Happy One Year Hearing Anniversary.

August 13th marked a very special anniversary for Maggie. 

It has been one year since she received her BAHA hearing aid and started hearing clearly. 

What a difference one year makes ! Last year, Maggie wasn't speaking much, just a little baby babble every now and then. 

 But now !!! 

There's no way I could list all the words Maggie says ( or attempts to say) because she is trying to say everything. Just tonight she reached for the towel and said "towel", then started saying "wow". She doesn't link many words together yet, except for " I want" and "I have one or two" ( she's counting everything now).

And for you speech people, Maggie still has a glottal stop and has trouble saying some letters:

 ( D,T,SH,CH).  She does some weird thing where she tries to say the word, but won't open her mouth.  She also will not say DADDY. So, for now she is calling daddy "BaBa", which is the Chinese name for daddy and she is happy with that !

Maggie's hearing is great now with her hearing on aid and we are so very, very thankful for this little black box and pink headband !

Her age ? Well that's a little complicated.

Maggie's age is a little complicated and here's why.  We know for sure her birthday is right, that's not what I am talking about. She has several ages that have to do with being adopted, her hearing age, her emotional age and her cognitive age.

She received her BAHA hearing aid in August 2010.  So, that makes her hearing age about ten months old.  Meaning she would be expected to talk like a ten month old because she has only been hearing that long. Maggie's communication is beyond ten months for sure.   


She has a  growing list of words she can say and she can communicate with sign language very well. 
The picture above was taken on the day she got her BAHA and she was so happy to hear !!!

We adopted Maggie when she was fourteen months old, but she was more like an infant.  So really, it was like she was one day old when we adopted her.  Her life experience up to that point consisted  of a crib, bottles and a walker. She was not in foster care and it was obvious she was never stimulated or held. So, emotionally and in some ways physically, Maggie started out with delays. But, she is catching up amazingly in both areas. 

Then ,there is the fact that Maggie can not talk like most children her age - two and a half.  She signs great, but we know no children or adults that sign.  Which makes communication with others a little frustrating for her and makes her seem much younger than she really is.

And then there's her cognitive age, which is where it should be - at two and a half years old.  Maggie understands everything we say.  She knows most of her letters, numbers, shapes and colors.  She can spell hat, draw some great circles and dance her heart out.  She is a very normal two year old most of the time.

Which makes things interesting because a lot of people don't expect Maggie to be so smart.  They think since she has hearing loss and has trouble talking she must be  dumb. 


Ever heard the expression " deaf and dumb" ?

I think the first time I heard that was when I read about Helen Keller.  And she was so far from being dumb ! 

People also want to compare Maggie to their children that are the same age. But, you can't compare her to a normal two year old that was brought up in the United States with doting parents, normal hearing and normal life experiences.  You just can't !!! 

Then, sometimes Maggie seems much older than two.  She has great common sense, loves to organize and clean up, and she follows directions very well. 

She has a trait many call "an old soul". She has a deep understanding of things and seems to be level headed ( except when she is hungry and tired).

Maggie is such a gift. She has an amazing spirit of determination. Sometimes, I just watch her play and am so sad that her China parents will never know how perfect she is and how she just lights up a room with her presence. 


Maggie's age may be confusing and her past is still a mystery to me. But, I believe and know that God has a big plan for Maggie's life.
 I can't wait to see what it is !

"Today I know that memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.  I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do."

Corrie ten Boom from The Hiding Place

A Great Wonder.

It is a great wonder that Maggie was even born considering the options for pregnant woman in China.


It is a great wonder that Maggie was found alive by a police man, just after she was born, on the side of a road.


It is a great wonder that she survived fourteen months in a poor orphanage, confined to a baby bed and silence.


It is a great wonder we were able to complete the mountains of paperwork and red tape to fly half way around the world and enter a Communist country to bring home Maggie.


It is a great wonder that Maggie is doing so amazing just one year after she was first placed in our arms.

Give thanks to the Lord of Lords, to Him who alone does Great Wonders.          Psalm 136:3-4

Shapes.

I started showing Maggie what a circle was a while back.  Whenever I saw something that was in the shape of a circle, I would tell her " that's a circle" and make a big deal about it.  Then, I moved onto showing her what a square was.  For Christmas, I got Maggie a short board book about shapes and we have been reading it everyday (about three times a day or more). She loves it !


