Never even seen your face.

A prayer for Noah

I have never even seen your face

but today I pray for peace and grace

I pray that hope and love would abound

That you would rest safe and sound

That you won't feel so all alone

That His heart would be your home

That you would know your in our dreams

And that it won't always be as it seems

His ways are just and true

His love is just for you

No matter what's been done

You will always be the one

The one He came to know

The one He came to claim

The one He died to love

The one He lives to rename

I have never seen your face

Or held you in my arms

But He's the one who formed you well

And will deliver you from harm

Noah is a three and half year old little boy from Ethiopia who was recently adopted in the past 6 months. As many of you know my parents have adopted 3 girls almost two years ago from Ethiopia and so because of this my mother was approached by a friend of hers who is an attachment therapist. She asked my mom if she would be willing to have Noah come over for visits and meet my three Ethiopian sisters because that might be comforting for him. The attachment therapist had evaluated little Noah and felt that he was very appropriate and sweet but quiet. She felt concerned for him and wanted to help him adjust.

My mom immediately called me and said "now Liesl, I am not going to tell you what to do but please just pray about it. There is a little boy named Noah and...." Well of course my heart was immediately burdened for this little boy and I told my husband casually over dinner just to see what he would say. My husband is my perfect half in every way... I would be the one who would say YES! all the time and then get in over my head... at least when it comes to kids. Which isn't always a bad thing mind you but he is a wait and lets pray and see what is on the Lord's heart type of guy which is exactly what I need! So I already knew what he would say, which he did, but he also said "hmmmm, I really want to meet him." Now, you have to understand my husband loves kids but he wants the perfect will of God for our family and doesn't want to do things just because it's seems like it's a good idea. I so appreciate that. In everything I do I want it to be done within the will of God for my life and for our family. We prayed for a week or so and Francisco (my hubby in case you didn't know his real name) said one night... "well if anything happens we will take him." I love that man.

Any way, to shorten things up.... we all started praying for Noah and had set up a day to meet him. The day came, but Noah never showed up. We still prayed. My mom, husband, and I all agreed that there was just something about Noah and somewhere in our minds thought maybe God was going to make him a part of our family somehow. Then again, we were able to set up another play date. Thursday morning on my mom calls me and all she says is "he's in the hospital, and that is all I know!" I knew exactly who she meant and felt as if I had been punched in the gut. She quickly hung up to see if maybe she could find out why, where, since when?? We didn't even know at this point why he was in the hospital or what had happened but we both knew that regardless we were to pray. For the sake of the people involved I cannot go into details however as of June 29th, 2010 little Noah has been in critical condition in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) due to injuries resulting from shaken baby syndrome. We have not been given much information as there is to be an investigation. Also, we have not been allowed to visit because of the extent of his brain injuries and the doctors not wanting him to become over stimulated. We do know that he is alive and occasionally alert but nothing more. PLEASE continue to pray for Noah that he would make a full recovery! Shaken babies usually have a very poor prognoses and there quality of life is greatly diminished. Possible outcomes range from seizure disorder, mental retardation (mild or severe), life altering disabilities, paralysis, blindness, deafness, or even being in a completely vegetative state.

We do not know what the outcome for little Noah will be in regards to his health or even in regards to his living situations. We hope to be able to make him a part of our family somehow if at all possible. Thank you for reading and for joining in praying for Noah.