Kenya

For the last year or so I have been following this blog..http://www.mycharmingkids.net/. Jennifer is a mother to 4 kids with a 5th on the way. Her 4th baby was not supposed to be born.. in utero they diagnosed him w/ a heart disease, but he was born.. and although he has had quite the first year.. topping it off w/ heart surgery that was nothing short of a miracle and for a baby that wasn't supposed to be born - he is healthy and doing wonderfully. Well.. Jennifer has accrued quite the following on her blog and because of that following she was invited by Compassion International to join them for a trip to Kenya to work with the Kenyans and the orphans and to blog about it. She arrived there yesterday.. well, tuesday maybe.. and I am drawn to the faces of the children she is taking pictures of.

Part of what Compassion is hoping to accomplish through these trips and these bloggers is to get more people to sponsor children. Maybe you can sponsor a child? We sponsor a little girl named Rosinha from Mozambique through World Vision. She is 11. I would like to meet her. Actually, I would like to meet a whole slew of children in Mozambique or Kenya or Liberia.. or wherever there is a need for orphans to be loved.

I have always had a desire to go to Africa and love on the orphans and the children in need. But I'm human.. and quite frankly I'm a little bit.. ok - a lot of bit.. terrified of going to Africa and loving on children. I'm afraid of the plumbing.. or lack there of.. (I have a shy bladder.. I need a toilet that is private and that is not primitive). I'm afraid of the food.. I'm too picky of an eater to try things that are different... I'm afraid of the bugs.. there are bugs there right? I'm afraid of the dirt and the garbage and the poverty... and really - I'm afraid of a broken heart. Because I know that seeing children living in desolate conditions would be more then I could handle.. well - I suppose God would help me handle it, but it would more then I would want to handle... you know?

Every part of my heart tells me to adopt children. Lots of children. (I hear John panicking now...) But I'm practical as well, and I know we can't afford to adopt lots of children and nor really, do I think I could handle lots of children.. I've only got 2 and I'm super sleep deprived.. But I pray - often, that if God's plan is for us to adopt, then He will make a way and He will make that clear to both John and I. I know John's heart breaks for orphans as well, I've seen his tears as we talk about them, or work with them on mission trips. And maybe.. just maybe, one day - God will drag us.. I mean take us.. to Kenya... or Mozambique.. or Philadelphia.. or Wilmington.. or.. wherever- and we'll come home with a new family member to love on.

Read her blog and pray for this team as they travel in Kenya and love on kids. http://www.mycharmingkids.net/