Spoken For

This is Gloria Mugisha, and I promise you this picture doesn't even begin to do justice as to how beautiful this newborn baby girl is. Gloria is PERFECT. She is peaceful. Her wide eyes are so beautiful and shine bright. I know everyone thinks that all newborn babies are perfect and beautiful and precious. But I promise you, Gloria really is perfect! :)

And the Lord has already ordained all of her days, before one of them even came to be. I know He has a special plan for this child of His. He has already rescued her and given her life, and I know His blessings will be on her! When she was just four days old (a few weeks ago), the guards in my neighborhood found this baby lying naked in the field beside our church and school. The dogs had surrounded her and I think they helped save her life by barking and alerting the soldiers who patrol our streets at night. They found her and took her to Margeurite's house, our Umudugudu (chief).

Now Gloria is being lovingly fostered by one of our pastors, Brett and Keli Shreck, and their family. The Shrecks have two older girls, and two younger boys that they adopted a few years ago from the Home of Hope orphanage in town. They gave her the name Gloria Mugisha, which translates to blessings in kinyarwanda. They hope that God's glory will be seen through this precious baby. We praise God that all of her tests came back negative and she is the healthiest baby and growing fatter every day! From the first few days that she was rescued until now, you can already tell a great difference in her disposition and personality. She is calm and peaceful now, as Keli swaddles her. Her eyes have calmed down and I know she knows she is loved. You can see it in her eyes now.

Our church has begun a ministry called Spoken For, where they help facilitate fostering and adoptions of orphans and vulnerable children in Kigali. Currently, our church members are fostering 3 babies that need homes. Gabriel, is with the Jenkins family, and has not been as lucky as sweet Gloria. Gabriel has endured many brain seizures and has a cyst on this brain. He's very small, and has been to many hospitals in the region already. The Jenkins already have 5 other children, two that they adopted from Uganda. Please pray for Gabriel's health, and that we can find a forever-family for him!

It's estimated that that there are 15% child-headed households in Rwanda, and 4,000 orphans. Rwanda has begun a new program of attempting to de-institutionalize all the children in their orphanages, and arrange families and homes for them to belong too. And our church wants to be apart of this, not just as individual families, but as a church BODY. The body of Christ, stepping in to protect and grow and love these sweet children.

Adoption is written all over the New Testament. We are adopted into His Sonship, we are set free from slavery and fear, and the Holy Spirit leads us into freedom. We are spoken for. Adopted into His eternal hosuehold forever! Our church is striving to extend this grace and love to these vulnerable children by praying for then, fostering them, and helping to facilitate longterm forever-families for these children. We've already established a great partnership with Home of Hope orphanage, and our church has helped facilitate many adoptions here and abroad. It's always so humbling and amazing to be there when a young one meets their forever-family for the first time. Theres laughter, tears, singing, and God's presence is all over the place!

Please join us in praying for Baby Gloria, and Gabriel, who has many special needs. Pray for their foster families, and that forever-families will soon be found to adopt these two beautiful babies. Join us in praying for their biological parents too, and for the ministry of Spoken For to continue being the hands and feet of Jesus in our city on a hill.