Big boy standing.

Malaki. Caught up in this new fascination of walking along the walls of his crib.... ! Tonight was a nice night; teaching Jimmy (6) the importance of using the Po. (Potty) He is used to having to go outside to use the potty and has never used a potty inside. In my beautiful broken kirundi I kept repeating the words "ura shaka peepee mwi joro, genda popo hase, ni bibi n'kitanda"... yes, its all spelled wrong, and worded wrong... but I am confident he got the point! Hand signals being the key, along with a high five! All our love...

You will always be, his mother...

These are the words I felt compelled to speak over and over again to the mother of one of our boys, Tonny. Out of the 16 precious children we will care for, 3 of them still have mothers; the rest, having lost both mother and father. Two of the boys were born out of prostitution and the siblings and other family members reject them and no longer want them. They needed intervention. They needed food. They needed medical help and attention. They needed love.

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Today we had our visitation time, every Saturday from 2-5. It's a time where responsibles, neighbors, siblings and loved ones can come visit the children; a way to help maintain those relaytionships... Today, the only one to come was the mother of Tonny. When she brought him to us, he was in very bad condition. Having worm holes all over the soles of his feet as a worm eats through an apple. Tonny went sometimes up to 2 days without eating, and being but 3 years old was only able to make it to the neighbors to beg for food. I shared with her as she dropped him off, and no emotion was evident; "I can't imagine what it was like to watch your child hunger, to see that you aren't able to help him." I reassured her, you will always be his mother, and he will always be your son... we will take good care of him. He said goodbye to her with a simple handshake and went on his way with a smile... I can imagine all Tonny was thinking was that he would have food to eat and a bed to sleep in. She began to cry, turned her body and walked off. It moved my heart today to see her. Her family is happy he is gone, as he wasn't considered part of the family due to prostitution... yet; he is still her baby boy.

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There were many children who were orphaned by both mother and father, yet his situation was crucial, and today, Tonny is a happy child, learning, growing and looking forward to the future. On a side note, as of yesterday... Malaki is saying his first word! (Mama!) Really, in a way that melts your heart. All our love...

My. Teeth. Hurt.

I think if Malaki could speak at this point... he would inform us that his teeth simply hurt...! His top tooth had broken through those nice rosy gums. It has been so nice to have him around the kids, and the kids loving on him. Really. They care for him!

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Today, we did some minor medical checkups weighing and measuring the children so we can keep track of their growth... and to make sure they are growing. Our 7 year old Vernist is severely malnutritioned. Having similar marks to our 3 year old... who is also a little malnutritioned. We are on the road to health, together. There is a wonderful doctor in the US who has been donating vitamins for the children for quite some time now; surly these will make a difference along with eating good meals.

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As for the children, I can say its destiny... they love soccer! I plan at some point to bring them to the big stadium so they can watch the "big boys" play. They are so grateful to God for their beds and for food. Singing and always saying in Kirundi "Praise the Lord!" They are a true testimony of a miracle of God, and they are simply grateful. Got to get going, today we are going to buy some uniforms and clothing for them! Can't wait to see the looks on their faces when we give them a few new pieces of clothing; all but one child only had one outfit and no shoes or sandals. All our love....

A glorious day, the children are here!

So here's the deal, I am exhausted and want for you all to share in this wonderful glorious day with us. I wrote a story on our TCOAC blog http://www.thecriesofachild.blogspot.com/ ; please check it out, honestly, I don't have the energy to write it twice and its too good to miss! Thank you for all your support! All our love...

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Vernist (7), Claude (10), Tonny (3)

The beauty of living simple... & simply living!

It has been... well a couple of days (that I would usually throw this kind of effort into a week) kind of days..! We took in 6 staff on Monday and have been meeting, training and working together as a team to prepare things for this coming week; when we will receive those precious orphaned children in dire need of care. Some starving, some severly malnutritioned, some abused and living in houses used for prostitution... all desperate for hope, and in need of rescuing. As I sat with the staff yesterday in a meeting I was smiling inside my heart as we all laughed together and loved on each other. I thought to myself "We couldn't of chosen a better group of people to help these children in their brokenness". Really. A wonderful group of people from young girls and men to and old gentle umutama!

