In January, a week after we moved, our house was still filled with half unpacked boxes. We didn’t have all the furniture we needed. I hadn’t been grocery shopping to stock our fridge yet. We didn’t really know anyone here yet. Our house was still in need of repairs and there were areas that needed a serious deep cleaning. But, after receiving one brief phone call, none of that seemed to matter anymore...
A 10 month old baby girl had just been rescued and needed a place to stay. The children’s home we are currently partnering with didn’t have space available for her and they wanted to know if we could take her into our home. Into our family. Our whole family prayed and all unanimously said absolutely. Three hours later I was driving to pick her up.
When she came to stay with us she was extremely lethargic, sleeping about 20 hours a day. Because I was the one who picked her up she immediately latched onto me. I became her safety. I had to hold her all day and she slept on me at night. I couldn’t even just sit next to her on the floor…she had to be sitting in my lap. She wouldn’t even hardly move, she just wanted to be held and to sleep. She wouldn’t eat and was having a really hard time with her digestive system. We prayed over her and started her on formula and baby food. It took a few days but she started eating and drinking. We loved on her and cried with her and prayed more. Finally, we got her system cleaned out and she began to get life back in her eyes. Every once in a while she would even crack a little smile.
She only stayed with us for about 3 weeks, but the girl who left was much different than the girl who came. By the time she left, she was literally running through our house screaming and laughing with the kids. She let them love her and she would snuggle them on the couch and one day she made Faith’s day by falling asleep on her. We saw how the love of God through us could literally bring her back to life.
Saying goodbye was hard. She cried. We cried. But we knew we loved her the best we could and that’s all that God asked of us. Through the whole process we talked to our kids about how hard it is sometimes to love. Sometimes those you love don’t love you back. Love anyway. Sometimes it hurts to love and let go. Love anyway. Sometimes God asks us to love big and it might hurt a little. Love big anyway. The day she left, Addison looked at me and said, “Mom, that was so hard saying goodbye to her. I don’t think I ever want to do that again. But, you know what mom, I would do it again if another baby needed us. I know that God will help our hearts”. We still look at her pictures and tear up. We pray for her and smile when we think about the girl who taught us to fully trust God and love with our whole hearts. She was a miracle in our lives when we needed it.
We are so thankful our kids had the revelation that even though it might be hard, it is so worth it. We finally got a good routine down in our lives here. Homeschooling was going smoothly, the kids joined a singing class, the girls started a 6 month ballet class and Faith and Rylan started taking music lessons. Jason had a good rhythm at work and we started making friends in the community.
Two weeks ago we got another phone call. This time there were 2 babies that needed a safe, loving home. Again, we all prayed and the kids were the fastest to say yes. Jason and I had a lot to pray about and consider, but we both also felt we were supposed to say yes. We made a quick 2 day trip to Chiang Mai (about 5 hours away) to buy some baby beds, and get a few things from our friends there who were blessing us with baby supplies. We stocked up on diapers, formula, wipes, baby bottles, and a few clothes because we knew they would come to us with nothing.
We’re writing this to you now with 2 sweet babies sleeping in our home. We’ve been blessed with 20 extra little toes for about 10 days now. Sweet baby boy is 1 month old and sleeps and eats like a champion. He is so cute and loves to be snuggled….to the delight of all of our children! Sweet baby girl is 3 months old, but she looks more like a newborn. We were able to find out she was born weighing only 1.3 kilos and today she only weighs 3.7 kilos. Because we don’t know any of her medical history, or how early she was born we are left wondering about some things. She has a few medical issues and she struggles to eat and cries a lot…well, more like screams a lot. We have prayed over her daily and taken her to the doctor to get checked and we are starting to see minor improvements in her. She is slowly eating just a little bit more and just last night she slept for more than 1.5 hours so we call that a victory.
Life in our house is a little bit chaotic right now, but there is also peace. We have peace in knowing this is what God asked us to do. We have peace watching our kids really step out and love these babies, even though we don’t know how long they will live with us. We have peace that God will sustain us through the sleepless nights. We have peace that God will provide the extra funds we need to care for these babies. We have peace that these two sweet babies are being loved and given a chance at life.
Even though we are both exhausted, we wouldn’t change our decision. We have seen our kids light up and really take pride in helping to care for the babies. Every time they run by, they stop to give a kiss or just get a little snuggle. Schoolwork still gets done, but somedays it takes longer than normal. The dishes usually get done every day and I have even managed to cook a few meals. We don’t know how long we are blessed to love these babies in our home, but we know that God’s grace will cover us for it. His grace will cover us as we care for them and as we one day say goodbye to them. For now, though, we will enjoy our baby snuggles and thank God for allowing us the opportunity to love more of His children back to life.
If you think of us, please pray for peace in the baby’s bodies. Peace to sleep well and also that sweet baby girl would begin eating more. Please pray for our kids to keep loving these babies well and for peace in their hearts when the time comes for us to say goodbye. Pray that our family would continue to be united and grow closer together as we love these babies. We love and appreciate you all so much.
Because we want to protect the children we are loving, we won’t be sharing pictures of their faces or giving many details about their history. I realize this can be frustrating for some people, but we need to make sure to protect their stories for them and in some cases their identities need to be concealed. We hope you will understand! Whenever we are able to share a picture we will make sure we do!
If you would like to commit to praying for us and these babies, just send us a quick email to let us know! Diapers, formula and baby items are more expensive here and often hard to find so please be praying for us.