Gladys' Story...

A little over a month ago, my neighbor returned from a short trip down to her home village with an extra piece of luggage.

That's when my neighbor's niece, Gladys, showed up in our lives.

When Agnes arrived at her family's home, she realized that they had no money and 4 children. The family had been surviving on very little, and it was beginning to show in the small children.

Without any other real options, Agnes did what any other loving aunt would do... she brought one of the children home to live with her family for a while.

I remember the first day that Gladys showed up at our place. She was sitting on the ground about to tip over because it looked like someone had completely sucked every bit of life out from her. She was severely malnourished and in need of some desperate help.

For weeks, she would simply sit in the middle of the back yard full of energetic children running past her left and right, nearly knocking her head off with the soccer ball, and she just wouldn't even flinch.

As her diet began to stabilize, her energy and health followed suit. It's been more than a month now, and she is still by far the quietest and most energy hunger child that plays around in our backyard... but there is that glimmer of hope.

I see that hope when I walk up to her among all the other children and extend my hands toward her... she smiles really big and bashfully and extends her hands out towards mine. I proceed to pick her up and whirl her through the air like an airplane and listen to her scream with excitement.

Her short life thus far has been difficult... no doubt. But, all we have is hope right?

All I have is hope that when she returns back home to her mother and father this weekend, she will not end up the way she was just one month prior. I have hope that she will remember how it felt to be special. That she will remember how it felt to be picked up and thrown into the air.

I hope she dreams...

I hope she smiles...

I hope she survives in this dark, cold world...

This is my prayer for Gladys.

Today, after realizing she would be leaving soon, I went over and picked her up and started talking to her. I asked her what my name was... coming from the mouth of a tiny girl that never mumbles anything even to other children, she spoke a single word that I could barely hear: "Lioni"

I have hope.

:::::UPDATE:::::

Today, we brought Gladys to the hospital to get her checked out before returning back to her village. Turns out, she has an extremely severe case of malaria that she has been living with for quite some time. On top of that, she is severely anemic and is infested with worms. It is really a miracle that she was able to get to the clinic and find this out before she went back home. So, they have given her some super powerful anti-malarials, and we'll pray that she is able to recover quickly.

The fact that she has even survived this long with such strong malaria is quite amazing! If I was to have that bad of a case of malaria, I would be near death. Tolerance is an amazing thing.

So, please pray for her. Pray that treatment is effective. Pray that her nutrition doesn't plummet when she returns back home.