Life from Paula's Eyes

Hi my name is Paula!

I am thirteen years old. My favorite thing to do is laugh, especially when other people aren't happy. I like when people are happy.

I have cerebral palsy.

I spent the first twelve years of my life crawling around. I got a wheelchair a few months ago. The wheelchair is great for going on walks down the street. I really like racing my sisters on their bikes. But I don't really see why I have to stay in my wheelchair at home. Crawling is so much easier. My moms say it's because I can get around easier. Apparently people like me are happier in wheelchairs. Well they must be crazy because it just seems like a lot of hard work to me. 

I have lived at SCH for a long time. For a bunch of years I didn't have a foster mom. Then I got one about a year ago. Since then I've had a few different ones. I've lived with a whole bunch of different girls, but I really like the sisters I have now. Carrie and Abby are my foster moms now. They're ok I guess. I really like to laugh and sing with them, but I can't stand when they tell me what to do! I am thirteen years old. They just don't get me. They are too old I guess.

I have eleven sisters now. I really like being a big sister to Chelsea, Heidi, Angel, and Jackie. Some of my other sisters annoy me, but mostly I like being one of the oldest. Phoebe moved in a few weeks ago and I have a lot of fun with her. 

I really like to dance! Except when too many people start looking I get embarrassed. What if they think I'm a bad dancer? Usually I just laugh at myself so everyone knows it's a joke. I like when we're all on the same page about these sorts of things. 

I have to do this thing called physical therapy all the time. It's pretty much the worst thing on the face of the earth. This lady named Ruth comes and stretches out my legs then makes me crawl up the stairs and stand up by myself. It's not a lick of fun until I start singing my ABCs. Then I have a pretty good time. 

I love getting dressed up in new clothes! Carrie bought me a new half sari for my birthday. I felt like a movie star in that thing! Really I just love any cute clothes. A girl's gotta look good, am I right?

My moms keep saying I'm a total teenager these days. I don't really know what that means. They're weirdos sometimes.

Singing is pretty much my favorite thing to do. I love to sing every single song I know all in a row. That usually means I sing my ABCs, Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and three of my favorite Telugu songs. Sometimes my sisters tell me to stop, but singing makes me happy so I keep on anyway.

I share a bedroom with Victoria, Phoebe, and Stephanie. We love it because we stay up way later than all the little girls. Even after Carrie and Abby put us to bed we will stay up for almost an hour talking and laughing!

I love Jesus a whole lot. I've learned a lot about prayer recently and it's a pretty cool thing. Did you know Jesus actually listens to you and answers your prayers? That's pretty cool if you ask me.

I overhear a lot of people talking about me. They always say the same thing. I'm really joyful. And I guess that's true. I like to laugh a lot. Mostly I just like to make sure everyone is happy. When I see someone who isn't happy I try to cheer them up. Being sad just stinks, I'll tell ya that much.

I really do love everyone. People are always so nice and I just love when people are nice to each other.

I love being a big sister, and I love my foster moms even when they are weird. 

I think I'd probably love you too. I like when Carrie and Abby let me Skype people. Maybe you can ask them to Skype so I can meet you! I'd really like that. 

That's about it for now. I'll talk to you later. 

Duces,

Paula

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Would you consider sponsoring Paula? She needs sponsors to cover her daily needs such as food, water, rent, transportation, and medicine. You can sponsor her by clicking this link!

Sponsorship Campaign Week 1: Naomi

As many of you know, I am a volunteer staff member at Sarah's Covenant Homes. I pay for my own rent, food, water, travel, etc. I do this because SCH runs completely off donations. We currently have about 140 special needs orphans in our care. Can you imagine that?? It costs a lot of money to keep this place running.

This is why we have a sponsorship program. When you commit to sponsoring a child at SCH, you are committing to provide them with a home, food, clean water, transportation, education, and quality care. Their sponsorship money goes towards paying the rent for their home, the cost of their food and water, the cost of their hygiene products, the salaries of their physical therapists, nurses, and ayahs. It also covers the cost of their education (mainstream or special ed schooling/private tutors).

Right now, Abby and I live in Ongole with our twelve girls. We honestly love Ongole and would live here forever if we could. But it is not the best place for our girls. There aren't any special education resources in Ongole, nor are there resources for speech therapy. Nearly all of our girls need some sort of special education ranging from programs for the blind to individualized education plans. Over half of our girls desperately need speech therapy. The good news is that SCH is in the process of moving all our kids to Hyderabad where these resources are readily available! 