Now, she knows all her shapes.  Yep, even the odd ones like arrow, oval, rectangle and diamonds.  She can't say them ,but when I ask her where a certain shape is she points to it.  Crazy Amazing if you ask me !!!


You see, I honestly didn't know what Maggie was capable of when we first got home from china.  I wondered if she would just lay on the floor and look at her hands all her life.  It is a horrible thought to have, I know.  And, if she would have laid on the floor and looked at her hands all her life, we would have loved her all the same.  We just didn't know.  We took each day at a time.


But, now.  Well, Maggie is blowing me away with all that she is doing.  She is signing everything we can teach her and just picks up new signs so fast.  Her speech is improving, not as fast as I would like, but still improving every day.  She no longer needs Occupational Therapy for her hands.  She can stack blocks up so high they almost reach her head, draw a circle, feed herself and string beads - yeah !!!  Go Maggie go !!!

God, we thank you again for all of our prayers you have answered.  We know your timing is always perfect and trust you with all the unknowns that lie ahead.   Amen.

Super Velcro Baby !

I think all the Christmas traveling and festivities has upset Maggie big time.  Her schedule has been disrupted and she has taken a step backward into the Velcro Baby phase.  She was doing so good before December and I was seeing a big improvement in her clinging to me.  But, she is back to her " I want Mommy all the time, won't let me put her down and have to see Mommy's face and sit in her lap to play".

  So, of course Maggie needs me.  She needs to know I am there for her and needs to have that time with me.  It is just a part of her healing emotionally.  And, she is emotionally delayed due to her institutional background. and can not always deal with things like separation.  She's also a typical two year old and a tiny bit spoiled.

I have lots to write about and share and have been wanting to post about our Christmas and how much Maggie loves her doll house and the boys love their soft blankets and Auburn shirts, about how wonderful our gotcha day celebration was and all the New years reflections I have. But, all that will have to wait for now.

  I have a Super Velcro Baby that needs me.

One Year Post Placement

 In 30 minutes our social worker wil be here to complete our one year post placement adoption paper work that must go to China. 

One year?  Does time really go by that fast ?

Almost one year ago, we met our beautiful daughter.  She was a shell of a baby, unable to use her hands, she had no language or communication, no desire to eat,  no hearing, and no concept of love. 

She had many signs of being in an institution (self soothing) - looking at hands constantly, rocking back and forth, wierd rolling of her eyes and head banging.  And oh ! How we loved her at first sight !

And so began the loving and nurturing of Maggie.

Also lots of therapy, hearing aids, prayer and time.  One year.  Our baby is so different now.  So special and so sweet. 

Ok, I'll have to finish this later...the door bell is ringing.

Orphan Sunday.

Last Sunday was Orphan Sunday, and I meant to write a long post about it. But, instead, here is a quick one:


This beautiful little girl of ours was an orphan, abandoned at birth. Unthinkable. But true.

My heart is so burdened by the millions of orphans in our world and we should be doing more.

I know Chuck and I have a heart that aches for more children. Specifically children that no one wants.

Please join us in prayer today for serious revival of hearts toward orphans.

For families that will say yes to the fatherless.

That orphans will know mercy and love.

The LOVE of a forever family.

What love really means.

I will love you for you,

Not for what you have done or what you will become,

I will love you for you,

I will give you the love,
The love that you never knew.

Words by: JJ Heler

Advocating for a beautiful girl.

Please take a look at Ruby.  She is a beautiful girl in need of a loving family.  My heart is breaking knowing she will age out in three years and that she has had to wait so long for a family.  I have spoken to several families that have met Ruby and know her personally.  They ALL say she is a very sweet, thoughtful, smart girl and would be a blessing to any  family that adopted her. Her special need is very minor - a port wine stain on her face that could possible be lightened with a laser procedure.

Madison Adoption Agency is waving all their fees, she has an additional $3000 grant and then there is the $12,000 tax credit that is available.  She is also being advocated/sponsored by Love Without Boundaries.
Please go here for more info or contact Madison. ( I will be out of pocket for a couple of days)

Join us also in praying for Ruby.  Could she be your daughter ?

