O Praise Him

My goodness, is it really July 23rd? I can hardly believe that it is already almost August! Do you feel this same way? On August 5th K and I come home. I am so excited to be home but I feel so many different emotions…I love my children so much…they have forever become a part of my heart. I will never forget their unique personalities and their stories, their cute giggles and toothless smiles. Telling them goodbye will leave me in tears (I almost cry thinking of this) but I can continue to pray for them and love them even though I am no longer with them. I love each of the children very much but my heart has been captured with the smile and love and laughter of one certain little boy. He is 8 months old and is so precious. He will reach for me and smile and try to talk when I come into the room to get my attention. I love him so much but am so thankful that God has plans for “my” precious little boy. He has been matched with a family and will be leaving to live in Holland a few weeks after I leave. He has an older sister who is four with a radiant smile and a family who enjoys being outside hiking and camping. I am so excited and thankful for this! I will pray that his family teaches him about Jesus and God’s love.

With all my heart I hope that it is in God’s will and plan for me to be able to adopt someday, but so much has to happen before then…I must be patient and wait to see if this is God’s desire, but it is a passion of my heart!

On Sunday K and I had the opportunity to take two children to church with us. They loved it, especially the praise and worship music. It seemed they were in awe of the sound of so many voices singing and the instruments that were being used to praise God. Then we went to the mall and took the little girl with us out to eat and to do some shopping and it was so much fun…so very memorable.

Monday-Wednesday was so much fun working and playing and laughing and loving. I wish that you all could come here for a day and spend the day with us. You would love the children and would enjoy spending the day with them and the aunties!

There is a girl who we call J who is 26 years old who has been coming to volunteer quite often. She has lived in South Africa for her whole life. Her parents are from India. She has brought her parents, brother, and cousin to meet the children and to volunteer with us at Door of Hope. Well, they invited all 6 of us American volunteers to their house for dinner for some Indian curry. How sweet! When we went on Tuesday night, I was just in awe of everything. Their house was very beautiful (a mini mansion). The mother had a sweet maid who helped her cook and serve dinner. I wish that she would have stayed to eat at the table with us but she took her dinner and ate in another room. I did not know what to think about this...but then I realized that this is part of the culture here. During dinner we talked and shared about our lives and interests. The father led most of the conversation. He is the Chief Financial Officer of Coca-Cola for Africa and the Middle East. (WOW-his title is so big that I am not sure that I even got that right) He travels all of the time and has been in 88 different countries. He comes to Atlanta a lot on business. He had many stories to tell about his travels and many trips. I soon realized how this dinner was an amazing witnessing opportunity. You see, J’s family are not Christians; they are Hindus. J is a Christian and has taken her father with her to church a couple of times but he has not embraced Christianity. When we were talking about the children and how much we love them, he said that he could not understand why we would travel so far and for so long just to come here to this country and work at the orphanage. I do believe that he realizes that we came because this is where our Lord led us and that we want to follow with our whole hearts. I hope that God used us to share his love and light with this family.

Tomorrow K and I are going to go to the Johannesburg Zoo and take two children with us. We are so very excited! I am so thankful for my close friend Katherine Lee Wiggins! I am thankful that God led us both here this summer; we have drawn close in a way that only friends can when they face many joys, laughter, and sorrow together. We have shared the joy of loving the children, sharing in the laughter of the cute silly things they do, the joy of laughing at hanging wet, dripping laundry with numb fingers on the clotheslines, shared in the joy of finding a family with the aunties, uncles, and children, laughing at the many small cultural mistakes we have made, the sorrow of seeing poverty that is found here, the sorrow we have shared when missing home, the tears we have shared when hearing our sweet children’s stories, shared in the joy of sharing Scripture and praying together…
Katherine has encouraged me and prayed with me and comforted me with Scripture when she knew my heart was heavy. K has loved me when I know that I was not very loveable and listened to so many random questions and stories and ideas that I have. Katherine is truly a woman seeking God’s heart and seeks to praise Him each day in every circumstance and finds God in small things such as birds chirping or a cup of coffee. K and I have shared so many cups of coffee together and we even have a coffee poem, “Coffee with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent.” Cute, huh?

I want to recommend a book to all of you. It is called Praise Habit by David Crowder. When I am reading it, I often find myself laughing out loud. Don’t you love books like that? There are twenty one psalms with a devotion. I read Psalm 8 yesterday. It says, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the Earth. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise. (The Message says: nursing infants gurgle choruses about you) When I consider your heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?” I was reminded to think of the precious babbling and gurgling of the children as praises to God and this should remind me to praise God in my heart. I also was reminded how small I am and unworthy of God’s love, but God loves us unfailingly and more than we can comprehend. I was then reminded of the Who am I song by Casting Crowns “Who am I, that the Lord of all the Earth would care to know my name, would care feel my hurt? Who am I that the bright and morning star would choose to light the way for my ever wandering heart? I am a flower quickly fading, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind, still you hear me when I’m calling, Lord you catch me when I’m falling and told me who I am: I am yours.” We are God’s child he wants us to live in the wonder of his love and goodness.

My next blog entry will be my last one while I am here in South Africa! I am coming home so soon!

Love you all,
Rachel