Orphanage Day

I took my parents to the orphanage today. We came down the long stairway and around the corner. As soon as my dad was in sight, the kids came running up to him yelling, "Santa! Santa!" It was perfect. They lept into his arms and didn't let him go until our hour was up.

We are no longer allowed to visit the babies so we now stay outside with the older kids and sing songs with them. There were probably 20-25 kids with us for the hour. We sang songs, played games and held them. Most of the time we were there, my dad had one kid on each leg, one standing in the middle and one hanging around his neck. They just love seeing men.

Some good news for those of you who are waiting for a referral...I have heard from 2 different people that referrals are coming soon. I have heard 17 and 19. I was even told that the little guy I taught the high-five to was taken out of the orphanage for blood work the other day. I can't wait to see who his forever family will be! I hope and pray that it is one of you reading right now.

Grandma and Grandpa are here!

My parents are here! It is so exciting for me to have my parents in Rwanda with us. We have been able to show them Kigali and some of the surrounding areas. One of the first things we did was take them to Akagera National Park for a day long safari. It was so much fun for Emma to take them.

Matt, me, Emma, Mom and Dad

Sunrise in Rwanda

Matt with a herd of Cape Buffalo. It was pretty amazing watching them run across the open land toward us.

My parents, Jim and Judy, on safari!

Matt and Emma on Hippo beach with all the crocodiles. Open wide!

Emma loves looking out the top of the truck. We were tracking elephants. No luck this time.

African Fish Eagle

Warthogs!!! They are so cute when they run!

Mr. Baboon

Our First African Christmas!

Our first Christmas in Rwanda was a wonderful time. We were able to skype with family and friends and watch them open the gifts we had sent them. It just amazes me how much technology makes the distance seem not quite so far. We attended a wonderful Christmas Eve service at our church. Matt was asked to give the message at the Christmas Day service. It was such an honor for him to be asked. He did a fantastic job!

Matt was also able to go white water rafting on the Nile River in Uganda over Christmas break with some of the other teachers from school. It was an amazing experience!

Some of our new African ornaments.

Matt got Emma a new dress and some beads on his trip to Uganda.

Making cinnamon rolls.

I splurged and bought Emma some fresh strawberries. I think it was about $6 for this small bowl of berries. They were a bit sour but we still loved them!

I love me some baboons!

On our safari Saturday, we came upon a large group of baboons. They were Emma's favorite part of the day. It was so fun to watch them interact with each other. The babies were riding on the backs of the mommies. The little ones were chasing each other all over and wrestling. One little one was picking bugs out of his mama. My absolute favorite part of entire day was the interaction between this mama and her baby. I am so happy that I was able to capture each part.

I first noticed this little tiny baby sitting alone with his mama behind. I could see through the lens that she noticed me. I actually got a little nervous because she looked at me and started walking closer.

The baby looked back at her for protection.

She walked up to him and looked so tenderly at him. Then she picked him up just like you would your baby.

She pulled him close to her for a little snuggle.

Then placed him on her lap for a minute and watched the others play.

Then he grabbed on and went for a ride.

He is just so precious. I seriously almost cried watching this precious interaction between mama and baby. The guide said that baboons love their babies very much. If a baby dies, they actually morn them for about a week before burying them.

How Amazing God's Creation Is!

Thanksgiving, Visitors, and An Exciting African Adventure

Wow! It has been so long since my last post. We have had an incredibly busy yet exciting couple of weeks here. First we had a huge Thanksgiving bash with about 50 other westerners...mostly Americans but a few Canadians snuck in! It was so fun to eat turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, pumpkin pie, etc. It was fabulous! So much so that we also had a dinner Thanksgiving party with the school staff. So, we were officially stuffed for a couple of days!

Then on Saturday right after Thanksgiving some friends arrived for a visit! It was fabulous! We had an amazing time showing them Kigali and what everyday life is like here. They also came to check out the school and I am so thrilled to say that they are coming next year to serve at KICS with us! We couldn't be more excited to have a little piece of home here with us. Emma is very excited to have her friends live here and go to school with her, too.

Matt took them to the orphanage on Sunday right after they arrived. They all had an incredible time playing with the kids. I planned to take them back on Tuesday but we ended up not being able to go for a few different reasons. We did take them to the Genocide Memorial in Kigali. That was the first time for Matt and I to visit as well. It was very moving. I highly recommend that anyone coming to Rwanda visit the memorial in Kigali. It is very eye opening not only about the genocide that took place here in Rwanda but also about genocides that have happened in modern history throughout the world. We all left a bit speechless.