The plan was for our girls to move sometime in mid-2015. Abby and I really feel that our girls need to move sooner than that. So we came up with a plan and proposed it to Sarah, our director. Sarah loved the idea and is in full support and agreement with it!

If we can get all twelve of our girls sponsored at $200 a month and $50 a month for education, than we can move to Hyderabad at the beginning of the new year! This will provide AMAZING opportunities for our girls that they really need. Abby and I are in Hyderabad right now for a few meetings and have been touring schools with special education programs in our down time. We are overcome with joy as we envision the futures our girls have here. 

So here goes! Our sponsorship campaign is kicking off with our Naomi babe! 

Naomi is officially documented as being nine years old, but we think she is probably around a year younger. She has Down's syndrome. Naomi is mostly non-verbal, but she communicates her wants and needs pretty clearly. Right now she is enrolled in mainstream school, but it isn't fitting her needs. Abby and I are probably going to pull her from school soon and begin homeschooling her until we move to Hyderabad. 

Naomi LOVES the beach. Swimming in the ocean is one of her absolute favorite things to do. This girl is a fish! She dives headfirst into the waves without any fear. The tides pull her under for a brief second as I hold her waist, praying she knows how to hold her breath. As her head pops out out of water, I am greeted with a cheesy grin and rolling laughter. 

At home Naomi is a fashionista. She loves dressing herself, picking out her shoes, and decorating her hair with every colorful clip or bow she can find! Naomi loves tucking her shirts in and wearing high-waisted pants. She is our little Indian hipster through and through. 

This girl brings us so much joy. Her smile is dazzling and her laugh is contagious. 

Naomi deserves the education and therapy resources she needs. Can you help her get there? Pray about becoming one of Naomi's monthly sponsors. She needs $150 a month in regular sponsorship. You can support her by giving either the full amount, $100 a month, $50 a month, or $40 a month. You can become one of her sponsors by clicking this link! 

Abby and I will continue to post blogs, videos, pictures, and updates about Naomi all this week. We are hoping and praying that by the end of this week Naomi will be fully sponsored!! If you commit to sponsoring her (or any of our kids) we want you to meet her! We will set up a Skype date for you to meet our Naomi babe as you begin this wonderful journey investing in her life. 

James 1:27 says "Religion that God the Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." 

God calls us to look after orphans. I know everyone isn't called to come and actually care for them day to day like I am. But He does call us all to care for these children in some way or another. Maybe He is calling you to come alongside these girls and support them financially. I encourage you to pray about sponsorship and where your role is in our girls' lives. Pray about sponsoring Naomi (or any of our 12)! These girls have so much love to give and so much potential. They need your help to really flourish and succeed!! 

The Lord makes beautiful things out of dust. He makes beautiful things out of our twelve girls. He makes beautiful things out of Naomi. 

Nine Little Nuggets

I already posted little blurbs on Heidi, Jackie, and Rebekah. If you missed it, you can read about them here! As promised, I am giving updates on all 12. Abby and I are about to start a child sponsorship campaign, where we focus on one child a week, so here are updates on my other nine!

Here is our Naomi babe. She is as silly as she looks. I always pair "babe" with Naomi's real Telugu name. Every day when Naomi gets home from school, she races up the stairs to our apartment and grins ear to ear as Abby and I sing "Naomi babe!" Naomi loves wearing her pants hiked up as high as she can get them with her shirt tucked in. Naomi struggled a little when we moved the newest six girls in a few weeks ago. I think she was used to being one of the most able bodied and rambunctious girls in the home. Naomi is really quiet sometimes and I think she had a hard time finding her place with her loud, rambunctious, mischievous, new sisters. She quickly formed a really special bond with Abby which has really helped her transition. Naomi is doing much better now!

Victoria is one of our wild girls! She is one of the funniest girls I have ever met. Let me give you a taste of her humor. Victoria is almost completely blind. (She has a little less than 10% vision, and she is missing an eye.) She has a prosthetic eye which she has started to outgrow. Because it is a little too small, it is easy for her to take in and out of her head. Victoria's favorite way to greet new short term volunteers is by taking out her prosthetic eye, holding it in her hand, and sticking it in people's faces saying "Here my eye! You see? Hahahahahaha." We are working on learning that taking your eye out your head to creep people out isn't very appropriate or nice. :) Victoria is definitely a huge goof, but she's also really sweet. Every night before bed Abby and I pray with the girls. Out big girls (Victoria, Phoebe, Stephanie, and Paula) take turns praying each night. A couple days ago when Victoria had her turn she prayed for each girl in our home by name, her former foster sisters who live in different homes now, and a couple of her former foster sisters who have been adopted. My favorite was when she prayed for one of her sisters who has a loving family in America now. Victoria prayed "Jesus love V. She America going. She love you."

