New Beginnings

Monday, April 14, 2008

When will morning come?

.....this is what my son Ethan said to me at 2:30am....this morning. We had gone to see a World Vision presentation at Trinity Western University. You were given a set of headphones and a mini-ipod. You were taken through these curtains as a story of one child's life was given to you through audio. The props were unbelievable and so well done. You felt like you were in Africa...it brough back such vivid memories for me. The sounds of the audio were so real. The stories of the four children were also true stories, just their names were changed to protect them.

Anyway, one of the booths behind a curtain was a representation of a girl aged 15 who had died giving birth to a baby....and the sister was telling her story. There was no one to care for the baby who was this girls niece so she at age 7 said she would raise the baby. On the ground was a blanket that looked like a "body bag" where the girl was to be laying. It was very surreal. Ethan was very afraid to proceed through each curtain...so last night he was having nightmares about people dying and he woke me up to tell me he was afraid and couldn't sleep. I should have let him sleep with us, but I was too tired...so I prayed with him and then sent him back to bed and told him to talk to God until he fell asleep. When he woke up this morning, he said that he slept fine after praying.

Dh and I were not sure how our African children would respond to such a presentation...but we felt it important for ALL our children to see and experience something so real. Anika seemed okay, but it brought up a lot of discussion which is good because they themselves have suffered a lot in Africa and these images brought back their our mental images that perhaps are buried. Anyway, I hope Ethan sleeps well tonight.

Here are a few photos of the rest of our weekend.