To-Do's

I'll be honest: right now I would like nothing more than to spend a few quiet moments sitting in the swing on our front porch.

But we have been burning the candle at both ends for the last two weeks.  We have another Homeschooling Convention in North Carolina next weekend, and we are NOT ready yet.

But I don't care, because tomorrow morning - I'm doing something special.

I am driving to Richmond, Va.

I'm going to spend the day in the hospital.

And I can't wait.

Because for a few hours I get to sit and rock this sweet baby.

So her Mom can take a break.

Her name is Julia, and she just arrived here from Aaron's former country.  She has spent all of her life in a dreaded lying-down room.  The room in the baby house where they send the hopeless cases.  Every baby house seems to have one: The dreaded room filled with lonely cribs and silent babies.  The dreaded room where those babies receive no attention whatsoever except at feedings and diaper changes.  The miserable room where those poor babies lie all day, where they're never held, never talked to, never loved on. 

Julia was in that room.

Thanks be to God, the Schwenzers have rescued her from that room. But her body is struggling to absorb nourishment.  So she has been hospitalized. 

And I am going to get to spend some time holding her and kissing her sweet little cheeks.

Just this past week the Ferrone family went to meet their girls.  I have been supporting them because one of the girls they are adopting, Moira, has arthrogryposis like Aaron.

I have been looking forward to the day when I get to hold her in my arms at Shriners.

When they met their girls, they discovered that Moira, too, has been stuck in a lying-down room..

ALL HER LIFE.

Lying in a crib. 

Look at her. 

She is two years old, and she has never, ever been held.

She is the size of a tiny baby.

When they e-mailed on Thursday to share with us the condition Moira was in, I broke down.  I cried for hours. That she should be selected out and judged hopeless.  Cast aside in the worst possible way.  Abandoned to die.

This is how she lies in her crib. 

Silent.

What good would crying do?  No one would listen.  No one would come.  So she lies there, day after day, quiet and alone.

But God.

God heard her in her silence.

And she now has a family.

They need our prayers these coming weeks.  Moira needs our prayers.  The Ferrones need our prayers.

Moira has been experiencing hell on earth.  Those rooms suck the very soul out the children relegated to them.

But God.

Little lost children are slowly being found.

One by one. 

Rescued.

And tomorrow... well, tomorrow...

I am going to set aside all of my "to-do"s and spend some time holding a tiny little girl.

It will be an honor and a privilege.

And I will be thinking of a little one across the ocean who is experiencing loving hands for the first time in her life.

And I will cry.

The Davis family has left for Kirill's country.  They have court on Tuesday.  PLEASE PRAY.

Pray too for Brady's family.  They also have court on Tuesday.