GO FIND YOUR SISTER...

We all have crosses to bear, although a burden to endure, they are also the heart and soul of growth in Christ. When I was 7 years old, I am certain the only cross I had to bear was whether my room was clean or my words were kind to my siblings.
At 7 years old, Muaz was asked to carry a burden I am unable to imagine...
Our meeting in Ethiopia with mama Medina & Mimi (Muaz's older sister in Ethiopia) was a precious experience. Mama was kind and gentle and had a smile as beautiful as Muaz's. He chatted with Mimi, showed her a picture album of his new family and excitedly looked through the Amharic bible we brought for them to keep. The meeting is somewhat of a blur in my mind...Bereket cried through most of it (he was hungry) and I remember feeling a burden for mama that he cried as she held him for the last time. My memory of this brief and precious meeting is a blur of emotion. I recall mama and Mimi smiling a lot during the meeting and speaking with the orphanage director in Amharic. At the end of the meeting, I remember feeling gripped with sadness for the good bye that was taking place. In what felt like a second in time, there was embracing and crying and then they were gone... And there stood our Muaz...alone...staring at the gate to Hannah's Hope and quickly wiping tears from his eyes... I stood frozen for a brief second, trying to absorb the enormity of the moment. We cautiously approached our new son, and as his little body leaned in (giving us permission), we embraced him.
In recalling this special time with Muaz, I later learned what mama said to him during our brief time together. She said, "Bereket doesn't even know I am his mama." Amidst his crying, she was mourning the reality of her ultimate sacrifice for him. And she said to Muaz, "Go find your sister..." At 7 years old, he was asked to bear the burden of finding his siter whom had been relinquished before him and was already in America with her new family. This mother knew she could not keep her children and she had such a strong desire for them to be together again. I wonder what he was thinking when he saw his sister for the first time here in America. The picture above is worth a thousand words...