Christopher

I've fallen in love.

My husband knows all about it.  And what's more, he's fine with it.

So I thought it was time I get it out in the open.

He's an amazing, handsome, younger man with a beautiful smile and beautiful brown eyes.  And he's stolen my heart.

Meet Christopher.

I met Christopher last year on my first trip to Uganda.  He lives at one of the orphanges we visited - in fact, the one we lived at for four days - Canaan Children's Home.

At Canaan, when a mission team drives through the gate, the children SWARM the bus, screaming and jumping up and down - it totally makes you feel like a rock star!  :)  And all the while as the bus is creeping along, trying to avoid running over any small bodies, the kids are scanning the windows, staking out who will be "their" friend from this team.  Before you even make it off the bus, they're grabbing your hand, pulling you away from the other kids.  And let me tell you - no other kid better make a move on you, lest they face the wrath of the first one who picked you!

Well, last year Christopher picked me. :)

[See the pic below on the left?  Look at the girl who's just stepping off the bus, then look just above her left forearm - that's Christopher looking for me!]

Every time I would come out of our dorm, Christopher would be there waiting for me.  When we came back from working at other ministries every afternoon, it wouldn't take him long to find me.  When we came out of the dining hall after dinner - there he would be.  Somehow he could always find me in the dark, unlit courtyard.  He held my hand and played with my camera and went with me everywhere.  We talked and talked and talked.

And on our second day there he gave me a letter he had written to me - addressed "Dear Mama" and signed "From Your Son."

And my heart was gone.

It is an amazing thing how God almost instantaneously melds your heart together with this little person that you just met - who "randomly" picked you out of a lineup through a bus window.  It happened almost without fail to nearly every person on my team - both last year and this year.

Throughout the year my family and I wrote letters to Christopher and sent him pictures (gifts aren't allowed).  He wrote to me only once, and oh how I cherished that letter!  I thought of him so, so often - wondering how he was, how school was going, if he was lonely or hungry or sick. 

One day a couple of months after I came home last year I got a TEXT from him!!  He had asked me for my phone number, and I thought, "What harm can it do?  He doesn't have any way to call me."  But a boy at school had a phone, and he let Chris use it to text me!  I was in shock!  In the text Christopher said that he was very sick, but he didn't want me to tell anyone because he was afraid if they found out they would keep him out of school.  Wow, how unlike kids in America.  It's very likely he had malaria.  I can't imagine how he managed to go to school every day and keep up appearances enough so that no one would know.  :(

I never told Chris I was coming back to Canaan.  I refused to be another source of disappointment to him if something were to happen and I wasn't able to go.  And so he didn't know I was coming.  This time as the bus pulled through the gates, I was the one scanning the crowd of kids looking for Chris.  And I saw him through the window.  I was about half-way back on the bus, and Chris was near the door, scanning the faces of those getting off the bus.  I wonder now if he had already picked out someone else on the team to be "his". :)

When I called to him through the window, he turned and started looking around to see who had called his name.  I called him again, and this time he saw me.

I have never. ever. in my life. ever before received a greeting like the one I got from Christopher that day.  Imagine an athlete who has just won the national championship.  He started JUMPING and SCREAMING and FIST PUMPING and climbing over the throng of kids to get to me!  Oh my gosh, it was the most wonderful thing EVER!  I have no pictures, because I was just trying to get off the bus and get to him! :)

Christopher hugged me and hugged me and smiled from ear to ear.  He kept saying, "I didn't think you were coming back!"  Oh, what a happy, happy day. 

He has grown so much over the past year!  Here's a picture of us together last year:

And here we are this year:

This is a ridiculously horrid picture of me, but I'm willing to brave putting it on my blog so you all can see what a handsome young man Christopher is becoming.  This is my absolute favorite of him!

Chris is an amazing young man.  His just turned 15 this past Monday (July 16th).  He is SO smart, polite, kind, and articulate.  He is a role model and big brother to the younger kids at Canaan, and is so patient and helpful with them.  Not all of the older kids are like that - a lot of them see the younger kids as a nuisance.  The first year I was there, Chris acted as the interpreteer for us during Sunday School.  God has clearly gifted him as a leader, and he is well-liked and respected by his peers as well as the adults.  He also sings in the church choir!

Last year I was too scared to ask Chris anything about his past - or even his plans for the future - not knowing how sensitive that subject might be.  This year I found out from the director of Canaan, an incredible man named George (who I hope to blog more about soon), that Christopher's father died when Chris was very young. His mom is alive, but she was very young herself when her husband died, and she had no way to provide for her two - TWO - young children.  Christopher went to live at Canaan when he was only five years old. Oh my heart.

One night Chris and I were talking about my family, and I told him that my daughter will be turning twelve (!) in August.  He said, "She's the same age as my sister."

WHAT?

I never knew he had a sister!  And guess what her name is?  Not Valerie. :)  It's Christine - which is my middle name.  Such a sweet surprise.  Christine still lives with Christopher's mom and his grandmother.  I'm not sure why it was that she got to stay while Chris had to leave.  It breaks my heart and makes me so sad.  But our God causes all things to work together for our good, and who knows what Chris's life would've been like if he had stayed with his mom.  As it is, he is well cared for, loved, provided meals and medical care (even though both are pretty limited), and gets to go to school.  And he still gets to see his mom, grandmother, and sister on a pretty regular basis.

When I asked Chris about his plans for the future, he told me he wants to go to "university" in America!  He wants to become a pastor and return to Uganda to start his own church.  What amazing dreams God has planted in this young man's heart!  I pray with all my heart that God will bring them to pass.

Our time at Canaan was way too short this year.  We got there pretty late on a Saturday afternoon, then on Sunday we had church - which in Uganda is reeeeeeally long. :)  That afternoon all of the children performed songs and dances for us, and then it was time to leave for our boat tour of the Nile River.  Honestly, I would have rather just stayed with Chris, but I didn't think it would've been appropriate for me to ask. :)

On Monday, of course, the kids had school, and the older kids like Chris don't get home until about 6:00 so we just had a few hours to spend with them....and then on Tuesday morning we left. :(  We stopped by the school before we left town, and I got to hug Christopher one (or ten) more time(s) and remind him how much I love him.  As I left his classroom I broke down in uncontrollable tears.  My heart was broken as I truly felt like I was leaving one of my own children behind, not knowing when I will see him again.

I've been home a month today.  And every day since I've been back, my thoughts have never been far from Uganda, and especially from Christopher.  For the first couple of weeks, he was the first thought on my mind every morning, and the last thought at night.  I would look at the clock a dozen times during the day, mentally calculating what time it was in Uganda and what Chris would be doing right about then. 

Thoughts of him don't consume my every waking moment anymore, but almost. :)  My heart still feels like I left my son on the other side of the world, and I can't see him, talk to him, email him - or even text him! ;)  My only means of communicating with him is through the very slow mail system.  I am constantly praying for him, asking God to protect him, keep him in good health, and grow him into a wise, godly man of faith and integrity.

I'm asking God to fulfill the dreams he's planted in Christopher's heart.  And to allow my family to be a part of that, if He's willing.

And I'm asking Him to please let me go back to see Chris again.  Very soon.