Multi-tasking

At least they mainly sleep!! I've been chief spoiler of the babies lately. No one else has time to hold them for hours on end, so I'm touching them a lot so that they'll grow up smart (my Mom's saying). I'm blessed with long legs where I can easily prop one or two while I work--the slightly shorter staff all admire that. =)

Lately I've been tempted to say "too many" babies. Supposedly Mother Teresa said "Saying there are too many children is like saying there are too many flowers". However, the "too many" phrase could definitely be used in relation to the heartbreaking number of abandonments we've seen the past 11 months. It's nearly overwhelming. We received four babies in a row in August, one a week, and after the first week of September we've said no (or wait) to all of these:

1) a 1 year old in a bad situation (street parents)
2) transer of a four year old from the main baby home (I've heard they are up to 150 babies, which if true is absolutely horrific because their capacity is for 50, so just imagine...). He should’ve come to us last year but his very hard-core street mother couldn't make up her mind and shortly after he was forcefully taken away.
3) a toddler with medical issues and unstable (street?) mother
4) a newborn but his mother came back to the hospital for him, hallelujah!
5) a 2 week old, 1.5 kilo preemie. Reminds me of Alejandra, who arrived September last year. We’re going to suggest that he go first to the nutrition center and when he weighs 3 kilos (in 5 or 6 weeks?) we’ll see about our space.

We’re also keeping in mind two possible entries:
1) the 15 month old brother of Carla, one of our new babies (he’s in another baby home currently, but it’s best they are together for their eventual adoption)
2) a former child of ours, almost 4 years old, whose mother stays down more than up. Several who know them say he needs to come back to us, once they’re found.

(If anyone reading this desires to donate, oh say…$20,000? so that we can open a 4th home, let's go for it!)

Another factor is that we’re at the traditionally low time of year, donation-wise. And baby number 4 of August is STILL in the hospital (jaundice), so that will be a fun bill to pay, and baby number 2 needs a CT scan. Now we’re going to have to pay about $100 to do it in a private clinic because the public hospital’s machine is broken, with no idea of when it could be fixed.

But this is why Casa de Amor exists! As staff member Maria has told me for a couple years now and reminded me last week, she believes God sends us the special needs babies and kids on purpose. Reminds me of another favorite Mother Teresa saying…“I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”

Pray that we have grace and peace in as overflowing abundance as children! Babies are practically addictive for me, and I’m glad that Saturday is almost here so that I have more time for them (and not just while staring at a computer screen), but we’ve kept up an exhausting pace lately and I don’t want anyone burning out. We want to be entirely healthy so as to handle whatever—and whoever—God sends our way!

Addition: Not two hours after writing this, while I was at the hospital getting out the baby, SEDEGES called about 5 siblings. Yikes!! They needed a temporary place for the youngest three, but we're just too full and busy as it is...