IT'S ALL WORTH IT

Sunday, Sept. 21st
We've had some good days since the last time I wrote.  Physically, I don't feel too tired and emotionally I've been doing good......praying a lot, but feeling God's presence and knowing he's there with me.  Some of the highlights the last few days have been:
Friday:  We ate dinner with Ruth and Linda at a family's house who have also adopted a Burkina boy.  Isaac and Melissa have 2 girls and one adopted boy, Steve.  Steve and Arouna were in the same orphanage.  Steve(4) is such a sweetie, wanting to help Arouna eat, hugging him and holding his hand.  We talked til almost 9pm about living in Africa, adopting, etc. while the kids played and Arouna sat on the carpet and took it all in.
Saturday:  We decided to go to a hotel  today to swim.  There is a nice hoteal a block from where we're staying, so at around 10am, we walked there.  The water is colder than what Arouna is used to.  This is our 2nd time at the pool and he likes it after he gets accustomed to the temperature.  We stayed til noon and then Arouna and I walked back to the guesthouse while Robert went to a grocery store.  I fed Arouna lunch and put him down for a nap.  He fell asleep finally about the time we were ready to go back to the pool.  So we woke him up and went back for an hour or so.  After that, we went to a "fast food" place and ordered paninis and we expected to get sick from eating them but we didn't and they were really good.
And then today, we went to church this morning at the International English service.  After the service, we went with Ruth and Linda to a large store called Marina.  It's a 3 storey store, somewhat like Wal-
Mart with a restaurant and playplace on the 3rd floor.  Robert and I ordered hamburgers and they were good.  The highlight was not the food, but what the Burkina man behind the counter who took our order said.  When he saw us with Arouna, he said, "Thank you so much for what you're doing for this child.  He would have no chance at life in our country.  You are saving a life."  I'll never forget this man what he said.  After we ate, he came up to us and said it again.  He'll never know how much that meant to me.  At times when it's hard and I'm tempted to wonder if it's all worth it, I pray that this sweet mans words come back to me.  I hope one day in heaven I'm able to hug this man and tell him what a gift it was.
After lunch, we came home, put Arouna down for a nap, and packed for tomorrow.  I'm ready to get back, though it's not home we're going to first.  I miss my kids so much and the fact that internet has been so lousy here has made it even harder.  I love West Africa and the people here, but I'm reminded of how hard it is to actually live here.  We leave tomorrow night on an Air Brussels flight at 9:45pm.  It's going to be really hard to get Arouna to sleep on the plane, so I'm hoping he's so exhausted by the time it takes off that he just falls over asleep.  I guess we'll see.  :)