The Desires of Our Heart... Precious Rose

I had a chance to tell a bit about how we came to the point of adopting, but not how we decided on two, and how it came to be Rose. 

After deciding to adopt at all, Kirk felt strongly that if we were going to adopt one, we should adopt two in order to help keep some balance in our family between American and Haitian.  Having two Haitian children, he reasoned, would help us better identify with the Haitian part of our family, and since we had two biological boys and knew we were getting Natalie, we decided on two Haitian girls.  Easier for sharing a room, passing along clothing, etc.  (That, and Momma wanted to play with ribbons and dresses and pretty shoes!)  So we waited for our 2nd referral. 

While we were in Haiti we had time every morning where we would go to the baby house and "check out" a baby for some 1:1 time.  Noah and Elijah would get a little overwhelmed by some of the older babies and toddlers who swarmed them like they were the Pied Piper, so it was not such a surprise that we gravitated to the infant room.  There Noah, especially, became attached to a sweet 9 month baby girl named Rose Guerda.  Rose is a common Haitian name but is usually used as part of two-part name like we would say, "Lilly Grace" or "Ruth Ann".

Rose Guerda had a halo of perfect, soft curls, winding for inches above her little head, milk chocolaty skin, eyes the deepest brown, and a gummy grin you couldn't help but respond to.  We would take her out for play time and Noah would make her giggle and belly laugh!  She would look right into his brown eyes with her own deeper brown ones and he was taken - smitten with a baby girl!  She tracked his movement, waiting for him to entertain her, and lighting up when he showed up to play.  In the evening during prayer and singing time, while everyone lined the corridor, he would sneak into her room and talk to her if she was fussing and pat her back.  And sometimes we'd take her out and hold her close during singing and help her clap along.  She was Noah's special baby.

Typically referrals are not made until the dossier (the ginormous packet of certified forms and documents) reaches COTP in Haiti, because they don't want to "offer" a child to someone who may not be moving through the process very quickly and potentially leave out another family who is ready.  But in October, only two months into the process, we received an email from Robin, the adoption coordinator.

Kirk and Christina,

I wanted to run something by you. Because you have been in Haiti and have spent some time with a few of the kids, I thought I could let you know the situation and see what you think. Obviously, this is not how we normally do things, but because of the situation I feel its best to give you some time to think and pray about the situation.

You are waiting for a second referral of a little girl. Right now, the only little girl we have available/ready is Rose-Guerda. She is a sweet little girl who is almost 1 years old (November 2nd). However, she is behind developmentally. She does seem a little "off", but no one can really pin-point how or why. It could just be that she was so severely malnourished and taking extra time to catch up. At nearly 5 months old she only weighed 6lbs. I am attaching her medical. Its not fully updated, but you can at least see it up to July of this year. If you have any specific questions, please let me know. I will answer whatever I can.

 

Robin

 

 

Rose Guerda.  Noah's special baby!  The concerns of developmental needs were only momentary as we realized God had picked her for us, and us for her, before we even knew we were thinking of adopting.  God knew.  He knew the brokenness in the world that allowed the kind of despair that grips Haiti.  He knew her mother had struggled to raise her own babies in the belly of poverty with all it's physical, mental, and relational devastation.  He knew she would do anything to give her baby a chance at life when she was near death.  He knew what would be in her mother's heart and mind when she gave up her child.  He knew the hands that would nurse this innocent one back to health, who would visit from across the seas to tickle her belly with laughter, who's hearts would be pricked to love one of these, who would write, who would smile, who would realize the greatness of His plan.  God knew.

 

And we celebrated how once again, our child was no accident, no coincidence, no mistake.  Rose was God's and he was entrusting her to us.

 

 

Rose - healthy and happy
 March 2012