8 Months + Thoughts on Orphans

Well, our traditional chair photo didn't happen this month. We moved, got sick, and can't find our cute 8 month sticker anywhere! I must find them before we get to 9 months. I have been meaning to sit and blog for a while, but for some reason we can only get internet in one corner of our living room right now, and not to mention we have been crazy busy/a bit unorganized this month.

We moved for good the Wednesday before Christmas, but have only spent the past 3 nights in our new house and Cody started his new job yesterday.

Max is suffering from his first illness in his little life. He had an ear infection around 6 months but you would have never known. He is the child who laughs during his shots, so it has been devastating for me to see him so miserable. I don't know what to do for him. He still plays and laughs, and smiles but I know HIM, and something is just off. He's not his usual jolly self, which he always is so I know something is wrong. The doctors keep looking at him commenting on how happy he is, and I feel like they don't really think he is suffering but I know he is. He is eating a fraction of his regular amount of food, and has lost 10 ounces in less than a week. Just awful. He's up coughing at night, gagging up his food and a huge snot ball! He has also been on a nebulizer until today to control his wheezing, and help make eating more comfortable (which it hasn't). I was told to take him off it yesterday because he was having some side effects that were making him cranky, jittery, and making him have the hardest time falling asleep. We were all suffering there.

At 8 months Max is:

-Crawling (army style)

-Eating fruits, Mum Mums, Veggies, Noodles & Meats

-Saying "da da" but not sure he has any word assoication

-Babbling like crazy

-Sleeping from about 6:30-6:30

-Usually taking 3 naps.

-He was 24 pounds, but closer to 23 since his illness

The one thing I have been continually thinking as his illness approaches day 10, is how unbelievably blessed we are to live in the country we do, with the healthcare we have at our fingertips. I just finished a book called Kissed From Katie (A MUST READ), by a 22 year old woman named Katie David who is living in Uganda as a single mother to 14 adopted Ugandan girls ranging from 3-13 (I think). She shared countless stories of children who are dying of malnutrition, dehydration, malaria, HIV, TB, and other horrendous diseased nobody can identify. One of her youngest daughters came to her as a two year old who couldn't walk or talk, and had phenomena constantly. Without being saved by Katie she would have died.

Many of the children are orphaned because their fathers abandoned them, and their mothers died during childbirth. Childbirth is one of the leading causes of death in women in 3^rd world countries. That again makes me feel very blessed. I was in labor for over 30 hours, and lost a great deal of blood. I was then admitted back to the hospital with a bad infection. If I would have given birth in a village in Africa I would have surely died, this was even verified by my doctor when I asked her! It’s crazy to think that God choose me to live where I do, and get to safely welcome my baby into the world. Max, also had a few complications at birth that were very minor, like low blood sugar and jaundice. Again, untreated these issues could and probably would have been life threatening for him. This happens every day all over the world. The one statistic that stood out to me more than anything in the entire book was that if only 8 percent of Christians cared for one orphan in the world, the problem would be resolved. 8 PERCENT!! If we would all just care for one of these children there would be no hunger, poverty, disease, and abandonment! I’m not preaching at anyone because I am still trying to figure out what my family is supposed to do. What I am realizing is that God doesn't just suggest that we should care for the “least of these” but he DEMANDS it. We are not all called to go to Africa and adopt, but we are called to use the wealth we are blessed with to help those in need. God did not accidentally forget to provide enough resources for the entire world to be fed, healthy, and clothed. He provided some with more than others, his main intention being that we SHARE what was not ours to begin with.

Katie mentions constantly how "appalled" she is with her former life in an affluent neighborhood in Brentwood, TN. She is so very thankful for her upbringing, and the hard work of her parents to make sure she was provided for, but now is able to put the frivolous spending of her past into perceptive. The cost one a pedicure, or a pair of shoes can send a child to school for an entire semester! I don't think there is anything wrong with the occasional pedi, or a new shoe purchase, but by sister made a good point by saying that when we feel entitled to these things we have a big problem.

This issue cannot be brushed under the rug. The salvation of these dying children is the burden that I believe the LORD has given to us. Here's a picture of Katie with her girls.