Waiting Room.

We set there for 6 hours.  In a gym-sized, open to air waiting room.  Some of the sights were normal for a hospital waiting room- tired mommies, sick babies, grumpy nurses, restless toddlers… There were more things that were in no way normal to my former experiences in American waiting rooms.  For one, I was sitting next to our little one Sam.  A small boy who looks to be around 7 or 8 (we have no idea how old he is, and neither does he).  A lively, mischievous, funny boy that is under our care.  A boy we first met under a tree, in an open field where we had a medical station set up for street children and whoever else showed up.  He was brought to me by an older boy who knew he needed medical attention.  Sam was covered with scabies from the neck down.  He had been severely beaten the night before by a security guard while collecting scrap metal for money.  He had a concussion to show for it, dried blood lined the bandage someone had put on, and he was having trouble standing. 

Mal and I felt God tell us to act in a different way for this boy.  We decided to take him into our home.  Once off the streets in our safe home, it was like the light of life came right through him- running, playing, making trouble, a healthy boy.  That’s what we saw.  We are in the process of filling out paperwork with the boys’ biological families.  We took Sam last week.  His parents died of HIV when Sam was 18 months old.  The only living relatives that we found were his elderly grandmother and older brother that Sam calls his dad.  They live in a mud hut lined with scrap metal in the slums that are lined with trash, feces, and a running river of sewage water.  Sam was suffering from abuse and neglect in a family that just wasn’t equipped to care for him. These aren’t details thrown in here to make you feel sorry for them; I am simply responsible for sharing what I have seen.  Jesus demands that of me.  His grandmother looked at our uncle David and told him that Sam is also HIV positive, he has been off of his medication for months, and they presumed him dead. 

Something in my world shifted that morning.  Something broke and became whole at the same time.  I have feared that Mal and I have jumped the gun on some of these kids.  God, have we been running too much on emotions and situations? Trying to fix problems ourselves instead of fully relying on Jesus?  After finding out the news, I broke and I knew that God’s will is working powerfully in this house, He has been in the center of all of this.  This is why Sam was put into our house so suddenly.  God wanted him in a safe shelter, with people who would love, care, and disciple him.  Something broke in me, and was repaired all at once.

So here we are, in this giant waiting room in the pediatrics HIV ward (it’s so big because of the alarming amount of infants and children infected with HIV in Uganda).  I’m waiting with this boy that was so graciously put in our care, to receive the medicine he needs to keep his body alive.

There have been lots of days here where we wonder if we are doing the right things, taking the right kids, filling out the right paperwork, trusting the right people, etc.  We are young and inexperienced, some of our own family and good friends think we are crazy… so yeah, there are times we have thought about jumping ship.  That day as I waited with Sam, defended my relationship to this boy (we don’t really look alike ) as we filled out paperwork, as I saw the patience in his waiting for the doctors- I knew then what God was demanding of us.  He wants us committed, all in, continue following me He says.

Mal and I cried the morning we found out about Sam’s status.  I cried with her when I got back from the long day at the hospital.  I cried this morning after talking with Sammy about what HIV is, how it is spread, how important his medicine is, how he isn’t dirty or different from his brothers.  He is LOVED, PROTECTED, and CHERISHED.  We believe Sam will be healed.  We don’t know when, but we know how.  God is going to heal Sam.  That’s all we need to know. 

Sam has another appointment in 2 weeks at the hospital.  I am thankful Uganda has programs for children to get HIV medication for free.  I am thankful Sam has been cooperating with me every morning and evening when it is time to take it.  We are thankful he is functioning as a healthy little kid right now.  We are asking that you also help fight with Sam and the millions of other children that battle this virus every single day.

“He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” Isaiah 40:11

“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.  I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.  I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” Isaiah 41:17-20