Malaria

Posted on by Heather Hughes

Well….its not the news you hope for, but its true.  Our little Burundi Boy has Malaria and has been sick for a while.  He has seen a doctor and is on medication.  He’s on a fatty diet to try and help him gain the weight he lost from being so sick. According to the Director of the orphanage he seems to be doing better.   We praise God for this.

Our hearts hurt so badly.  But, what parents heart doesn’t ache when their babies are hurting and you can’t take care of them.  I don’t particularly like when things are out of my control…shocker, I know.    I want to care for him, love him, hold him.  I want to feed him and help him take his medication.  I want to hold the wet cloth on his head and tickle his back to help him relax.  I want to clean up his puke…yep…even that.  I’m his Mama.  Its my joy to love him.  But today I can only love him through prayer.

On the same day we received this news we also mailed off a care package to our little guy.  Made me feel just a little bit like I was caring for him from afar.  We found out the week before that he has seen pictures of us and knows we are adopting him.

HE KNOWS WE ARE HIS FAMILY!!!!

This is just the greatest.  THE GREATEST!

I so wish I could have seen his face when he saw pictures of his new family.  And…I am SO thankful that he will have time to adjust to the idea.  God is good.

We were told we could send him a gift that fit into a gallon size ziploc. HA!  I used every single cm of that bag, let me tell you!

Kenna, Huddy, Ty & I went shopping one evening to find goodies to send to him.  It was the sweetest thing to hear them think about him and talk about what they wanted to get him.   
Kenna picked out suckers cause she had heard that this is a treat for kids in Africa from some friends of hers who had been to Rwanda.  
Huddy picked out Jelly Belly’s and a Hot Wheels car because he LOVED playing with cars when he was our little guys age.
Ty picked out Basketball cards and a coloring book cause he’s into cards and thought coloring was a good idea.  
We all picked out a cuddly giraffe stuffed animal we named buddy (cause it will be our little guys buddy till we go get him)  a Boise State shirt cause, well it said Boise on it and this will be his new home.  And for Jay and Jaxon we picked out a Portland Trailblazers ball cause SURPRISE, SURPRISE they like basketball and the Blazers!

We managed to fit it all in PLUS a photo book that I made for him.
Here are a few pages from the photo book!  If you click on the photo you can see it bigger!

I loved putting this book together for him!  The whole time I kept thinking about what he might think about all we are sharing with him.  If only I could be there to see his face when he gets his gift! AHHHHHHH!  We cant get there fast enough!
Other adoption news…we wont be taking our 4 kids with us when we travel after all.  I’ve had time to deal with it otherwise Id be way more boohoo-ish.  We are all disappointed but also know that it is probably for the best since the Burundi isn’t the safest place to be right now.  This will also give us one on one time with our little guy before we introduce him to the rest of our crazy Partyof7!

Will you please pray for our little guy?  He needs it and so do we!

Pray for his body to respond well to the meds, to fully recover and for him to gain the weight back plus some! (he didn’t have much to lose)

Pray he is well taken care of, shown compassion and loved during this time.

Continue to pray for the paperwork process…we are SO hoping we will get to travel this summer to go pick him up.

Pray for the country. For peace. For safety for those living there.

We appreciate your prayers and know that God hears each and every one!  He’s amazing like that!

LOTS OF LOVE,

Heather

7 thoughts on “Malaria”

  1. I will be praying for his complete recovery and everything else you listed. I'm so glad you give the specific requests so we know how to lift you up.
    The photo book was such a great idea and turned out adorable. I'm sure this will be something he treasures!

  2. Praying for your family and that your sweet son recovers quickly and fully! Love the book you made for him, what a great gift! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your journey!

  3. This brought me immense sadness and then immediately immense happiness! I know how hard his must be on you guys- not able to comfort him while he's hurting. The time is coming!! And as for this book… I just LOVE this idea, and I'm with you- I'd love to see his face and be in his brain as he processes all these pictures and messages of love and inclusion into a family! So incredibly cool. We will continue to pray for him and you!

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