Leaving behind another piece of my heart...

A LOT has happened since the last time I blogged. Isn't it crazy how fast life flies by? Hopefully I won't neglect this for so long the next time.

We completed our second trip to Kenya to work with HCI (and have actually been back in the states for almost two months now). It was amazing to see how much of an impact our team from 2005 left with these children. We were asked about each and every member of that team by name. "How's Kirk? How's Aaron? How's Bekah?" It was great.

A huge highlight for me was being able to spend time with specific children that I had bonded with the previous year. In the attached photo, you'll see Heather and me (we're the pale folks!) along with Maria, Margaret, and Caroline. Maria and Margaret are two children we sponsor and Caroline was one of my guitar students from 2005. There is a place in my heart for all of the children of HCI, but Margaret (the shortest one) really holds a special place. She is almost 12 years old and has been with HCI since she was about 3 1/2. The information we have is sketchy, but we were told that her father had left her family and that her mother used to abuse her. Her mother passed away a couple of years ago.

From talking with team members from both trips, I think it is a common feeling to want to just adopt a child from this organization and bring them up in a loving home. But, I struggle with wondering, "is this really something that we should do?" I would give anything to have Margaret live with Heather and me. I just want her to grow up feeling the love of a family. There are really two things holding us back:

1) I struggle with wondering what effect adopting a child from HCI would have on the rest of the children (there are around 70 children in the LTK facility). Would the rest feel jealousy? Anger? Sadness? Would the others look at all volunteers as a "way out" from then on? Is it even possible for the other children to be thankful or accepting of such a thing? There are so many questions to which I don't have answers.

2) The Kenyan government makes it pretty much impossible for someone outside of Kenya to adopt a child. The first requirement is that you live with the child under your care in Kenya for three months. A social worker will then visit your "home" and assess the situation. If you bribe that person enough, he/she will write up a positive report to the judge. This is presented at the first hearing. Then, anywhere from three weeks to many, many months later, the final court date is held. I joined a newsgroup on Kenyan adoptions, and it seems like the minimum time spent in Kenya by a foreigner trying to adopt before the adoption was awarded was seven months. How frustrating! You would think if your country had such a high rate of AIDS-related deaths and hundreds of thousands of orphans, you would want to encourage families to adopt them! It just doesn't make sense to me.

Heather and I are praying about a third trip to Kenya. We found out that most children leave HCI's care during the Christmas holiday to either stay with a relative (grandparent, etc) or with a volunteer family in Nairobi. However, between 12 and 20 kids aren't able to leave. Margaret is one of those. The last time she left HCI was close to four years ago. She went to visit her grandmother and an uncle took her away (thank God, social workers found her and brought her back). These few children do not have any family during Christmas. Heather and I would love to be family to them during that important part of the year. We would appreciate your prayers as we make this decision (Heather would have to take two weeks off work unpaid in order for this to happen, so the first major issue is whether or not her employer would allow this).

We are also praying about the possibility of going back with another team next summer. We don't know what God's plans are at this point, but we are listening with open ears and hearts!