Original post from Sept. 19, 2013>
Where do you begin to describe a day like today? A day so touching and moving that you don’t feel like your words will do it justice? What I wish is you that each of you reading this could have been my eyes and ears for just a moment of time today. It would change your life and your heart forever.
We first drove into the orphanage around noon, the children were all standing together at the gates chanting “Wel-e-come”, which is welcome, they just break up the word very distinctly while enunciating. They had signs for each volunteer that said “Dear, Justin/Allie/etc. we love you!” There were chants and screams and HUGE hugs and high fives. All the children, and I mean all of them, greeted us with hugs and proper hand shakes. I fought (incredibly hard) to hold back my tears, of course they were tears of pure, deep joy, but I didn’t want to startle or worry the children. They were so unbelievably happy to see us, and I felt the same way. It was a special bond we all shared immediately.
We went into a classroom and within minutes I spotted our boy, Shafic. My heart literally stopped….I breathed a deep breath….and as I walked over to him, I felt immense happiness. A happiness I really can’t describe. I totally forgot to introduce myself, which would have been proper. Instead I threw my arms around him and held him so tight. I wanted him to know I was I there for him, not just in that moment, but always. Shafic immediately loved Justin. Shafic looked up to him and smiled so big, it reached both his eyes, he was almost squinting, and in that moment I could tell he felt like he had a real, tangible man to look up to, to play with, and to hug on! I must have told Shafic a million times how much we loved him, I never want him to forget. At one point, after reading a letter Justin and I wrote him, he looked at his hands, fumbled with them for a second and then clearly he said “I love you both.” One single tear escaped my eye and I looked right to Justin who’s eyes has already filled with many tears. Pure, true, deep joy. God is so, so good.
Here we were in Africa, a million miles away from everything we ever known..and we fell in love with this sweet, sweet boy. Shafic gives me hope and happiness and he brings a smile to my face each time a thought of him crosses my mind. He is our son, maybe he lives in Uganda and maybe he looks different and speaks a different language, but he is our son. (I will write a whole post in this “son” moment later).
Our day kept us busy, we toured the school and the living quarters and we met the amazing house moms that care for the orphans…most of them have 30+ children to care for (and one of them had forty 3 & 4 year olds. Wow. I felt a deep need to look them each in the eye and thank them, I wasn’t sure where our boy, Shafic, stayed at this point (our other boys are at a more rural orphanage), but I knew they each had someone’s boy or girl and they kept them safe, cared for them when ill, read them stories at night, sang them songs and most of all loved them. For Shafic and for all the other children, I am forever grateful to those house moms and the incredible work they do.
I have so much more to tell you, but for now know this….God is amazing, He has protected and cared for these children when their parents could not…and He brought them all to Hands of Love. And that’s truly what the organization is, they are the true hands of love. Love is all you see there.
(This is posted from my iPhone so pls ignore all errors)
Where do you begin to describe a day like today? A day so touching and moving that you don’t feel like your words will do it justice? What I wish is you that each of you reading this could have been my eyes and ears for just a moment of time today. It would change your life and your heart forever.
We first drove into the orphanage around noon, the children were all standing together at the gates chanting “Wel-e-come”, which is welcome, they just break up the word very distinctly while enunciating. They had signs for each volunteer that said “Dear, Justin/Allie/etc. we love you!” There were chants and screams and HUGE hugs and high fives. All the children, and I mean all of them, greeted us with hugs and proper hand shakes. I fought (incredibly hard) to hold back my tears, of course they were tears of pure, deep joy, but I didn’t want to startle or worry the children. They were so unbelievably happy to see us, and I felt the same way. It was a special bond we all shared immediately.
We went into a classroom and within minutes I spotted our boy, Shafic. My heart literally stopped….I breathed a deep breath….and as I walked over to him, I felt immense happiness. A happiness I really can’t describe. I totally forgot to introduce myself, which would have been proper. Instead I threw my arms around him and held him so tight. I wanted him to know I was I there for him, not just in that moment, but always. Shafic immediately loved Justin. Shafic looked up to him and smiled so big, it reached both his eyes, he was almost squinting, and in that moment I could tell he felt like he had a real, tangible man to look up to, to play with, and to hug on! I must have told Shafic a million times how much we loved him, I never want him to forget. At one point, after reading a letter Justin and I wrote him, he looked at his hands, fumbled with them for a second and then clearly he said “I love you both.” One single tear escaped my eye and I looked right to Justin who’s eyes has already filled with many tears. Pure, true, deep joy. God is so, so good.
Here we were in Africa, a million miles away from everything we ever known..and we fell in love with this sweet, sweet boy. Shafic gives me hope and happiness and he brings a smile to my face each time a thought of him crosses my mind. He is our son, maybe he lives in Uganda and maybe he looks different and speaks a different language, but he is our son. (I will write a whole post in this “son” moment later).
Our day kept us busy, we toured the school and the living quarters and we met the amazing house moms that care for the orphans…most of them have 30+ children to care for (and one of them had forty 3 & 4 year olds. Wow. I felt a deep need to look them each in the eye and thank them, I wasn’t sure where our boy, Shafic, stayed at this point (our other boys are at a more rural orphanage), but I knew they each had someone’s boy or girl and they kept them safe, cared for them when ill, read them stories at night, sang them songs and most of all loved them. For Shafic and for all the other children, I am forever grateful to those house moms and the incredible work they do.
I have so much more to tell you, but for now know this….God is amazing, He has protected and cared for these children when their parents could not…and He brought them all to Hands of Love. And that’s truly what the organization is, they are the true hands of love. Love is all you see there.
(This is posted from my iPhone so pls ignore all errors)
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