No words......

There are so many things to share today....really my heart is heavy! I am sooo encouraged by all that God is doing, yet my heart is so heavy. The task seems insurmountable, yet God says all things are possible through Him!

We drove WAY out in the boondocks today to look at a possible site for the new orphanage. We are hoping to get the construction done...although if the government doesn't start moving adoptions and enforcing the Liberian law, I am not sure how to fund the orphanage and care of children once it is built....but that is a post for another time! One of the dads on the trip went to the site with me. The land was gorgeous! It is beach front property with a lagoon in the middle! Truly, it looked like a scene from a movie....then right across the street is a page out of the National Geographic.

There were little grass hut villages all up and down the road where the land is. We parked right by one when we walked the distance to the beach to view the land. When we got out of the car to walk, I noticed a lady weaving what looked like a basket. So when we came back, I looked and she was finished. It was long and skinny, but I wanted to get it for my mom as she collects baskets and since I saw this one actually being made, I decided to ask if she would sell it. She said sure. So I asked her how much? She said she didn't know, so the lady behind her said 20 dollars. I said, "Twenty dollars?!" But I had already opened my mouth, and I figured she could use it more than me anyway. So I agreed. About that time the lady said, "Yes! Twenty Liberian dollars." Folks, that is about 30 cents in US money! She had two sitting there, so I asked her if I could buy both of them? She said yes, so I pulled 200 Liberian dollars out of my wallet and handed them to her. She jumped up, handed me the shrimp traps...I asked if I could take her picture with them, and she said of course...so this is her! After I took her picture she ran off! I saw her later smiling from ear to ear showing her friend the money. You would have though I had given her the moon! I gave her just under $4.00! I prayed that I could be Jesus to the least of these in Liberia as Tom Davis has challenged me in Red Letters. As I have looked for ways to do that while I am here, I am realizing with great shame just how hard it is to be Jesus to the least of these! I honestly don't know what to do. I am always afraid of offending or belittling....but I hope and pray that my shrimp trap lady was blessed today! And I hope that if we get to build on that site, that I get to see her again and share the story of Jesus with her!

Below are pictures of the children in that village! There is no market with in walking distance, no school with in walking distance, no clinic with in walking distance. They don't have cars, and there is not a taxi for miles. They live off the land alone! The UNICEF report in 2007 says that Liberia's infant and under 5 mortality rates remain amond the five highest in the world. More than 15 % of children die before reaching their first birthday. There was a one month old baby girl that I held today at this village....will she make it 11 more months? UNICEF further reports that nearly 40% of children under age five suffer from stunting as a result of malnutrition. Will these children make it? If we are able to put our compound there, their chances will increase dramatically! With this compound will come a school which will educate them at a reduce or free tuition (education is the only hope for the youth of Liberia to have a better future!) and a medical clinic that will treat the diseases that kill!

If you look into these eyes and can walk away, then close your browser! But if you look into these eyes and see the need that truly exists here, then click on the button on the sidebar of my blog and donate to The Orphanage Project! The sooner we have the money, the sooner these children have hope!