Red threads and a little girl
I didn't add this to the blog, but now--for reasons you will soon see--I will.
Early this week, all waiting families received an e-mail from CAWLI (our agency). The e-mail listed several "waiting children." These are children with special needs who are traditionally more difficult to place. Usually the issues are easily corrected, such as cleft lips/palates or holes in the heart which are corrected before they get home. And most of these children had such issues--except for this one little girl. This 13-month-old baby had a hand problem. "Left hand has missing digits," it said. I thought, "Hmmm. BRIAN'S left hand is missing a digit." (We know of at least one case where a parent and a child have similar issues and the match has been fantastic!) I called Brian; I talked to the boys; I asked Rich to ask Mom and Dad. We met up with some reservations, but Brian and I decided to call. Stephanie (CAWLI) told me that she basically had stumps for fingers on her left hand, but the rest of her was fine. "Ectrodactyly," she called it; but, she also warned, we were most likely matched. That would mean an extra wait of at least a month if we did take her. After some more consideration, we decided that maybe this wasn't the time for us to take a special needs child--that she probably wasn't our daughter. I felt confirmed when that small, still voice said, "If she were yours, she would have come to your attention before you were matched." Amazingly, I let it go fairly easily--something I can rarely do with anything, as you have probably guessed considering we're on the way to China in a matter of weeks.
So this morning I get online to find this e-mail from a family in our area:
Hi everyone!
We are _____________, parents to three great kids and currently waiting on our I-171H to come from Louisville. Supposedly, its due in about one week, though I've been hearing rumors of another slowdown. I'm curious about two things...
One: Has anyone recently recieved their I-171H from Louisville? I really really want that piece of paperwork because we have gotten word from our agency about a 13 month old girl with special needs that we think is our daughter. There is another family interested in her, though, so...who knows??
Two: The child with special needs has missing digits on her left hand...
To demonstrate just how unfair life is, NO one was here for me to cheer with or to hug; however, I DID have a computer keyboard:
Bless you! We nearly requested the little girl of whom you speak, but we have already been matched and it would have slowed us considerably. I'm SO glad someone in our area is looking to her! She must have been meant to be in the GC area! (WE were the other family, btw. I need to call Stephanie.)
Now, after I say that, I will tell you that when I called about her, I was assured that she had no other problems. We had that concern, as well. I've known another child with her condition--only she was much more severe--and she had no other problems except for her hands.
Keep us posted with her! She is near and dear to our hearts, too! My family will be happy to hear that she has a home.
To which I receive this reply:
Oh my gosh!!! As soon as I saw your message, I started crying!!!! I can't believe it... If she is truly meant to be ours, then she was obviously meant to be special to your family as well. I just can't believe this coincidence....Thank you so much for responding!!
My turn:
I can't, either, but we have a BUNCH of happy people today! We are SO glad for you and for her, too! We've been concerned about her even though we knew God's plan for her did not include us as her family, and vice versa. I prayed about it a lot and I felt like we were being told that, if she was to be ours, we would have gotten the news about her before we did.
Yes. She IS special to our family. PLEASE keep us posted on your progress.
Wow. This was neat! And to think it will only get better!
Early this week, all waiting families received an e-mail from CAWLI (our agency). The e-mail listed several "waiting children." These are children with special needs who are traditionally more difficult to place. Usually the issues are easily corrected, such as cleft lips/palates or holes in the heart which are corrected before they get home. And most of these children had such issues--except for this one little girl. This 13-month-old baby had a hand problem. "Left hand has missing digits," it said. I thought, "Hmmm. BRIAN'S left hand is missing a digit." (We know of at least one case where a parent and a child have similar issues and the match has been fantastic!) I called Brian; I talked to the boys; I asked Rich to ask Mom and Dad. We met up with some reservations, but Brian and I decided to call. Stephanie (CAWLI) told me that she basically had stumps for fingers on her left hand, but the rest of her was fine. "Ectrodactyly," she called it; but, she also warned, we were most likely matched. That would mean an extra wait of at least a month if we did take her. After some more consideration, we decided that maybe this wasn't the time for us to take a special needs child--that she probably wasn't our daughter. I felt confirmed when that small, still voice said, "If she were yours, she would have come to your attention before you were matched." Amazingly, I let it go fairly easily--something I can rarely do with anything, as you have probably guessed considering we're on the way to China in a matter of weeks.
So this morning I get online to find this e-mail from a family in our area:
Hi everyone!
We are _____________, parents to three great kids and currently waiting on our I-171H to come from Louisville. Supposedly, its due in about one week, though I've been hearing rumors of another slowdown. I'm curious about two things...
One: Has anyone recently recieved their I-171H from Louisville? I really really want that piece of paperwork because we have gotten word from our agency about a 13 month old girl with special needs that we think is our daughter. There is another family interested in her, though, so...who knows??
Two: The child with special needs has missing digits on her left hand...
To demonstrate just how unfair life is, NO one was here for me to cheer with or to hug; however, I DID have a computer keyboard:
Bless you! We nearly requested the little girl of whom you speak, but we have already been matched and it would have slowed us considerably. I'm SO glad someone in our area is looking to her! She must have been meant to be in the GC area! (WE were the other family, btw. I need to call Stephanie.)
Now, after I say that, I will tell you that when I called about her, I was assured that she had no other problems. We had that concern, as well. I've known another child with her condition--only she was much more severe--and she had no other problems except for her hands.
Keep us posted with her! She is near and dear to our hearts, too! My family will be happy to hear that she has a home.
To which I receive this reply:
Oh my gosh!!! As soon as I saw your message, I started crying!!!! I can't believe it... If she is truly meant to be ours, then she was obviously meant to be special to your family as well. I just can't believe this coincidence....Thank you so much for responding!!
My turn:
I can't, either, but we have a BUNCH of happy people today! We are SO glad for you and for her, too! We've been concerned about her even though we knew God's plan for her did not include us as her family, and vice versa. I prayed about it a lot and I felt like we were being told that, if she was to be ours, we would have gotten the news about her before we did.
Yes. She IS special to our family. PLEASE keep us posted on your progress.
Wow. This was neat! And to think it will only get better!
posted by Carolyn @ 4:23 PM
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