Happy Life.

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." [James 1:27 NLT]

I have been trying to figure out how I am going to blog about my two months spent in Kenya, but I continue to put it off because it somewhat stresses me out. This morning I woke up in tears with a huge burden on my heart for some of my dear friends in Kenya at an orphanage called Happy Life Children's Home. As I was praying, God reminded me that He is present in Kenya just as He was with me in the midst of tears and continues to be as I write this blog. With that being said, I can't keep putting this off. I have a responsibility to share with my friends, family, community, the Church, strangers, anyone and everyone what God is doing in Kenya. I think God gave me that hurt this morning so that I would stop living comfortably and start talking about the reality of life for our brothers and sisters across the world. I pray that the Spirit would speak through me and that which is not truth simply fades away. So here goes one out of many blogs about Africa...

Just stop and acknowledge God's beauty through these two.

By the joy in their hearts, you would never be able to tell that these two beautiful children are orphans and have been since the day they were born. Leah (pronounced Leya like the princess on Star Wars), on the right, is the oldest orphan at Happy Life Children's Home in Nairobi. At six years old she  knows all the names of the 44 other orpahans. She will put them in her lap and sing "Jesus loves you." Leah's young mother left her to the orphanage the day she was born, but her father who is much older will not sign her over to the orphanage, but refuses to take care of her which means that Leah cannot be adopted. Happy Life is doing as much as they can, but not much progress has been made. Leah asks the staff daily "Ambapo ni mama yangu?" which translates to where is my mom. Pray that God will soften the heart of Leah's real father so he will sign her fully over to the orphanage so that she can be adopted.

Crazy Leah. Nakupenda sana. Taken by Joseph Metzger.

The boy that she is holding is my main man, Leo. In this picture, Leo was sick so he doesn't have the huge smile on his face like he normally does. I automatically fell in love with Leo's joy and hardly left his side when I was at Happy Life. Leaving Leo was so hard, but God gave me a peace  about him being adopted soon. My first week back stateside I found out that Leo was being adopted! I was so excited that this sweet little boy was finally going to have a family of his own! A week after that, I got a message saying that Leo had passed away. No one knew that Leo was sick enough to die from it and they still don't really know why he passed. This is unfortunately not a rare occurrence. Because there is not much room, the kids are in really close living quarters so if one gets sick it's possible that they all get sick. They also don't have much medical attention and simple medicines for allergies, sinus infections, and diarrhea so many children die of sickness that we treat so easily here.

My last day with baby Leo.

Unfortunately, these aren't just sad stories that you hear on occasion. This is real life for the people of Kenya. Stuff like this happens daily. Happy Life is such an awesome place with an incredible staff. I thank God everyday that these kids are in an orphanage rather than on the street. I praise God that He is relentlessly pursuing every single child and staff member at Happy Life. I thank God that they have a few staff members and volunteers to show them the love of Christ instead of absolutely no one. I thank God that they get to eat porridge instead of nothing. I thank God that these children have beds to sleep in, even if they do share them with multiple kids. 

BUT- man, what a powerful word! We, as the body of Christ, as the Church, can do something about it. For starters, we can PRAY. That seems like such a insignificant thing to do because I feel like we have watered down the power of prayer, but throughout last semester and this summer God adjusted my vision on prayer. I'm not going to go into it, but it's pretty stinkin' huge. We can pray that God will provide more volunteers, more staff members, and more resources for Happy Life. Pray that God will awaken the Church to His love for orphans. Pray for the staff that is already there- for their hearts to be rooted in Christ, that God continues to awaken them to the Spirit and source of strength, peace, comfort, and counseling that dwells inside of them. We can pray individually for each of the kids- for families!!! For their future families and for God to continue to awaken them to His irresistible love. 

My sweet friend, Judy, who works for Happy Life. 

I guess that's the biggest thing I'm asking for...I'm begging for, actually. I wish I could describe to you how much I love these kids which that doesn't even compare to how much God loves them. 

For more information on the children, the staff, how to donate or volunteer visit their website: http://www.happylifechildrenshome.com

Resting in truth:

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." 

[Romans 8:14-17 NIV]

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure." 

[1 John 3:1-3 NIV]

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he CHOSE us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."

[Ephesians 1:3-6 NIV]


"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. FOr we are God's co-workers; you are God's field, God's building." 
[1 Corinthians 3:6-9]

"I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far..."

[Philippians 1:23 NIV]