"The Least of These"

We had seen her several times before, lying on her mom's hospital bed. Her mother was diagnosed with AIDS, and is extremely ill. Whether due to the AIDS or Post Partum Depression, her mom had mentally lost it when she was born, and had refused to accept her as her child. Her mom was better now, and accepted her presence there on the hospital bed, but still refused to take care of her. In fact, no one was taking care of her, everyone was preoccupied with her mom, and her sad state of health. But no one did anything about her needs. In fact, she didn't even have a name yet. She is 2 weeks old, and since being born, had not been fed anything of substance, her diet mostly consisted of sugar water the nurses gave her whenever they came by, perhaps once or twice a day. Sunday after church we stopped by to see her, and our hearts went out to her seeing this tiny 3 pound bundle lying there so helplessly. All that was going through my mind was, she, if anyone fit the description "the least of these" that Jesus had talked about in Mathew 25. She had been forgotten, and would soon die unless someone did something.

So we did. We brought her to the HOH. Cleaned her up, and starting putting regular amounts of formula into her little stomach through a feeding tube. We did tests for her at the hospital, and started her on medications. We have been taking care of her needs day and night. We even gave her a name: Siliana. Her mom's name is Silianie, so it's something her mom might have named her if she had been in her right mind. It hasn't taken long for Siliana to start getting better, she has already started to change color from a sickly yellow to a much healthier light brown. She is waking up more often, and has even given us a smile or two. Last night she was cooing in her bed, it was so cute, and we once again feel blessed to be able to take care of another precious treasure! And talk about a perfect time to receive such a treasure! The time of year when we are celebrating the coming of Jesus to earth as a little baby. When we brought her to the HOH the other kids here said, "Great! Now we have our Baby Jesus!".

We are busy getting things ready for our Christmas celebration on Sunday, it will be a busy but very fun day. We will be preparing in the morning, have the program in the afternoon, and receive the gifts in the evening. Excitement is in the air!

We appreciate your prayers and support very much. Junior is still about the same, but he isn't worse so we are thankful for that. Wendjina is doing much better, but when her dad came to see her this morning we sent her home with him to finish her treatment from home. She really misses her family a lot, and we think this is the best course of action for her.

Thank you for your part in this ministry. God bless,