Something happened that not even the team knew about.
One day I will share about it, but not for awhile.
It’s been three weeks since returning.
This morning we were talking about Africa during our Bible study together. I could not contain myself – definitely unable to talk about much of it without crying.
I have continued to pray and process so many facets of it all.
And I am becoming even more driven then I was before.
Here is one of those stories that is compelling me to do more.
{It turns out they were brothers.}
We were in the slums serving so my attention could not be devoted totally to these two little fellows. But they certainly got my attention as they toddled about playing.
I have always been so drawn to watching little boys play, they are so doggone entertaining!
I was frantic.
They are completely vulnerable!
I prayed over him.
I learned that they were dropped off in the slums to live on their own.
Can you imagine?
What mama is so desperate that she drops her babies off, never to return??
{I know it happens, but why? How? What motivates that desperation?}
Someone living in the slums had taken pity on them and
was ‘caring’ for these two little brothers.
But what will happen to them?
Who is caring for them at this moment?
Are they safe?
Is someone hurting them?
Are they hungry?
Who cares?
Does anyone really care that they exist?
I am undone imagining what could be happening to them at this moment.
What can we do?
{I must do something!}
How can I go about my daily existence knowing they are over there.
Alone.
On their own {for the most part}.
How can I ignore their cries?
{I will do something!}
I am consumed with making a difference in their lives.
measurable and if I think of those two little brothers, my tears fall freely.
Please pray for them and the millions around the world in the same situation, since seeing these two little boys, it is no longer a faceless, meaningless thought. They are real. They need us. I have held them. I cannot turn away, ignoring the needs.
“Once our eyes are opened, we can’t pretend we don’t know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act.”
Prov. 24:12
Yes Linny, my heart aches for them. I am praying. Thank you Lord for opening the eyes and hearts of us who live in luxury every day. Help us to minimize our own desires to give more to the ones who truly need us.
Breaks my heart to haer about this. Praying for them right now, Linny and for you.
I can not even remember how I stumbled across you blog or how long I have been reading it. I usually sit at the computer reading your stories and thinking someone should do something about these poor babies. Today as I read about these two innocent children the tears are streaming down my face and I know it is I that needs to do something, I am just not sure what. I am listening to my own two boys, probably about the same age, playing in the playroom of our home, bellies full and loved beyond belief and my heart is breaking. I feel that my God led me to your page and now is laying something HUGE on my heart. I know it is going to take a lot of praying and discussion with my husband but I want to do something, something big, for these children. I am not even sure where to start but I wanted you to know that it is on my heart and I will be praying without ceasing about this and for those poor babies. Thanks for all you do for them and God Bless you and yours.
Oh my goodness, my heart is breaking. I want to help, what can I do? I will pray for sure, but I want to do more.
Unfair. Sad. Poor babies. What will happen to them? Could they go live in an orphanage there so that someone could adopt those precious boys?
This is heart-wrenching. And to think, we have room and food to spare in our home, and these sweet children fend for themselves. I wish there was a way to just bring these children into our home.
Crying again! My goodness, I want to love on these kids so much! There are so many like them around the world. Praying God shows me where He wants me!
Oh Hun,
How you tender God given mummy heart must be aching. I know God will tell you a way to help these boys in what ever way that is. I can't help but think that your heart will be aching with every breath you take over these wee boys. My two boys aren't much bigger and i can't imagine leaving them to fend for them selves.
When God tells you how to help these treasures if there is any thing we can do to help let us know, please. We will add these two little boys to our prayer list. As heartbreaking as this is, i love knowing God loves them with a Fathers heart. He sees each sparrow that falls so i know he sees the boys and he cries with us.
Blessings,
Relle
shared the link to this entry on my FB. Feeling like all of the other commenters……what can we do for those boys?
I, too, am wondering…what can WE do? I'll be praying for them (and I DO believe in the mighty power of prayer!), but is there something tangible we can do? Monthly support maybe, or help them become a part of a program? My heart is breaking.
I wish I could fly over and get them right now too. All little boys need a Mama to love them! My heart breaks that they are special to no one except God. May God give you the wisdom to share what you have seen and a plan so that all of us readers can do something to help these little ones in Uganda.
This hit me like a ton of bricks. My heart aches for them. So unfair. They will be in my prayers.
Linny,
Thank you so much for sharing these moments from your trip. This one especially touched my heart.
