"To Didi, with love"

I’m sitting in a hotel at the moment killing time until it is time to go to the airport to catch my flight. Yesterday I left the Home and said good-bye to the children. They were so sad! At one point, I asked a few of them to draw me pictures and write me a letter to take with me when I left. “Oh yes, Didi! But we have no paper.” No paper? I quickly remedied that. “Crayons too, Didi?” I was a little more hesitant on this one, not knowing how a single box of crayons would be shared among what had now become a gathering of 30 or 40 children. I couldn’t deny their expectant looks however, and hastily dumped the box of crayons into two metal baking dishes. Before I knew it, the veranda outside my office was littered with little children happily writing good-bye notes to me. “How do you spell your name, Didi?” I told a few who quickly informed the rest.

Several of the older girls wrote me longer notes with more elaborate drawings and gave them to me at devotions the night before. “Come back to us, Didi.” “Didi, don’t cry when you leave ok?” I’ve never seen such somber young faces. Although I know I need the time away to gain focus and refreshment, leaving them was heartbreaking. Even though I know I’ll come back, and two months really isn’t THAT long, these children don’t have anyone else. They don’t have parents who read them stories, who wipe away their tears when they’re sad, who help them eat their vegetables, or who play hide-and-seek or give them piggy-back rides the way Kathy and I do.

At dinnertime the evening before I left, one of the 12^th grade girls asked me, “Will you find information, Didi, for me on how to become a dentist?” I looked at her somewhat uncertain. I don’t really know much about becoming a dentist, especially in this country. I tried to explain to her. “Ask Simeon,” I directed her. (Not his real name.) He had counseled the 11^th and 12^th classes on job options and career/educational paths just a few days prior and would know much more about becoming a dentist than I would. “But Didi, we are not attached to him. We are attached to you. We want to ask you for advice and counsel on such things. Will you find me information on becoming a dentist?” How could I turn away from such reasoning? I promised her I would try.

Please pray for Kathy and me to know how to love on these children and serve them and the Home without running ourselves dry. Pray that we’ll know how to limit ourselves and trust God to meet them in ways that we cannot. Please pray that He WOULD meet them and develop each of these children into strong and glorifying instruments of His.