Speech update ( and other things)

Maggie enjoyed her first sucker ! She has made up her mind that she likes certain sweet treats now.  As we were all sitting around the kitchen table Sunday night after church and cheering Maggie on, I thought of December 2009.  I was packing for China back then and had read that I need to bring Cheerios and lolly pops and lots of them !  So, I stuck Cheerios and lolly pops in every crevice I could find in my overstuffed suitcase.  They were every where.  Which is funny to us now, because as every one knows  - Maggie had never eaten solid food and had NO patience for us trying to put anything near her mouth.  She would break down something terrible if we even got near her mouth.  So all that to say... It was a big deal when Maggie pulled that tootsie roll pop from my hands Sunday night and went to sucking on it.  It is the little things in our  life right now, like tootsie roll pops, that really remind us how much Maggie is changing and thriving.

I love this picture of Maggie and how much it captures her personality - Independent, Beautiful and Spunky.

Speech Update #2034

(Most of my updates on Maggie's speech are for my records and to see just how things are progressing.) 
Maggie had a great speech therapy session today - her best one !  She has started saying Ahhhh with a good open mouth sound and on request.  This is huge for our baby girl !!!

She has been babbling off and on, but never on request and very little imitating sounds.  So, I started working with her and got a little creative.  Right now, I am using a wooden clothes pin that I hold up to my face, I open the clothes pin and say Ahhhh and for some reason that made sense to Maggie.  She started repeating Ahhhh back - a lot, consistently and on request.  Her speech therapist was blown away today !  Maggie worked so hard in therapy and she was so tired and worn out when we got home.  We will continue to work on her open mouth sounds and try to get her to say Baa Baa on request too.  Maggie is trying so hard, you can see it on her face and in the way her mouth moves.  But, this is very difficult for her right now and it takes a lot of her energy and a lot of my energy. Plus, Maggie could win an award for being a super Velcro baby ( clingy baby) if there was such an award being given out !  I am wondering when this Velcro baby stage will end ???

I also wanted to mention how WONDERFUL Maggie's therapists (Her Early Intervention special teachers and her speech therapist) are.  They are AMAZING !  We are so blessed to have access to them and they truely love and care for our Maggie.  They are some of her biggest chearleaders.  They come up with the most creative, fun things to do with Maggie which has helped her develop  and change to who she is now - a much different little girl compared to when she came home from China.  Thank you Missy,Suzie, Shannon, and Lucy !!

Images Of Adoption.

If you haven't checked out the new adoption website We Are Grafted In, then head on over and see what an encouragement this site is.  It's a Christian website/forum all about adoption ( International and Domestic).
The most recent post is titled Images of Adoption and there's a picture of Chuck and Maggie that I submitted.  I am so thankful for this site and for all the wonderful families I have met through the family stories and forums.  

Wo Ai Ni ( I love you Mommy)

PBS has a documentary on adoption that is very good.  I watched it yesterday and cried the. entire. time.  It is about a family adopting an eight year old girl ( with special needs) from China.  The girl is from Guangdong province, which is where Maggie is from.  A lot of the footage of China is exactly what we saw and experienced.  Also, the Civil Affairs building in Guangdong where the family meets their daughter for the first time is also where we met Maggie for the first time. The movie shows the reality of adopting an older child and the struggles that both the little girl and her family have.  The movie is streaming online until Nov. 30, 2010.  Go here to watch it.

Confessions of a Worried Mom

Well, I must confess and repent.  I have been anxious and worried about Maggie

The Bible clearly teaches that Christians are not to worry. In Philippians 4:6, we are commanded, “Do not be anxious [do not worry] about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” In this Scripture, we learn that we should bring all of our needs and concerns to God in prayer rather than worry about them. Jesus encourages us to avoid worrying about our physical needs like clothing and food. Jesus assures us that our heavenly Father will take care of all our needs (Matthew 6:25-34). Therefore, we have no need to worry about anything.

I even have proof, If you look back at my July 26th post entitled "Broken" I wrote "It has been like a hard jab in the stomach knowing her hearing aid is not fixable right now."  I'm starting today and I am going to stop seeing the bumps in the road as bad.  If you are reading this and are in any way involved in an adoption, you know the bumps I'm talking about.  The "This just isn't fair!" or "Why does it have to take so long!" moments.  God is sovereign.  He's running this show called life and I just realized, a little more, that he is a wonderful Director!

 See,we thought the "Broken" hearing aid was just another set back in poor Maggie's already delayed life.  Can you hear the music at our pity party?  Not many people showed up. Little did we know that the original hearing aid (HA) was broken and the engineers at Phonak really didn't know why.  So they tried to fix it, sent it back, and it was broke again.  Strike up the pity band we're having another party!  Until today I really thought this was a bad, unfair picture.  But, as I was leaving the Hear Center today something clicked.  It really started clicking late last week, let me explain.