One of the best days of their visit was being able to get them out of the city and into the true Rwanda. They chose to go on a day safari at Akagera National Park. We love it there so we were more than happy to take them. We hired a tour company to drive us for the day. We had traveled about 2 hours and were maybe 5 miles from the park enterance when the car just would not move anymore. Smoke started surrounding and filling the car. Emma was asleep on my lap. The driver turned around and shouted, "get out!" We tried but the one door in the back for all six of us wouldn't open. Matt's door in the front was stuck for a time as well. A bit of panic set in until the doors finally worked. By this point Emma was so freaked out she wouldn't let me hand her out the door to Matt so her and I just stayed in the truck because we realized that it was not actually on fire and going to blow. Of course by this point, there was a huge crowd of on lookers. One of the local men decided that we should push the truck down to the entrance where there is a mechanic. So, Emma and I road, Elizabeth steered and the rest of the gang pushed along with some villagers. We didn't make it far before a truck of military men pulled up. Our driver explained what happened and they told us to hop in the back of their truck. They drove us to the Akagera Lodge where we waited for 4 hours for another park truck to take us on safari. When the truck finally arrived, it was a completely open truck! It was awesome! We could stand up and everything. We had an amazing view and I got some fabulous shots.
The next few hours were full of adventure as well. A man who is "foolish in the head" was walking through the park and started throwing stuff at us. It started to rain so the guide took us to a house where we waited on the porch for it to clear. It was such an African adventure. We were so happy to walk through our front gate late that night all in one piece. Everytime Emma has played with her dolls and toy car since then, she says, "the car is smoking, get out, get out!" It's hilarious!

I can't believe that it is almost Christmas. We have been recieving Christmas packages in the mail and can't wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus with our new friends here in Africa. Matt is planning a 4 day adventure with some of the teachers to Uganda the first week of break. They are going to raft on the Nile River in Jinja. Matt has wanted to do this for a long time and we have heard that they are building a dam and the rafting will all change soon. So, I am really excited for him to have this chance to experience it. Emma and I will just chill out here and have some girl time. It is a 13 hour bus ride each way from Kigali. Not my idea of a good time with a 3 year old!

We have 3 Christmas parties this weekend so we are going to be very busy again. I am looking forward to some time off to relax.

There are tons of pictures on my facebook of the safari. I will post some here soon for those who don't have facebook.

Heartbreak

I don't really know where to begin in describing this weeks visit to the orphanage. I can't really describe it in detail because I need to be careful what I say. We did not massage the babies. We were told that we can no longer do this. I am asking for your prayers that God would reopen this door. It is such a valuable and important thing for babies. I am praying that my descriptions of my visits were not the cause of this change. I have only said positive things about the orphanage and the workers so I am sure that is not the case. I just can't help but wonder.

This week they brought us a few handicapped children. It was so difficult. We were not mentally prepared to handle this but we said a quick prayer and God directed us. Fortunately, the mommy that I was with is a physical therapist so she knew right what to do and walked me through helping each child. It was so difficult emotionally...and physically. I can't really get into details just pray for these sweet children. Our hearts were breaking as we held them.

We were both nearly in tears by the time we left. We said quick goodbyes and gave hugs to all our little friends. We are not sure if we will be able to see them again in the future. We are going to go again next week and hopefully we will be able to make progress and find favor with the director. Please pray that her heart is changed and she sees that we are doing good. My heart is just breaking for these little miracles and for you waiting families. Again, we just ask for your prayers that when we return next week we will be able to love on those little babies again.

I'm back!

First of all...so sorry that I have been gone for a couple of weeks. I didn't make it to the orphanage last week because I was sick on Monday and didn't want to risk getting any of the little ones sick.

But, I did get to go yesterday. It was a bit of a roller coast experience this week. We were all heart broken to see a new little guy in the big baby room. I would guess him to be about 12-16 months old. It is so hard to tell. He was so stiff. He would hardly move. His fist was clenched so tightly that his little arm muscles were flexed. He is so beautiful though. His skin is so rich and creamy looking. One of the moms who I go with is a physical therapist so she worked with him just about the entire hour we were allowed to be in the room. By the time she was done with him, he was smiling and bending his legs. What a precious little smile he has. All of our hearts were just breaking. He has been at the orphanage for just about a week. I can't even to begin to imagine what is going through his little mind.

On a happier note...the little guy I taught how to high-five a couple of weeks ago totally remembered! It was so fun. He crawled up to me and reached out his hand. And even more fun, he was wearing a shirt that one of the ladies with me donated to the orphanage. Her sons are both from there and so she passed along some of their things. How incredible to think that this little Reebok shirt was worn by a little boy adopted and now in a home and he passed it on to another little boy in the same orphanage. What a privilege for this mommy to see that circle of love. It nearly brought tears to her eyes.

There is also a beautiful little girl there who looks exactly like my dear friend Ariel in San Diego. I was able to hold her and give her a massage this week. I love telling her that she looks just like Aunti Ari. She just smiles.

We had an incredible Orphan Sunday service at church on November 7. We had a panel discussion on the current orphan situation in Rwanda. The panel was made up of members of our church who are involved with orphans and at risk kids in Kigali in various ways. There is one gentleman who moved here from California with his wife (she is Rwandan) and they started a safe home of sorts for street kids. They now own 2 homes and have 20 children whom they care for. The children keep their names and attend school. It is incredible.

Rwanda has 1 million children in vulnerable situations. It is estimated that 13% of Rwandan homes are headed by children. In the US we think of an orphan as a child who is without a mother and a father. In Africa, a child is considered to be an orphan if 1 parent is deceased. If both parents are deceased, they are considered a double orphan. It is estimated that there are 200,00 double orphans in Rwanda. The country has about 30-35 registered orphanages. There are about 4,000 children in those orphanages around the country. That means that the others are either being cared for by extended family, in non-registered orphanages or homes, leading their own household, or on the street. Our church is currently praying about how we can be involved in the solution to this problem. There are many adoptive families in our church and there is a true heart for orphans. We are praying for guidance and an opportunity to be God's hands and feet.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.' James 1:27