Dearest Jocelyn,
Your prayers were heard a year before you ever spoke them and He sends the following to you. Please read to the end.
On August 9, 2007, my brother forwarded a fundraising email to me regarding a longtime friend of his (maid of honor in his wedding 12 years ago) who was praying for the final necessary funds for an adoption trip to Liberia to bring home their three new children. The mother's name is Candace and her family was already blessed with five children and one more came along in the spring of this year.
I took the opportunity to catch up on her family's life and to follow her story on her blog. In addition to funds, she was asking for prayers that the director of the orphanage would be able to present their case to the new Consular. I believe that you probably have direct knowledge of the difficulties which families were experiencing in obtaining visas for their adopted children.
I asked Candace to share the details of their difficulties, and wrote to me a lengthy email with lots of information. I then called a friend (father of a piano student) asking who would be the appropriate office or person at the State Department to try to get them some assistance at the U.S. Embassy in Liberia. My friend happens to be the Ambassador-at-Large in the TIP (trafficking in persons) Office here in Washington, D.C.
He knew and had worked with the Liberian Ambassador (LA) and asked me to send along 'simply the facts'. He then contacted LA inquiring as to the situation there, on an unofficial basis. Emails passed (many which I was able to read) between them and my friend hoped that he had done some good. I thanked him greatly.
The email traffic on this end was concluded on Monday the 13th. On Tuesday, Patty Anglin met with the new Consular and had a rather productive meeting I'm told. On Thursday, Pastor Wesley met with the Consular and the children received clearance to travel.
"Are you ready to go pick up your babies?" said the voice on the phone.
Somewhere in all this, I discovered your blog The Boy Who Found Me. I must apologize for being a lurker for so long but I wanted to see how Isaac's surgery went after arriving in the States. I have also been wishing to find a good way to share the message of Redeeming Waters International.
Jocelyn, I have multiple sclerosis and many of my bloggerly friends also have MS. Some with mobility difficulties, some without. But almost universally, we have dealt with struggles, uncertainties, fear, and rage. Some have undergone intensive therapy to relearn how to walk, successfully. Some have developed such positive messages of perseverance and hope that I am often in awe of their spiritual natures.
Multiple Sclerosis and Spinal Cord Injury have some similarities, especially in that the electrical messages sent through the central nervous system get messed up. I can't help you or Isaac with the struggles of spinal cord injury. But perhaps I, and my readers, can lend support in dealing with the frustrations of both of you during this time of recovery.
You as the caregiver (and mommy) have unique issues to deal with as you watch Isaac struggle so. It is a horrible pain to watch a loved one in such pain and get sucked into the dark waters of depression. I have never been confined to a wheelchair, but I have traveled those dark waters. I have undertaken intensive therapy to regain muscle strength and control in a hand/arm of which one finger had gone completely limp. For a musician, that was frightening.
Isaac is experiencing something which very few would understand, maybe only those who had been there before. If Isaac has undergone high-dose steroid treatments to help his spine recover more quickly, then there are many MS readers here who understand what that's like and the effects linger.
Please tell Isaac that although his leg feels like a lump of flesh and bone, that he WILL be able to make it move again. It's kinda like a beaver build a dam across a river, slowing the water flow down to a trickle. The water is still there; the river is still there. The water pushes against that beaver dam until it breaks a tiny hole in the tangle of debris or it begins to move around the dam clearing a new passageway.
As long as the ducks living downstream continue to call the waters down each day and celebrate each dip, the river will find a way to the ducks so that they can swim on that fresh water from above.
Many Blessings,
Lisa
P.S. To readers who come by here, perhaps you have something to share which may help Jocelyn and Isaac through this journey of healing.
The Boy Who Found Me
Redeeming Waters International
I too know that Isaac will be ok. Another girl who's story I have followed got a brain injury through a bicycle accident. She spent two weeks in a coma and they did not know if she would wake up ok. It was touch and go for along time but with her family's love and many people's prayers she made it through. She fought for clarity with her strong will and now she is home with her family again.
ReplyDeleteLisa, I will visit Isaac's blog, but what stands out to me, and I hope reaches others, is how You began a ripple that opened a damn. Each of us has that ability and we need to use it more. There is no greater calling than to help another.
ReplyDelete