  My husband and I work for a wonderful hospital.  They have been very supportive of our adoption and we are forever grateful.   Normally, hearing aids are not covered as a benefit with most employers.  Maggie's first HA cost about $800 and they paid the bill in full.  After getting the HA back and finding out it was still broken, we asked about changing to the much more expensive BAHA unit.  (We choose not to go with this unit at first because we were not sure if Maggie would be rough and fling it off her head.  She has done as good as we could have imagined.)  So we asked the makers of the first HA if they would refund us due to all the problems and they agreed.  Now how are we going to pay for this new, and I must say much better unit ?

So I made the call to the wonderful folks at the hospital and inquired about the new unit.  And wouldn't you know it... "We will take care of it". Nearly $4000... Paid in full.  Remember I said He is sovereign.  So it was ordered Monday and was supposed to take 10-14 days to come in....  We get a call this morning early, "can you be in Birmingham by 1:30?  Maggie's HA is in".  So off to the Hear Center we go.  As we were talking to Maggie's Audiologist she says, "I have never seen this HA covered by insurance before ".  I thought about the word "Never"...  You always hear people saying, "Never say never!"  Webster defines it: "not ever; at no time".  I think about our sweet Maggie,  although see was abandoned, God never left her, "at no time" did God not have a plan for her, and "at no time" did God not see her complete in our home in a far away place.

He is sovereign, and I am sinful.  Lord please forgive me for worrying about one of your precious children.  I know things aren't going to always be easy, but I am, starting now, going to see the things that come along in life as a blessing and not a curse.
He loves me, and He loves you!

The Special Needs Post (Re-posting)

I first posted this in March here and am reposting it again with some updates:

It's hard to even believe that this picture was taken on Dec.28, 2009, almost three months ago ! Maggie came to us as a quiet, floppy, shocked little girl. She had no idea what was happening and really neither did we.  We had no idea what a complete JOY and BLESSING Maggie is or how much we would love her immediately.  We also didn't know she was deaf.  Looking back at our China pictures now, I see how Maggie was so confused and detached.  She couldn't hear what was happening around her and she had to have been scared to death.  She did not respond to her Chinese name or to our voices, she did not take a bottle for three days, got very constipated, continually looked at her hands and laid her right ear down on tables or floors to hear the vibrations. (She preferred to lay down on the floor rather than sit up). Her little body went through so much as she grieved and tried to understand what was happening.  I think her way of dealing with all the changes was to just shut down.  How could she have known that we were going to love and care for her, that she would have a forever family and all the hugs and kisses she could stand.  She couldn't.  She didn't.  But, that is ok. We have taken it slow, and day by day we have watched her unfold like a beautiful flower.
Her special need was multiple: A heart condition called VSD (small) and microtia/atresia ( later we found out she has severe hearing loss a.k.a. deaf)  We were told she could say bababa, smile, stand on her own and that she was lively and liked musical toys.  All the pictures of her showed her to be a very healthy looking  little girl.  We had done all the research, read special needs blogs, attended a seminar on what to expect when you adopt internationally and prayed a lot for our daughter.

I remember when I first saw her through the curtain at the adoption center in Guangzhou.  Maggie looked a little like her pictures, but really she looked very different.  I saw her head was crooked to one side, her facial expression was out of sorts, she had what looked like bug bites on her face and  her head was oddly misshapen.  Chuck and I waited till it was our time to officially meet Maggie and she was first handed to me.  With a pink toy duck in one hand, I reached out to Maggie.  Finally, I was  holding my baby girl.  This was the moment I had dreamed about for so long.  There was a big smile on my face and my heart was beating so fast.  I took a good look at her.  I loved her so much already and it was evident Maggie had some things to overcome.  She was more like an infant than a 14 month old.  She would lean way back when I held her and she stared at her hands constantly.  At one moment, I stopped to pray and tearfully thank God for Maggie, I asked for wisdom to be her mother and I prayed that Maggie's pain would be washed away, that she would know she is accepted and not rejected.  It was a crazy Gotcha day and I was so overcome with emotions and questions.  Was she ever held ?  Did she ever have toys to play with ?  Just how neglected was she ?  I thought she was lively and talking ? What really went on in her orphanage ?  I had a feeling that Maggie was severely neglected.  I was right.  I also watched her intently and knew that she was very smart and she was a fighter, chosen by God to be my daughter, and destined to overcome her special needs.  I saw it.  I knew it.  My heart felt it.

