We would like to introduced all our friends and family to a little girl that we love already even though we have not actually met her yet. This is Mariela, she was born the day before our son Eathyn at the same hospital, on August 25, 2008. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19 inches long. Shortly after she was born she was checked into the neonatal intensive care unit. She was born with a cleft lip and a cleft pallet. After sending her home with her mother and father, her father was not very gentle with her. One way or another, she ended up with 11 broken bones. He broke her right arm completely in half, five of her ribs, both of her legs in two different places and he also broke her pelvic ring. Her birth mother and father are now in the Bell County Jail. Her cleft lip really bothered her father. He didn't know how to react to it in a healthy way. Little did he know after 4 surgeries she will look as beautiful as their other child, but now he will never know, he will never see her again. He will spend the rest of his days in prison. This last Monday on the 27th of October, Brett and I were told about this little girl and our hearts were drawn to her instantly. Because Brett is a Family Law Attorney we hear first hand about 100's and 1000's of children who are abused everyday. But for some reason we have really been draw to Mariela. We want to bring her home. On Tuesday, Brett asked the Department of Child Protective Services if he could intervene on the lawsuit, and file for custody. They have never heard of anyone doing that before, but said he could give it a try and they would not object. Very quickly things just started falling together perfectly. Miracles started to happen right before our eyes. We are often speechless as we watch this little girl work her way into our home. The hearing that will decide if we can take custody of this child is on Nov. 4th at 1:30 p.m. which is this coming Tuesday. Brett acts like he is going to a carnival except quite a bit more emotional. I on the other hand, am very sober and prayerful. I want to know the will of the Lord with much detail and confidence. I want to understand His will for this little angel child. I want to make sure that I am the mother that He intended for her to have. I want to know with every fiber of my being that she was meant to be our's from the very beginning. The way miracles are occurring everyday, and the way that I love her already is a pretty strong indication that there is a good chance she will be coming to our home very shortly. I have not felt any warning sign that this is not right. Eathyn is down for a nap and I finally have a moment to study and pray like I have never before done. I thought the decision to bring Eathyn into our home was a tough one. This is just a testimony to me that the Lord will continue to refine us into who He wants us to be, if we let Him. This is the biggest decision that I have ever had to make; but in a lot of ways, I think it will be easy because the feelings are so similar to the feelings I felt when I was feeling the promptings to bring Eathyn into our home. Somehow, it all feels so familiar. We will keep you all posted. For now this little girl needs as many prayers as she can get. She is in the "trust" phase of her life and there's not a person in this world that she can trust yet. We are going to have a special fast on Sunday as a family. We want to make sure that this is the right thing for her, our children, and ourselves, so this will be a blessing for everyone involved. If any of you would like to join us we would really feel grateful for your support. Last night the child advocate came to visit our family. She knows Brett very well from court, but she had to do an inspection of our home and meet and talk to our children before she can stand up in court and suggest the child be placed with us. It was a really interesting experience to say the least. It is not an experience I have ever thought could or would ever happen to us. I knew that I felt strongly I was going to have two children very close together, I even prayed that if I was going to have two more children close together, could He just send me twins? When that did not happen, I was disappointed. But here we are with two children just a couple hours apart, this I did not expect in a million years! We are grateful despite all her broken bones that she seems to be doing well. The medical reports state that when she came into the E.R. she was content and sweet and didn't appear to be in any pain. Despite her skull fractures she is cooing and smiling just as Eathyn is and all her reflexes appear to be normal. Her C.T. scan is 100% normal. This child must have had angels among her when she was sent to earth.
We would like to introduced all our friends and family to a little girl that we love already even though we have not actually met her yet. This is Mariela, she was born the day before our son Eathyn at the same hospital, on August 25, 2008. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19 inches long. Shortly after she was born she was checked into the neonatal intensive care unit. She was born with a cleft lip and a cleft pallet. After sending her home with her mother and father, her father was not very gentle with her. One way or another, she ended up with 11 broken bones. He broke her right arm completely in half, five of her ribs, both of her legs in two different places and he also broke her pelvic ring. Her birth mother and father are now in the Bell County Jail. Her cleft lip really bothered her father. He didn't know how to react to it in a healthy way. Little did he know after 4 surgeries she will look as beautiful as their other child, but now he will never know, he will never see her again. He will spend the rest of his days in prison. This last Monday on the 27th of October, Brett and I were told about this little girl and our hearts were drawn to her instantly. Because Brett is a Family Law Attorney we hear first hand about 100's and 1000's of children who are abused everyday. But for some reason we have really been draw to Mariela. We want to bring her home. On Tuesday, Brett asked the Department of Child Protective Services if he could intervene on the lawsuit, and file for custody. They have never heard of anyone doing that before, but said he could give it a try and they would not object. Very quickly things just started falling together perfectly. Miracles started to happen right before our eyes. We are often speechless as we watch this little girl work her way into our home. The hearing that will decide if we can take custody of this child is on Nov. 4th at 1:30 p.m. which is this coming Tuesday. Brett acts like he is going to a carnival except quite a bit more emotional. I on the other hand, am very sober and prayerful. I want to know the will of the Lord with much detail and confidence. I want to understand His will for this little angel child. I want to make sure that I am the mother that He intended for her to have. I want to know with every fiber of my being that she was meant to be our's from the very beginning. The way miracles are occurring everyday, and the way that I love her already is a pretty strong indication that there is a good chance she will be coming to our home very shortly. I have not felt any warning sign that this is not right. Eathyn is down for a nap and I finally have a moment to study and pray like I have never before done. I thought the decision to bring Eathyn into our home was a tough one. This is just a testimony to me that the Lord will continue to refine us into who He wants us to be, if we let Him. This is the biggest decision that I have ever had to make; but in a lot of ways, I think it will be easy because the feelings are so similar to the feelings I felt when I was feeling the promptings to bring Eathyn into our home. Somehow, it all feels so familiar. We will keep you all posted. For now this little girl needs as many prayers as she can get. She is in the "trust" phase of her life and there's not a person in this world that she can trust yet. We are going to have a special fast on Sunday as a family. We want to make sure that this is the right thing for her, our children, and ourselves, so this will be a blessing for everyone involved. If any of you would like to join us we would really feel grateful for your support. Last night the child advocate came to visit our family. She knows Brett very well from court, but she had to do an inspection of our home and meet and talk to our children before she can stand up in court and suggest the child be placed with us. It was a really interesting experience to say the least. It is not an experience I have ever thought could or would ever happen to us. I knew that I felt strongly I was going to have two children very close together, I even prayed that if I was going to have two more children close together, could He just send me twins? When that did not happen, I was disappointed. But here we are with two children just a couple hours apart, this I did not expect in a million years! We are grateful despite all her broken bones that she seems to be doing well. The medical reports state that when she came into the E.R. she was content and sweet and didn't appear to be in any pain. Despite her skull fractures she is cooing and smiling just as Eathyn is and all her reflexes appear to be normal. Her C.T. scan is 100% normal. This child must have had angels among her when she was sent to earth.
