Tuesday's Child - Lizzy

This little girl has come a long way! And this "little" girl is not so little anymore. Lizzy is five years old, and she has two lost teeth to show for it!

The changes in Lizzy are just amazing. She surprises me every day. Just the other day, I looked out the window and this is what I saw.....

 STANDING LIZZY! 

(Lizzy is not upset, yelling here, she is yelling at me to "come!")

We have been so blessed to have a very experienced, qualified physiotherapist who has facilitated some amazing development. He teaches our aunties how to continue Lizzy's therapy at home, and they do a great job of it. And right now we have Auntie Mel with us and she is doing a fabulous job with Lizzy, as well. She works with children with special needs in Canada and has brought that experience with her to help us at HOH for a few months. She spends hours doing therapy with Lizzy and really encourages and motivates the staff, as well. As a result, Lizzy is growing  stronger by leaps and bounds - every day!

Auntie Mel's blog post with Lizzy: CLICK HERE

Look at how Lizzy is gaining core strength and even able to lift herself up from a laying position.

Lizzy loves to help take care of the babies. She likes to be outside. She absolutely loves getting new clothes, especially pretty dresses, and loves to get her hair done. What a little girly-girl! :-)

Julia is her best friend, and Julia cannot wait to get to the baby house each day to see Lizzy. She usually packs her purse with something she has to take for Lizzy to play with. They are quite a pair!

Lizzy is such a bright, smart five year old. She may have some physical disabilities, but she absolutely knows exactly what is going on in the world around her. She is completely aware of her surroundings and understands ev-ry-thing! She is a typical five year old, trapped in a body currently unable to keep up. She cannot express her thoughts in understandable words, but that does not stop her from trying!

Thanks to some very special friends, Sarah (Julia's great friend from FBC Midland) and our {missed every day} Auntie Susan and her family in Michigan, Lizzy has been equipped with an iPod Touch, iPad and a complete communication system that is teaching her how to interact with others using real-word communication!

Please continue to pray for Lizzy's future. Due to various circumstances, she is not able to be freed for adoption at this time. Please pray that if it is the Lord's will that she be adopted, that He will open the doors to do so. If that is not His will, please pray for wisdom and direction for me, discernment in deciding the best plan and future placement for her. Although I would hate to loose Lizzy under any circumstances, she is beginning to know that she is not a baby, yet she is growing up in a baby house. She needs interaction with children her own age, an education, and a life of a child, not a baby. She is too bright to stay in a baby house for the rest of her life! God knows the plans He has for her, and I trust Him to direct us in that. Your prayers for that direction would be greatly appreciated!

Want to help Lizzy?

We are super blessed to have a special needs educator and autism specialist, Melissa, that will be joining our team in 2012. (More on her later!) Though her main responsibility will be working with the Cherished Handworks ladies and developing their program, she also brings a wealth of experience that she will be using with our special needs babies in the baby house. Melissa will also be introducing Lizzy to a communication tool that can change her life...if we can get the needed devices.

Lizzy has made great progress and continues to advance more and more each day. She has a wonderful therapist who has done a great job in training our aunties to administer a developed home therapy program, which they do twice per day. Lizzy has come a LONG way! This precious little girl wants to do more; she wants to learn and grow and develop. And she IS capable! Lizzy has a very keen awareness of what is going on around her. Her little mind is bright! She wants to communicate....and now she can have the tools and equipment to help her do so.

Lizzy will be able to use the Proloquo2go program which operates on the iPod Touch and iPad. Now, we just need an iPod Touch and/or iPad for her to use! The iPad will be easier for her to see, touch and learn how to manipulate the program. The Touch will be easier for her to hold and carry around with her once she learns the program.

If any of you have an old iPod Touch or have upgraded your iPad and would like to donate your old one to Lizzy, she would be VERY grateful! ...Or if you know of anyone who has old ones lying around, please ask them. ...Or if you would like to donate money toward the purchase of a used Touch or iPad, please let me know!

Lizzy-Lou

This is a re-post from Rebekah's blog, This Little Light of Mine.

Lizzy...

loves to wear her flower headband,

uses the play phone to call Trena and Julia and see how they are doing, :-)

likes to play catch,

enjoys wearing my sunglasses,

thinks it is funny to point and show us her nose,

:-)

Thanks for sharing, Rebekah! I appreciate all you do!

Little Princess Girls

My little one has just discovered the joy of dress-up. My Aunt Janet sent her some dress up clothes a few months ago and she is just now big enough to fit into them. Today she watched Minnie Mouse's Masquerade.....which now leads to dressing up herself for the masquerade ball.

Yes, my little cowgirl princess in her safari hat. I think she is pretty "Americanized!"

She wanted to share the fun with Lizzy this morning, and let me just say that Lizzy LOVED it! Lizzy is such a little ham anyway, so this was right up her alley. Lizzy already loves new clothes and points out every new thing she puts on, so you should have heard her yelling at anyone who walked into the room so she could show them her beautiful princess dress.

