Affirmation with unity

That night, after Sahara and Ayantu were in bed, I did my "mom" chores and then grabbed the computer to boot it up. Brian was relaxing on the couch so I brought our notebook downstairs and sat beside him. I wasn't quite sure how to bring it up so I did the ole' "Umm, honey, can we talk a minute?" While this question can often be met with a disgruntled response, it wasn't in this case. I was given Brian's full attention and that gave me the confidence to share with him the email from Lindsay.

As I look back on my 8 year marriage to Brian, we both have been pretty conservative and have tried to be good stewards with the resources God has blessed us with. Our adoption journey with Ayantu was definitely a growing season for us with all of the emotional and financial roller coasters it entailed. After reading the email about Juliana, I anticipated Brian saying something like "Well, we should let so-and-so know about her. Haven't they talked about wanting to adopt?" But, that wasn't the case. The unity we shared in at least exploring what God may be inviting us to again was captivating to me. God was not only at work in growing our faith but in our love for each other.

We committed to pray over the next couple days and ask Lindsay to get us in contact with the people that had the information on Juliana. A couple days later, we were introduced to an amazing couple that started a ministry in Ghana working on behalf of babies that were completely abandoned with some or a lot of health issues. Crazy thing is this couple was from Grandville, Michigan! I will write a lot more about them and their ministry in another post. Here's what we learned about Juliana [remember that this information was given to us back in mid-October...it's now 5+months later]:

"Now lets talk about Miss Juliana. We were called by the Police Hospital to take her-no other orphanage wanted her because she had TB. At that time, she had already been in the hospital for 2 months (she had become quite the celebrity there I might add-everyone loved her, from nurses to cooks). She was found abandoned; had been thrown into a bush alongside a very busy highway in Accra, the capital of Ghana. It was near a motel where someone heard her crying. She was near death, so frail, so small. Nurses told me she almost died twice while in their care. We got her at about 10 lbs. Approx. 12-18mo old. She was severely malnourished, big tummy. Her skin was literally hanging off her legs, she looked like an old woman with baggy stockings on. Her hair was brown and very little of it. She could sit up, but she would fall over a lot. She refused to eat anything except rice and only with her hands. She could not eat from a spoon, and she would not drink anything, not even water. The nurses told me that, but I didn’t realize they really hadn’t given her any milk- just bits of water now and then. Unbelievable. She was severely anemic (no wonder). It was a process, but we got her eating from a spoon and drinking milk from a sippy cup. She cannot (or won’t) hold the cup or spoon herself. She can choke easily, so I never leave her while she is eating. She has trouble with some meat, so I cut it up in things or grind it, so she can still get the protein. She LOVES bread and would live on that if I let her.

Julie is currently between 17-18lbs. She can stand and likes to. But cannot stand alone, at all. She cannot crawl or walk and shows no signs of doing so. Julie cannot roll over, however, has made some small effort to begin. We are trying to work with her, doing some leg exercises, etc. He muscle tone is very low. She is not as floppy as when she first arrived however. She came here on August 4th. The name given her at the hospital was Julianna Frema (meaning-long life) Abena. Julianna and Frema were each her nurses so they named her after them. Abena, means Tuesday born girl in Ghana. That is the day they found her. Everyone in Ghana receives a day of the week name.

One of my main concerns is Julie's muscle tone. She really needs to be evaluated and have possible physical therapy (my opinion only). That is not going to happen in Ghana-it is not available so we are doing what we can. But let’s just say, she is delayed in motor skills. She can smile, pick things up, throw things, pinch and laugh. Juliana is extremely sweet. She understands “no”. She LOVES her bath. Loves Baby Einstein. Loves music and she directs with her hands to the beat. So cute. She is able to attach to a caregiver. In other words, she knows us, and prefers us to other people."

As you can see, Brian and I had a lot to process. We both committed to praying about the things we had read and connecting again in the next several days. I was elated though, to know that Brian had not showed me signs of closing the door of adding another child to our family yet!