Joy

Hannah has a family.  Those words brought tears to my eyes yesterday, and still when I think about it, I get goosebumps.  Hannah has a family.  You see, we didn't think Hannah would get a family.  We didn't think that this wonderful, feisty, curious, precious little girl would ever be adopted.  We didn't think that anyone would be able to see past her developmental delays to the Hannah that we see every day.  When you think of a child being adopted from TLC I'm sure you think of a tiny baby going home with their new parents, and quite often that is the case.  In fact, we got the wonderful news yesterday that three of our baby boys will be going home with their new families by the end of November.  It's wonderful that those parents will get to spend those early months with their child, but the children who are most in need of a mommy and a daddy are the older children, who often have special needs.  Hannah doesn't look good on paper.  She's nearly four years old, and she has some delays and special needs that will be with her for the rest of her life.  But when you meet Hannah you don't see any of that.  You see a child who has exceeded every expectation set for her, and not the milestones that she's missed.  You see a beautiful little girl with a twinkle in her eye, and not the scars on her face.  There is a family somewhere out there who has said that they want Hannah to be their daughter.  They have said that they will love her unconditionally, not matter what her issues.  They've never met her, and I can't wait till they see the smile on her face and they realize what an amazing blessing they have received.  We all know that when Hannah goes, she will leave a huge hole here at TLC.  I will miss her more than I can fathom.  She has a funny way of referring to herself in the third person, and I will miss hearing her say "What you doing to Hannah?"  when I tickle her, but my heart felt like it was lighter than air when I asked her this morning what her exciting news was.  She looked up at me and said "Hannah has a Daddy."  She, of course, has not idea what this actually means in her life.  To her, family is just a word.  For some reason, she's the most excited about getting a daddy, but she has not idea what that means.  And so we're excited for her.  Those of us who love her now are excited for the people who get the privilege of loving her for the rest of her life.  There is a bright future waiting for her, and I feel honored and blessed to have been a part of her past.  Praise God, Hannah has a family!

 

For those of you who are up to saying some prayers, I have a favor to ask.  In South Africa, the courts close from the end of November until the middle of January.  During this time, it's not possible to get a court date, and so no adoptions can be completed.  Hannah turns four in December, and of course we want her to be with her family for her birthday and for Christmas.  Can you please pray that we can get this little girl a court date before the courts close on the 21^st of November?  It would mean so much to me, and to Hannah.

Love and Blessings,

Amanda

New Pictures from Amanda

You were all waiting for this: The Babies

 

While I still haven't figured out how to get pictures sent home, I know you all want to hear some stories about our babies, and although I can't share the details of all of their stories or their names, I know you would all like to hear something about the little ones that I'm taking care of.  So here goes, some stories about our babies. 

 

In my last entry, I mentioned that Keagan and Eric found their forever families last week.  Within days of their departure for their new homes, we got three new babies, and the following week brought us four more, which brings us to a total of 41 babies at the moment!  The first was a newborn, baby boy "Z."  I think I've already mentioned this, but at the beginning of the year, Thea, the woman who started TLC, begins naming the babies who come in with the letter "A," both for boys and girls.  The second boy and girls of the year would have a name beginning with the letter "B" and so on.  Well, this newborn is our 26^th baby boy of the year, and thus has a name beginning with the letter "Z."  Baby "Z" was born to a young mother who was unable to care for him, and thus signed custody over to TLC so that we can find him a family.  When Thea went to the hospital to get him, his mother cried and cried about giving him up, and so the name that Thea gave to him means "tears."  He has settled into the Nest, and although he is a small newborn (around 6 1/2 lbs), he looks HUGE compared to some of our prem babies.  He's a beautiful baby, and it's such a pleasure to care for this precious little guy.  It's so amazing to know that I'll still be here when this guy is finally united with his family. 

 

The next two babies, baby girls "Q" and "R," came together.  (We were so excited to get girls-as you can tell, we've been overtaken by boys lately!)  We got a call from a social worker who said that they had two babies who had been abandoned at the hospital.  We were expecting a pair of newborns, but when Thea arrived she found that both girls were three months old.  They had been kept in the hospital since birth, while the police investigated their abandonment.  I find their story hard to imagine, but I want to share with you the little bit that we know about their time at the hospital.  The hospital that they came from is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and, like most public hospitals around here, is appallingly understaffed and under-resourced.  Every day, over one hundred babies are born there, and there are only six nurses at any time.  There are only beds for a fraction of the babies and their mommies, so most are kept for only four hours after birth.  These girls were kept in the maternity ward for three months, and it's clear that no one had the time to properly look after them.  For some reason, Baby Girl Q appears to have come through that experience fairly unscathed.  It took only a few days for her to begin smiling at us, and she appears to be delighted to have someone to talk to her and interact with her.  Baby Girl R was not so fortunate.  When we got her back to the nursery and undressed her, we were honestly sickened by what we saw.  She was covered head to toe with a rash that we later found out was a fungal infection.  It would appear that she was rarely, if ever, bathed in the entire three months that she had been there.  Even worse, around her ankle was the same hospital band that had been put on her at birth.  She had obviously grown in three months, and it was so tight that when we cut it off, it tore the skin away too.  When she came she would stare blankly into space with these huge, wide eyes and absolutely no expression on her face.  It broke my heart, and I absolutely fell in love with this tiny little baby who has already experienced such a hard life.  We have spent a lot of time holding this little girl and talking to her and snuggling with her, and she is finally starting to wake up.  Her smiles are rare, but they absolutely brighten my day.  I cannot wait to see what a whole lot of love and attention will do for this little one. 

