Tinsae

Today we received heartbreaking news that the youngest
baby girl in our TESFA PROJECT, 

Tinsae passed away. 

Sweet Tinsae was admitted to the orphanage just days before our arrival in January having been found abandoned.  She was just 5 pounds at a month old.

I remember holding her at the end of the day with just Aimee and Jeanie in the room and we all sat there hearing her story with tears in our eyes.  We all marveled at her beauty and were overcome by the tough start to life she had already endured.  

We knew that she had been sick and had been treated at the hospital recently.  The last update we got was that she was improving.  When I got the news today that she had died I was overcome with sadness. 

Life is fleeting. 

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14

A friend of our suddenly lost her 18 year old son this past December and ever since, the idea of living with an eternal focus has constantly been on my mind.  I entered this year with a desire to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus because life is hard and in the end, all that matters is loving God and loving others. 

I can not explain why my friend had to loose her son or why this precious baby girl is no longer on this earth.  I only know that God is using these very hard things to call us to Himself and for His glory.

Tinsae was part of a new program with Haddis Ministries called "The Tesfa Project." She, along with two other baby girls, was living at the orphanage temporarily until she was hopefully adopted by local Ethiopian families. The government has asked the orphanage at BOH to care for babies while they wait, but they have not provided the resources for them to do this. 

So while we were there we decided to look for people to sponsor the nanny and the babies in this program.  The monthly cost to support the nanny and babies along with all of their formula and supplies is about $400 per month. 

Now that we have lost Tinsae we have a greater sense of urgency to take care of these babies. 

If you would like to be a part of this program, giving hope to orphans as they await their adoptions, follow this link to learn more about the 

TESFA PROJECT.

Tinsae's name means "resurrection." She was named "resurrection" because she was abandoned and left for dead and when she was found she was raised to new life.  

Although the remainder of her life was brief, we can rejoice because she has now truly been raised to new life. 

While I had hoped to watch her grow and be adopted into an earthy family, she has been adopted by her heavenly father and is now fully loved, fully accepted, safe and free of all disease and pain.  She will never have to know the hurt and disappointment of this world.  She will never feel undervalued or lonely.

She is in the loving arms of Jesus and there truly is no better place to be.

It is hard for us to grasp this concept of dying being better than living as Philippians 1:21 says, "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

But when you surrender your life to Jesus, 

trusting that He died on the cross in your place,

to take away your sins so that you may live forever with Him, 

then you can live with eternity in view.  

You can live knowing that the temporary pain and loss of this world is nothing compared to the glory that awaits us in Jesus. 

And that is what I hope for every single person who reads her story.

That you would surrender your life to the only One who satisfies.  The only One who is worth putting your hope in.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”Romans 10:13

Tinsae

December 2019-February 15, 2020

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18                      

May her legacy live on for years to come and her memory be kept alive through the TESFA PROJECT and may the Lord be glorified.  Amen