Father's Kids

My Dad, my Mom, and my mom's best friend from college, Sharon. They just reunited after 40 years thanks again to the wonders of internet technology


Mom and Dad have been missionaries since before I was born. They have lived in Guatemala, Mexico, and have recently returned from a several month trip ministering in several countries. These are AIDS orphans in Kenya, Africa. I was recently moved to tears as my mother shared the experiences she encountered with the African women and children. There are so many false ideas from past generations that have kept women and children suffering and in bondage.

One of the stories she told, and I am already in tears again as I write this, is about a group home for orphaned girls. The mission there feeds the girls every day, and meets their basic needs. My parents took the orphans to a zoo, or african wildlife park, I guess it would be called there. They had never seen anything like this, of course, and they were overjoyed! They had many opportunities to love on and minister to these children, even teaching them on issues such as AIDS prevention, and guarding their bodies and their hearts for God and their husbands.

My mom said that the workers at the group home would call the children for their meals, "Orphans! Come eat!" Mom had an opportunity to talk to the kids and their workers. She said, "From now on, you are not orphans. You are 'Father's Children'. You all may not have earthly mothers or fathers, but you do have a Father in heaven and He loves you dearly." These little girls just lit up. They LOVED their new name...Father's Child.



Look at the necklace Liesel is wearing. Oma, as we call her, who had taken the time in Africa to find out and write down the names of each girl in the orphanage, along with her favorite color, came for Christmas, and she and the girl cousins made these necklaces. Each bead (each child's favorite color) represents a child, a "Father's Child". The girls wear these to remember these little girls and we pray for them.

I was reminded of the song by Avalon, There are No Orphans of God.