Skip to main content

Home of Love love


Lucy, Home of Love's matron and my closest Ugandan friend, often states that Home of Love is truly a home of love. When I ask her any question about how the children will respond to something, she responds that they love each other and they love God. I'm always probing with typical mzungu questions, "How do the children feel when the other children go to visit relatives and these ones have to stay behind?" "How do the children respond to a child who has disabilities?" "Is it okay if these children receive something and those ones do not?" etc. etc. And she is right - they respond in love, for the most part!

They are still children and still have some jealousies and sadnesses. But, we have been amazed at their resilience, their love for each other, and their love for those who are even more vulnerable than they are!

They have not gotten bored of Gracie yet. They find her antics amusing and look on her with such fondness. I rarely find her left alone in her wheelchair. They will pull her up to the table near them and offer her paper. Or they'll gather around her to keep her company.

What a gift!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Check out this progress!

A year ago, my friend Rachel http://josiecomehome.blogspot.com/ emailed a photo of her beautiful son standing on his own... I've since dreamed of having a photo to post of Gracie doing the same thing. It was always one of those wild-don't-think-it'll-ever-happen kind of dreams, a romantic, fairy tale type of dream. But this week, Gracie made another leap in development and muscle tone. It started when I leaned her up against the wall and planted her feet a shoulder-width apart. For the first time, she didn't lunge for the safety of my arms or hands, but rather, she allowed herself to stand steadily on her own two feet and she kept her center of gravity centered over her feet instead of wildly in front of her or to one side or the other. She even quickly figured out that she couldn't lurch around in excitement while standing on her own two feet with no support but a wall behind her back, but rather had to express her excitement over this new development with a gentl...
4 comments
Read more

Family of Three!

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...
6 comments
Read more

Ana Gail Rattin

Ana Gail Rattin (pronounced Ah-nah) Born December 5th, 2007 at 5:35pm at 42 weeks weighing 7lb 8oz, 21 3/4 inches long Some adventures at birth, but everyone's doing great now! Read Luke 2:36-38!
5 comments
Read more