A Good Reminder

I mentioned in the previous post how when Daniel sings "How Great Thou Art," it puts Michelle right to sleep. I took some video of that today. I wasn't planning on putting it on the blog because you can't really hear Daniel singing. However, when I reviewed it on the computer, it brought tears to my eyes. Why? Because Michelle looks so tiny, fragile and vulnerable but so safe in Daniel's big arms. It was a reminder to me of two things. First, forgive me for making a spiritual analogy, but it immediately made me think of how loving and gentle the Lord is and how safely and tenderly we each are guarded in His arms. Secondly, it reminded me again of just how thankful I am for the ministry of NLCH -- that Michelle now has a safe and loving place to grow up.

Babysitting Fun

Little Michelle is living with Kendon and Wendy but we have been lucky enough to get to watch her for a few hours yesterday and today while they had other responsibilities. She is such a happy and easy baby. She is content just to look around and play with whatever toys we give her. (See picture, left, with DVD case) She lets us know when she is hungry and when we see the little yawns and she starts rubbing her eyes, we know she is ready for a nap. Daniel has found that "How Great Thou Art" puts her right to sleep.

After Wendy came and got her this afternoon, Daniel and I both said, "we miss her!" What a blessing she is, as well as her sister and brothers, to all of us here.

Here are a few pictures from our time together:

You know Daniel must really like her if he is willing to do this!

Despite her tiny size, Michelle is very alert and interested in her environment. She was much more excited about these books than we thought she would be. She stared at each page and followed by moving her entire head as Daniel turned the pages.

Getting Acquainted

We've been able to spend a little bit of time getting to know little Michelle. She's wonderful- and very, very little: eight months old, and actually weighs five pounds. We found out today that she was born when her mother was only seven months pregnant, and only weighed one pound at birth. It's a miracle that this little girl has made it this far.

Wendy bought her some clothes meant for premature newborns, and even those fall off of her. They took her to the doctor yesterday, and at first he thought there was no way she could be eight months old. After examining her and seeing how she acts like an older baby- able to follow things with her eyes, smile, etc.- he concluded that she really must be that age. She is just so little!

Her older brothers and sister are getting settled very well and making new friends. Since these kids came to us through the court system, their future with us is not 100% certain, but things look good right now. We certainly hope these four precious kids can stay part of the NLCH family and grow into the new lives that the Lord has for them here.

Welcome, Oscar, Iris, Randy, and Mishell

We were excited to welcome some new little ones to NLCH this evening. We don't know a whole lot about their story at this point other than that their mother is a drug addict and alcoholic and basically was not in the picture for these kids' lives. A grandmother was caring for them, and brought them to Child Protection Services, who brought them to us.

Please pray for all of these kids, especially little Mishell. She will see a doctor tomorrow, but it's obvious she's not in good health. She is eight months old and only weighs 5 pounds. Good signs, however, are that she is alert and lively, so we're hoping that the main problem has been lack of nutrition, which we can take care of for her from here on.

This is Mishell.

Oscar is the oldest, 10.

Randy is 5. (He brought the bear with him.)

And Iris is 9.

Juan

Kara had posted earlier about Juan going to spend Christmas with his mother. We usually don't allow that to happen since the kids' home situations normally are not anything that is best for them to return to. We made an exception with Juan, however, because he at first had decided to leave NLCH so that he could better care for his mother after Chepe's death.

The plan was that he would spend about a month with her, then return to NLCH in early January in time for the beginning of the school year. We were pleased when that happened and he did return on the agreed day. We knew going in, however, that this visit to his mother's house couldn't be a very positive experience. We were just hoping that his reaction to it would be positive. We did not know what it would entail, but knew that how Juan reacted would be very important.

Unfortunately, he returned to NLCH with the desire to leave for good because of things his mother allowed him to have and do while he was with her (like allowing him to drink and buying him a very expensive cell phone). She's very poor and can't keep that up for long.

So Juan left almost a couple of weeks ago now. We pray that he can know that although we're offered so many different choices of how to live, that he will never find the life that he really wants to live apart from the way of Jesus.

We still miss Chepe, now we miss Juan too, and continue to pray that somehow Chepe's death will be used for good in Juan's and his mother's lives.

Happy Birthday Sheila and Rony

Please accept these pictures of Sheila's 11th and Rony's 14th birthdays as our apologies for our longest-ever absence from the blog...