Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Finding a home for Lucky

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

On Saturday, I packed a few things in a backpack, put on some sunglasses, hopped on my motto and set off for some time with my khmer family in the Kampong Speu province. I had no idea what I was about to step into, and that He had great responsibility of the kingdom waiting for me there. Waiting for Christ in me, the hope of glory to show up.

I stepped foot on the dirt in my Khmer home, and rested for barely seconds it felt like before my Khmer brother came to me, and told me I needed to follow him with a look of worry on his face. He had heard that there was a 2 month old baby with AIDs in the village that had been abandoned, and wasn't being fed. We ran down the dirt path, and came to a small wooden shack with a single hammock was strung up and the sweetest baby boy crying in it. I picked him up, held him close and saw the biggest smile spread across his face, as the tears stopped. We later found out later that as soon as the hospital marked on his paperwork that he was HIV positive after being born, his family brought him back home, left and never came back. For his first month of life, he was passed around the village- with random village members feeding him and them passing him onto the next. He eventually ended up at his grandmothers house- who immediately had someone scribble on a worn piece of paper that she didn't want the baby, got it signed by the village chief, and was ready to abandon him a second time before we showed up.


God's timing is perfect, and when I spoke with the grandmother she told me how she was sick herself and couldn't take him either- that she was sorry, and then handed him to me.  I asked her what his name was and she didn't know. At this point a good portion of the village had surrounded us, and one of the older woman in the crowd said we named him Somnang which means lucky because we new something good was coming for him.

I met with the village chief, who signed the papers and left me the responsibility of taking the baby away, and find him a home. I immediately started making phone calls, searching for a home for this precious baby. I knew God had a specific plan for him- and that there was hope even in abandonment. After many calls and rejections, I finally decided to go back to the city and search more myself and research all I could online. Before going home, I stopped at the Catholic Church I have been going to and finding peace in. And The Lord knew I needed peace at this point. We sang all together "When I am in trouble, be with me Lord." Something so simple, but so profound when chaos seems to be surrounding- and I found peace. Shortly after that, I got a lead on a christian orphanage near the village- made a phone call and without a second thought they immediately said yes, we will take the baby. A day was later I was touring the orphanage with a friend, and feeling that same peace from the night prior in church. It was his home, and I knew that then.


Yesterday, I was so honored to be able to pray with the village surrounding me over baby lucky- and tell them how God has always had a plan for him even when his family was abandoning him. We drove away and I just looked into his eyes as he smiled and I smiled right back with so much peace and joy filling me. He fell asleep in my arms on the way there, and I think he knew that my arms were just the start of a home he is going to know he has in Christ. Somnang will know that he is not abandoned- but he is a son of the King of Kings, and will share in his inheritance of the Kingdom of God one day. I am so thankful that God put me in the right place at the right time, and said here take this responsibility and bring hope to this village again. Somnang is safely in his new home now, had his first check up- and is surrounded by so much love! He will grow in a a small community with other children who have AIDs, have the best education, and will have the opportunity to go to university. God could not have shown me a more perfect home for this loved baby boy!


Followers