Amanda
Oh Linny, I feel the same way!! I wonder if we should go into missions full-time, I even privately PRAY that the Lord will call my husband to full-time missions…I can't stand seeing the needs go unmet!!! Love that you share these hard things..cause they need to be told bloggy friend! LOVE you!
there. are. no. words.
and yet you found some.
thank you sweet friend for sharing.
how your heart contains all of this… it can only be Jesus.
oh, sweet Jesus… provide a safe home for these two little boys.
my heart cracks in two over stories like this.
praying for them…
A friend of mine recently directed me to your blog. I am so thankful she did. Love and prayers for those little brothers.
I completely agree! We all have to do SOMETHING! We can't do everything, we can ALL do something. Thanks for the reminder!
Brooke Annessa
http://www.theannessafamily.blogspot.com
That mames me sick to my stomach. I'm glad for at least one moment they were loved and comforted.
I can't stand it; I really can't stand the thought of them hungry and dirty. What can we do for them specifically?
Jenny
My heart breaks when I read this. We have so much in our countries and these little ones have to suck on rocks…just heartbreaking. Hugs
In situations like these, prayer just doesn't seem like it's enough. I would love to hold these little ones (all of them) and tell them they are loved. It's so heartbreaking.
I care Linny. Deeply. Tell me what we can do! How do we help them? I'm getting ready to move forward with the fundraising idea that I shared with you, but it's clearly not enough. I want to bring them home too! I wish I could… I told you we want to adopt siblings 🙂 It breaks my heart to think of all they have gone through and then the possibility of being separated. We're getting ready to contact an adoption agency BUT if there is a way to adopt children from the orphanage you were at, or even the children in the slums somehow… please, please post about it!!! How amazing would it be to be able to bring home one or two of the treasures that you and Emma have loved and cared for! I know I keep mentioning this to you… sorry… I'm just really hoping it's a possibility! I've been waiting for that post 🙂
I don't know how my heart will handle seeing that! I know it will break, but I know that's a good thing because then I will be more driven to DO something….
By the way, when is the next fasting day?? I need prayer and I feel the need to pray it up for people!
oh my heart! Those two little sweeties remind me of two sweeties I left behind in Cambodia. Always wondering what happened to them yet I have no way of knowing. I wish it was so much simpler that we could just fly them home with us….why can't we it just doesn't feel right. God hasn't left them though and that is what is important. Thanks for giving them a voice!
I can't get this post out of my mind…just came back from an evening run and God is POUNDING at my heart. I just got some high school graduation money, and some how in my selfishness I began to think it was "my" money to use as I please…my Lord is changing that mindset very quickly. New "stuff" or feeding a child…there shouldn't even be a moments hesitation. He began with a whisper, and I wasn't willing enough to listen…and now He is pounding. I WANT TO HELP THESE BOYS! Please, please let us know what we can do…
i still see the wedding pictures of all those precious boys sleeping at the tables…i'm so haunted…as i should be…i never want those images to leave my memory or prayers until each one has a forever family to love them. i spoke to my Pastor about this yesterday about the overwhelming need…the urgency….becoming even more driven to do something for these precious children…i dream about them….constantly throughout the day praying over them. The driving need to do something is relentless and increasing. i so want to just bring them home…line them up…put them on a airplane and bring them home…why isn't it that easy…no body wants them where they are, so why can't we just take them off their hands? i know…:( the paperwork, the money, the approvals…and now these sweet toddlers that i just want to squeeze and love on…so thankful for you Linny…you ran to the rescue of that little one and loved him…i feel your pain, your sorrow, your urgency, your questions….i ask the Lord every day…what can i do…what can i give…how can i help…please Lord, send me…show me…i yield to You on this…use me! i want the financial mountains to move so we can help support the orphanages or the people (like you or those that need money to adopt, or we adopt) that go…please Lord…can you reinstate our income as it was before, when i didn't have a clue as to what was going on outside my world….oh what i would do now with that income i so took for granted and somehow felt entitled to. Thank you Lord for taking that attitude away, forgive me for not helping sooner. "Oh Father hear our cries, know our hearts, use us to save these children that You love so much. Please bless Linny and her entire team that loved on these beautiful children…bless Linny with urgent peace…the peace to wait on You as You continue do a work through her to reach these children. Thank you for her as she has awakened us to the needs of the orphans…show us O Lord how we can help, nurture and love them, In Jesus Name"
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18
how interesting…my word verification to post this is "cries"! <3
My heart is breaking as I'm praying for these little ones. I wish I could just scoop them up and bring them home. I keep on praying what I can do…what we can do. If there is some way we can help, please email me. My heart and home are open…as God wills.
