LYDIA'S WISHES

I was busily rushing through a stack of Lydia's backpack papers...you know the huge piles that they bring home on weekends or in this situation, it was during her Christmas break. She had loads and loads of worksheets and coloring sheets, and as I sorted them into the save stack or trash can, I came across a litle star that said, "Lydia's Wishes" on the front. It was a booklet, so I turned the page and the first one said, "This year I wish for a doll for Christmas" ("check" I thought to myself, remembering the American Girl doll her Nana had given her just two weeks earlier). Turned to the second page, "This year I wish for my family to have a good life" (oh, how sweet, I thought, relishing in how thoughtful my 7 year old daughter was becoming). Turned to the final page, labeled, #3, which read, "This year, I wish for Ethiopian orphans to get homes." TEARS FLOWING, CAN'T HOLD BACK. Now I am really relishing the little lady this usually spunky, on-the-edge little gal is becoming. It made all that I have done for the past 8 months setting up aspects of this program worth it, in one little 2nd grade project page. How I wish I could make it come true, but of course, I cannot come close to the reality of the need: over 4 million orphans, in a country that is usually the sixth poorest country on the most lenient polls and the 2nd poorest on most. When we started this venture, we knew we couldn' begin to make a dent in the problem, and yet we also sensed that God was calling us to do what we could with what He put in front of us...one orphan at a time, one life at a time. I looked again at her wish: she didn't wish for ALL of them to have homes, just some. At year's end, we have 5 families committed to bringing home 8 children ranging in age from 2 to 13. One of these children is severely disabled from a train accident. The HIV positive child mentioned in an earlier blog engry also has a family, who is waiting for their court date to go bring her home to America where she will have a future and a hope. We are praying for our last sibling group from our care home, (see blog entry "Her name means Dignity") ages 5 and 11, to find a home so that I don't have to tell all but them that they have forever families in the US during my upcoming trip. I hope you will join me in praying for these families who are in process. I hope that other little children, like my Lydia, are wishing for orphans to have homes. I know that the children are wishing the same thing, in a different language, thousands of miles away, who are missing their parents and longing for a place to call "home". Many times Lydia wishes for things that I don't want to grant...another piece of candy, more time to watch TV, a trip to go sledding one more time in freezing weather. I am thankful that I found this wish, tucked away in her backpack and waiting to be discovered. I am praying that in small ways, one child at a time, we see this wish come true this year.