Day #5 - Children's Heaven

Tuesday morning we went to see our sweet twins at the orphanage.  We were warmly welcome by them :)  They were both very happy and excited to see us and "M" was not worried about her nanny leaving this time.

 

We licked lollipops, played football, and had fun playing in the sunny parking lot.

The sun began to get too warm so we went into the visitors room to color, try on sunglasses, and open letters from big sister.

I packed some dried fruit and snack bars which the girls both enjoyed.  "S" was very interested in the sparkly and noisy snack bar wrapper and definitely let us know that wrapper was hers and she would not part with it :)  The visit was over all to quickly again and the nannies came to take the girls to lunch. 

Our afternoon plans were to go to Children's Heaven to drop off the soccer balls and school supplies we had brought with us.  I posted about that here.  We had an amazing visit and they treated us like honored guests. 

As you can see the girls are absolutely beautiful!  A few of them were chosen to stand up and tell us a little about themselves and what they want to be when they grow up.  Most want to be scientists, doctors, and pilots.  We stood and told them a little about ourselves and my husband said he liked to play guitar.  Before we knew it Hanna, the director, called someone to bring him a guitar so he could play for the girls.  He played for a few minutes and then we taught them, "This little light of mine."

The 70+ girls ages 6-18 sang several songs for us.  They have beautiful voices and I was so overwhelmed hearing them sing that I had to be careful not to cry in front of them.  They sang several worship songs in Amharic and played the drums for us.  The girls also sang "Every Move I Make", or as my kids call it the "na na na na na na" song :) 
 
We were privilege to enjoyed a coffee ceremony with Hanna.  The girls ate popped corn while we drank the lovely thick, sugar sweetened, coffee.

Then it was time to pump up the soccer balls and play!  Outside the girls showed us how talented they are and we were all too happy to cheer them on.

After the girls had played for a while Hanna asked everyone to get together for a group photo.  I was thrilled to have this picture as a memento of our amazing visit at Children's Heaven.

We said, "amasaganalu" - God bless you/thank you, to all of the girls and warmly receive many kisses, hugs, and returned blessings from these precious children!  Our time at Children's Heaven was a beautiful gift that neither of us will ever forget.
 
Hanna shared with us that Children's Heaven currently has sponsors for 80 children, but her goal is to be able to reach out to another 70 girls this year for a total of 150.  Sadly, there are currently 200 girls on a waiting list to get into this program.  Last month we decided it was time for us to sponsor a child through Children's Heaven (now that we have paid the bulk of our adoption expenses).  I am looking forward to taking a care package to the sweet child we are sponsoring when we return to bring our precious twins home!  I am sure it will be an amazing and touching experience to have the opportunity to meet in person.
 
If you are interested in sponsoring a child PLEASE go to www.childrensheaven.org.  It is an extremely well run program that is truly the hands and feet of Jesus to the children it serves.  Here is some info about the girls in this program:

• The girls in this program are between the ages of 6 and 18 (Kindergarten-12th grade).
• 17% have lost both parents.
• 71% come from single parent households.
• 12% have both parents living.

For $25 a month Children's Heaven provides:

• Monthly rations of various living essentials to take home with them such as food, clothing, medical help, and school necessities, so that destitute Children Heaven’s families can have the means to keep their children at home (often in their extended family). 
• One hot meal every week day and two meals on Saturday.
• Clean running water and a place to shower.
• Tuition, school supplies, uniform, and shoes.
• After school tutoring and activities.
• Health care- monitoring antiretroviral medications, yearly physicals, health education, and basic health services.

With the assistance Children's Heaven provides to these children they are able to have a better chance at life and their family's they are able to stay together.  Something as simple as food can be the difference between keeping a family together or the heart break of placing a child in an orphanage.  Everwhere I looked in Ethiopia I could see this first hand.

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these

who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40 NRSV

 

If you decide to sponsor a child through Children's Heaven and want to sent a small gift to them please contact me.  I will do my best to make room in our luggage to take it there personally on our next trip (hopefully next month!).