Kim was found... at 3 years old she was found abandoned in a field. She was so close to death, Ate wondered if it was worth the fight to try and save her... yet ... she tried...and by a miracle of God, Kim lived. However, without knowing her past and with the effects of severe malnourishment, Kim had some major delays and began showing signs of autism. When I first met Kim, she was smart... the caregivers assumed because of her mental delays that she was retarded and helpless...and she knew it.. and used it. She knew exactly how to get away with anything. Me and our team began working with Kim and holding her responsible and correcting her actions and teaching her sign language... and she became a new child. When I came back in December, I resumed working with Kim. I had her using the potty regularly, and began really working with her on listening and obeying directions. Through the course of the months, we had several battles of the wills... seeing who was more stubborn. (I won.) The most memorable being when I fought for an hour to put Kim's hair in a pony tail... I wanted Kim's hair up and out of her face and Kim wanted her hair down and a mess. Everytime I would get it to the point of putting the ponytail holder in.. she would drop to the floor and go limp like a fish... let go of the hair.. and she was fine. Eventually I caught on...and I started playing too. When she went down and dropped to the floor... I dropped to..I rolled when she rolled. She didn't like that very much... but after 50 minutes she had a ponytail in; it was the messiest ponytail you've probably ever seen... but it was in. She then stood up, looked me straight in the eye and in an instant reached up and yanked it out. I turned her around and we started round 2...10 min later.. ponytail #2 was in. She stood up, looked me in the eye... and left the ponytail alone. I said, "Thank you Kim." and gave her a big hug... she hugged me right back.
That was one of the big defining moments in our relationship, where we really figured out who was going to be running the show. I became Kim's person that when she was in the middle of throwing a temper fit for the on duty caregiver, I could walk in and say "Kim, that's enough, stop now." and she would look at me and get herself together and that would be the end of it. I've seen her go from a true wild child to a happy behaving little girl... and then today we got some news...
... KIM HAS BEEN MATCHED WITH HER FOREVER FAMILY!!!! No longer is there 'prayerfully' or 'hopefully' a family... she has officially been matched today.. SHE HAS A FAMILY!!! This is something that I have been praying for months for! I have been praying that the Lord would have a special family out there for Kim...and today she was matched with that family! Praise the LORD this is truly a miracle that we have been praying for!! Oh our God is so good and faithful!!!
~ To God Be the Glory!
5 comments:
This post left huge chill bumps on my arms!! Our adoption agency sent around a list of waiting children (pictures and info but no names or orphanage locations) and I recognized and prayed for Kimberly right away. She's just so cute and there's something in her little eyes that says "I know what's going on around here". What a blessing that she will be in a family soon!!!! Somebody is in for a lifetime of blessing that you just can't experience without special needs adoption. I know this fully. It's worth any bit of adjustment the family has to make to do this. This post made my day!
Hugs,Brittany!
Nikki Esquivel
Wow! Wonderful story of God's faithfulness. I, too, had chill bumps as I read. Thank you for sharing, Brittany...and thank you for your faithfulness to be the hands and feet and mouth and heart (I could go on) that minister to these little blessings daily!
Love you!
Cindy
My Sweet Girl,
WOW...I read your blog and followed along with your story and could visualize the scene. I admit I chuckled at the battle of wills where you said you "won" and wept when you recieved the rewards of the returned hug at the end. Kim knew that you loved her!
Parenting, molding and caring for children is full of challenges and rewards and I'm so thankful that God is blessing you with these as you are impacting the lives of these precious children at GH.
We rejoice with you that Kim has her Forever Family and we will continue to pray for them as they adjust to each other. We will also pray for GH as you all prepare to give her to them; I can only imagine how much she will be missed. Thank you all for loving on the babies!
Again...I am so proud of you, I love you and I'm honored to by your...
Momma
Where can I get information on adopting children from this orphanage? My husband have completed three adoptions (2 international, one domestic) and the Lord is not done with our family!
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