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Yesterday afternoon I went to town to buy some milk to prepare for our visitors coming over in the night for dinner. Our Swiss, Spanish friends along with one American girl who is new to the mountain wanted to take a night to catch up and just hang out. As I was driving home, I saw a group of Americans on the side of the road... Muramvya not having many foreigners at all (you know each and everyone of them!) I figure let me stop introduce myself and see if they need help with anything. I thought, why not invite them for dinner too! I asked "Do you have any plans tonight?" knowing of course they didn't.... nothing happens at night in the mountains! So there was about 11 of us, and we had such an awesome time together. Some building churches, others preschools, and others technical and carpentry schools. As the night came to an end, we each shared the best and worst experience we have ever had living and visiting 3rd world countries.

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One our friends shared how in November he was riding in a public bus at night and he was about 5 minutes from the city when they were stalled at a road block. Men entered the bus to rob the people, holding AK-47's to their heads and advised all the people to put their hands over their heads. They began beating the bus driver once they realized that he hadn't mentioned that there was a foreigner on the bus. (the foreigner resembling $)... They robbed the people and went on to the next bus which was some people from Tanzania. He heard shooting and believed that about 6 were killed. I asked "this surly was your worst experience... he said "no, this is just something to expect.. I won't drive in the night again!" Like anything, you have to use wisdom. In Burundi its AK-47's, but in other developed countries its pistols and other types of crime. It just reminds us to always be alert. We will keep you posted in the coming times, stay updated on the amazing things that God is doing at our TCOAC Blog http://www.thecriesofachild.blogspot.com/ ! Thanks for your love, support prayers. All our love...

Just like my Papa.

Coming home from work today, its clear who dressed Malaki... just like Papa! It has been an exciting week as we took in our first (4) staff today. It's a little challenging and stretching at times, but we are just trying to take it step by step... keeping the big picture in mind: God. Responding to the cries of these amazing children who were orphaned and abandoned... with His desire in mind; simply to restore them and give them hope.

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Malaki. Really wanting to just walk. You hold him, sit him, play with him... still he has one goal in mind (to get on those little toes and start moving forward)! Today, I hold on to the fact that we will make mistakes along this journey, and in all there will surely be a wonderful solution! On a side note, as I was finishing up hand washing Malaki's cloth diapers around 11 p.m. I was thinking about the future and the beauty of potty training...! Until then, surely we will cherish every last moment (even taking 20 minutes to get a poop stain out of one diaper!) as time is flying by! All our love...

Yes, even this young man...

Malaki. 8 months on the 18th. The love of our lives... A smile that will brighten up any hard day. At any moment. Grateful to God for this perfect. precious. gift.

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Today, I had a pretty challenging situation come upon me... I would say the worst since our move here over 2 years ago. Isai and I were in Buja (the capital) picking up some things to return home after our trip to pick our dear friends from the airport. I dropped Isai off in the market and went on with Malaki to get some groceries. Usually we are together, but we needed to buy some blankets, sheets and towels for the children and we had a short time... to do ALOT! I went to a vegetable / fruit store that I go to often and as I was walking in, I saw a man who was crazy in the mind bound in such a horrible way. Dressed as a woman in a nice pink matching outfit. As he approached me, he tried to give me a hard time with his words and was trying to get physical kissing up on me. I just continued to tell him, just continue on your way.

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He persisted and started to get more upset and as I was thinking of Malaki in the car, I thought.. let me just try to get out of here as I have been around alot of people who are bound and a bit crazy, but never one that was as confident and unpredictable as this young man. He goes to our car and starts scraping the sticker off, and at this point the local men escorted me to the car. Short after he pulls his pants down and bends over for all of us to see... just continuing to speak on. I thought. Jesus. Deliver this man. I got out of there asap... I have always been street smart and a little tough around the edges; never feeling intimidated by situations like this. Then, I thought of Malaki. Helpless and in need of protection.

