Yesterday, Linda (my friend and the one who runs our work in Uganda) went on a community visit in an area of Uganda we’ve been asked to help. She told me briefly about a situation she came across. I want to share their story with you.

She met a family of seven little girls.  The oldest is 13 and the youngest is 7 months.  The baby is very malnourished.  Their dad lives and works hours away in the capital city.  Their mom died.  For weeks at a time these seven little girls are alone.

ALONE.

A 13 year old girl is the head of their house.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, I was told: “the kids get attacked at night by strangers”.

And my heart broke.

She didn’t elaborate on details but I can only guess what can be happening to these seven little girls who are alone.

Can you just imagine for a moment being 13 years old and being responsible for the lives of your six little sisters? 

These precious children, how vulnerable they are.

The thing is, I don’t know how to help these little girls.  They need to be somewhere safe now.

We’re researching our options for getting them out of this situation and into a safe place.

For now all I know to do is pray for them and ask you to pray as well.

“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” – Psalm 82: 3-4

I blogged about it here.

I can’t believe how he’s grown and changed in the last two years!

Here are a couple of blasts from the past.  :)

One of the youngest pictures we have of Mayer.

Our referral picture.

The only updated pictures we got of him while we waited for a court date.

Meeting Mayer for the first time.

The first picture we sent out after we got approval from court.

The visa celebration photo.

Our big boy, two years later.

]]> http://sisterhaiti.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/two-years-ago-today/feed/ 0 sisterhaiti Malachi maybe mayerreferral Malachi collage 4663738008_636df887ff_z p1304529 untitled (1) photo (22) http://sisterhaiti.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/this-morning/ http://sisterhaiti.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/this-morning/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:28:32 +0000 sisterhaiti http://sisterhaiti.wordpress.com/?p=4029 ]]>

<—-  This little boy skipped preschool this morning, is still in his pajamas and is currently eating cheerios out of the box.

It’s been that kind of morning.

Benja freaked us out last night by pulling out his g-tube with the balloon still inflated.   For those that don’t know what that means, there is a small balloon filled with water at the end of the tube inside his stomach.  It holds the tube in his stomach and prevents it from coming out.  Or is supposed to.  But didn’t last night.   Benja was freaking out.  Ouch.  We got it replaced but there is quite a bit of blood around it this morning and the stoma looks pretty yucky.   Plus he woke up with a 102 fever and is acting very crabby.  So now I’m busy googling g-tube websites to try to figure out if this happened to other people (it has) and if I need to take him to the doctor (I am).

Ms Jovia decided to cry and fuss randomly every couple of house last night.    Every time I’d go check on her she was still asleep, just fussing and irritated.  I’d tell her to go to sleep, roll her over and she’d go back to sleep.  I woke her up once and she gave me a big smile and asked for a bottle.  So I don’t know.  She’s been crabby this morning too but is now happily sitting in her highchair knocking cheerios onto the floor one by one.

Never a dull moment around here!

Jovia:  ”where daddy?”
Me: “daddy’s at work.”
Jovia:  ”why?”
Me:  ”so he can make money.”
Jovia:  ”why?”
Me:  ”so we can buy things.”
Jovia:  ”why?”
Me:  ”Jovie, you are driving me bonkers asking why all the time!”
Jovia: “yup, why?”

I wonder what the 2′s will be like?  :)

His first birthday was spent in the small Catholic orphanage he called home.

His second birthday he was still in that orphanage but he had a forever family across the world waiting anxiously to meet him.

His third birthday was a celebration as his first birthday at home with a forever family, never to be alone again.

We celebrated his fourth birthday yesterday.  He had a great day and a wonderful party in the evening.
He is so excited to be four!

I am so very grateful that God has blessed us with our Mayer Atukunda!

That means today is your day, all you people who read this blog but never comment…your day  to come out of hiding and let me know who you are!

If you don’t want to comment, shoot me a message and let me know that you are reading!  I love knowing how people came upon on this blog too, so if you want to share that I’d be a happy lady.  :)

Happy National De-Lurking Day!

He started with general questions about Benja and reviewing his medical history.   He was very familiar with Uganda, having spent time there apparently, and very interested in Ben’s story.  He did some tests which he told me were to look for signs of brain damage.  Thankfully he said he saw no outward signs of damage.  He examined Benja’s head and told us that his while his sutures are completely closed he didn’t seen any current signs of craniosynostosis that would require surgery.   He has ordered some scans of his head to look for abnormalities of the brain.  We hope to have those done soon.   He said our concern at this point is whether or not his brain is growing.  He has fairly significant microcephaly, which we’ve known for a while.   If his head has indeed stopped growing there is really nothing we can do.  He may always be delayed but just because a person has a small brain doesn’t mean they aren’t smart or aren’t able to continue to develop.
On the other hand, if his brain is still growing we watch for signs that his brain is outgrowing his head, in that case it might require surgery.  He pointed out that a small brain isn’t the end of the world and since he has already made such big improvements we have no reason to believe he won’t continue to improve developmentally.   The doctor wasn’t at all willing to talk about what the future might hold for sweet Benja but said all we can do is wait and watch (and pray!).

