Baby Moses

Carly here.

Joel and I have an unexpected but very welcome houseguest tonight. Moses, age 17 days, has joined the household until tomorrow morning.

Three children were abandoned at the hospital last weekend. One sibling pair, a boy (2 weeks) and girl (20 months) were left along with Moses. I was told that the abandonment wasn’t extremely uncommon- several of the missionary families have adopted children from Kenya, so women will sometimes leave their children in hopes of giving them (what they perceive to be) a better life- but there aren’t normally that many left at the same time. One missionary family took the brother and sister, and another took Moses. They are caring for them until arrangements can be made to take them to the baby center. (The baby center is the orphanage for children under 3 years that’s located in Nakuru, about an hour from Tenwek.) The family that took Moses had to go to Nairobi tonight and the other family has their hands full with the sibling duo in addition to their 7 children, so they asked me to take him!

For those of you who know me well, watching a newborn for 24 hours is pretty much the equivalent of Joel’s opportunity to watch Kentucky play in the Final Four. Heaven. Pure bliss. To say that I’m enjoying myself is quite the understatement :). Moses snuggles a ton, eats, sleeps, poops, and occasionally projectile vomits. He hardly ever cries, even when he’s hungry, and he makes all of those adorable little newborn noises. Basically, I’m loving life right now :).

While his story is sad, I’m thankful for the opportunity to love on him, even if it is only for a day. He was left in a place where his mother knew he would be well taken care of by people who love Jesus. He was not left to starve or killed before he was born. He will go to live in an orphanage, but the missionaries tell me that babies are well-loved and well-taken care of there. I wonder what his life will look like and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to pray that he will grow up to be a man of God.

And for those of you who are wondering… You have to be a resident of Kenya to adopt from here.