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The staff at Carolina Hope wants to thank Desiring God for their very kind and thoughtful blog post about our recent trip to Ethiopia and our upcoming benefit concert.  Lukas Naugle’s post was encouraging to us.  It has been our great privilege to partner with them in these ways.

(Donations to help Ethiopian orphans can be made here. Tickets to the Ethiopia Benefit Concert can be purchased here.)

[[ This photo has been removed to honor Ethiopia's desire that photos of orphans not be displayed on websites. ]]

(Donations to help Ethiopian orphans can be made here. Tickets to the Ethiopia Benefit Concert can be purchased here.)

:: picture taken by dan ::

[[ This photo has been removed to honor Ethiopia's desire that photos of orphans not be displayed on websites. ]]

(Donations to help Ethiopian orphans can be made here. Tickets to the Ethiopia Benefit Concert can be purchased here.)

:: picture taken by dan ::

These children were enjoying watching themselves as I filmed them. And yes, I was listening.

Wesen, the gentleman speaking, is talking about churches sending mission teams to this orphanage to serve these orphans (builders, teachers, musicians, electricians, health professionals, people who just love spending time with children, etc).

[[ This video has been removed to honor Ethiopia's desire that photos of orphans not be displayed on websites. ]]

[Update: Donations to benefit Ethiopian orphans can be made here. Tickets to the Ethiopia Benefit Concert can be purchased here.]

Marty McAlpine, Media Engineer at Desiring God, accompanied us on our trip to Ethiopia to video capture much of what we did while there. The director of the orphanage where the picture below was taken told us that many professional cameramen come through their particular village (a village with 20,000+ known cases of AIDS) to capture footage, but he had never seen any of them sit on the floor to film. They always film while standing in order to protect their health. The orphanage director then went on to say that he was deeply moved that Marty did not hesitate to sit on the floor to film these beautiful children. He saw Jesus in this action. Marty spent most of his time on the floor at this orphanage. I, for one, am very thankful to God for Marty’s service on this trip. My time with him was very edifying.

[[ This photo has been removed to honor Ethiopia's desire that photos of orphans not be displayed on websites. ]]

[Update: Donations to benefit Ethiopian orphans can be made here. Tickets to the Ethiopia Benefit Concert can be purchased here.]

*see more pics from our trip to orphanages in Ethiopia here.

**Key articles:

A Fresh Look at James 1:27
Thabiti on Transracial adoption and the Gospel
“Abba! Father!” and Transracial Adoption

[[ This photo has been removed to honor Ethiopia's desire that photos of orphans not be displayed on websites. ]]

This picture, as well as the last, was taken in the neediest orphanage of the three with which we are working. These children have great food support needs, space needs, and clothing needs. Yet look at this little girl’s smile. This is a smile that is blossoming in the midst of profoundly difficult life circumstances. As you take a few minutes to look at her face, pray for her. Pray that God will supply all the food she needs each day. Pray that the orphanage will obtain more room so that 2-3 children do not have to sleep in the same small bed as then now do. Pray for her clothing needs. And most of all, pray that she will be adopted by a strong Christian family. (Donations can be made here.)

[[ This photo has been removed to honor Ethiopia's desire that photos of orphans not be displayed on websites. ]]

I’ve dreamed about Ethiopia every night since my return from that amazing country. One thing I am learning is that you really don’t visit Ethiopia when you cross its borders. It visits you. Ethiopia — its people, its cultures, and especially its orphans — presses itself in upon your heart with great weight. I’m still trying to prayerfully process everything I witnessed and experienced there. There were several occasions while in Ethiopia when I sat in complete silence — not because there was nothing in my heart worth saying, but because I could not put what was in my heart into words. I’m still finding appropriate words difficult to come by.

So, what I thought I would do is blog a series of posts that contain pictures taken during our time there. After all, they say that “a picture’s worth…” I took this first picture at one of the orphanages with which our agency is now working. We had just handed out colored pencils and paper to the children. They were all very quick to sit down to start drawing. (Donations can be made here.)

[[ This photo has been removed to honor Ethiopia's desire that photos of orphans not be displayed on websites. ]]

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans…in their affliction” (James 1:27).