I had a hard time sleeping last night.

As I was laying in bed last night I got to thinking about the kids at the JCC orphanage in Bo, Sierra Leone. I was in my fantastic apartment, laying in my soft bed with several blankets and the window cracked. I thought about the kids who at JCC were in a concrete room inside a razor wire compound sleeping in home made bunk beds covered with mosquito nets to try to fend off malaria. No glass or screens on their windows and no air conditioning because there's no electricity. Getting up for a glass of water in the middle of the night would require a flashlight and using the noisy well pump, unless they had thought ahead and pre-pumped some water before bedtime.
The kids are beautiful. I thought about Patrick, how adorable he is and how he seems to think he's one of the "big boys" at 4. I also thought of Junior, that little stinker at 2 running around playing shy with all our students to get attention. Nancy, Mabel, Christiana and some of the other older girls who are trying to navigate teen years. And of course Betty, my "Piqueing" or small child. I want so much to go wrap her up in my arms with a hug.
Laying there last night, there was nothing I could physically do for them but continue to lay there and pray for them. Pray that as they sleep they are safe, that God continues to call the 85 or so kids to himself, that they would know that they are loved and that they would be able to grow into men and women of Christ who makes an impact of the world around them. Pray for them with me would you?