“Family chronicles also trace our roots and shoots, our tribes and our allegiances. We research them and hang them in our living room. But do we see the purposefulness of God that ties parent to child over the centuries? Our surname is precious. Our given name is more precious still.” (The Wesley Study Bible, p. 493)
On February 15th, Eric blogged (on our personal blog) about our adventure of driving to the village of Weig’ita to bring Chacha Yusuf to Angel House. Eric wrote about how emotionally trying the day was because we were so excited, only to soon realize how sad it was for the family. The family, particularly the bibi and babu, knew that Chacha was the only family they had left from their second son. Chacha was to carry on the family name and Angel House was his only hope. Today, I saw Chacha frantically running around the house getting a bath and finding the best clothing he had. He put on a collared shirt and pants and even shoes! His bibi had come to visit him. She had walked all the way from her village to greet him and see how he was doing. Tears streamed down hers and his face as they sat and ate mendazi and drank chai together. She asked how he was and wanted to know all about the school he was attending and what he enjoyed doing.
This visit gave me mixed emotions as I was so excited for Chacha because he did not know if he would ever see her again, and yet at the same time, I thought of the children we have that have no family to come and visit them. Some of them cannot tell you who they have as a living relative. Derrick did not have a last name for many months when he first came because no one knew who his father was, we still do not know.
It is hard for me to think of not having family as I have a large one that I miss and love so much. I can tell you how far back my maiden name can be traced and that they were from Scotland. (My family does have a picture of Scotland hanging in someone’s house.) My maiden name is still very dear to me and defines so much of who I used to be and how I was formed into the person I am now. However, my definition of family continues to grow. I know that I will forever have at least fifty children, three missionaries, and ten staff members that I call my “family” and that it grows as we bring more in.
Angel House and the sponsors in America are the only family many of our children have. If you are a sponsor, I encourage you to write letters, send pictures, send gifts, or something so that they know someone out there is thinking about them and caring for them. These are the things that they decorate their beds with every morning and love to show people who visit, such as missionaries. They will say, “Can I show you pictures of my family?” What they really mean is that they want to show pictures of you. Family, whether born into or grown into, is important. We are learning that, help the many Angels that are now our family realize how big their family really is.
With His Love,
Liz Soard
Bahati helping Marwa and Mark inspect their hard work
