The beginning

Welcome to this blog and welcome in joining us on this incredible journey!
(Om du hellre vill läsa bloggen på svenska, klicka på länken "På svenska" här ovan, eller klicka på Google Translate på högra sidan)

Allow us to start from the beginning and tell you what we are doing and why. However, since these days are also the days when we are actually starting to talk about the "how", please stay tuned to this blog as we will update it continually.

Our names are Laurie and Andreas Kjernald. We are two ordinary people who have harbored an extraordinary dream for many, many years. However, the name of the blog, Because of Two, doesn't refer to us.
Back in 2005 we went to Nepal to adopt our first son, Samuel. For obvious reasons that trip changed our lives forever, we became parents for the first time. Flying in to Kathmandu is an awe-inspiring experience since the Himalayan mountains are everywhere and simply incredibly beautiful. During our visit in the capital city of Kathmandu we found ourselves in a different world. Walking down the street we could literally see thousands of years of culture crashing together as goat-herders walked by signs for Internet cafées and mudhuts sat next to gleaming, glass-covered office buildings.

It all began on a normal day...
...walking in "downtown" Kathmandu for some official errand pertaining to the adoption of our son. The chaos, the noise and the ever-present fog of diesel-fumes made everything seem almost surreal. After all, isn't Kathmandu one of those exotic places you hear about but never expect to visit? So there we were, walking along with our guide (who also happened to be the director of the orphanage where our son was). To our amazement, we saw a little stand where a man was selling fresh, red strawberries in the middle of all this. The contrast was stark, with the dirty, noisy chaos all around us. We were tempted to buy some but decided (wisely) against it. We moved on and crossed the street.  Our guide kept walking and we tried to keep up. For once, my sense of direction was completely confused and there would have been no small matter finding our way by ourselves.

Then we heard something.

Amidst the chaos and the noise, we heard a cry. We looked around and saw two small children sitting by the side of the road leaning on a small metal fence, inches away from the crazy city traffic. Two small children, no older than 5, sat there in the middle of this chaos, and cried. They were covered in the filth of the city, one was half-naked and was only wearing a shirt but no pants, the other had a thin shirt on. It was January. You didn't have to be a doctor to see that they were freezing, hungry and scared.
The thing was, we had just passed them by. Sure, we didn't mean to, but we had. The director kept on walking but we stopped and looked at each other. In the blink of an eye we shared the same thoughts. This was 2005 and there were two children freezing, starving and lonely in the middle of thousands of people. It shouldn't be. It was not ok.

So we turned around and sat down by those two kids. What could we do? What could we say? They didn't look at us and they didn't understand what we said. They simply sat there, one crying and the older one just staring ahead, trying to comfort his brother without any hope that things would get better. Our guide had realized that we were not following her and had stopped to see what we were doing. We could feel her impatience but we couldn't just leave. So we tried to offer some comfort, we shared what money we had and we got up and left to go about our business.

Those two boys have never left my mind (Andreas). The contrast of the fresh, red strawberries and the dirty, crying young boys was immense. The fact that the orphanage director had scolded us for taking pity on kids "probably placed there by their parents to beg". The incredible sense of not having done enough.

I know, there are millions of children in need and we can't save them all.
I know, they probably were placed there by their parents, like the local expert had said.
I know, there are lots of "if's", "and's" and "but's".

But it simply wasn't ok. No child should have to be hungry or lonely or scared or freezing or having no hope. If there was a way, any way, we wanted to offer some help and some hope.

So...
this is the story of God moving people for what moves His heart. Because of two small children, we are flying to Nepal in 2013 to start our dream of doing something for the children of Nepal. We are going to start an orphanage for children who are in need...in need of a home, of food, of warmth, of schooling, but most importantly of love and the hope found in God.

Thank you for coming to this blog and reading about our dream as it unfolds. We are so excited about this and can't wait to see how God moves among us. We will continue to share with you what is going on and keep you updated. We would love for you to partner with us and give generously to this project in money, time or prayer...or all three. Would you consider it?


Until next time,
Andreas and Laurie Kjernald