Stephanie was the one girl I worried about when Abby and I decided to move all our girls in together. Steph is so quiet and timid, and I was afraid that having eleven sisters in the house would cause Steph to retreat even more. I was also worried that the other eleven would kind of forget about her because she isn't as "fun" of a playmate as many of her sisters. I am so happy to let you know that isn't the case! Phoebe LOVES Stephanie and always tries her best to make sure she is included. I catch the two of them sitting on the couch talking in rapid Telugu all the time! Occasionally Steph will get a little overwhelmed by the loud noise and commotion, but she is always reassured when Abby or I grab her hand and sing her a song.

Phoebe is the best big sister on the planet. She loves helping out with our littles like Chelsea, Heidi, and Angel. She carries Chels everywhere (But we might have to cut back some as Chels is getting a little spoiled in the no walking department). Phoebe loves doing the other girls' hair and she is actually really good at it! Some mornings she helps Abby and I get the younger ones ready for school. Phoebe astounds me. She can solve 50 piece puzzles completely on her own despite being completely blind. She translates for Abby and I when we need help communicating with our ayahs. Phoebe even tries to teach me Telugu! Sometimes we really forget she's still an 11 year old girl. Her maturity level is the highest I have ever seen in a girl her age. Half the time I feel more like Phoebe's big sister rather than her foster mom. Then she'll go into an uncontrollable giggle fit as she laughs at her own joke and I remember that she's still a kid who needs to be loved and deserves a normal childhood. I really love Phoebe. I love sitting around with her when the other girls are asleep and talking about her life. I love listening to her pray and talk about her love for Jesus.

Jeanette is our other wild child. She is completely blind and has a prosthetic left eye. Abby and I think she is also either autistic or has a sensory processing disorder. We refer to her as "tactilely curious" as she touches absolutely everything within a five foot radius of her.  Jeanette can be a little overwhelming at first, but she is so wonderful once you get to know her. She is a really loving eight year old who just doesn't know how to express her needs. A few days ago, Abby and I gave Jeanette some alone time one afternoon. We honestly thought it would last twenty minutes tops before she was over it. Jeanette surprised us! She sat and played by herself for nearly two hours! Abby and I really believe that if Jeanette gets adopted, she will be a completely different kid. She just needs more one on one attention!

Esther makes me laugh on a daily basis. She is always so giggly and silly! Esther really loves having younger sisters. In her old home she was one of the youngest. She enjoys being a big sister to the littles and getting to sleep in one our "big girl" rooms! Esther loves sneaking into my our bedroom and climbing into bed to snuggle with me or Abby. She always asks me to put henna on her hands, as it is one of her current favorite things! Esther knows how to write all of her ABCs, and she is learning to read! She's a really bright little girl! Abby and I can't wait to see how far she comes as we continue to work with her!

Chelsea has recovered from her pneumonia! Our poor little baby was so sick for over a week. She laid in bed with me nearly the entire day for almost three days straight. Her fever even peeked to 104.2! :( But our little Chels is a fighter! After several hard days she started to get back to her old self! Now she is walking around wagging her finger and trying to tell her big sisters who's in charge. In other words, she is back to normal! :) When she had pneumonia she went back into diapers because she was too sick to make it to the bathroom. Unfortunately that means we're really struggling with potty training now. Chels pees her pants 75% of the time and pitches a huge fit whenever we put her on the toilet. But we're working on it!!!

Paula loves having six new sisters in the house! She is homeschooled by a private tutor right now and really excelling! A couple months ago Paula couldn't even recognize letters and numbers. She is now recognizing her name and several sight words as well as many letters and numbers!! Paula is doing better and better with her wheelchair each day. She no longer fights us to get out. She stays in her wheelchair all day without us prompting her too! She is wheeling herself and beginning to tell her sisters to stop when they try and do it for her. She continues to be the most joyous one in our house and bring light into every day.

Angel continues to be our little stinker! :) She is the head-honcho in mischief. We've had some problems with her stealing things and with her throwing toys over our balcony. She's spent a great deal of her day in time-out recently, but she really seems to be learning! She knows what she is and isn't allowed to do. Angel really does love her sisters. She encourages Chels and Heidi who both struggle with using the potty. She totally thinks she's one of the big girls and tries to run with them even when they want to do "big girl" things!

