Voiceless

Carly here.

It’s been a long time since either Joel or I posted.  Baby Moses ended up making a more permanent appearance at the Hamm residence (although it was less permanent than we would have liked).  We kept him off and on (more on than off towards the end) for about three weeks.  It was my first experience in being a mom, and I absolutely loved it.  I also fell completely in love with Moses and it was pretty heartbreaking to have to send him to the orphanage.  Praise the Lord, he was sent to an orphanage where he is one of two babies, and will receive tons of love and attention.  I heard from the friend who took him that the staff at the orphanage were so excited to be getting him that they started taking pictures of him before he was even out of the car… this comforts my heart.  Short of moving to Kenya for the better part of four years (which would be extremely difficult due to job commitments and med school schedules), there is no way for us to adopt him.  I pray and hope that God will provide a loving home for Moses with a mom and dad who are walking the Lord.  This sweet baby may have been abandoned, but he is so incredibly loved and wanted.

Joel and I are taking full advantage of our last weekend here- he went white water rafting in the Nile, and I went to an orphanage.  Very telling of our personalities, no? :).  Although we both would have liked to accompany the other on their trip, we both chose what we knew we would not regret.  Joel got to ride 8 hours (one way) on a bus to and from Uganda and I got to be spit up and peed on to my heart’s content… at least that may have been what each of us were thinking about the other’s trip.  In all seriousness, I am so glad that Joel got to have his adventure and that I got to have mine.  I have always wanted to serve in an orphanage, and I am so thankful for this opportunity.  It’s been slightly harder on me emotionally than I expected, especially now that I am personally connected to an orphan, but I’m thankful for the experience nonetheless.  The orphanage where I’m visiting is a good orphanage… but it’s still an orphanage.  It’s not a home, it’s not parents, and there’s just no way that these kids can get the one-on-one love and attention that they need and crave.  The children need moms and dads, they need forever families, they need homes, and they are absolutely powerless to do anything about it.  Have I mentioned that I'm becoming more and more passionate about adoption?

I have always wanted to adopt, from the time that I was very young, and this trip has only magnified that desire.  It’s given both me and Joel new eyes in this area, especially after caring for and emotionally connecting with an orphan.  As much as I would like to adopt rightNOWthankyouverymuch (today would be day three of the past two and a half weeks that I have gone without crying about Moses), I know that God’s timing is perfect, and we trust in that.

Joel and I can’t believe that our time in Kenya is coming to its end.  We head out Friday morning and will arrive home around midnight Friday night (with the time difference it’s roughly 24 hours of traveling).  We’ll fly from Nairobi to Amsterdam to Detroit/Atlanta (can't remember which one it is at the moment, and my email isn't opening for me to check) to Louisville, then drive home to Lexington.  We have exactly one hour for our layover in Amsterdam, so we’ll be praying that our flight arrives at the scheduled time to avoid any sprinting through the airport :).

We are so excited to see our families and friends when we get home… we’ve missed you all!  We’re also looking forward to American food again.  I’ve started relying heavily on Nutella sandwiches for meals.  This trip has been exactly the break from cooking that I needed.  Nothing incentivizes you to cook for yourself like eating the same five foods for two months.

The Lord has taught us both so much through this trip, and we can’t wait to share it with you!  We have tons of pictures (lots of which are of Moses- I now understand why people post 400 pictures of their newborns to Facebook… doesn’t everyone want to see how cute they are??) and so many memories.  God is so good, all the time.