What can we DO?!! : (
MY HEART BREAKS!!! i want to hop on the next plane and scoop up the little boys who are my little boys age. my heart breaks as my over tired boys just wanted me to lay with them and pat their backs and sing worship songs over them after dinner, baths, and prayer time… i cant imagine the desperation of abandoning them. my heart breaks for the mama. and to think that there are 163 MILLION orphans with similar stories. LORD what are we to do, You hold us accountable for knowing, so whats the next step? (we are praying about adoption being the next step for our family, even though the timing is crazy having 3 kids under 3, but i have never felt more certain in my life… waiting on my husband)
two sets of lyrics of my favorite songs to go along with your verse:
"i know what i know and i cant deny it, something on the road cuts me to my soul"
-sara groves, i saw what i saw
"now that i have seen, i am responsible, faith without deeds is dead"
-brook fraser, albertine
I will not be able to stop thinking of them and the millions more waiting for someone to love them and protect them. Yes, having a real face and story helps imprint their need on our hearts. I am not sure if I could have traveled the bumps in the road on my adoption journey if I was not blessed by meeting my next daughter on a mission trip. After several setbacks, God has moved hearts and I will have my adoption home visit this Thursday. I was going to ask for 2 girls, but think now I may be less specific in case God wants me to bring home a son from Africa next time. As a single Mom, I feel better equiped to mother girls. But seeing those boys… God would help me be enough for them, if it is his will. God Bless
I cannot even imagine! Praying for these two precious boys and all the other precious children of God's broken heart.
Linny, its just too much
why can't we scoop them up and bring them here…. why are they just orphans in the streets, will you tell us the story sometime of how this happens and how there are so many street children. Is Compassion there? Are the orphanages all full? I can't take much more. I want them all
Babysteps2wherewewant2be THEY ARE TWO OF MY FAVOURITE SONGS TOO. I sing them often, my children sing them often. We desire to go together some day, long to hold them in our arms and love them. Play with them, treat them, smile at them, be smiled at by them. Oh how it causes me to feel sick at all we have, all we surround ourselves with, all we think we need when we have been Loved so that we might Love, all else is temporal. USeful, but temporal.
oops, sorry I just did that on my daughters' I.D acidentally- didn't know she was signed in…. It's ANNA MARIE!!!!!
Linny,
I don't even have the words, but this is hitting deep and hard..I know God is at work in me and my family to do more…
Very Sad. Sad too that I have seen kids in this disheveled state, with even fewer clothes and a lot of trauma here in the US in a program for daycare of kids while their parents are undergoing drug treatment. Unhappily, the parent often seems to go back on drugs within days.
Praying for the healing of the world and the safety of all children.
Linny , I am so glad that Sarah and I had the opportunity to go and be forever changed. In 2 weeks I am doing my presentation at church, so share what they too can experience and serve orphans. I quote from a friend sums it up well.
Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names.
They are easier to ignore before you see their faces.
It's easier to pretend they are not real before you hold them in your arms,
but once you do, EVERYTHING CHANGES!"–David Platt
Linny….have been so enthralled by your posts on your trip and I wanted to encourage you to please keep up the writing…don't get discouraged, you are making a difference! People need to hear these stories, people need to be made aware of the needs, you are doing an awesome job in communicating and being a voice for the orphan, for the hungry, for the needy. Sending you love and encouragement! Keep going sister!
Be bold. . use your words, your blog to be a voice for these babies. Use your voice, your words to make us aware. . to inspire. .to motivate. . to give us a glimpse of the world and what is on God's heart. I am excited you are "even more driven". . you go. . may that be your legacy. . a woman chasing wildly hard after Jesus. ..I am excited for you. . I wish I was there to pray over you and listen to God on your behalf. . and encourage you. . .and watch your kiddos so you could have a little more time to pray. . oh. . .wow! But I will pray now for you. . for God to speak clearly. . for Him to give you visions of what this blog is to be about. . what you and your family are to do. .about this ministry you are starting. . that God would make it really really clear. . .
and for me personally. . I'd love for you to write a blog post on how you do the laundry, dishes, cooking when your heart is breaking into a million pieces for these little boys. . and your mind is racing with ideas and thoughts of what to do, of "minstry". . . I need a "mentor" in that area. . .so how do you chase hard after Jesus and do big things for His Kingdom when there is laundry and cooking. . I hope you are getting me. . you obviously just take your kids along with you on the God size journey. . .but specifics??
I'm with Su. How do we wash dishes and fold laundry when these sweet babies are sitting outside with no mommy. I keep begging and pleading to go and there is a roadblock at every turn. Why does the Lord give this burning desire to bring them home and then let me lanquish? We have done it all. No debt for years and years.Saving only to have it blow away with car repairs and medical bills. My husband is a mr/dd service provider which equates to "it doesn't look like your income would allow for you to adaquately provide for more children". I see people "blowing" more money every year than we make and it just breaks my heart to think about what we would be able to do. With that said, Mark is called to serve in the field he is in and he would be in a world of hurt if he took a job justfor the money! I have had part time jobs since my son was born and last fall I lost the one job that was getting us closer to Uganda. Why is it that we work hard, step out in faith and still it slips away?