Abby and I are about to start a sponsorship challenge. I will be posting more about it tomorrow! We will be highlighting one girl a week. We will each post two different blogs about her and share pictures and videos everyday. Our goal is to have all twelve of our girls FULLY SPONSORED by Christmas!! If we meet that girl, we will get to move to Hyderabad 4-5 months before we were originally scheduled to. This is something Abby and I really want to see happen as there are special education schools and speech therapy resources in Hyderabad that are not available in Ongole. Several of our girls REALLy need access to these resources, so we want to be in Hyderabad ASAP!

I have another little announcement that I'll post about later this week as well! :) 

Three Bundles of Joy

There has been so much going on since our six new girls moved in! Abby and I have been co-fostering for about two weeks now, but it feels like we've been doing this forever!

Abby and I designed family t-shirts and had them shipped to her in America before she left. Look how cute we all are! The shirts say "You are beautiful for you are fearfully and wonderfully made!"

Looking at this picture still puts me in shock. Do we really have twelve kids? Our family looks so huge and overwhelming in this picture, but that's not really how I feel in day to day life.

Yes, our day to day is absolutely crazy and beyond chaotic. But I don't feel overwhelmed. Honestly I don't even feel like twelve is too big a number. Abby and I like to joke about how insane we must be to have twelve children with special needs who don't fluently speak our language. But that's all it is, a joke.

Life with these twelve beautiful girls is wonderful. Never have I experienced so much joy in one place. These silly girls bring so much JOY and LIFE into our home. We've been up to a lot lately and each of our twelve have been absolutely thriving since we all moved in!

Heidi said her first word! The other night I was carrying her downstairs when she reached out and touched my face. As I turned to see her, she looked me right in the eyes and said "mama". I cried. I have been praying for my baby to start talking for over a year and she's finally there! I had a meeting with a speech therapist a couple weeks ago and now have a solid plan for her speech development. I can't wait to see my little girl become more verbal! Heidi is just the cutest now that she has one word down! She grabs Abby or I, making sure she has our full attention, before saying "mama" and pointing to whatever she wants or needs. We are so proud! I've honestly never loved someone as much as I love Heidi. I love all my girls equally, but Heidi just has this extra special place in my heart. I don't know if it is just because she is the first child at SCH that I fell in love with or what. But man do I love this bundle of joy. Heidi brings a smile to my face every single day. Even when she pees her pants for what seems to be the millionth time, I can't help but look at her and smile. She is radiant. Heidi really means the world to me. I can't imagine going a single day without her in my life.

Jackie makes me laugh on a daily basis. She is usually one of our first children to wake up in the morning and loves to get me out of bed! Most mornings I wake up to her gently kissing my cheek. I roll over and she giggles and says "I love you Carrie Mummy! Morning time!" Jackie amazes me with everything she can do at five years old despite her physical disability. Jackie only has one finger on the end of each of her hands and one toe on the outside of each of her feet. Despite not having fingers to grab or hold things, Jackie can do just about anything. She still eats with a spoon, colors and writes with crayons, opens doors and cabinets, and gets in to trouble when she unlocks the latch on our gate! It's impossible not to love Jackie because she charms everyone the second she meets them. Recently a volunteer named Kevin served at SCH. When he introduced himself to Jackie she misunderstood his name. She immediately screamed "SEVEN YOU ARE MY FRIEND!" to which she received lots of laughter. Over the course of the month he was here Jackie made sure that everyone called him Seven instead of his real name. Jackie is such a goof.

Rebekah is a hot mess. There is no better way to put it. And I love it because I am the biggest hot mess there ever was. The only word Rebekah can say completely clearly is "yeah" and she says it all the time! "Hey Rebekah how was school?" "Yeah." "Rebekah have you done your tuition?" "Yeah." "Rebekah it's dinner time!" "Yeah." "Rebekah are you ready for bed?" Silence. Bedtime has proved itself  to be the only time I don't hear her "yeah". She gets really frustrated when she can't communicate through speech. Soon Abby and I will start working with her on ways of nonverbal communication so Rebekah can better express herself. Rebekah makes me laugh daily as well. She loves to blabber on as if telling a story in gibberish. The other night I read Rebekah a bedtime story. I read the book "David Goes to School". The little boy in the book is very animated and was probably intended to look a little silly. But that's not what Rebekah saw. She saw a character in a book who looked like her. She was SO excited to see his picture. Bouncing up and down in bed, she pointed to the picture of the boy then back to herself as if to say "He looks like me! He looks like me!" She pointed to his teeth then grabbed her own. She pointed to his eyes then covered hers laughing. I fought back tears as I saw the joy on my little girl's face. She finally found something that made her feel normal. Rebekah has Apert's Syndrome which causes her to look quite a bit different than other kids. I never realized that Rebekah might be self conscious about the way she looks. Seeing the joy on her face when a character from a book made her feel normal was breathtaking. Rebekah is beautiful.