We also recently had an appointment for Benja to be evaluated by a urologist.   The last several checkups he’s had they had been unable to find his testicles and we were looking at possible surgery for undescended testicles.  The last thing we wanted was to end up with another surgery!   We are so excited that the urologist was able to locate one testicle yesterday!  That means no immediate concerns!  He has another urological issue that will need to be addressed at some point but they think it is something they will be able to do while he is already scheduled for another procedure and won’t mean an additional surgery.   Happy news.  :)

So that’s a small update on where we are with his medical stuff.
He’s doing great and we’re so in love with our baby boy!

Mayer is going to be four soon.

I can’t believe it.

He is growing up way too fast.  I know it is so cliche to say so, but it is TRUE.  It seems just like yesterday we were in Uganda meeting him for the first time, that I was bringing him home, that he was toddling around here, so tiny and chubby.
He’s not tiny and chubby anymore.   He’s getting tall and lean.  And so smart!  He’s in preschool 3x’s a week and absolutely loves it.   He loves going next door to his jaja’s house more than about anything else and spends some time there almost every day.   He is so self confident and so quirky.   Mayer’s nickname and status as “the mayor of the babies home” was for a reason.   This boy thinks he should be in charge.  While that can be exhausting at times, I love to see his confidence.

Sigh.   We’ve been so blessed by the children God has placed in our family.   I can’t imagine a life without our Mayer.

Such a ham.   

Working on the computer. 

Huh?

She got a big smile on her face and told us that another diner had paid for our meal and had asked to remain anonymous. Whaaat?! As you can imagine, we were shocked.  We (unbecomingly) started craning our necks around trying to see who this mystery diner could be. Did we know anyone there?  Nope.  All strangers.  Wow!   I know we had ridiculous smiles on our faces while we gathered children and bags, thanked the server profusely, (who had a pretty pleased smile on her face as well) and packed up to head home.

Maybe it’s silly but I was floating on a cloud the rest of the day.  To have such an unexpected act of kindness and generosity directed at our family was such a sweet surprise and so humbling.

We’re praying God blesses whoever it was.  They sure blessed us! 

If so, Let me introduce you to AJ.  

I became aware of AJ at the beginning of December when I saw his picture posted on a friends facebook wall.

I may have gasped a little at how adorable he was.
Be. Still. My. Heart.   

Let me tell you a little bit about this sweet boy.

AJ is an orphan.  He lives at a wonderful children’s home in Honduras.    He just turned 4 in November and is described by his caregivers as having a strong spirit, love of adventure, and compassionate heart.   He loves to get down in the dirt and play with trucks and cars.  AJ is quite the conversationalist, very affectionate and very curious.   He is so loved by his caregivers in Honduras but they know that AJ needs a forever family.

AJ has a form of dwarfism that only affects him from the waist down.  He can not walk but is proficient at using his wheelchair.   He appears to be cognitively and developmentally on track.

Adoptions from Honduras do not appear to be very easy.  I have been in touch with the attorney who will process his adoption and gotten some basic information.  Because this is a child with special needs some parts of the process may be easier than normal and I’m told things may be expedited.   Families should still expect the process to take 12+ months.  Families will be required to take 2 trips to Honduras.   The first trip of about a week to meet the child and start the adoption process.   I’m told the second trip would be a trip of approximately 4-6 weeks.   The second trip might be able to be broken up into a third trip, so the family doesn’t have to stay so long.   The adoption can be done independently or through an agency.

 I am still trying to figure out the fees that may be required.  The attorney fees in Uganda will be between $5,000 – $8,000.   Travel seems like it could be in the $10,000 – $12,000 range with plane tickets, hotels, transportation, food, etc.  I would guess families should expect that the adoption will be upwards of $20,000+ even if adopting independently.   Agency fees would likely add another $5,000 – $7,000 onto that (depending on the agency).    I am happy to help any family through the process if they need it.  Anything from help with paperwork, fundraising, researching grants, information on parenting special needs children, etc.   Whatever is needed.
I just want to see this amazing little boy find a family as soon as possible.  

Families for children like AJ are found when people network.  I’m asking you to please share this post with your family and friends.  Post it on your facebook.  Link to it from your blog.  The more people that see this post, the more likely we are to find AJ’s forever family.  

Are you interested in becoming AJ’s forever family?   
Please contact me and let me know you’d like more information.  I’ll put you in touch with the right people! 
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