An interesting encounter

In this job it is easy to swing between thinking we are amazing for the work we do, or thinking we scarcely make any impact at all. Yesterday our littlest man and I were at the CP clinic at one of the government hospitals. The moms there are really amazing, managing their challenged children without many of the things we take for granted. They are so committed to looking after their kids, carrying them around on their backs even up to 4 or 5 years, and traveling long distances to reach the clinic for their appointments. One woman I met made a particular impact on me.

This lady's husband had left her back in 1996, and had run around their location "jolling" with many different women for 12 years. He left her with 3 children, aged 5, 3 and 1. For the last 3 of those years, he was staying with another woman and had 2 children with her. In 2003, this other woman kicked him out and told him to take the children with him; she did not want them anymore. She still lives in the same area, but loves to party and has no interest in visiting the children. At a loss for what else to do, he went back to his wife. She, amazingly, took him back after some deliberation, along with the two children. The oldest is now in grade 1, and the youngest is 3yrs, with severe cerebral palsy.

Amazingly, this woman has accepted these kids as her own, and devotes most of her day to looking after the little one. You can see how much he loves her and how comfortable he is. Like our little man, he is blind, and, even at 3, unable to stand or say more than a few "baby" words. It was so inspiring for me to see a mom, who was so committed to her child, even though he wasn't hers. In our job we see so many "real" moms who don't seem to care at all about their kids. Our second youngest just celebrated his 1st birthday, and his mom has literally vanished from town.

It was both encouraging, and challenging, for me to meet this woman. We've been considering whether we should be applying for our little one to be admitted to a special CP home, which usually takes about 3 years. I think we probably will apply, just to have our options open, but I haven't decided whether it really will be in his best interests or not. You can join me in praying about this issue!