Although we did a lot of research on what to expect and knew the self soothing and floppy, flat affect was "normal" for a child that was institutionalized in an orphanage in China, nothing can really prepare you for the reality of it.  You see, Maggie was just another baby in the orphanage.  She probably spent over twenty hours by herself in a lonely crib with no toys and no sounds.  She learned not to cry and to sooth herself by rocking back and forth and looking at her hands.  She was given a bottle with a big opening filled with formula and rice cereal.  It would have been propped up and too bad if it spilled.  Everything was on a tight schedule. She was bathed with cold water that was poured over her.  She learned to just survive. I was once told by a fellow adoptive mom that there is a difference in surviving and thriving .  She's so right.

Because now, we see Maggie thriving.  She laughs and smiles, plays and discovers, hugs and snuggles.  She is changing every day into this bright, sweet little girl that we knew was there somewhere.  Sure, we still have days where she looks lost and sad or she stares at her hands too long like she doesn't know what to do.  But then, she's back and laughing in her daddy's arms.  All Maggie needed was love, someone to give her a chance, to believe in her and tell her she matters.  Her special need was that she needed a family.  Everything else is minor compared to that need.  She has completely and totally captured our hearts and we are forever changed.  How could we not be ?

Would we adopt a special needs child again ?  Yes !!! A thousand times yes.  Was it worth all the unknowns, money and time ?  Yes ! Every child is precious and important - the whole and the broken, the sick and lame.  My heart breaks to know that there are 147 million little Maggie's around the world that need a family and someone to say to them " you matter, God loves you and so do I".  My prayer is that by sharing Maggie's story, more families will hear the cry of the orphans and say YES to adoption.  I pray also that James 1:27 will burn in the heart of Christians - " Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our father means that we must care for orphans".

Thankfully, Maggie's story does not end here.  She has caught up developmentally with her peers ( except for language).  She can do a front flip, play peek-a-boo, twirl and run.  We have had a hard time with her bone conduction hearing aid, and are waiting on her new fancy hearing aid to come in.  Maggie is still not talking and I am still having a hard time being patient.  God is teaching me so much though and I am learning that He is in control of Maggie's life ( not me or the doctors) :

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding:

in all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make your paths straight. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Silence.

I have been in a bit of a fog lately.  Just not really myself.

I think it has to do with Maggie's silence.  Other than her normal cry, an occasional fit or a squeal of happiness, Maggie is very quiet.  She plays with out making any sound sometimes.  This weekend Maggie broke her silence several times though.  Chuck was playing with her and saying Hello to her over and over.  Then, Maggie said "hello". Just out of nowhere.  So we kept saying Hello to her and she said Hello about four more times.  If I didn't have it on video I would not have believed it !  She was very vocal at the beach and I really thought I saw an improvement.  But, now that we are back home Maggie is back to her silence.  Nothing.

The good news is that Maggie is hearing normally now with her bone conduction hearing aid.  The folks at The Hear Center in Birmingham were impressed with how well she turned to sound.  She has improved so much on listening and finding sounds.  She can be anywhere in the house and if I call her name, she will try to find me.  Thank you Lord for this miracle !!  They also said it can sometimes take a year for the brain to process sound and turn it into talking.  So, Maggie just needs more time and I need a healthy dose of patience.  Sometimes, I wonder if she will ever talk and I get very sad thinking of never hearing her sweet voice say Momma or I wuv you.  Sometimes it seems the mountains are just too big and my faith is just too small.

More Exciting news !!! Maggie is eating.... Pizza, biscuits, chicken, grits, rice, burritos, and eggs.  Yeah !!!  She is still taking four bottles a day, but we are decreasing the rice cereal in them and will slowly wean her off.    She loves her bottles, so this will not be fun.  Maggie is also eating baby food too and loves yogurt.

The Special Needs Post.

