Bridget

We were told last month that Bridget would be going to Rafiki Village.  Rafiki Village is a US run orphanage whose goal is to have 10 villages in 10 African countries.  They have a village here in Mzuzu that is a beautiful complex on about 80 acres of land.  It is a mix of American and African living.  They have a number of small houses where a “mama” and her 8-9 children live.  On the property there is also a school, a clinic, a vocational school for older girls and housing for the staff.  Their goal is to take Malawian orphans, raise them and educate them so they can return to their country as “leaders” and make a difference.  We became very well acquainted with them because they offered their guest house to our family after our robbery and were a huge blessing to us during that difficult time. 

It sounds like a wonderful place for an orphan to go doesn’t it?  After all, only a small percentage of the orphans here will be given the opportunities that Rafiki allows them.  There’s only one problem—we love Bridget and even though Rafiki is wonderful it is still an orphanage and not a family.  We have been struggling with the decision of adopting Bridget.  As you know we are quite a large family already and we, the parents, aren’t getting any younger.  The turning point was when the social welfare officer told Lisa that no one would be willing to adopt Bridget so she “had” to go to Rafiki.  It’s as if the Lord said, “Yes, there is someone and it’s your family.”  We may be old and we may be tired but we are a family and apparently God wants Bridget to be a part of our family. 

Now you can all finally nod your heads knowingly and admit that we are truly crazy!  Actually we are only trying to do what God calls us to do.  If we only did what we thought we could do then we would not be able to see God work in us when we have no strength—“when I am weak HE is strong.”  Being here in Malawi has shown us just how weak we are but how mighty our God is. 

The next step is to begin the adoption process which requires a home study by the social welfare officer.  The law here states that before an adoption is final the family must foster the child for “up to 18 months.”  Since we have had Bridget with us for 5 ½ months we don’t know how long we will have to wait until the adoption is final.  Please pray for the process to move smoothly.

A final comment—people have told us that we can’t adopt the world and asked when we are going to stop adopting children.  I don’t believe that God is asking us to adopt the world but he has asked us to adopt the children that we have.  He only lays on our hearts those that he wants to be in our family.  How can we deny a child the right to be in our family, imperfect as it is, if that is where God wants him or her to be?  We would be missing out on the perfect plan of God.  How many times have you told God “no” when he asks you to do something because it seems too hard?  If you have, God still loves you but you are missing out on his perfect will for you. 

 

Andy & Lisa