally getting to read the results!  The plan is a simple one, I write a post on my unconnected laptop here and then our American-side director calls me from Skype on his computer and hits record while I read off what I wrote, and then he plays it back and types it up on his side and posts it and voila, you have a blog post!

So without any further ado let me try my best to explain what we have learned in the past few weeks here.  First of all, it is a beautiful country and I don’t mean just a little beautiful, it’s like the set of LOST beautiful.  Huge rolling green mountains stretching out as far as you can see in every direction and animals you only read about in books making their way across the road in no particular hurry.

Then there are the people, kind, generous and just plain nice, every where you go.  We came here thinking that we would to be teaching them about hygiene and educating them, but instead they are teaching us about loving your neighbor and how to have a true community.  It’s sort of like when you meet someone you know who has a wealth of knowledge that you need, you know it will take years for you to understand.  There is just so much more that we will learn from this culture and I am sure when we get home we will feel that it was not enough.

Our first stop after landing was to visit Andi and AnnMarie in the city.  They are living in there preparing to move south to the tribe where the children that we are caring for come from.  They will be working on educating them and hopefully helping over time to show them that what they are doing to their children is wrong and it needs to stop.  They welcomed us into their home and immediately made us feel comfortable, we learned about their plans and struggles as they prepare for what will be the biggest move of their lives.  We also realized how strong a bond we will have with them in our work here as well, as we spoke it became clear that we be in constant contact with them as we strive to give these children a good home and future.  Their work is admirable and will have a positive effect on the tribe for years to come.

We also had an opportunity to meet with some of the team who was here in the beginning when Bale was picked up,  they explained to us more of the story of surrounding the inception of the children’s home, they tell an incredible story and we are excited to be carrying it on from here.

We arrived in the town where the orphanage is two weeks ago and went straight to the children’s home to see how things were.  It was a wonderful thing to see the children and get a glimpse of our new lives.  Since then we have been working on settling into our new home, and doing everything we can to learn the language here, about 5 words so far, it’s slow going!

We have been building a relationship with the staff and doing what we can to start to make the situation better, many of the kids are sick and we are doing what we can to help make the setting cleaner and safer for the kids.

Hopefully I was able to paint a picture for you of how things are going.  We are safe, and settling in to where we are, our kids are good,  missing home and family terribly but are adjusting a little more each day.

Thanks so much to everyone for your support and prayers.

Look for more posts soon,

Levi

First of all the thing that we have come to understand about these kids is that today they are not adoptable, that is not to say that something may not change in the future but for now we are not able to even start the process.  Basically the law allows only children with no parents to be adopted out and these children although in a terrible situation and not with their parents today, still legally have parents.  And what is more complicating in this situation is that despite the pressure from the tribe to kill their children many of the parents still love their kids and do not want to go through with it, they live in fear of spirits or bad harvests because of their failure to go through with it.  So for now we are working on making their living situation better and hoping that the long term team who is moving to the tribe is able to help the elders see the tragedy of their belief system.

I do however want to applaud everyone who has stepped up and said that they are willing to adopt.  The bible is clear on the topic of adoption.  We are to care for the orphans of the world.  Its not a question of if you will help but how will you be a help in this area.  Today there are over 143 million orphans in the world and its clear you are needed.   Please, please, please take the vision stirred inside you by the desperate situation these kids are in and help another kid who is in need.  There are so many great adoption agencies in the world who have far more waiting kids than families.  Adopting our youngest daughter was the best thing my wife and I ever stepped out and did.

If you live in California call up the great folks over at FCCA and go to one of their adoption orientation classes.  Learn what you can about the process and desperate need for families and I am sure that you will feel the same way that my wife and I did.  There is simply no way you can not open your home to these children.

As we learn more while living in this country about other agencies we will be sure to keep posting the information here.

Again, I want to thank everyone who has shown interest in adopting.  We share your heart for these children.

Levi

You can listen to it here.

Levi

Easy and right are not the same thing. Often we are doing the right thing and its far from easy and just as often we are totally wrong and everything is smooth sailing.

Makes you think…

Levi