Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dear Dad,

Once upon a time, not so long ago, your little girl found herself in a land far far away. She had worked herself to a point of incredible exhaustion, mentally, physically and spiritually and was in desperate need of some hospitality and support. She went to a place where she thought she would find a source for that hospitality and was bluntly refused. She was desperate for some Jesus with skin on and she had nowhere to go.

Then out of almost nowhere, someone showed up to offer a shower, a good meal, and heartfelt prayer on her behalf. The real Jesus had provided a miracle! This got her thinking about why she was so hurt and offended by the original refusal and why the hospitality offered freely was so meaningful. But this took her to another once upon a time, a long long time ago in a land not too far away...

We were all sitting down at the many makeshift tables that were filled with wonderful Thanksgiving food. All of the family was there, Grandpa and Grandma Bell, aunts, uncles and cousins. There were also a number people who were not related but were invited and treated as family members anyway.

On many other occasions around the same time and same place, we were at Grandpa and Grandma Langs house. Again with all the family there and those who were not family but treated as such anyway.


So many stories of Grandparents and you and mom, with doors constantly open to people who didn't have anyone or anywhere to go. Hospitality for all of us, kids, cousins, aunts and uncles on both sides of the family became a part of us. It's just what you do. It's a part of the heritage that has been given to us - a heritage of compassion, hospitality, love and steadfast faith. A heritage of being Jesus with some skin on.


So now as I'm writing this, I can hear some kids dancing around outside, singing, "Give your heart to Jesus, that's what it's all about!" I wish I could describe to you what it's like holding the hand of a little orphan girl raised up in the air praising Jesus in church with the most beautiful music you've ever heard. Somehow the Lord has provided the opportunity for me to do that. He has given us great opportunities to accomplish great things for His kingdom in the future.

But even now, when I think about it, I am convinced once again that the use of our family's resources is not as much about the future as it the past - about honoring those who have come before us. Those who've shown us that it is in the simple things that you can change a person's life for eternity and that by daring to dream you can change the world.

and THATS what its all about!

So thank you for being my dad. Thanks for picking such a great mom. Thank you both for believing in me unconditionally. Thanks for teaching me to look beyond myself and that i can reach out and accomplish the dreams that God has for me.

I love you with all my heart,
Loreen

And Me!

WhenEVER I get out my camera, the first the thing I hear is "And ME, Dodeen, and me!" Which means that they want to be in the picture too. So I have many "and me" pictures and here are a few of my favorites...

And ME!...

This is Peace: All the kids got huge kick out of my pose in the picture. they laughed for quite some time and they wanted to see it a hundred times atleast.

This is Esther: She is definitely the class clown.

Little Monkeys

So one of the events here at the house that occurs on a daily basis is playing "tag" with Dodeen. This usually entails approximately 7 kids running circles around me while I "attempt" to tag or tickle them. Just my attempts alone makes them laugh a lot, so for the sake of entertainment and fun I just go for it.

One day they decided that the best way to avoid my tags was to climb in the trees. "Dodeen! you no tickle me now! HA HA!" So here are some pictures of that particular day - So cute!

This is Prince: He's 4 years old and got very upset when he lost his shoe in the tree climbing process.

The 3 Amigas

I'd like for you to meet Silvia, Gabriela and Florence (left to right). These 3 little girls live in the same house I'm in right now. They are 2 and 3 yrs old, so a little too young to be in school just yet.
They are always eating, playing and getting into trouble together.

When Silvia was a baby some policemen found her in the middle of the forest. These men knew about New Hope homes and brought her here and she's been here ever since. She is a teenager in a toddler's body. When I sit next to her, she'll look at me with a straight face and start talking to me as if she's having an adult conversation (of course all in Kinyarwanda, the native language). She's quite bright for her age and circumstances.

Gabriela is the youngest. they know that she's somewhere around 2 but they can't confirm a birthdate. She's just so sweet and whenever she sees me she yells, "Ahyo!" in this little high pitched mousy voice. "ahyo dodeen!" (her version of hello Loreen) She looks around and smiles with her 2 front teeth missing. I 'd have to say that if I had my choice out of any of the kids that she would be the one I'd bring home with me.

Florence has a similar situation as Gabriela, they know she's around 3. She's also quite talkative and always wants a hug, or to dance. She likes to show me random things that she's found to play with, (a leaf, a stick, a piece of scrap paper, a crayon for instance). she runs up to me and says, "yooch, yooch!" Not sure if that's an actual word in her language or just her version of saying Look, Look!

So every morning they start their day by sitting on this bench, drinking their porridge. Then they play, usually dancing.

What is it about the universality of little girls loving to dance? Doesn't matter if you're from Maple Valley, Washington or Kigali Rwanda!

I love this picture of Silvia bopping her head holding the radio next to her ear!

Then lunch time they all have their special little place to eat. All 3 of them have their plates FULL and they gobble it all down, then lick their plates!

So funny and adorable. So awesome that the Lord provided these little girls to have a place they can call home surrounded by people that love them and the opportunity and dignity to just be little girls.

The Quilt

This week we've pulled out the paints and it's going much better than I expected, and the kids LOVE it!

Today we made a big paper "quilt" where everyone painted a part of the design on their own paper and this is what turned out!

We talked about how in the states, quilting in the "olden days" was a community event, coming together, sharing resources and then giving their quilt away to someone who needed it.

So as a community we all participated in making it and it turned out beautiful! Definitely my favorite project so far.

Colors of the Rainbow

Last week we started talking about colors. One of the first things we talked about was the rainbow and how that is a sign of God's promise. So we took some tissue papers and made some rainbows with them. The kids really enjoyed scrunching up the tissue and putting on the paper. Here are some pics from that.