My wife (Natalie) and my older children (Caleb and Hannah) along with our friend (Suzanne) travelled to Ethiopia from July 4-11 to pick up our newest children Beck and Deshi, two year old twins we recently adopted through Gladney in Ethiopia. In preparing for the trip, Suzanne, Caleb and I decided to visit the Kidmia campus in Gunchire, about four hours southwest of Addis Ababa. Over the previous two years, I had gotten to know some of Kidmia’s leadership, especially Matt Brost and Scott Brown, and I had recently been invited to join the Board of Directors of Kidmia. As such, I wanted to visit the operations to make sure I was comfortable with being formally associated with Kidmia as well as better understand how I could use my time, talents and treasures to further God’s work through Kidmia.

So on July 5 Sally Baer, a key volunteer for Kidmia in Ethiopia, took Caleb, Suzanne, and I to Kidmia for the day. Along the way we stopped to buy two pregnant sheep for the campus which would provide a future stream of revenue through the sale of offspring. Did I mention the sheep sat in the back seat with me for the final ninety minute drive to Gunchire!?!? That was a first time experience for me. All in all, we were able to buy six sheep, one hundred chickens (enough to feed the children breakfast daily), and some books and music. And we got to involve some of our friends back in Dallas at Watermark Community Church by providing them with the opportunity to contribute the funds used to buy everything we bought for Kidmia. In addition, my mother-in-law sewed a doll for each girl at Kidmia and provided a match box car for each boy, and my older son and daughter used their savings to buy soccer balls for the kids.

Along the way to Gunchire, we had lunch with Tesfaye, the director of the Kidmia campus in Gunchire, and Amha, the accountant for Kidmia in Addis. It was fun to get to know the local leadership of Kidmia, and I was very encouraged by their passion for the children at Kidmia and its mission to provide loving homes for the children. After lunch, we got to Kidmia which instantaneously led to a game of soccer with most of the twenty-something kids at Kidmia. This was followed by playing with cars and dolls and throwing the kids in the air (until my back got sore). We had a blast playing for three hours, and I was humbly reminded these children are the same as my four children, except they don’t have a loving mother and father yet. I was reminded of God’s unfailing love for orphans and my calling as a follower of Christ to care for the orphans.

While at Kidmia, the leaders of the local evangelical church came by for a visit, so we got to encourage them as they live in an area that is about 90% Muslim. And as always, these believers were also an encouragement for us. They visit Kidmia often to pray for and encourage the kids. I look forward to spending more time with them and the local church on my next visit to Kidmia.

If you will be visiting Ethiopia in the future and are looking for a way to get more involved with caring for orphans, I encourage you to make a visit to Kidmia. There are folks in Addis who would be happy to bring you to Kidmia for a day or two, and I can assure you it will be an encouragement for you, the children, and Kidmia’s staff. You can also bring things for the kids. Just be sure to ask what they current needs are, so you bring the right stuff. Even if you can’t make it to Kidmia, someone in Addis can make sure the gift gets to Gunchire. Also, if you are looking for a way to help provide for the physical needs of orphans, Kidmia is a great ministry to steward some of your financial resources through.

Beau