Small Miracles

There must be something in the water here, or maybe the cooks are adding something to the kids food.  I don't know what it is, but the children seem to be growing up so fast lately.  It makes me so happy to see these kids doing so well, but also a little sad that they are getting so big so fast.  Here are a few examples...

The little girl that stayed with Nick and I when we were here in January is finally walking.  She has been so close for 6 months, and then all the sudden she started walking and hasn't stopped since.  She is all over the place, and learned right before her second birthday.

There is another little boy who has been living here since July.  This little guy couldn't put any weight on his legs for months.  You would hold him up and try to have him stand, put he couldn't.  Even with help, he wouldn't rest an ounce on his legs.  Now, however, not only does he stand assisted, but walks when you hold his hands and crawls all over the place.  He is fast too!!  When he crawls, he has a giant smile on his face and sways his head from side to side!  He is much happier now that he is more mobile.

There is another little boy here with special needs.  When he started crawling, people were amazed.  Now he pulls himself up onto everything and walks around whenever he has something to hold on to.  His nannies hold his hands a lot and have him walk all over the place.  It looks like before long he will be walking unassisted!  When you let go of his hands, he can now balance himself and stand on his own for several seconds before falling.

There are so many more stories I could go on and on about, but I don't have all day, and I assume you don't either.  I will conclude with one more story.

A few days before Nick and I moved down to COTP, a little baby girl was admitted.  When I say little I mean LITTLE.  She weighed 1 lb 13 oz.  I even made the comment that she weighed less than a brick of cheese.  She was tiny.  We didn't have an incubator to put her in.  She wasn't in intensive care like she would have been in the States.  All she had was us, our love, and our prayers.  This little girl went home a little over a month ago and now weighs over 11 lbs!  We enrolled her in the formula program to help create a smooth transition home, so I get to see her every two weeks!  She is doing amazing in her Mothers care and is absoulutly beautiful!!

All these things are miracles and show how God is using us to do great things here.  I can't take credit for any of these celebrations!  Emily is the one who woke up every two hours each night with our premie babies for months.  She is the one who gets the credit for saving her life.  There are short term volunteers here now, and have been a lot more in the past who have worked countless hours helping each of these other children learn to walk, crawl, and flourish developmentally.  All of our nannies spend a lot of time with the children helping them in the areas that they are behind in.  Many more people have prayed specifically for each of our children and for the tasks they had to over come.  All these people are the ones who get credit for these great events!

Nick and I have been spending hours implementing a new system to how we organize pictures and distribute them to adoptive parents, sponsors, and staff stateside.  During this process we have come across several sets of admit pictures.  There have been a few children who I just open a picture for and start at it for the longest time!  I can't believe how far they have come.  Children who were literally skin and bones are now FAT.  Children who were inches away from death, now crawling, laughing, and healthy!  Children who refused to eat, now having seconds!

I have learned from working here that there is nothing more frustrating than a malnourished child refusing to eat, but there is nothing more rewarding than seeing them gain weight!