The Burns Kids

We wish you could meet our African “grandchildren.” Yes, now Rich and I consider we have 8 grandchildren in all!

We’ve told you about David who is deaf and mute. He’s a 19 year old living partially independently in a separate home on the property the Burns rent.

Now let us tell you more about Elsie, Peter, and Silas. Have we mentioned how delightful they are? We want to share more of their backgrounds and their hearts.

These three and several others of the Burns’ 9 children have been adopted. Chet and LeAnne have shared with us the adoption stories of Elsie, Peter and Silas. They’ve each come out of desperate situations and been lovingly nurtured to good health and stability.

Elsie is from Zambia where the Burns were missionaries for about a year before coming to Malawi. Both Peter and Silas are from Ethiopia. The Burns had difficulty getting approval for adoption because they already had a large family on the mission field. The stories of their adoptions give testimony to the sovereignty of God, the power of parental bonding and care, and the blessings from having hearts for God and His ways.

Elsie loves to read and be read to. She’s already a little mama at heart, helping with babies whenever she has opportunity and even helping Mama oversee “Bomo Boy” days when neighborhood children come to play a couple times a week. She enjoys dressing her dolls but also gets out to play ball with the boys. Card and board games are played daily here. She beat me mercilessly at Skip Bo, one of the many games we’ve played with the children. Bo is one of Elsie’s several nicknames. I started calling her “Tigger” yesterday when she was jumping up and down at the gate as we returned from Pastor Brian’s all day seminar. She’s a snuggler and squeezes up close when Rich reads and is often holding my hand or wrapped in my arms. She has a big appetite for a 7 year old and thoroughly enjoys her mama’s great cooking.

Peter, 10 years old, eats more slowly than the others, but also has a good appetite. He’s proud of the muscles and weight on his arms that once were so thin. He loves sports of all kinds. He’s proud of the baseball cards he was able to show Rich and Pastor Brian. Yesterday he was developing a World Cup chart to record matches among the three of them. He’s also an animal lover and cares for the chickens, goats and Maggie the dog. All animals here fend for themselves for food, but Maggie is treated to a cupful of dog food a day, much to the puzzlement of Malawians. Maggie supplements that with reptiles she finds in the yard. Peter is the historian also, remembering battles, dates, people and places from ancient history much better than I do. That seems to be his favorite subject in homeschooling.

Silas, also 10, would rather go with Papa (name for their Dad) than settle down to school work. He has a tender servant heart. The tallest of the three children, he’s already aspiring to manhood. He likes to dress sharp and announced today he’d like a suit like the men wear. I have some video of him dancing to the music from an engagement party across the street. His big eyes sparkle with a playful sense of humor. He and Pastor Brian seem to have made a special connection. When it’s his turn to wash dishes, Silas prefers to have Pastor Brian as his dishwashing partner. We’ve heard them having a good time together in the kitchen.
All three children are very obedient, well-mannered and helpful with chores. They excel in hospitality just as their parents do. They’re all sharing a bedroom this month so we can have their rooms. And they ride in the back of the truck so we can ride on the inside.

It’s not unusual for Silas and Peter to get to do this, but evidently Mama doesn’t normally let Elsie ride back there. You should have seen her smile as she bounced around back there on the way to church this morning.

-Marla H