Time for a Recheck

Well, it doesn't happen much around here, but this week it did.  We all got sick.  Yep, all of us.  It started on the Friday before Thanksgiving when we were shopping.  Our sweet Naomi put her mouth on one of those carts in the store. Yuck!  It reminded me of the time when Marshall and I took all of our kids plus my niece and nephew across the country by car to Washington D.C. in order to see the sights.  Wouldn't you know that our sweet niece put her mouth on the handlebar in the metro train.  I was so grossed out. And, sure enough, within the week, she got sick and then it went around our whole family.  Fun summer that was.

So, our Naomi is the culprit, the one who started this whole business of being sick.  And, wouldn't you know the virus loves us so much that it has gone around the entire family.  If you are wondering why there haven't been any updates to our blog, that is the reason.  I am happy to say that we are on the mend and I am actually enjoying being in front of our computer writing to you.

Naomi's illness this week reminds me of the summer she came to visit us.  After she had been here about a week Naomi got really sick.  I mean the type of sick where you, as a parent, know in your heart that something is unmistakably wrong. Marshall and I rushed a lethargic Naomi to the emergency room (she had a fever of 104.6) and we waited for what seemed like hours.  Finally, we saw a doctor, who gave us the diagnosis - strep.  Naomi was put on antibiotics and then we prayed that the lovely strep bug wouldn't make its rounds to the rest of us in our family.  God heard our prayers and we were protected. More than that, Naomi was able to spend the rest of her 30 days healthy.  When we put her back on the airplane to the Philippines, she was completely healthy - or so we thought.

Naomi sick while visiting in the summer

When we were finally over in the Philippines "fetching" our daughter we were told that Naomi had been extremely ill since she had returned from America.  In fact, she had been hospitalized and given an IV to help her.  My mother gut told me that she had never fully recovered from the strep bug and, had she stayed here, I would have brought her back to the doctors for a recheck.  Instead of that recheck I had to put our sweet Naomi on a plane and send her back to her country without that second check.

I often think of how Naomi  looked and how fragile she was when she first came to our family.  If you look at pictures of her when she first got here in January 2010 you can't believe she is the same girl now.  It is totally amazing what being in a family does for a child.  We have the proof - the before and after - of what a family can do.  Every child regardless of age or background needs the chance for that recheck.  A chance to thrive and a chance to get healthy.  A chance to be loved and a chance to grow to be the person who God created them to be.

Naomi after her recheck

I know when Jacob comes home he will get sick. The viruses will visit our home again.  And he  will probably spend days on the couch doing nothing but resting and watching TV.  The main thing, however, is that Jacob will be given the chance to get well, to be loved and to thrive. He will be given the chance to grow up and become the man that God wants him to be.  He will be given that recheck whenever it is needed.

There are many, many children who wait. They wait for the opportunity to be in a family and they wait for the chance to thrive.  And, like so many Americans, we sit back and do nothing but think how unfortunate the situation is.  But, that is not the case here. Because of your faithfulness to our family, you are not like "so many Americans".  And, with that, we are forever grateful to you.  There will come a day when Jacob gets to see with his own eyes just how many people cared enough about his life to give him that chance- that recheck if you will.  

Lorrie