Kaylah's Hands

Have you ever been deeply moved by something entirely simple? At times, it’s the simple ideas that turn out to be the most profound and the simple acts of love can communicate the deepest emotion. Last Friday, our hearts jumped as we saw our organization’s receptionist set a box down in front of us as we worked in the guesthouse manager’s office. “For us?” we questioned. Sure enough, our names were on the box sent from the US just 10 days prior (pretty fast if you ask me!). It was our first care package since arriving in Ethiopia and one from a very special family (Travis’ brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces whom we miss quite a lot).

As with all our mail, we wait until evening before opening it so that we can spend quality time reading it and praying for the senders. This time was harder than others though because of the unexpected surprises that awaited us in the box. So once dinner was finished and dishes were cleaned up, our attention turned to the care package. The first things we found inside were two giraffe pictures cut out of coloring book, each colored by one of our nieces. They, of course, did an excellent job of coloring so we promptly posted these treasures on our display strings hanging down from the ceiling (see picture).

The next item we found was a large piece of paper folded many time in order to fit in the shoebox. We opened it to find many children’s drawings stretching over the whole 4-5 foot length of the paper. With the paper removed, the final contents of the box now caught our attention. A bracelet kit for us to share with the kids at the orphanage nearby, and a bunch of “comfort foods” from home. Trail mix, Laffy Taffy, A&W Root Beer Barrels and Swedish Fish (all of which are definitely favorites!).

After finding the bottom of the shoebox our attention turned back to the colorful poster now laying on our bed. As we looked closer, we saw that it represented the drawings of many children which attend the Daybreak Preschool that my sister-in-law volunteers at. There are colorful pictures of people, animals, flowers, a house, traced hands and many more things if one adds a little imagination. The traced hands were most interesting as many of the hands had names written on them: names of children some of which we know from my brother’s church: Mina, Gwen, Sterling, Anna and the smallest hands on the who whole paper proudly displaying the name of my favorite 2-year-old niece - Ellie. I love looking at Ellie’s tiny hand prints remembering how small and “cute” she is and the fun that we had with her and her big sister Peyton this past year.

As my eyes came full circle around the poster, something caught my attention that I had not seen before. In the midst of a color explosion were written the following words that sent shivers down my spine and a smile on my face. It simply says, “Kaylah’s hands are praying for Travis and Andrea.” Throughout our time of travelling and speaking in churches, we challenged children to pray for us, believing that the faith found in a child’s prayer uniquely stirs the heart of the Lord to move in powerful ways. Here, the simple statement that Kaylah’s hands are praying for us meant more to us than any of these precious children will ever know. What a privilege it is to be the recipient of Kaylah’s prayers! Even now, I can’t write this without tears of joy and gratitude welling up in my eyes. If you know Kaylah or any of the children represented on the poster which is now mounted on our wall, please give them a HUGE hug and whisper “Travis and Andrea say thank you SO much for praying for them.”