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Afterward I was a little shaken up, I won't lie! But more so thinking on the condition of this young man. I thought to myself, is he bound? What was his childhood like? Was he abused? My prayer is that God will deliver him and restore him. It breaks my heart to see anyone in his condition, nothing to live for. No purpose. A life filled with hopelessness, confusion and seclusion. I think today on the goodness of God, grateful for his salvation and his long suffering heart full of love for us. Even this young man. Yes, even him the Lord desires to transform, captivate and use in a mighty way. All our love...

Our Malakalikilaka.

Malaki's wonderful nickname thanks be to that Christmas song in Hawaii! Malaki, nearing 8 months, all over the place trying to walk already...!

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We visited our land yesterday to find that all the trees on the whole property except for the border have been removed. The previous owner wanted to sell them before we began building... it worked to our advantage of course! The land looks so much bigger as you can now see exactly where our borders are! Isai is in action mode with building plans and scaling things out, he is an amazing builder! It's been a busy, busy few days. Keep you all posted and as always, all our love...

We're BACK!

After days of traveling, it has never felt more beautiful then to relax at our home sweet home in the mountains. As soon as we returned, we had a briefing with our assistant director who oversaw everything in our absence. All I can say is .... amazing. We set goals, responsibilities and a vision for our time gone and he exceeded every expectation we could of imagined... this bring the deepest joy to our hearts! Living in Africa, you always hope for the best but prepare for the worst as many things usually go wrong and have to be worked out... it feels good to see things prospering; clearly God's hand is upon it all. This morning we had final interviews to sum up all the applicants for cook, security, momma's, water worker etc. We look forward to the relationships we will build with our staff here as they have unbelievable hearts. A great foundation to nourish principles of integrity and compassion. They will start training in a little over a week as we will be taking in precious orphaned children in about 2 weeks! I could go on and on with this overflowing joy and excitement in my heart; although I would love to tell you about our trip home!

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Right before we flew out for Burundi Malaki and I got this flu / cold bug... As we had already flown into Washington DC as a transit to visit one of our partner churches, we felt we were still able to make the trip home. To our advantage, Ethiopian Airlines as of December changed its routes from stopping in Rome... to going straight to Ethiopia! Meaning, minus 5 hours to our trip! (Hey, 5 hours is a lot!)...

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Malaki did great the first 9 hours, to feeling horrible the last 6 hours of the trip! Baby sick, flying = much crying! He didn't want to nurse because he was so congested, didn't want to sleep because he couldn't breathe... It had to of been the most difficult travel we have ever had to date! At one point, I headed up to the first class toilets and just began to cry because I was sick, tired, feeling bad for Malaki in the midst of my frustration with having a crying baby on an airplane. Thankfully, I am a very open person and was talking to all the people seated around us about how he wasn't feeling good so they could be more understanding. To say the least... I am happy that we are past that and back home recovering!

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Do we miss our family and friends... rightfully so. We miss you all greatly and will hold the memories we have made with you deep in our hearts until we see you again. Thank you for the encouragement, blessings, time and love you shared with us. It made the trip unforgettable. It's exciting to know upon returning that some of our buildings for the projects are sponsored! That was our goal... and daily we are witnessing the Lord meeting us at every need. Do we still need the funding for orphans homes and our other projects that will be a tool to glorify Jesus. Absolutely. Surly, the Lord will meet us there also! All our love...

Have your way, Faithful One...

Here we are with our dear Pastor from our home church... The Orlando House of Prayer. They are committed to building 1 of the 8 orphan homes we will be building to respond to the cries pouring out from Burundi to help the orphaned and abandoned children. God is faithful. He casted the vision. We heeded his calling and ran with it. He is fulfilling what he promised. He is a faithful Father. Oh the rewards of seeing broken children who are beaten down by the things of this world given a hope for restoration and reconciliation. A true hope. Oh the joys...

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We are in transit in Washington DC right now, visiting one of our partner churches and are off to Burundi on Monday. We had the honor of sharing with them in times of ministry for New Years and were present to see the hand of God transform lives and drive his purpose deep within. Oh, a beautiful God we serve. We didn't get home until 5 a.m! Malaki sure didn't mind! All our love...