Live and Become

We watched the movie "Live and Become" last night.  

I'd recommend it even though it was very hard to watch.  It is a display of such hurt and devastation for Ethiopians, specifically a Christian Ethiopian boy who is released from a Sudanese refuge camp to Israel in 1984 during Operation Moses. The perseverance of this boy and those around him are amazing.  As I look at my life and see how I struggle with discipline to do things like eat healthy, read my bible, keep my house clean, play with my kids ... the everyday things of life I am in awe at lives like this young Ethiopian boy.

This young Christian Ethiopian boy's mother was alive and was with him at the Sudanese refuge camp.  She sent him away with the Jews that were allowed to be airlifted from the Sudanese refuge camp to flee to Israel so he could live and become. A heartbreaking sacrifice that makes me cry.  She told him to pretend he was a Jew.  He was adopted when he made it to Israel. His adoptive mom loved him dearly.  I don't remember the exact words used, but one of my favorite parts of the movie was when someone told this young boy that he has "so many mothers that love him".  Movies like this really hit my heart.  They are not "just another story about other people" anymore. I get the privilege of  being called "mommy" by these two little guys.  It's hard to put into words the hurt, sacrifice and amazing resilience and perseverance that is seen as my heart has been drawn to a country on the other side of the world.  A beautiful country.  A country that two of my sons are from.  

 The journey to be Buche and Burka's mommy has changed my heart.  It has put life in perspective in many ways.