The big launch weekend is over.  The HopeChest team left yesterday, leaving me with a stack of sweet faces looking back at me, silently asking me to advocate for them.  We had four launches this weekend, two for my Adecar, and two for my friend’s carepoint in Swaziland. 

So, here’s the update on Adecar.  First…WE RAISED THE FULL AMOUNT NEEDED TO BUILD A KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As I added up the weekend’s tally and received the last check, I realized that we had what we needed to get the kitchen facililty built and burst into tears.  I felt really stupid, but then everyone else started crying, too.  Some of the best tears I’ve ever shed.  Thank you to all who bought merchandise, bid on auction items, or just plain wrote much-needed checks.  Thank you.  This kitchen will have a place to prepare meals for the over 300 orphans living in Adecar, a locked food storage area, and a covered pavilion for community gatherings and Bible teaching.

Now about those 300+ orphans.  We made a good dent this weekend.  At Saturday night’s event, I think almost every couple left with an orphan in their hands.  It was such a privilege to watch as families looked through the faces and chose orphans to bring into their homes.  Some even left with sponsorship packets for their neighbors.  We saw about 40 orphans sponsored.  What a blessing. 

The Children’s HopeChest team brought sponsorship packets for about half of the orphans living in Adecar.  Once we find sponsors for those 150+ kids, then we get the other half.  So, I have a little over 100 orphans in my living room.  They each have a story, a tragic one.  They each need a family.

God says that He sets the lonely in families.  I watched it happen this weekend.  I had a woman tell me that she was looking for two girls who were siblings.  The packets weren’t organized that way.  I thought it would take forever to find.  The very first two packets that I set my hands on were two sisters.  Thanks, God.  I wanted to sponsor a boy Elliott’s age, so that they could grow up together, writing back and forth, and someday meet.  I found George.  He was born in 2007, same as Elliott.  His profile says that he enjoys dancing, singing, music, and cooking, and his personality can be described as active, extroverted, friendly, and curious.  Yep, George and Elliott.  Two peas in a pod.

I watched as one couple chose orphans for each of their four children, matching genders and ages.  They are having their children contribute financially to the sponsorship.  What an incredible experience for them, to grow up learning about the impact that they can make in the life of a peer.  One couple sponsored a child, but couldn’t get Julius out of their minds.  They’ve contacted me and are taking him as well.  At one of the Swaziland launches, Menzi kept following me around the room.  Everywhere I looked, I kept finding his packet.  Finally, I picked him up and carried him from person to person.  The next night, I found out that a family to which I’d introduced him is praying about sponsoring him.

These kids are becoming real.  They started as a barrage of African faces, pictures of strangers peering through plastic covers.  Now they are George, Julius, Mary, Florence, Betty, Amos.  The names and faces go on and on, spread out on my living room floor.  They each matter to God and they matter to me.  I feel the burden of being their voice in America.  If I don’t speak for them, who will?  It’s a burden that I willingly accept and humbly lay before the Lord.  Show me how to speak for these kids.  Give me the creativity to find them sponsors.

Let me know if you want to sponsor a child in Adecar, Uganda.  By sponsoring a child, you’re changing the course of that child’s life, helping to change the course of the entire village of Adecar, and you’re also changing the course of your own life.  $34 a month, $408 a year.  At Karts for Kids, I was tremendously touched by the person who told me that he figured it out, and the new flat screen TV that he wanted cost $34 per month.  And instead, he left that night with an orphan in his hand.

I’m not asking anyone to give anything up, and I never want to make anyone feel guilty.  I’m just sincerely excited about what we can do, what a gigantic difference we can make, when we wake up and do something.  We can be Waking Giants!  Alex and I are on this fabulous journey.  Our hearts are broken, but bigger than ever.

Hey, I kept a bunch of Ugandan paper bead necklaces for anyone who missed Karts for Kids and still wants to buy a necklace.  I’ve got necklaces, and I’ve got orphans.  Any additional money that we raise right now is going to food.  We can’t have a kitchen without that.

Anyway, I know I’m rambling.  I haven’t even started on the fabulous weekend that we had with the HopeChest team.  I can’t believe it’s real that I get to be on a volunteer team with the most amazing orphan advocates in the world.  We had 10 people packed into our home and spent all weekend talking orphans and Africa, and also laughing till I snorted…a lot.  I love my new friends.  I love my new life.  My heart and my life are very full.  I am thankful.

Tags: Africa, Children's HopeChest, Elliott, Giving, Karts for Kids, Orphan, Sponsorship, Uganda, Warrior Girls