Family in ministry

This week is a busy week, yet one that we look forward to all year. Our goal at Home of Love, is to "relocate" children to live with their relatives. Most of our children are with us because of the war - separated from family either because of deaths or because of physical separation. Our orphans all have identified family who may eventually qualify to become their guardians. We continue supporting them long-term and we have the opportunity to be in their lives long-term.

So this week finds us, as a family, at Home of Love for long, hot, busy days. These are days where I hardly hold Micah. He's whisked away by his adoring fan club the second he's done nursing. Noah wanders the grounds barefoot, drinking from the borehole, covered head to toe with dirt, mud, and food. Ana and Moses romp with their friends. Gracie is wheeled around, never alone, often giggling hysterically and screaming in joy.

It's exhausting - the chaos of wrangling 65 children and getting them to follow the program, the multitasking of keeping track of my five children amongst the many, the cultural differences, trying to understand why things happen when and how...

But it's so sweet to spend this time with these precious children. This week has allowed us to get to know each of them so much better. It's difficult to get to know the children deeply. They are always "fine."

As a team, we'll be spending a lot of time this year working through what it means to care for orphans, how to disciple orphans, how to parent orphans, how to reach their hearts and not just meet their physical needs, how to protect and love vulnerable and traumatized children...

But for today... and tomorrow... we'll focus on the here and now, how to give each child a glimpse into God's heart and provide a clearer picture of the Gospel.

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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

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

Amazing girls!

Gracie and Ana have taken to walking around the church together - Ana pushes Gracie's gait trainer as Gracie walks along. Between the two of them, they make a pretty efficient team (except for the steering part!). They love it and could do it for hours! Gracie has made amazing strides (no pun intended) in standing up - we'll get some video up soon of her standing, supporting herself ONLY with her right hand (her otherwise useless hand) - it's amazing! We didn't dream that we'd see her looking this strong and steady. Plus, now she's smiling and her little heart isn't pounding out of her chest with stress at the thought of standing up without human contact - God is SO good! Gracie went to music camp this summer at the Y which was somewhat fun for her, but definitely good to have her around other kids.

Rattins living Coram Deo

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