Following the Father

It's already May?  Where did these last 4 months go?  Hopefully to glorify God's name!

Thank you everyone who has prayed for our baby girl that had heart surgery.  She was moved out of ICU a few days ago and is doing very well.  She's being fed through a nasal tube right now, and handling the milk well so far.  She was awake when Uncle Ted visited her today and looking much better.  Thank you God!

In a week my brother Josh will be flying to Taiwan to stay with me for awhile.  It's exciting to think of seeing someone from my family again!  He'll be arriving in Taiwan on the 7th, and he'll stay untill we both leave Taiwan together on the 20th of May.  So he'll get to experience Taiwan for a couple of weeks also.  We plan to go see some pretty sights and do some fun things around Taiwan as well as be around the Home where Josh will get to see where I've been these past 4 (by the end of my stay 5) months.

I'm still doing night shift with the babies.  Just now one of the adoptive parents to one of the babies came down asking if it was too early to give their baby his bottle.  Officially, since it was not quite 1:00 am and he's supposed to be fed at 5:00 am, yes it's too early.  But having spent awhile caring for this baby I knew that he wouldn't settle back down to sleep for them untill he ate again.  So no... it was not too early!

We just lost another two of "our" babies!  Josiah and Mason left with their adoptive parents the day before yesterday to head to the States.  They couples were on the same flight back.  We (Aunt Bev and I) were so happy for these couples, though it does still choke you up a bit to kiss these babies good bye after being a kind of mother to them for awhile.  Mama Bev has been mama to MANY babies!  It's interesting because our last baby who left before these two seemed to know, even though he was only 6 months old, seemed to know that something was changing.  He had his usual early bottle in the morning, but his routine was changed.  He was still fed changed, and burped, but he wasn't put back to bed.  Instead he was held by me and Mama Bev as we had our last moments with him while his parents got ready to leave.  But as we held him he kept his eyes to the side and would not actually look at us.  And when we played with him he didn't giggle like he often would after his tummy was full in the morning.  He kind of stared at things blankly like his brain was trying to catch up with why his routine was being changed.  We all got pictures taken with him and kissed and waved goodbye to him as they walked out the door, all the while he looked at things blankly with a creased brow.

That night (his parents hadn't left the country yet, they were staying with some of the mom's family for a bit before they went to the States.  She is Taiwaneze as well)  His adoptive mom called saying that he just wouldn't stop crying and they wondered if the should take him to the hospital.  Mama Bev reasured them that his health wasn't they problem (he had had a cold) and to just rock him and sing to him.  After that night things got better for them, but it just goes to show you that little ones can pick up on alot more than we think they do sometimes.

Two more adoptive couples are here now!  One is picking up a two year old little girl and the other is baby Blake's parents.  They both came on the same flight also.  It is always such a blessing to see the parents' first moments with their child.  I got to peak in on Blake's family with him right after he was handed to them.  They both were so touched and just had those sweet happy tears running down their face.  Blake acted like a complete charm and cooed and smiled for them.  I haven't been present for many first moments with parents because sometimes they arrive from the airport in the morning and I'm asleep after being up all night.  So it's special to me when I get to be there.

Keep praying for our judge who's making the process of going from the court date to getting the first papers much more difficult and prolonged.  The papers that we have recieved from her (thank you God that we HAVE gotten some!) took two months time from the court date.  The previous judge took two weeks.  She could use your prayers, though I'm sure she doesn't think so!  Nothing has moved with Nya's case still.  Every time the motorcyle postman comes and beeps his horn we all jump a bit and anxiously await the news (from whoever goes out to meet the postman) if Nya's first paper has come.  The postman came again today (he only comes when something comes into the post office for the Home, they're paid to do this for us) but again we were dissapointed.

As my stay here draws close to its end I'm looking back on how this all came about.  I'm reminded how God prepaired my heart for each step.  A couple of months before I came in contact with the Skiles I had felt this desire to get out of the U.S. to go out into another part of the world again and be free to do things God would have me to.  I knew that my family was an important part of my life and I had been very content with the midwest and my family and friends untill then.  But then something started swirling within my as I starred into the starry sky one night. (As a liked to do when I went out to bring my cat in each night, who likes to get into trouble during those hours)  I just started having this desire and feeling that I'd love to leave the U.S. for awhile and get out of my box.  Then after I was here I never had the feeling like I was desperate to get home, even when I was sick.  I felt content in my work, I just knew it was where I was supposed to be even when I was grumpy or tired.  And now as the end of my stay draws nearer I don't feel remorse at leaving, or desperate to get back to the U.S.  I'm peaceful about where I am and glad to get to see my family again soon.

Thank you God!!!  You are good, you're incredible.  Keep Your people strong but humble and further Your kindom to the ends of the earth through every single true Christ follower.

~Elizabeth    

P.S. I'm sorry for my grammer and spelling mistakes, spell check doesn't work on this, and I haven't the time to reread everything, and I need to post this before I go back to work and/or the internet goes down.  I'll get my mom's help on it later.    God keeps me humble this way, right??