Over the next few days I will be posting updates like this about each of our twelve! SCH is run completely off donations, and we have a sponsorship program to fund our children's living expenses and school fees. Abby and I really want to see all 12 of our girls become fully sponsored before the end of the year. The good news is that we are already a fourth of the way there! Heidi, Jackie, and Rebekah (along with Angel) are all fully sponsored.

An SCH child sponsorship is $200 a month in full. It covers the rent and utilities for the child's apartment, all their food and water, medicine, routine medical checkups, and transportation. It also helps cover the salary of employees who work with them directly (nurses, ayahs, physical therapists, etc).

Our girls also have separate school sponsorships to cover the cost of their tuition. Eleven of our girls attend mainstream private schools (free education isn't really a thing here). Paula is currently homeschooled, but still has an education sponsorship to cover the cost of her school materials and private tutor. School sponsorships are $50 a month.

I know that it A LOT of money. I could never afford to pay a full sponsorship each month! Luckily you can sponsor our kids in partial sponsorships. Abby and I both sponsor a couple of our girls at $40 a month. You can see our kids' sponsorship pages by clicking their picture on the right side of my blog or you can click here to see a list of all the children in need of sponsorship.

Here we stand, our hearts are Yours. Not our will but Yours be done. Join me in praying this for our 12 girls!

My Beautiful Birthday Girl

Isn't she just radiant? Paula's thirteenth birthday was yesterday (August 2nd)! For nearly a week before, I would Skype her from Hyderabad and Paula would scream "Happy birthday! Happy birthday Paula!" As soon as I got home on Friday morning she started singing the birthday song as she scooted towards me. The look of excitement on her face was like a child on Christmas Eve. She COULD NOT wait! 

I bought her a half saree for the birthday. We went to pick out the fabric on Friday afternoon and the SCH tailor stitched it for her! Before her party I helped her dress up and do her hair. One of our nurses here gave her a brand new pair of earrings and some girls serving here for a month bought her hair flowers! 

Before the party my friends Elise and Shawna helped me decorate the roof of our building! We hung balloons and streamers as well as a birthday collage consisting of banners and pictures of Paula! There was music playing that consisted of Paula's favorite songs. 

Paula opened two gifts from some of the short term volunteers who are at SCH right now. They got her a pair of new gold bangles and gold anklets! Let me tell you - she LOVED it! I got her cake out as we all sang Happy Birthday! Paula blew out the candles and laughed as everyone clapped for her. We all had some cake and Paula took pictures with everyone who came to her party! 

After her party, we took Paula to eat dinner at Ramya (a nice restaurant in town). The members of the team serving here helped me carry Paula and her wheelchair up steps, and into autos. I wanted the night to be all about Paula because she deserves it. 

Paula is the most joyful child I have ever known. She has faced so many hard things in her life, yet she never complains. She climbs stairs every day with a smile on her face. She sings at the top of her lungs, claps with enthusiasm, and strikes up conversations with anyone who passes. Paula is very aware of her disability, and I can tell it bothers her that she isn't as physically able as her sisters and friends. She often times get overshadowed or left behind just because she can't keep up.

Seeing the joy on her face when we did everything to serve HER specifically made me cry. Paula was SO joyful. She was absolutely radiant and glowing. Paula was beautiful, inside and out. 

Would you consider getting Paula a birthday present? Paula needs monthly sponsors. She currently doesn't have any sponsors which means all of her living expenses are being taken out of SCH's general fund. We'd like this money to be used solely for emergency medical expenses, and administrative costs. If you choose to sponsor Paula, I will personally Skype you with her! You can meet her, talk, and get to know this beautiful girl! 

Paula's sponsorship is $200 a month and $50 a month for school expenses. But you can partially sponsor her at $40 a month! I really want to see Paula get fully sponsored soon, because this radiant girl deserves it.

Happy 13th Birthday beautiful girl! It's nice to have such a joyful teenager in the house! 

