To dedicate a baby home in Uganda, you need many things:
tents, chairs, food, balloons, ribbons, a sound system, a bounce house, tons of
labor and more. We had these in
abundance.
But a true celebration requires a community of people, wonderful
souls from all walks of life. We met and held hands with government officials,
the police, social workers, villagers, parents, parole officers, grandparents,
aunts and uncles, church members, pastors, media representatives, and a
facility staff made up of nannies, case workers, administrators and maintenance
staff. Perhaps we understand better now how we are all created in the image and
likeness of God.
It also requires a spirit of joy provided by the giver of
life itself. God filled our hearts to overflowing with singing, dancing,
laughing and story telling. Warm welcomes, handshakes and hugs transformed
former strangers from across the globe into immediate friends and family united
to the common purpose of preserving and promoting life. Life in Africa brings
joy, just as it can in any other place, but for now we are out of our place,
thousands of miles from home experiencing joy anew.
Add to community and joy a sense of God doing a work much
larger than we can see and you have a reason to celebrate. People heard stories
about the smallest child to the biggest political obstacles. By supporting
Tender Hearts Baby Home we are supporting the larger work of Heart of a Child,
NGO. As that mission spreads, people hear the gospel and better ways of rescuing
and caring for discarded, abused and handicapped children.
And finally you add the children. They sang for us and
danced. They held our hands and crawled into our seats. One girl (who
accidentally captured my heart, by the way) was playing with a balloon during
the program. It popped on the grass. We expected to see tears like we would
with our children at home. But instead she shrugged her shoulders and broke
into leaping and dancing, her eyes glowing and transmitting a sense of
innocence and purity that crushes her painful past.
The dedication celebration marks the official opening of the
home. However, just like God has been redeeming a people to himself since the fall
of mankind, the story of Tender Hearts Baby Home has a history, slowly revealed
through the doctrine of adoption with each stroke of God’s mercy and
grace-filled pen, with each child picked from the garbage, with each ministry partner forever changed by the work of Jesus.
