Terrible News

It was so great to be back at Smile Africa after the weekend off. I missed that place so much, and my beautiful boys! I have really made some great friends that work at Smile. The second that I walked through the doors everyone was so happy to see me and they were excited that I was back. They all said they missed me over the weekend. I was so happy that God had blessed me with true, good friends while I am in Tororo. These girls are so sweet and loving, it is an encouraging environment to be in. Today I decided that I was going to get in touch with my inner African, so I decided to tie Caleb to my back. It was the funniest thing! Everyone was laughing so hard!

That was a really fun part of my day. I was organizing the babies room with Caleb on my back and we went for a walk. I had a lot of fun with my sweet boy. Then I went to the office to help organize things and to brush Caleb's teeth. While I was doing all that Michael came in and asked to speak to me about Bogere. My head dropped and I said, "Okay, let's hear it." Michael began telling me about Bogere's terrible behavior on Saturday while I was gone. It was the usual stuff like not listening to teachers and being blatantly disrespectful. The good news is that he didn't throw a stone at Michael, this time he just picked it up, but then he dropped it. So that's progress right? Michael then informed me that Bogere was waiting for me in the slums. I was confused as to why Bogere would be waiting for me to pick him up and then Michael told me that he had made the decision to have Bogere wait at home until I got him. That was the punishment. When I was about to leave, Michael stopped me and got quiet. When I asked what was wrong, Michael told me some terrible news. It turns out Bogere's real father had passed away a few years ago, which means that he was being raised by a step-father. In this culture, step parents feel as if they have no obligation to the child, so the child often gets neglected or abused. This step-father has decided that he wants Bogere to go away, so he is trying to send him to a village very far away to stay with his grandmother...who doesn't want him either. This broke my heart. If he goes away, then he can't get his medicine and he will die. Jesus!! Please help me! After I heard that news I took Caleb back to the babies room and I ventured off to the slums to pick up Bogere. He seemed very sad and not himself today, which was understandable. I just picked him up and told him how much I loved him. The whole walk back to Smile I was just thinking of things that I could do to keep Bogere here, with me, with Smile. There had to be something that I could do. For now, the only thing I could do was try and make Bogere happy and make him smile. So we played games and I kept him so close to me yesterday. The thought of loosing him and not knowing if he was going to be safe was tearing me to pieces. I love that boy so much. I choose to trust God with the life of His son. I choose to not worry, but to believe that God has already worked it out. Jesus I give it all to You.