Sep 9, 2011

Maria's Story

It's Day Two of a 7-day series of guest posts from NDFH adoptive families.  Today Forrest is sharing his daughter Maria's story.  I remember when Maria first came to New Day.  She lived in the Healing Home, which was in the apartment directly beside my own.  She was so very blue... literally.  Her body couldn't get enough oxygen from her little broken heart.  She was so weak she couldn't get out of bed, so sometimes I'd sit beside her bed and hold her hand and sing songs, all the while making sure her oxygen mask didn't slip out of place.  In fact, I wrote about her in a couple of blog posts... (At the time, her name was Kerstin... that was before she was matched with her family and given the name Maria.)

As we wrap up the summer fundraising drive for NDFH's medical/surgical fund, I hope these stories encourage you to see the miracle of New Day from the perspective a mamas and daddies who are blessed to watch a little one grow up who wouldn't be here if not for NDFH and its supporters.  Put yourself in their shoes for a moment... imagine adopting a little one whose life was saved by strangers before you ever knew her name.

Today NDFH has new little ones... Children like Rebecca, Luke, and Carissa.  Someday their mamas and daddies will tuck them into bed and whisper a prayer of thanks for people like you and me... people who carried their children when they couldn't yet.

Can we finish this fundraising drive strong?  I know it requires a sacrifice, but what would we not do for our children?  We are just about $2500 away from meeting our goal... and remember, every dollar you give to this drive is tripled.  $20 becomes $60.  $100 becomes $300.  And orphans become daughters and sons.  Lives are saved and worlds are changed.


We can do this.

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Maria's the bundle of joy in the middle.

We have been blessed with 3 biological sons and with three adopted daughters. We first became familiar with New Day when adopting our third daughter Maria. After our referral we started seeing New Day referenced in some of the updates, so upon searching a bit we found that she was indeed at New Day.

We were amazed to see how wonderfully Maria was doing while there. We read about how sick she was when she arrived there and that it was questionable if she would survive surgery. We heard from people who had prayed for her as she had surgery and recovered. We are thankful for those who prayed for her and for those who gave money to help pay for surgery that she needed in China.

When we traveled to China to adopt Maria we were blessed to visit New Day and see Maria with her friends at New Day.  We saw first-hand how the children at New Day were loved and how God was blessing the work there. Children that many said would not survive made it through surgery and went on to thrive. Children that would have died in an orphanage suddenly get the blessing of love and more importantly the blessing of someone praying for them. Just look at the pictures on the New Day site showing the remarkable transformations of children as they experience love and care like they have never seen before.

When we arrived home with Maria and went in for her first visit to the cardiologist, he asked “How old is she?” When we told him she was 4.5 years old, he remarked that she should not have lived that long. We knew that it was the grace of God and the loving work of New Day that was the reason she made it. We are confident that had New Day not intervened for her she likely would not have survived in the orphanage.

We are happy to say that since coming home Maria has had her second surgery and is doing great. Today she was in for a checkup with the cardiologist and he is extremely happy with how she is doing. She is even doing gymnastics this year and is active in so many ways.

We witness the results of New Day’s work every day when we see Maria running, playing and smiling. We are thankful every day for the work that New Day is doing and we whole-heartedly support New Day and ask that you too join in the match to help raise much-needed funds for this work.

Thank you God for New Day that has made a difference in the life of our child.

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Forrest and Robin blog at The Collier Bunch.

4 comments:

Tami said...

Oh Carrie! How did I not know about this! Well I do know...I've been so disconnected from blogging and that has been good and bad. Anyhow...I got a heads up from Hannah's post and I'm heading over to give now. On a side note, I have to say...I'm so happy you haven't changed your header photo;-)!

Love,
Tam

Jenna said...

What a great story! One I hadn't heard before! Honestly, I htink that was part of the presence of God I felt when we are at New Day. You're there, where the work of God is being SO clearly done, and you are surrounded by so many kids who may not have made it if not for God's hand and New Day! To be surrounded by that is an amazing thing. Each of these kids is SUCH a miracle!!!

Thanks for sharing the stories!

Laine said...

WE LOVE YOU MARIA!!!!!!!!!!! You are a sweet little miracle of God!

Kevin and Maria were best buds in the Healing Home, and it is by the grace of God she lives only one state away from us! We've been able to get them back together once and we cannot wait until the 2nd reunion!

These precious stories are building my faith!!!!!!!

TanyaLea said...

Oh sweet, sweet Maria! I will NEVER forget when she arrived at ND. She and Kevin were the best of buds and almost inseparable! The CUTEST little pair, those two!! I also remember when she was "Kersen" blue-lips and all. Oh what a miracle child she and SO many children who are blessed to come into New Day's care are!! And I love how God is so into the details of things, that both Maria and Kevin were adopted into families that live so close together, that they are able to maintain a connection for their precious little survivors!! I love them BOTH!!

Yet another reminder of why it is SO important to search our hearts and pray for these children and give financially in any way that we can. God is able to use that money (and MULTIPLY it!) in big ways for the cause of those who need it the most. How often do we go out for a family dinner and drop $40-50 without thinking twice?! So if everyone who reads this would simply trade in even one family night out for the sake of donating those funds to a precious child in need of surgery... that amount will be tripled if you do it now! Oh please do... not only will the child be blessed, but you will too, knowing first hand that you may have just likely contributed to a life-saveing and most definitely life-enriching surgery for a child in desperate need! I can't think of anything mroe rewarding than that!!!

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