Christmas thoughts

Today is Christmas in E*thiopia.

While in E*thiopia there is some celebrating going on, in our home there are many thoughts and prayers drifting about. Today we consider the Christmas we experienced just a few weeks ago. We think back to the day of celebration, gifts, and food. Are those we love in ET celebrating the same way today? It is truly unlikely.  You see the ones that we have grown to love over the last year or so are probably experiencing the day much differently. 

Firenesh, the young girl we sponsor in ET, comes from a family who has been in great need for several years. Her family has not been able to maintain a steady amount of food,  receive medical treatment, or provide a substantial  education for their children. She is 9 years old and from her letters you can tell she is just like our girls in many ways. She has a child's heart and truly just wants to be a kid.

The others that we have come to love, we hardly know at all. They are the faces we see over and over again on the waiting child list of various agencies.  We also, of course, have grown to love the child or children that will some day be ours. We have yet to even see their sweet faces but they hold a special place in our hearts and our prayers.

Today is a day of celebrating the birth of Christ in a country whose people have endured much affliction. A day for us to reflect and remember the hope that was born on that very day for all the people of the world including those we love in E*thiopia. 

We are called and commanded to share that hope and come to the aid of those that are suffering and afflicted.

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17

 Blessings my friends and Melkam Gena!

(Amharic for Merry Christmas)

~Andrea