To Be Loved Is To Be Known: Naomi

Life in India is good. Really, really crazy but good. I've been with my girls for over a week now. It has been one of the hardest weeks of my life, but also one of the greatest. Adjusting to the culture here is hard. I live in a small town (on India standards - it feels fairly large to me) in Southern India where the culture is very conservative and traditional. I've been learning a lot about how to live here and assimilate.

For instance, I already knew women had to wear pants every day, but I learned a few days ago that if your pants have drawstrings that are hanging down or visible, it is extremely immodest. Who knew? The past week has been filled with learning and adjusting to this radically different culture. And I am sure that will continue the entire time I am here. :)

I've been learning a lot about my girls this week as well. I've really just been trying to spend time with them and get to know their personalities, wants, needs, what upsets them, what makes them giggle, anything and everything. I've also just spent a great deal of time cuddling with them, giving them lots and lots of kisses, and just loving on them.

And so in this blog post I wanted to introduce you to my biggest cuddle bug and the girl who has really stolen my heart this past week, Naomi.

Out of the six I met last summer, I knew Naomi the least. I just had a really hard time connecting with her last summer. But oh how I love her. Naomi brings so much silliness and laughter into my life. Every day as she gets home from school, she is the first one up the stairs and in our apartment. As she walks in I great her with a "Heyyy Naomi! School good, ah?" To which she responds with the biggest grin and an Indian head bobble (meaning yes). Then she runs into my open arms and gives me the biggest hug! We sit there cuddling for a minute as her younger sisters make it up the stairs and inside. 

Naomi doesn't speak any English, but she has her own way of communicating. She has a different face that she makes for several emotions. My favorite is when she thinks something is weird or funny. She'll point with her whole hand to whatever she finds unusual and make these big wide puppy dog eyes with her lips pursed. Sometimes if she thinks something is really funny, she'll add a couple eyebrow raises in there. That one never fails to get me laughing. 

Naomi is alert and very aware of her surroundings. She makes sure I don't miss out on anything that is going on. She'll run up to me, tap me on the arm, and motion to whatever is going on. If she thinks something is particularly interesting, she will continue to grab my attention and make sure I am just as intrigued as she is. 

This girl has become my shadow and honestly, I love it. Anytime I stand up to walk from one room to the next, Naomi hops up and accompanies me. She hugs on my arm and just giggles as I do whatever needs to be done. 

Naomi loves the last hour before bedtime more than anything else. During that time the girls and I just sit around the living room or on the porch and cuddle. I usually turn on some music as we just relax and unwind. Naomi is always in my lap or leaning on my side. She always has this huge smile on her face. Sometimes she is quiet and sometimes she is babbling away. I don't understand what she is saying as it is all in Telugu and I think a lot of it is unintelligible Telugu anyway. But in a way, I do know. She is happy. Naomi has someone here who loves her unconditionally and she loves me back. She is excited she has a mama to cuddle with and to talk to. Naomi loves being loved. 

There is a poem some of my friends used to love and recite. The main line in the poem says this:

"For to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known."

Naomi just needed to be known. The deepest, most inward parts of her desire to be known. For to be known is to be loved. And if she is loved, then she is known. 

I love Naomi more than I can say. She is my cuddle bug and my silly girl. She is known by me. She is loved by me. But only because the Father first loved me. She is known by our Father and He loves her. He loves her so, so very much.

I know the Lord has great plans for Naomi. I know He will be with her, loving her and knowing her no matter where she goes. She needs a family. There isn't one pursuing her right now and she desperately needs a forever family who will love her unconditionally. Pray for my sweet Naomi. If you have ever considered adopting, consider pursuing her. Pass her story onto friends and family. Make this girl known. Let the world know of her and love her. 

I pray that her forever family is out there and that they see this post. Naomi has so much love to give. All she wants is to be loved in return. 

If you want to join in on knowing her and loving her right now, you (or you and a group) can sponsor her. Our kids are sponsored at $200 a month to cover the cost of their food, clothing, rent, water, utilities, everything. Since Naomi goes to school, she also has a $50 a month school sponsorship which covers all of her school fees, books, supplies, transportation, and uniform. 

You can sponsor Naomi by clicking this link and following the steps outlined for you. You can choose to complete her sponsorship in full, in half ($100), or partially ($40). You and your family, Sunday school class, coworkers, friends, or whoever could go in together to get my girl sponsored. 

To be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known. I love you sweet Naomi.