An abandoned little girl

Well - We were waiting to find out more before we make it totally public. Right now it is looking 95% sure that we will have a new baby girl in our home for a time.

Exactly one week ago a newborn baby girl was abandoned here in Xela. A microbus found her at 5am with hypothermia, ants in her umbilical cord, an infection in her umbilical cord, and her cord had been torn, not cut (so the mother probably birthed alone). After some prayer and some thought, we have decided to be foster parents for this little girl.

When I read about her in the newspaper, I literally cried at the thought of a tiny baby being so alone and scared and sick. My friend was with me and we went to the hospital to get some more information about her. The social work office was closed so we had to go back the next Monday (This last Monday) They directed us to the child services judge and that office directed us to health and human services, but ultimately we found out that she will go to an orphanage. Our hearts can't handle that. We are the only people who have asked about her! After one week, not one person has inquired about taking care of this baby. It has been in the papers almost everyday and still no one is interested!

I am going on Monday to take a copy of my residence status to the office and after that I think we will become foster parents. Now, it still may be several weeks before we actually take her home from the hospital. I am going to try to nurse her, and if she can't latch on then I will pump as much as I can so that she can have breast milk.

there are so many things going through my mind right now. 1st is when am I going to sleep? I am already a little tired most days. 2nd is am I going to be able to make enough milk for both babies? 3rd, we have many things to get before welcoming another baby in our home: clothes, another car seat, maybe a nanny to help me deal with 2 babies...who knows? 4th What happens if we take care of her for a very long time and then some other family adopts her? Can I deal with that loss? 5th Can we travel to and from the states with her? 6th What things might be wrong with her...fetal alcohol syndrome, any number of things that can go wrong with poor prenatal care? 7th WHAT ARE WE GOING TO CALL HER? She doesn't have a name right now.

So many of these things are unknown, but none of the unknowns mean that we can let this little girl go to an orphanage with so many other children and so few laborers. It is not very often in ones life that they get to do something that has such a significance. How blessed we will be to get to sacrifice for the life of a baby.

Please pray for us. Please pray that the Lord leads us as we try to figure out the best things to do. The Lord knows where this baby belongs. We will keep everyone updated.