Friday, July 22, 2011

Fatherless Friday

This story breaks my heart....and I was going to tell it today, but then I saw that my friend Julia http://covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/ did...and well, I can't tell a story anywhere near the way she can....Six years ago, a Mama across the ocean gave birth to a little boy. His little body was twisted and contorted, and the doctors and nurses whispered in her ears, urging her to give him up: "He will never walk." "He will be a burden." "You cannot afford to keep him." "He will be better off hidden away." "He should not have been born." She was in an unforgiving world where broken children are tossed aside on a regular basis.

Despite all of this, her mother's heart would not allow her to let him go. Against the advice of all of those worldly-wise whisperers, she decided to keep him. She carried her beloved little boy with the contorted body home, where she cared for him and loved on him. She tenderly worked his arms and his legs. She nursed him and washed him. It was hard. We don't know if she had support. We know that finding work while maintaining a disabled child at home in that world is next to impossible. Somehow, though, mother and son survived together in this way for six years.

Back in January 2011, financial strain and her own health problems forced this Mama to take her son to live in a baby house orphanage. She chose the best one she could find, one where the staff was willing to work with special needs kids like her son. She wanted to find a job and a home nearby so that she could visit her precious treasure. Evey time she walked through the door, his face lit up: his Mama was back. Her love carried him through the loneliness of the baby house and kept him going. He loved his Mama and she loved him.

A few months later, though, Mama suddenly stopped coming. Her little boy longed for her and waited for her; but no matter how hard he wished for her, she no longer appeared.

Her absence wasn't by choice. Unknown to the little boy, his Mama had died of cancer in March.

Now he is all alone in the orphanage, with no one to visit him, for the first time in his six years of life. He refuses to believe the caretakers who tell him that she is never coming back. Each day, he continues to look for her. He scans the face of everyone who walks into the building, looking for a Mama who can never return to him.


A little boy who was tenderly loved for 6 years, suddenly orphaned.

 



He needs a Mama.



He desperately needs a Mama.



He will not be allowed to stay at his good baby house orphanage. Because he is wheelchair bound, he will be transferred to an institution for older children with special needs, just as Aaron was transferred.





I can't bear the thought.



His Reece's Rainbow name is Patrick and he needs a Mama.



He needs to grieve in the arms of a Mama who will help him overcome his great loss. He needs a family who can restore for him the joy of being loved and held and cherished.



I would get him if I could. I would cross that ocean and bring him home if the road was clear for us. But it is not. And so I am crying out for someone else to go get him. He needs a family.



My heart grieves deep within me for this one little boy.



Please please please post on your blogs about this little guy. Please, someone go get him.

Little boys are not supposed to have to say goodbye to their Mamas when they are only six years old.

*****

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4 comments:

  1. Thank you Jodi. It was your Fatherless Friday posts that caused me to start doing Fatherless Fridays too.... You are MY hero!

    P.S. Patrick is in the same orphanage as Aaron was.... most likely will be transferred to the same place as Aaron went. I want him.

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  2. What country is he in ? He is adorable. I would love to adopt him...He has so much personality behind that smile...my goodness. What a sad story for such a yg. life. I will pray for him to have a family soon.

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  3. awe...thank you Julia, coming from you that means A LOT <3

    He's in the same country as Artiom Jeane, and I sure wish you could go get him. I could just stare at him all day....and to think of him going where Aaron went...well, I just can't think of that.

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  4. Unfortunately we are too old to be allowed to adopt him from there- Honestly, I see lots of children but this little guy grabbed my heart. He sort of reminds me of your Artiom...such a sweet and dear smile. I wish that this country would make exceptions for special needs kids...We have had that happen before but I have not heard of it since their law changed in 2008.

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