Rattins living Coram Deo

Papa with Gracie on a canoe on the Liberian shore. The child LOVES the water! We're all exhausted after too many long days and two few naps! Gracie is making great progress already with lots of TLC, although she's also developping her personality more and pushing limits! It's good to see her exploring and even challenging a little as she clearly is comfortable that we are her parents. It's clear that she will need every form of therapy available and we are excited to see how she grows and develops over the next year - surely in leaps and bounds! She fortunately eats everything and is at the point where her meals only take an hour as we figure out what textures of foods are easiest on her. I'm still not sure if we're feeding her enough and hydrating her enough! But we'll come into it! I am giving seminars to the nannies at the orphanage on various health topics and that is quite enjoyable, although a challenge to switch from the mode of giving talks to coll...

Mama and Gracie in her first swimming pool on Sunday November 26, 2006.

Hi, friends - please pray for Gracie (and parents) - she has a fever and belly pain - she was crying through the night (nearly killed me!). Pray that it's NOT malaria! Also, many are asking about her sizes: She wears a 18-24 month top, 18 month bottoms, size 5 shoes at the biggest. She is VERY skinny, so pants don't really stay on her very well. She has pierced ears and beautiful long hair! She loves milk and "Liberian food" (as in rice) but has eaten everything that we have put into her mouth.

It was hard to remember that it was Thanksgiving weekend. Pennsylvania is gearing up to hunt... what a distant thought in a land of living day to day! We had a thanksgiving dinner with a missionary family (and many others). This is a time full of firsts for Gracie and it is so fun because she is able to actively enjoy all her firsts. She enjoyed her ham, turkey, beans, and pumpkin pie (among all the other firsts at that meal). Friday we went to the office and arranged the first several days of our schedule and discussed the challenging logistics of how to teach useful topics to different members of orphanage staff. We then also visited the orphanage for the first time and Gracie (dolled up a bit) received a warm welcome - she was clearly well enjoyed by staff and kids alike. "Little G" and "G-G" and strains of her favorite song rang out as she arrived with her parents! Yesterday (Saturday) we participated in "intake day" at the office - I found it heart wr...

We are in Liberia - the electricity goes in and out because the generator is having trouble keeping up these days! So hopefully it will stay on long enough to post and the internet connection will allow me this luxury! We were united with precious Gracie on Thanksgiving day - I will write more about this later. But, oh! is Gracie a joy! She is so beautiful, so joyfilled, and a bit mischievious. Her physical limitations do not permit her to accomplish much mischief, but we can tell that she is trying to push some limits already. If we were not in love with her already, she is irresitable and such a treasure and blessing from God. In our two days together, she has not cried once. She spends most of her days smiling, she loves to snuggle (good match for us!), and has the most contagious laugh! Life takes more effort for her - her cerebral palsy is moderate and every activity is a challenge and is clearly tiring for her. Meal times (which she loves) take a long time and much patience and d...