Ahmad, your little face makes me smile now. I remember that day when you walked up to me with big grin on your mischievous face, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud! A few girls, 5-9, trailed behind you, giggling. They had just put red lipstick on you, and painted your little finger nails a rainbow of colors.
That face- one of the cutest faces I've ever seen- is etched in my mind
Your eyes- lovely, beautiful hazel colored, just like your older brother
Soft, smooth, brown hair that glistened gold in the sunshine...
--This is how I remember you.
I loved to cuddle your little 2 year-old body. My brother Iain reminded me of you, and when you were close, I somehow felt a little closer to him. But there were some big differences, I could see, in how the two of you live.
Iain was born in the safety of America. You were born in Iraq, where there have been tensions for years. I don't know if you were born in a little town, or a big city like Erbil or Mosul. But I know you were brought up in violence. You and your brother could be the sweetest boys one moment, and then the next, I'd watch in horror as you ran with a metal stick at another boy, ready to strike him in the head. I'd try with all my might and any power I had to stop you. But something was hidden inside you that I didn't understand... it was like violence to others was part of your nature. You lived around it constantly. Only God knows if you witnessed the crimes of ISIS, if you had seen people die. Really, it is so likely you did. The very fact your father decided to make the perilous journey across the Northern Agean Sea with his family shows how desperate he was.
Oh Ahamd, I don't know where you are now. But I pray for you! I pray that all the violence you have seen and experienced and learned from, will be traded for Hope and Joy and Life. Oh little guy, I pray you come to know Jesus! The pain and hurt, the awful images that are in your mind, I pray they are exchanged for peace, that only Isa gives.
I will always remember you, little Ahmad. I pray you grow to be a man, and not only a man, but a good man, who cares for the needs of others, who decides to give love rather than hate, and loves Jesus.
