The Importance of Friendship

 Our sweet Hannah Charlesetta turned 10 last month!  

An amazing milestone for my precious one, who without the opportunity of adoption would have become another African statistic.  Did you know her birth country is ranked in the top 5 for infant mortality?  One in 15 children never reach their 5th birthday.  Hannah most likely would have been one of them.

 

 Through God's wonderful mercy, our treasure came home very ill and malnourished at 2 3/4 weighing a mere 21 pounds with little energy but lots of determination.

 As many know our Hannah "Belle", as we call her, suffers from a variety of developmental delays due to her rough start.  Did we know when we adopted her?  No, but it has no bearing on the fact that God wonderfully chose her for us!!!  We have learned so much about ourselves and the grace and mercy of God through the blessing of parenting a child with developmental challenges.  I am so thankful we did not miss  it!

 Up to this point in Hannah's life she has seemed fairly content with not having lots of friends.  She has always preferred playing alone, or in one on one situations, or with younger children.  Her speech delays have made groups intimidating so she stayed on the edges of them.

 Well this year before her birthday as we were talking about what to do, instead of naming all the kids she wanted to come, she started naming all the kids who don't talk to her.  I was shocked and in such pain for my precious treasure.  Her innocence is lost.  She knows she is different.  It hurts.  We cried. Talked.  Comforted. 

 And made special plans with her best friend, Bethany.  I call her "Hannah's special gift"  the friend who accepts and loves Hannah for who she is.

 A few days before her birthday Hannah had her first ever breakdown with anger.  If you know Hannah, you know anger is not a part of who she is.  But we have seen it a couple of times now.  As we work through the anger it is stemming from not being accepted.  She feels alone.  It breaks a mom's heart.

 We are working diligently with her speech therapist is social communication right now and she is making great progress.  We are also working with some things from the therapist and from big sister Erinn on understanding our  feelings and finding proper outlet, and not letting it build up.  She is doing great and I am so thankful for all the amazing resources to help our little one find her voice. 

The fear of rejection for her is still a very big thing, so her steps can be tentative or on the other side awkward.  We are praying for some little hearts that are willing to hear her call for friendship.  For growth on her parts.  And for wisdom for this Mama who wants to help her little treasure blossom into all God is calling her to be.  Thank you God for my Precious Hannah, my gift from You!

A Glimmer....

That is what I saw in Hannah's eyes last night!!

A glimmer of understanding that is!!!

With her learning delays we are never really pushy with her on things and tend to ask Caleb all the questions. Questions tend to frustrate her and challenge her speech under the pressure.

So last night while Dad and Caleb were playing chess, she asked me to read her one of the Easter stories that are out and about the house right now.

As I read, I was definitely prompted by the Spirit to speak to her on a deeper level about what I was reading!! I was also able to ask her some questions to see if she was able to follow.

And you know what....

She was!!!

It really was the first time that I found her able to understand the 'story' at a deeper level!!

Praise the Lord!!!

Interesting that just this morning I was reading in the book Adopted for Life by Russell Moore, how some people think we should be spending our money not on orphanages and adoptions, but on out reach!!!

Seriously!!!

What are they thinking!!

Our lives are to be outreach!!

And my children my first mission field!!!

I spoke in this post about the possibilities if Hannah had been left in Liberia. After this post a friend who is a missionary in West Africa, and here is what she had to say.....

....if Hannah was in Senegal and not learning (she wouldn't get any special help) she would either be sent out for house help or begging on the side of the road. The school system here is so sad...the slow ones get left behind....you take a class until you pass and can move on to the next one....I have a friend who is in her early 20's still trying to get out of high school....she failed her exams last year and is giving it another go this year. Hannah is one VERY BLESSED little princess!!! God is so good!

Some may not feel adoption is a good way to evangelize, but...... for this one very precious soul....I am believing with all my heart that it was worth every penny we paid for her ransom, for her to learn of the price her loving Saviour paid for her eternal ransom!!!

This Our Dark Country

Just finished another book I have been working on. As you can see, Liberian culture and history has been a high priority for me right now. This book is great to get the early history of Liberia:

--its settlement by freed American slaves

--Americans thoughts on colonization

--those rescued from slave ships

--how the native Liberians were treated

This book is an easy read, I actually will have Caleb read it in a couple of years.

Happy reading!!

Happy Liberian Independence Day!!

Happy Liberian Independence Day 2009

From our Liberian-Americans!
Liberia declared it's independence from the United States on July 26, 1847.

Liberia was not known as a nation till its colonization by freed slaves from the United States in 1822.

It is the USA's only attempt at colonization. With the increasing number of freed slaves in the US, colonization was brought up as a solution to the issue.

Also at this point in history the slave trade had been banned (no new slaves brought into the country), but many continued to try to bring new slaves from Africa anyways. When these ships were captured there was the question of what to do with the Africans aboard. They spoke many different languages and most likely were unable to locate exactly what part of Africa they were from, so they were also relocated to Liberia.

The Americo-Liberians became the upper-class from which every president in Liberian history descended from. That is till the coup by Samuel Doe in 1980 followed by years of brutality towards Americo-Liberians and those he thought opposed him. Later in the 80's Charles Taylor stirred things up further and a full scale Civil war raged on and off till the final up rising in 2003--In which Hannah and Caleb lost their father!

Now Liberia is trying to reconstruct under the first female head of state in Africa--President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Charles Taylor is presently be tried for war crimes against his country and the surrounding countries.

Hannah and Caleb will pass out these candies with the Liberian Independence Day on them. We pray that others hearts will be opened to the plight of the thousands of children world wide who live daily with war and are orphaned in some one's pursuit of power.

We pray that today you may be moved to pray for these children who suffer daily.

HAPPY LIBERIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!

The House at Sugar Beach

Finished The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper this weekend. Good read for anyone interested in a look at life in Liberia and Liberian history. The story is based on the life of an Americo-Liberian (a descendant of freed American slaves-only 1% of Liberian population, but the ruling class till the coup), pre civil war to just at the end of the war.

I enjoyed reading a first hand account of what life was like in Liberia, their speech, the foods, and the class differences. I had heard and read many things, but she puts things together in an enjoyable read.

Reading of the class differences, helped me to understand what lead to the coups, the civil war and the hate between groups.

Should be a required read for anyone who has or is considering an adoption from Liberia. I would recommend it to anyone interested in history, cultures or just likes to read.

Happy reading!!