Gladness and Grief

Today has been the roughest day I've ever had in Cambodia. Yes, even worse than the day in February we were deathly ill. Muuuuch worse than that. I hope I'll never have another like it, but I reckon if Jesus keeps me 'round here I will. Sigh.

Altho' the "issue" has been on-going for almost a month, I haven't been at liberty to speak of it to anyone except Ruth & a couple of government officials. This morning our involvement was ended, so I can finally speak of it...in a vague sort of way anyhow.

A guy came by late one night packing lies & three small children. He said he wanted the children to stay with us temporarily because they were in danger of being kidnapped and/or hurt by some wicked fugitives who have a grudge against him for "busting" them. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the guy was telling tall tales, but three littles clearly needed a safe place to stay, so what could we do?

I kept them in hiding here with me at the team house until we were confident there were no predators creeping around the place (knowing the neighbors & having neighbors who love to gossip about strangers in the neighborhood was SUCH a blessing). We could not risk the safety of my siblings if someone really were following the guy & the children. Once we were convinced no one was lurking about to do harm, we moved them to the girls' house where all the other littles live.

The guy called periodically with excuses about why he couldn't retrieve the children yet & finally asked us to turn the children over to a nanny he hired. Ruth asked a trusted friend who's in the know about the guy & we found out our suspicions were right on the mark: the guy is the fugitive & the only people following him are law enforcement agents (from at least two countries & about 5 agencies). Then we were really in it!

The guy is not the natural nor adoptive father of these precious littles, so if we kept the children, we were part of a kidnapping ring & if we passed the children on to someone else, we were part of a human trafficking ring. Just having the children in our care labeled us "associates" & possibly "assessories" to the guy. Oh don't you know we were praying our hearts out!! Besides, & truly beyond, the legalities of the situation, we had three littles who needed loving care & protection....& a few medical tests to reveal if they'd been sexually assaulted, HIV-infected, or suffered any STD's. (I know, I hate to think toddlers may have such problems too, but here it's not uncommon.)

Thank God our trusted friend was able to clear us with a contact at the US embassy, who was able to clear us with a contact at the Ozzie embassy, who put us in contact with a westerner-run Non-Government Organization that rescues children trapped in human trafficking (foreign rescue NGO, aka the only good guys in this country with any real power). who in turn agreed to help us resolve the mess with the local government & place the children in a safe & wonderful foster home until the real parents can be located & checked out (the parents may have willingly given up the littles or sold them & so not be fit to receive them back). The NGO man, a real sweetheart with a lot of backbone, took the littles & me to the proper authorities today to turn the children over to the foster home people.

Funny thing, altho' the littles showed absolutely no attachment, indeed no emotion at all, toward the guy who claimed to be their adopted dad who, according to him, saved them from certain disaster & death, 5 minutes after I met them they were on me like white on rice. God does stuff like that. He let them know that I was a safe place to land, I reckon. The guy claimed they could not speak, so I was surprised when they spoke eagerly & cheerfully & frequently to me. For some reason they spoke only to me tho'. Go fig. God does stuff like that too. But, that blessing made today all the harder.

I had to put the children in a tuk-tuk with yet another complete stranger (who knows how many times they've been thru that already), smile at them, & tell them, "It's OK." They will be OK, but at the moment none of us were OK. I'm still not OK. God, I hope they are.

I'm sooooo glad they're safe & on the way to a stable & loving home, but I'm also grieving. Grieving over the fact that littles suffer confusion & fear & heartache & bodily pain & soul-scarring trauma because wicked adults are willing to put them in harm's way for pocket change.

Lord Jesus, come quickly! Can I get an "amen" somewhere?

9/2/10
Praise God for...
~people willing to risk themselves to prevent others from being put at risk.
~the privilege of eating every day. It is a privilege.
~"big rain" that settles the dust & lifts the spirit.
~the moto driver that enjoyed being caught in the storm as much as I did. We had a blast, especially thru the butt-high flood waters.
~people who ask, "What do you need?"

Petition God for...
~the salvation of those precious souls who nabbed my bag
~the salvation of those who nabbed my ID..
~the capture of & mercy toward the wicked perv you'll read about in this entry.
~more reliable LIA staff

Personal Notes:
~Deb, thanks sooo much for the Thirst! It really makes a difference!
~Judson Baptist Church of La Vista, NE., THANK YOU!!!
~Grapevine, you've just got to learn some hip-hop moves. You'd love it!
~Isaac, I miss you big.