Squeezed

It's 10:40pm and it's pitch dark in our room except for the light of my iPhone as I type. The power has been out since about 6pm. We ate dinner by candlelight with 2 other couples who are adopting and staying in the same guest house.  It was great to hear their stories. One couple is adopting for the second time from Ethiopia twin girls about 20 months old and the other couple is adopting for the first time a 28 month old girl. It was fun to celebrate with them. They have much more typical adoption stories but God had something different for our good and His glory.  Like us, they have court dates this week. Thankfully, all three of their girls are healthy. They have been a great encouragement to us here.

Today, we went early to the orphanage to play with Big E. We had a great time playing with Big E and all the other kids. Big E is so fun. He will fit in great with our family.  He is strong, focused, determined and a little feisty.  It's good to see that he can hang with older boys since he'll have 3 bros soon.

I promise you have never felt a squeeze like the hug of a lonely orphan. It is unforgettably strong.  They long to be loved and you can feel it in your soul as they squeeze your neck and plant a big wet one on your cheek.  It's not the passing church hug that greets a friend but a hug that says don't let go of me I don't have anybody else to love me.  There was a great deal of hugging with all the orphans during and in between kicking a soccer ball, teaching the kids to dribble between their legs and making a behind the back pass.  While I busy pretending to be a Harlem Globetrotter, Ashley was having her hair braided by 6 kids simultaneously.  It was a good look as long as you're already married.

After lunch, we went to the hospital to visit Little E.  She was sitting up and eating injera.  She looked much better than yesterday.  Shortly after we arrived, we met with her doctor.  He said Little E was "lucky" to be alive given how bad she was when she arrived.  It was not Lady Luck who has been restoring our girl. Our doctor told us that Little E developed pneumonia yesterday and was now on another antibiotic.  She remains very sick. Her breathing is labored and by the time we left she was again struggling to hold her head up. While we didn't get any smiles despite our best parenting efforts, she did reach out her arms to both Ashley and I to be held.  Her nanny H is loving her well.  Please pray for nanny H as you pray for Little E.

Yesterday, Little E had a room by herself. Today, she was joined by 3 infants. Infants who had been found abandoned and taken by the police and given to our orphanage.  The youngest was about a week old. He was so dehydrated and had lost so much weight that his skin was as wrinkled as the most wrinkled elderly person you have ever seen. He was bones and skin. I will struggle to sleep tonight as I think about his condition. God please have mercy on this little boy.  The other two were in terrible condition also as they weighed about 8lbs but were 3-4 months old.  This is just a glimpse of what is happening in over 140 million cases in the world.

We prayed this morning for His daily good and like every other day in all of history He provided. He is faithful to thousand generations and not one of His promises fail!

Please pray for us to hold fast that Jesus is enough, that we do not grow weary in doing good (we're a bit homesick today), that our kids' Pappa has great strength while he covers Tues to Fri in Houston by himself, that Little E continues to recover, that Big E begins to understand his adoption, that I comfort and encourage Ashley, that our final steps of completing the adoptions are speedy and that we do all for His glory.

Tomorrow, we are going to look at a fostercare home that could be where we move Big and Little E following our court date.  Please add discernment to the prayer list above.

Former orphan squeezed eternally by a loving Father,
jb