Something I feel good about........



Maya sleeping in her birth-mother's arms

 Last week was Maya's birthday.  Birthdays are always a big deal to the children celebrating them, but Maya's birthday has special meaning for me as well.  Should I be granted the opportunity to lay on my death-bed and reflect back over my life before dying, I will smile with satisfaction when I remember Maya.  I haven't done too many things in my life that I'm completely satisfied with, but bringing Maya home to her family has certainly been one of them.

I first met Maya in Haiti, shortly after her birth in 2006.  Her mother was already struggling to raise four children.  The entire family was living in a one-room straw and mortar hut about the size of a small bedroom.  Some days they would go without eating, on other days they might have boiled breadfruit or a basket of mangoes.  The children were often sick.  I had gotten involved in their lives to the extent that I was able to arrange a sponsor who paid for the children's schooling and had helped numerous times with food needs and housing.  Maya's mother had been implanted with some sort of medication in her upper arm that was supposed to prevent pregnancy for four years; but less than two years later......she found herself pregnant.  She showed up on my porch one afternoon with her arms full of baby and her eyes full of tears and asked me if I could find a family to raise her little girl as she just didn't see how she was going to be able to provide for even the most basic of lives for her.

Maya and her mom enjoying time together.

Through miracle, coincidence, or the grace of God, I found a young couple in Minnesota who desperately wanted to adopt her.    Thus began the most stressful and emotionally draining two and a half years of my life!  Just when it seemed that Maya's adoption would never be completed..... miracles began falling like dominoes, and we were able to bring Maya home.

Now, a little over one year later, Maya is thriving and happy in her "new" family.  Each day she brings new joy to her parents, who love her more than they ever thought possible.  She's strong, healthy, bright, funny, musical, creative, and a delight in every way.  When I think of where she came from and where she is; the life she would have had compared to the life she is living; I swell with pride.

Maya's birth family loves her very much and continually ask me for news of her.  Each new picture or story that I share with them helps to fill the gap of missing her and they thank God for her new life.  How thankful I am to have been a part of Maya's story! 

Maya and me in Jeremie, Haiti