It's easy, sometimes, to focus on all of the hopes that are being deferred, in my life and the lives of those here at Tania.
There are little things being deferred: comforts that we can't afford for kids and staff, favorite foods that I can't find in Kenya, comforts of a familiar culture.
There are large things being deferred: I won't get to meet my new baby nephew until he's over a year old, I'm waiting to be with so many people who I love back in the States, Tania is waiting for the projects begun in February to start generating income, children here with special needs are waiting for the resources to allow them to be the best students they can be, orphans here are waiting for someone to call mom and dad.
Focusing on these deferred hopes certainly can make the heart grow sick. To keep from despairing, I need to remember how many longings have been fulfilled here.
Though many children are still waiting for a mom and dad, they now have a hundred brothers and sisters, staff here who love them, a roof over their heads, and food in their bellies.
Many children who longed for an education are now receiving it.
I longed for years to be in Kenya, and here I am, living here for three years.
The directors of the Tania Centre longed for a beautiful, life-giving place for orphans and children with special needs when they began the centre over 15 years ago, and that is exactly what it has become.
Joseph, one of the founders & directors of the Tania Centre, told me that the property on which Tania sits had only two trees when they moved here. They spent many hours planting, watering, and caring for tree saplings to help bring new growth and life to Tania. Today, it is practically a forest here on Tania property. Trees fill the space between the dorms and the school, they line the edges of the fields on the farm, and provide fire wood to fuel the school kitchen. It may have been hard to imagine 15 years ago when they were first being planted, but these trees of life remind me that God will fulfill the longings he gives us, but in his time, not ours.
So I will keep praying for the orphans to be placed in families, for the students with special needs to be given what they need to learn and grow, for Tania to start generating income, for the children and staff here to feel comfort, even without comforts that are common in the US. I will continue letting my loved ones back home know how much I love them, and I will spend a ridiculous amount of time staring at pictures of my baby nephew. But I will not despair over the delay of these hopes. I will look out my window at the trees that were only a hope 15 years ago and remember that God will fulfill our hopes in his time.
