Little M.

I have been very private about M. on my public blog. Really I'd love to share more about her, how we came to commit to her, and even specifically where she is and her full name. I want to post the pictures of her. (the sweet grins and the bruised/bandaged) I want to share with you because we genuinely need as many prayers as possible for her and our family. But unfortunately there are people out there who read public blogs, misinterpret information or use the info shared to hurt others. And in the international adoption world, one can not be too careful. But since we are coveting your prayers this week and the weeks to come, I decided to share a little more about M. today, and why she needs your prayers.

We have been trying to adopt a five year old girl in XXXXXXX for about 8 months. M. was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy with partial atrophy of the left side of the brain. She has been seen at the few hospitals available in her country. Her seisures (she was having them every 10 minutes) are seemingly under control with medication but she has not had a current EEG. Since January she has been heavily medicated to help with her epilepsy.

Her medication has not been monitored and she is showing signs of neurological problems or is having complications from medication overdose. She is weak on one side, with partial paralysis and it seems to worsening. Her speak is slurred and she is difficult to understand. She plays alone and does not interact much with her peers. She is not able to go to school with the other children in her home. She is not able to concentrate on school activities at home either. She seems to enjoy repetitive activities, like jumping on the trampoline and washing shoes. She falls when she tries to run and she bumps into things.

Her caregiver wrote the following: We feel that her concentration got less since she is on this medication. She forgets things faster and because of this she seems frustrated. She cries more often. We feel that she needs more attention for this and we can not really offer that. M. is going backwards every day. It is going fast the last week. We have seen a big difference in the 5 weeks. Her walking, talking and movements are also going behind.

Would you please commit to praying for little M. for the next month? Or until she is here with us? We heard that our application is filed in the courts and we are waiting to see if we might be able to make it before the courts close for summer holiday mid July. This may be tight, but is possible with the Lord's help and intervention.

Ways to pray:

• For M.'s health and development.
• For a court date sooner than later if it is God's will.
• For wisdom for our attorney.
• For compassion and mercy for the judge we are assigned.
• For our finances, since last minute tickets right now are far more than what we budgeted for.
• For our family. If we leave soon we have a whole lot of logistics to plan out as we leave our kids for an unknown amount of time.
• For people to be willing to step up and help M. where she is, and help our family while we are gone, and transitioning M. to our home. We can not do this alone.
• For patience and the ability to trust that God truly has a perfect plan, in His time.