 

The four babies came in rapid succession.  First was baby boy "Aa" (you can all guess what his name is, right?).  He's a tiny preemie, and we don't know much about him yet, but we're delighted to have him.  Our second baby of last week was actually a toddler, who will keep the name he had before he came to us.  He is around two years old, although we don't know his exact age, as it appears that he was abandoned by his mother.  He came to us incredibly malnourished and speaking no English. (We think that he speaks Zulu, as he talks a lot in a language we don't understand!)  He's beginning to feel comfortable here at TLC, although it's understandably hard for him at times.  We will do our best to get his health problems under control, and then we will hopefully find him a forever family sometime soon.  In the meantime, he's getting lots of food and snuggles, which seem to be doing him a world of good.  The final two babies that came last week also came together.  Baby girls "S" and "T" were both extremely premature babies from the same hospital that baby girls "Q" and "R" came from.  They are 5 and 3 months old respectively, although each weighs no more than 4.5 lbs (the conversions from Metric to English are killing me!) Although baby girl "S" has faced and is facing some serious health problems, both appear to be doing well here, and have brought us to a nice even dozen in the Nest.  We have as many babies right now as TLC has ever had, and we're told that the numbers tend to climb around the holidays.  I can't even imagine!  Pictures will be added soon, so check back again for some incredibly adorable babies!  Love and miss you all,

Amanda

The Many Meanings of the Word "Now" and other insights into South African Culture:

If I were to ask you what the meaning of the word "now" was, you would look at me like I was crazy.  Now means now.  As in right now, in the present moment, or currently.  At least, that's what I thought now meant!  That word has taken on a whole new meaning here in South Africa, and I think it's pretty interesting.  You see, "now" doesn't mean what you and I think it means.  It is most often used to mean something like "later" or "in a bit."  For example; I was in the kitchen today, and Brendan, a South African man who works in the office, was talking on the phone.  He said "Yeah, I'll be there now."  What's wrong with that statement?  Well, in American English, you can't be somewhere now if you're speaking in the future tense.  It just wouldn't make sense.  I was at the hospital the other day, and I called to tell them that the baby and I were finished, and were ready to be fetched.  (side note; you don't get "rides" places here.  You get a lift to somewhere, or you get fetched from somewhere, but if you ask for a ride, you get a funny look.)  Vivienne, another South African woman who works in the office, said to me "I'm there now to get you."  My small American self couldn't figure out what she meant!  Was she already outside waiting for me?  If so, why?  I pondered for a bit, and finally realized that what she had meant was "I'm coming to get you" or something like that.  Are you confused yet?  Yeah, me too, but it gets better.  Because the word "now" has lost its meaning, what word do you use when something needs to be done "now" as in "at this very moment?"  Well, in that case you would say "now now."  Yes, if you say the word twice, then it means what we Americans understand it to mean, more or less.  For example, Viv would say "Amanda, that baby needs to be fed now-now," and she would mean that I should feed the baby.  Got that down?  There's still more.  There's a particularly South African phrase that drives me crazy.  You might have guessed that it involves the word "now."  This phrase is "just now," and is technically supposed to mean "right now" or "getting right on it" or "soon."  What it means in real life is "when I get around to it, and there are no guarantees that I'll get around to it anytime in the near future"  As in " the builder says that he will fix the leaks in the roof of your cottage just now."  I've been told that I shouldn't hope for anything sooner than December.  As you can guess from the evolution of the word "now", no one around here is in much of a hurry to do anything.  It's so different from home, where everyone rushes around with to-do lists and 87 things on their mind at any one time.  Things are slower here, which is both nice and frustrating.  It's frustrating to feel that things just don't get done.  It feels inefficient much of the time.  But the people seem so much more relaxed, and like they take time to enjoy things a bit more.  This is something that I enjoy much of the time, but it takes some getting used to!  So there's my insight into South African culture.  I have no doubt that there will be more to come!