Dear Olivia,
Today I am sitting in a hammock. It’s early evening; the sun is shining through the tree branches, while the wind blows the leaves so that the shadows dance on the wooden fence. We just finished playing games and doing soccer drills with children who live in the Harkaville community in South Africa. For some reason they reminded me of you today. I miss your funny little 2 ½ year old faces, your giggle at giving Mommy and Aunt Ginny coffee from Daddy’s stinky shoes, and the way you sometimes say “yea, Gin”. I think about how easy it is to love you and I think about all the people that do love you. I pray you grow up to be loyal and confident like your Mom, strong and giving like your Dad, and that you would know how much God loves you and through that knowledge would love Him fiercely in return.
I think about how much you’re loved and wanted and how it shows in so many ways – though hugs and kisses, through words and even through the “nos” of loving discipline. When I think about you I think about the little girl in the garbage dump in Ecuador, the beautiful children at the orphanage in Bolivia, and the gypsy kids in Romania. I also think about and the kids here in South Africa. In many ways they are just like you. They are affectionate, they love attention, they love to play and laugh.
One of things I want to learn on the Race is how to love people well. Love them like I love you. Love them not for what they do or for what they believe, but simply because they have value. Love them not because they love me but because they were created by the same God who created me. Sometimes I get frustrated and wonder if we are making a difference, especially when the children at the Harkaville School push each other, try taking things from our pockets, and steal other children’s bread. Then the Lord reminds me that He loves me through and despite my faults and sins and that is what He is calling us to do here, to love these children like I love you, like I love Him. Love them when they are affectionate, love them when they are taking things from my pockets. Love because He first loved us.
I know now that you will not understand this letter, but someday you will and in that day I pray you will be a woman who loves, who takes all she has been given and uses it to bring God’s love and glory here on earth.
I love you Livy-Laine and think of you often,
Aunt Ginny
