Orphanage Visit

Today started out with big plans but because of massive traffic and trips back and forth across town, plans changed.  I am sure God had a reason for it all and all the pieces will still line up perfectly! 

This is Robel, he is Kelly's sponsor son and he has spent a good portion of the week with us.  He's got a heart of gold and is a bit of a jokester too! 

Once we were ready this morning we headed off to an orphanage visit.  You guys, if I am completely honest with you all (which I tend to be too honest on here) I was dreading this one.  Orphanages are a very difficult place for me to be.  

This one is run by the sweetest little nuns you will ever meet.  One thing I continue to be amazed of is that God is so apparent in all of the lives of the people who work in the ministries here.  They all have magnetic personalities.  She explained how she has spent 40 some years of her life leading the way here at this orphanage.  She's strong and firm with the kids and so so wise in her dealings with them. 

After she shared her heart with us, we were allowed to go visit the kids.  Again, this week has been so emotional for me already and I just had to disconnect a bit on this one or else I would be a sobbing mess in the hallway the entire time.  We did get to love on some precious little babies and pray over them as they wait.  Chicken pox made its way through this orphanage last week so all the precious babies have bumps and scars right now.  Thankfully God spared their lives.  There were some very, very tiny little ones here too from the same city our son is from.  They are now 3 months old and weigh somewhere in the 4 1/2 lb range.  The nun said she didn't expect them to make it but they came through.  Some very hard moments in there this morning.

One thing I continue to be amazed about is my husband.  He has grown and changed a lot.  Service is a pretty attractive quality on a man if I do say so myself.  He continues to amaze me as he does things out of his character.  I was shocked when I saw him walk into the baby room and pick up a little guy right away to feed him a bottle.  Babies look good on him ;)

After the orphanage visit we spent a lot of time in traffic.  Our lunch also took a lot of time which made the afternoon really wonky.  

One of the Lion of Judah Statues in the city.  Lion of Judah is kind of our "thing" now.

 We did make a stop at Kore Beth Coffee.  This is a ministry that Ordinary Hero was able to help a young man here start.  A woman very close to Ordinary Hero passed away tragically.  Instead of flowers, her husband asked people to donate to Ordinary Hero.  Her life and story touched many and the donations poured in.  Her husband came on a trip with Kelly and during that trip a young man shared his vision for a company (who Kelly said had been sharing this vision with her for 4 years at that time) that would empower woman from Korah to work and in turn change the course of their children's future.  He believes that changing the lives of the kids, starts with empowering their mother's.  Beth's husband heard this man's vision and decided to invest in it and bam  - Kore Beth Coffee was born!  It's still a small operation as he works to get his export license but is expected to grow rapidly when he does!

This wonderful lady works to hand stitch coffee bags during the day!  Very cool!

These 3 boys have spent a lot of time with the team this week!  They are all great kids and fun to have around!

At this point, my mind is kind of maxed out. There is so much to process and I can't even believe I still have  more days of experiences before we start on our journey home.  I'm looking forward to getting home where I can begin the process of working through all of this and figuring out what my role going forward is.  I can't wait to hold my babies, but I am also conflicted as leaving here feels very difficult.  I have great love for this country and know God has plans for us that include this place.