Grace, Mercy and Joy!!!

It is with great excitement we announce the referrals of our two Liberian angels, Mercy and Charlesetta whom my little Skylar has named Joy. My daughter now wants to be called Grace (her middle name) and spelled it on her own today. (See photo) The other word is an animal she liked most. How can you argue with phonics?
We have learned much about Mercy as her medical condition is fragile. She will turn 13 next month and weighs only 47lbs. We accepted her referral today so she was moved into the guest house of Acres of Hope where she will get the watchful eye of the guest house host who is a nurse. She will be started on IV's and we are hoping we can stabilize her condition and get some nutrients in her. She is well aware of the fact she may not make it through the adoption process and wants to fight to stay alive as she wants to live "to tell others about Jesus!" She is on a feeding tube and has had one dilation. She is a caustic ingestion victim. The story she told was that in January of this year, some "mean" boys secretly poured out her water bottle, filled it with lye (a clear liquid), watched her drink it and ran off laughing. Patti (founder of Acres of Hope) gave her a copy of her book and she then told Patti later "Next to the Bible, it was the best book she had read!" Her mother lives out in the bush and she has been living with her uncle in Monrovia for medical treatment.

Charlesetta (Joy) too is a caustic ingestion victim and her accident occured in 2004 when she was 5 or 6. She will turn 8 on November 20th two weeks after our Grace turns 8 and we already call them "The Twins". She is 41.5" tall and weighs 29lbs. A little peanut! For contrast to Joy and Mercy, Grace is 55lbs and 50.5" tall. Her mother knows she will die there without proper treatment and that adoption is her only option and has to give her up to save her life.

It is very common for younger children to ingest lye. It is a bleach like liquid used for laundry/cleaning and usually stored in soda bottles (thus called caustic soda) and set outside due to it's fumes. Children come along in the 100+ heat think it is water and start drinking.

The Medical Options:
1. Slow, steady dilation's, once a week or so for the first 3-6 months, to gradually increase the size of the esophagus to get them to a point to be able to eat solid foods.
2. Esophageal replacement. A piece of the colon is used to replace the esophagus.

There are two schools of thought on replacement:
1. It should be the last resort as it is permanent and if it doesn't work, what do you do?
2. It should be done right away to avoid further scaring in the esophageal tract and also because there is a 300-400% higher chance of esophageal cancer due to the intense damage sustained.
UNM Hospital's Pediatric Surgery unit seems neutral and will begin assessment once they are both here and able to be seen where a plan of action can begin.

Joy is not as bad off as Mercy but still in urgent need of medical care and because of that, Acres of Hope is going to try to expedite both their paperwork. Best case scenario if all the processes go like clockwork (which it never does) we are looking at bringing them home the end of next month possibly early November. We are hoping no later than Christmas. Normally on non urgent cases, from the time of referral the process takes 4-7 months.

Our prayer requests:
1. Mercy would gain strength and weight and Joy will stay strong.
2. Pray that Mercy and Joy can begin to bond before we get there as they will now be sisters.
3. Paperwork to miraculously go like clockwork and parental relinquishment's would go smoothly as this has become the biggest issue with the American Embassy's new Consular who issues the American visa's.
4. For God to prepare Grace for the different world she is about to encounter and that she would feel loved and secure as we pour so much of our energy into these two angels as we get them healthy.
5. Since all this is happening relatively fast we are not as prepared financially. We know when God gives a vision, He makes the provision. We look forward to seeing how He will provide! We trust Him and know He has called us to adopt these two precious angels.

"For this child I prayed" 1 Samuel 1:27

Let the journey begin!!!