Wow. So upsetting and overwhelming!!!!! I can tell by reading through the comments that there are many women who would feel priveledged to be these boys mommy, for real (myself included!). It makes me so sad to think that that's the case and yet what can we honestly do? Can we fly there and bring them home? Knowing what little I know about adopting internationnaly, I don't think so. All the rules in place that are there to protect children – they're there for a reason I know, but how do they help these boys? There is so much wrong with the world!! I'm with Tiffany – anxiously awaiting the 'how to adopt from Uganda' post. 🙂
Wow, I read this and it breaks me. It confirms how much I want to go on a mission trip with ya'll and I just want to be undone of my needs and wants! Definitely praying for these kids.
I commented above, but I can't get these boys off my mind.
My son was found in a street community when he was three and a half by missionaries who then turned him over to the police when they found he had no mother or father. People in the community had taken "compassion" on him and were trying to give him food, but since he had no family, he wasn't really being cared for. The police brought him to the orphanage and that is all we know about his history. He is the sweetest, big eyed, little guy – He wears a 3T even though he just turned five.
I never REALLY stopped to think what that lifestyle meant for him. That he spent days in soiled clothes. That he might have sucked on rocks to ease his hunger. That large crowds might have trampled him. That for some sick person who found him alone in the night… I just don't want to think about it. It hurts too bad.
Oh my heart is breaking. I too would love to scoop up these boys and bring them home. How dare I complain about how little I have when this is reality for so many children around the world. Please Lord, show me what it is You want me to Do….
I keep reading this over and over again and the more I read it the more affected I am by it. That just goes to show me that my heart needs to break more. I want to feel immediately devestated by it, not just really sad, but moved to the point of action. Thank you for sharing this story Linny.
I want these 2 little boys! they are precious and it breaks my heart that they are all alone……I wish I could bring them home and love them forever!
O Linny! How heart breaking! I can't wait until my family gets to be someones forever family! What a blessing to us! I can't wait until God moves those mountains!!
Oh how my hear breaks for those precious treasures! Praying for guardian angles! Janet
Ahhhh, I just wrote a long post to you and I don't think it when thru!!! Let's try this again.
First of all, thank you for your open and honest heart for these children and being a voice for Christ.
I have followed you blog, fasted with you and cried with you, but quietly. I do have a prayer request though. Tomorrow my family,(husband, son and I) will go to China to pick up our 3 year old son. We will be his 4th placement and he will need so extra love and patience to understand family. Please pray for us as we excitingly and willingly journey down this path *he will be our second adopted son*.
I would also like to know if Kirill was every able to go home. I have been praying for him constantly and have not heard anything as of yet. I would really appreciate an updates. You can email me at lauriekjernald@msn.com or my blog at kjernald.blogspot.com
Thank you again for being such a wonderful guide to Jesus for everyone, even strangers.
Blessings,
Laurie
Linny,
This is what is drawing me to go to Uganda. Your pictures..your stories..they haunt me. God is at work for sure..wish I could just bring them home with me in June. My heart is breaking already and I haven't even seen it with my own eyes yet.
Hugs,
Robin
Its heartbreaking !! I want to do something. I want to help.
What do we do?
We pray and we cry and we pray and we cry
The image is burned in our hearts of the orphans that we have left behind
We pray and we cry and we pray and we cry
We love the orphans that we have brought home
We pray and we cry and we pray and we cry
We spread the word
We pray and we cry and we pray and we cry
They are children
We pray and we cry and we pray and we cry
Just children waiting to be loved and held and loved
We pray and we cry and we pray and we cry
They are just children, sweet children
We pray and we cry and we pray and we cry
Lord use us
Linny,
Oh how my heart aches…I have not been on in so long because my computer is so old and SO slow and I have only 15% free disk space and we are in what Americans would call a financial crisis…and yet, my children have food…and we have shelter and clothing…I have no problems when I see this and yet I complain and ask for more. It is so pathetic.
I see these babies and I want them…I want to love them and cherish them and point them to the Savior who knows their names…ask God to change hearts and make a way…
I am not sure why, but when I look at these two boys, I think of the sons of thunder, James and John…that is what I am going to think of them as…I do not know what God has planned for these treasures, but One thing I know…they are engraved on the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:15-16)
Thank you for calling us to action…I cannot wait to see what else you will be sharing.
Love,
C~