On Loan from the Lord: Part One

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD,

children a reward from him."
Psalm 127:3

If children are a reward from the Lord....then we are well rewarded! This week, while Victor is leading a team on an Evangelistic Medical Mission Crusade to the state of Guerrero, I would like to take the opportunity to share with you a little bit about some of the highlights in the lives of each of our children here at Refuge Ranch.

(Please keep the crusade volunteers in prayer. There are about 30 volunteers participating in this crusade. Things at Refuge Ranch are very quiet this week as the following people all went on this crusade: Victor, Martita and Josiah; the entire Marshall family; Rosa (our cook); Erika (staff member Magda's daughter); Ana (our newest staff member); Adrian and Vero (part-time staff and long-time crusade volunteers). That leaves only 16 of us on-site, as opposed to a normal 28! Keep us in your prayers too! Cirino is watching the grounds and animals; Magda is taking care of the laundry and cooking; and I have 11 children under my care alone in the house and at school!)

Our children belong to the Lord and have been lent to us for us to care for, love, nurture and raise in the Truth of His Word! May this blog be the Lord boasting about all the He has done and is doing in the lives of each of this precious and unique bundles of potential! Thank YOU for your prayers and financial support that give us all that we need to provide for them physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually in order to make each change, transformation and growth possible.

(The children's stories are in no particular order.)

Daniel

As many of you already know, Daniel's life is already a miracle! The more doctors and hospitals we contact as we look for somebody willing to donate Daniel's medical care, the more I realize how serious his condition is and how miraculous that he is even alive, much less the active toddler that he is! Daniel will be three years old tomorrow! He walks, runs, laughs a ton, loves to play jokes, talks in full sentences and perfectly clearly. When he joined our family about 15 months ago, he couldn't say even one word and had just learned how to walk! Daniel is a blessing for our entire family! Please continue to pray that God's perfect will would be done in Daniel's life and in ours as a family!

Here are a few quotes from the responses we have received from doctors and hospitals that we have contacted. I share this because I want everybody to know how serious Daniel's situation truly is, for several reasons: 1) So that we can all be praying even more fervently; 2) so that when God does a miracle and heals Daniel or provides medical care for him, we will praise Him all the more having known how huge the mountains were that He moved; 3) so that if the Lord decides to take Daniel to his true Home, we will understand just how miraculous it was that we were blessed with him the time that we have had him.

"The cardiologist in Mexico did a thorough echocardiogram report that our cardiologist could review. Unfortunately, as I suspected, Daniel has very complex congenital heart disease and likely heterotaxy syndrome. He has single ventricle anatomy as well as other abnormal cardiac structures. Because he would require a series of 3 surgeries and his follow up care would be complex he does not meet the clinical criteria to be considered as a patient for our program."
Response received yesterday from third hospital to turn down Daniel's case.

"Without corrective surgery, most children with Heterotaxy syndrome and significant heart problems will not survive beyond the first year of life." from the Heterotaxy Foundation website


"Unfortunately, we are unable to approve this request. As much as we would like to approve every request we receive for international charity care we receive, we could not do so and still have the resources to provide for the care of every one of our own local kids without regard to ability to pay. We have exhausted the funds allocated for international care this year. But we also have criteria which we use to choose patients which Daniel does not meet. We try to use the funding we have to help as many kids from as many countries as we can. This causes us to shy away from complex cases like Daniel, which could easily use up all of our resources on just one patient instead of the many we like to help. Even more than that, the repair for Daniel’s kind of heart defect is a three stage repair over two years, and the patients are quite unstable for the first 6 months, requiring intensive and close follow-up which would not be possible long distance. Many of these patients will ultimately come to heart transplant."
Response from second hospital to turn down Daniel's case.

To God be the glory!

Ana

Ana is a four year old bundle of energy that runs, bounces and climbs everywhere she goes! She makes us laugh, and run, a lot! We knew about Ana before she was even born and she joined our family less than 24 hours after her birth. She and Ruth are exactly 9 months apart and so I was able to breastfeed them both at the same time for nearly 2 years! In fact, Ana and Ruth say that they are twins because they breastfed together. Ruth's explanation is that Ana looks like Dad and Ruth looks like Mom!

It has been an interesting experience raising two daughters, one adopted and one biological, of nearly the same age! Studies have shown that children feel loved and accepted, or rejected, even when they are still in the womb! Ana and Ruth's lives are living proof of this scientific discovery.

When Ana's biological mother was pregnant with her, she did not want Ana at all. She made that very well known to the few people who even knew she was pregnant. One of them, a Christian missionary, even encouraged her to try and love Ana, speak loving words to her and care for her, even while in the womb, despite the fact that she would not be raising her after birth. Ruth, on the other hand, was deeply loved the entire time that she was in my womb. Now, even four years later, Ana is very quick to get angry and immediately starts calling herself "ugly" and saying things like: "I am very bad." "I am going to be bad." and other very negative comments.

With prayer and consistent love, Ana has begun now to say, several times throughout the day, "I love you, Mom" and express her love for others through spontaneous hugs and hand-holding. She has also begun to relate her actions to what pleases Jesus. She will repeatedly say, after saying or doing something wrong: "Jesus doesn't like us to....." and then "Jesus wants us to...." It is exciting, and a relief, to see her grow in this way and we pray that the Lord will continue to restore the emotional wounds that were inflicted, even before birth! (Ana got up early this morning and is snuggled up on my lap, even as I type this blog! Thank you, Lord, for the precious gift of Ana's life and this time with her.)

Caleb

Caleb is now 6 years old and in first grade. The Lord has blessed him with an incredible ability to read! Last night he read the Bible verse for our devotions and did so perfectly and quite quickly! He also has incredible logic ability, which comes in handy when doing Math and other problem solving activities.

Caleb's greatest quality is his compassion. He cannot stand to see Victor or I discipline any of his younger siblings. He quickly steps in to defend them; will leave the room crying; or will go and comfort them after the discipline has been handed out.

Caleb and Daniel share a bedroom and, although Daniel goes to bed nearly an hour before Caleb, he will not go to sleep until Caleb is in bed! In fact, Daniel spends that entire hour calling for Caleb. Caleb always responds: "I'm coming Daniel!" As soon as Caleb goes to bed, Daniel stretches his hand through the slats in his crib and grabs Caleb's hand. Many nights the boys fall asleep holding hand. In fact, Caleb has commented that when Daniel, Lord willing, goes to the U.S. for medical care, Caleb will have to go along, because Daniel can't sleep without him!

Josiah

Josiah is now 9 years old. He is on crusade right now with Victor. Through several crusade experiences, Josiah has discovered that he loves clowning! Last week, Victor and several other crusade volunteers went shopping for used clothing at market that could be used for the clowns. When they got home, Josiah was trying on different outfits to find the one that was just right for his clown. Well, trying on all that clothing inspired him!

That same afternoon, several ladies from our church came out to Refuge Ranch in order to continue planning our upcoming women's retreat, of which I am a part. It was one of the lady's birthday that day and we had agreed with her husband to provide a cake and surprise her. Well, Josiah got inspired and he and Erika (our staff member Magda's daughter) practiced one of the clown routines they had a used at a previous crusade and put on a surprise clown show! Ely, our friend from church, was happily surprised at her surprise party and we all enjoyed the show! Josiah seems to have a real natural talent for clowning and, when he puts on his clown outfit and makeup, seems to lose all inhibitions and thoroughly enjoys himself.

Stay tuned for more : "On Loan from the Lord"!