I know I already sent an email about this, but it's so grand I want to blog about it so I can remember the day and the details- (plus, I left part of the story out in the email.)
My good friend Alice had a baby boy 4 weeks ago, and I got to see him for the first time last night. I was planning on waiting a whole month to visit (a local tradition) but she called me and told me she had a problem with her baby, and wanted to see if I could come over.
Alice knows that I have a lot of experience with children (not much with infants- Scott actually has more experience than me there), and when I told her that I'd love to come watch her baby while she naps or goes out she was thrilled! So last night when she called me and told me she had a problem, I assumed she wanted some help getting him to sleep, or maybe she just needed a break.
I went over right away. When I walked in, there was no crying baby- but Alice was obviously very sad.
Alice told me about the birth. She had to have a C section, and she tried to describe another surgery they gave her but I didn't understand it completely. She told me that she asked to see her baby, but they wouldn't allow her to see him.
After 5 days in the hospital, she finally got to see her baby. Tragically, her baby boy's right hand didn't develop fully. Perhaps the nurses were trying to find a way to fix it before they let Alice see him.
Alice was devastated, and she is racked with worry that he won't be able to function using his left hand to write or eat. In this poor city, if a child is born with any ailment or disfigurement it is certain that the child will have great difficulty staying in school or keeping a job because there is no help for them, and very little pity.
I recently met a woman who is mostly blind- she wasn't allowed to stay in school because she required a lot of extra help so was forced to do a janitorial job at elementary school age. She was determined to become a great pianist, and she did. She was heard playing the piano when she was older- it was so impressive she was given a job as a teacher. This is a Cinderella story for Boone.
Although Alice has all these worries about her sweet boy, she definitely has her wits about her.
She knows I'm left handed, and asked if I could help her teach him to use his left hand! How sweet!! I told her not to worry- he will use his left hand on his own, and he will naturally adapt. She asked me if I knew any American doctor who can fix his hand... I gently told her I had no way to help her, but that there are wonderful hospitals in Hong Kong and Thailand, and maybe she should start saving her money.
We cried together, and I held her little boy for a few hours. Alice told me "I think he will speak English well, so the children won't be able to tease him." I'm so proud of her for trying to be positive.
Alice bestowed an enormous honor on us. She asked us to give him his English name. I told her the story about Daniel, and how God had "given him knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom" (Daniel 1:17) and how Daniel "possessed an extraordinary spirit" (6:3)
and also how Daniel loved God and was saved from the den of lions.
So we named him Daniel, and Alice was very moved by the story. She also let me pray for Daniel's hand to grow. After our prayer, Alice told me that it is local custom to choose another family to act as a second mother and father. She said that she wanted to choose Scott and me, and they will hold a special dinner celebration to give us this honor.
Alice is now my sister, and she wants to know more stories like the one of Daniel. I hope that as she learns, her husband will want to learn as well. She prays every morning and night for God to make Daniel's hand grow, but knows that God may answer 'yes, no, or wait'.
Please join me in praying for a miracle, so God can show his power to this city.
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