Great little princess friends....

And can you tell what we watched last week??

I promise, I did NOT talk about that or even point out that the princess's dress train was held. She "directed" Tracy to do that all on her own!

My Girls

My precious baby girls.

What a precious moment and mix of emotions....

My own baby girl sits in my lap.
I hold little Hopey who is moments away from leaving with her new mommy.
Precious little Annabelle rests in my lap, enjoying a safe, comfortable new home.
Lizzy sits beside me, the big sister who is old enough and bright enough to share in the mix of emotions...enjoying the new baby and sad to watch Hope leave.

How blessed am I!

Lizzy's Therapy

Little Lizzy is doing GREAT!

We have been very impressed with Lizzy's therapist. He is extremely intense, but it is proving to be a great thing. He is not simply treating Lizzy, but training our staff to do so. They have "class" three times per week for over an hour and a half, and he is a strict teacher! And our girls are learning. A lot. The girls work with her regularly, and do much more than just a little stretching or massage home program. I am SO proud of them! They take it seriously and have taken a huge interest in Lizzy and her progress.

Lizzy's progress in the past few months is just amazing. She is a bless, and a blessed little girl!

Lizzy showing off her range of motion after a session. A little girl whose left hand was completely immovable when she came to us! Notice the surprise on Angie's face.

Maina (the OT) showing Suzy the correct pressure to use on some of Lizzy's exercises and massage.  

Lizzy was being casted for her new splints. She did NOT like it! A strange man putting goopy stuff all over her legs...it was not a pleasant experience for the poor girl. :-(

Notice Julia's face, looking at the man, wondering why he is doing this to Lizzy. Miah & Julia are so compassionate towards Lizzy. They are the best of friends.

Thanks to Lizzy's sponsors for a great year! She has come so far, and continues to progress. And in the past month, we have seen another huge spurt in her development!

Baby Update - Lizzy Lou

Our Elizabeth. She's a precious little thing.

She is quite a sneaky little thing, too! She loves to be the antagonist and to add a little life to a quiet moment. Right now, she is in a stage of liking to add noise to a quiet moment! She is hilarious!

Elizabeth has made so much progress since she came to us in August '09. And she continues to improve. It was a very difficult decision to leave Nairobi where she had amazing care and therapy at Heshima, but we are still able to provide her with therapy here in Nakuru. The therapist comes to our house three times a week. 

We recently (finally) got her stander built for her and she is loving it. It makes her feel like such a big girl. 

Prayers for our sweet Lizzy would be greatly appreciated. She has made so much progress, yet living with a disability in this country will continue to be a challenge for her throughout her life. Having a solid and stable beginning will make a huge difference in her life, and this strong foundation in her early years is a priceless gift! Thanks for all who help to make that possible!

Lizzy's Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth! We celebrated Lizzy's 4th birthday this week. She LOVES parties, and she loves being the center of attention even more. 

Precious little girl. She has made so much progress in the time she has been with us. We have had a number of issues with finding a qualified therapist for her since coming to Nakuru, but we finally found one. Seline now comes to the house three days a week and has trained our wonderful staff to do her home therapy program. 

Lizzy-Lou,


We thank God for you, Little Lou-Lou. We love you so much, and cannot wait to see how God uses you as you grow older. You are a great helper with the babies, especially David. He LOVES for you to "babysit" him. Julia loves to come into the baby house and give you hugs. You are learning to do so many new things. You are such a happy little girl and you bring us all such great joy. We pray that you will always be filled with this love of Jesus and have His true hope in your heart. God bless you, little girl!

Lizzy's Fist Safari

We took Elizabeth with us when our guest, Jen, went on safari in the Nakuru National Park. She loved it!!


We wanted to get an early start so we stopped by the baby house to pick Elizabeth up before sunrise. The aunties were still asleep as we snuck in her room and snatched her out of bed. A somewhat cruel surprise, but as soon as she woke up enough to realize she was being put in the car, she let out her first sleepy little giggle. 

Cozy warm in the car, clad in her flannel pajamas, Lizzy set out on her first safari in a game park. Being the teacher that I am, we had to do a little prep-talk with the wild animals book in the car ride to the game park. Her face was full of excitement and anticipation even before we reached the game park. 

The rest of the time was as special as could be! Lizzy loves being out and loves seeing new things so this was right up her alley. And her other love, being the center of special attention, was also part of the adventure. 

She liked looking from inside the car better than outside of the car.

She saw the sights...

We got to see the illusive black rhinos

and some white rhinos having a little turf war

...and was NOT ready to leave! 

If anyone ever wonders, THIS is the reason (or one of many) that we choose to have so few babies at Haven of Hope. We want to offer special things and real-life experiences to all our babies, just like if they were in a normal family. Ultimately, we hope this helps in their transition from childrens home to their "forever home."  So, thanks to the support of many, Lizzy was able to have a fun, special experience at the game park. She had a great time!