It's hard to even believe that this picture was taken on Dec.28, 2009, almost three months ago ! Maggie came to us as a quiet, floppy, shocked little girl. She had no idea what was happening and really neither did we.  We had no idea what a complete JOY and BLESSING Maggie is or how much we would love her immediately.  We also didn't know she was deaf.  Looking back at our China pictures now, I see how Maggie was so confused and detached.  She couldn't hear what was happening around her and she had to have been scared to death.  She did not respond to her Chinese name or to our voices, she did not take a bottle for three days, got very constipated, continually looked at her hands and laid her right ear down on tables or floors to hear the vibrations. She preferred to lay down on the floor rather than sit up. Her little body went through so much as she grieved and tried to understand what was happening.  I think her way of dealing with all the changes was to just shut down.  How could she have known that we were going to love and care for her, that she would have a forever family and all the hugs and kisses she could stand.  She couldn't.  She didn't.  But, that is ok. We have taken it slow, and day by day we have watched her unfold like a beautiful flower.
Her special need was multiple: A heart condition called VSD (small) and microtia/atresia ( later we found out she has severe hearing loss a.k.a. deaf)  We were told she could say bababa, smile, stand on her own and that she was lively and liked musical toys.  All the pictures of her showed her to be a very healthy looking  little girl.  We had done all the research, read special needs blogs, attended a seminar on what to expect when you adopt internationally and prayed a lot for our daughter.

I remember when I first saw her through the curtain at the adoption center in Guangzhou.  Maggie looked a little like her pictures, but really she looked different.  I saw her head was crooked to one side, her facial expression was out of sorts, she had what looked like bug bites on her face and  her head was oddly misshapen.  Chuck and I waited till it was our time to officially meet Maggie and she was first handed to me.  With a pink toy duck in one hand, I reached out to Maggie.  Finally, I was holding my baby girl.  This was the moment I had dreamed about for so long.  There was a big smile on my face and my heart was beating so fast.  I took a good look at her.  I loved her so much already and it was evident Maggie had some things to overcome.  She was more like an infant than a 14 month old.  She would lean way back when I held her and she stared at her hands constantly.  At one moment, I stopped to pray and tearfully thank God for Maggie, I asked for wisdom to be her mother and I prayed that Maggie's pain would be washed away, that she would know she is accepted and not rejected.  It was a crazy Gotcha day and I was so overcome with emotions and questions.  Was she ever held ?  Did she ever have toys to play with ?  Just how neglected was she ?  I thought she was lively and talking ? What really went on in her orphanage ?  I had a feeling that Maggie was severely neglected.  I was right.  I also watched her intently and knew that she was very smart and she was a fighter, chosen by God to be my daughter, and destined to overcome her special needs.  I saw it.  I knew it.  My heart felt it. 

Although we did a lot of research on what to expect and knew the self soothing and floppy, flat affect was "normal" for a child that was institutionalized in an orphanage in China, nothing can really prepare you for the reality of it.  You see, Maggie was just another baby in the orphanage.  She probably spent over twenty hours by herself in a lonely crib with no toys and no sounds.  She learned not to cry and to sooth herself by rocking back and forth and looking at her hands.  She was given a bottle with a big opening filled with formula and rice cereal.  It would have been propped up and too bad if it spilled.  Everything was on a tight schedule. She was bathed with cold water that was poured over her.  She learned to just survive. I was once told by a fellow adoptive mom, Katherine G, that there is a difference in surviving and thriving .  She's so right.

Because now, we see Maggie thriving.  She laughs and smiles, plays and discovers, hugs and snuggles.  She is changing every day into this bright, sweet little girl that we knew was there somewhere.  Sure, we still have days where she looks lost and sad or she stares at her hands too long like she doesn't know what to do.  But then, she's back and laughing in her daddy's arms.  All Maggie needed was love, someone to give her a chance, to believe in her and tell her she matters.  Her special need was that she needed a family.  Everything else is minor compared to that need.  She has completely and totally captured our hearts and we are forever changed.  How could we not be ?

Would we adopt a special needs child again ?  Yes !!! A thousand times yes.  Was it worth all the unknowns, money and time ?  Yes ! Every child is precious and important - the whole and the broken, the sick and lame.  My heart breaks to know that there are 147 million little Maggie's around the world that need a family and someone to say to them " you matter, God loves you and so do I".  My prayer is that by sharing Maggie's story, more families will hear the cry of the orphans and say YES to adoption.  I pray also that James 1:27 will burn in the heart of Christians  " Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our father means that we must care for orphans". 

Thankfully, Maggie's story does not end here.  But, that will have to be in Part 2.