Because the Lord heard...

What makes a good story? 

The Hook: A dead, premature baby was rushed into the hospital but was miraculously brought back to life.

The Context:  Despite a grim outlook, she not only survived, but seemed to thrive. Her mother was mentally unable to care for her and, in a situation that is rare in Togo, she had no family that was able to care for her. Read the beginning of Baby Leah's story here:  https://lettucetomatoandmayo.blogspot.com/2021/10/and-when-lord-saw.html. 

The Challenge: Help Baby Leah grow, stay healthy, and find a family.

The Conflict: After copious prayer and a leap of faith, an amazing Christian family from Lomé agreed to start the adoption process. The adoptive mother came to meet with government officials and take Leah home, but the meeting did not go well, and she was sent back home without Leah. Missionary families fostered Leah with abundant, selfless love, but we all prayed that she would soon join her forever family. 

The Resolution: On December 8th, the judge approved the adoption of Leah, and she was sent home with her legal, loving family and multiple bags filled with diapers, formula, and clothes. Tipping the scales at just over 8 pounds (4 times her birth weight!), she doesn't yet understand the weight of what God has done through her. 

Adoption day <3

I hope that someday Leah gets to hear her story. How hard we worked to save her life. How far she came from that first night when she fit in the top of my tunic. How we decided what we would call her. How an entire town somehow knew her story and cared. How complete strangers would ask me how the little baby was doing and if she had found a family. How despite the possible social stigma of having a mentally ill mother, multiple Togolese families were willing to step up and adopt her if things didn't work out with the family from Lomé.  How she went on a goodbye tour on the day before her adoption to be hugged and kissed and adored by all of people who had grown to love her. How much she was prayed for. How through the testimony of her adoptive family, other Christians were more willing to step out in faith and how her story may continue to have an impact in the life of another baby who needs a home. How her adoption portrays the heart of the Gospel and how God has adopted us as His sons and daughters. How her story renewed hope in me during a really hard season and how that continues to influence my attitudes in the hospital. And finally, how we've seen God at work. He cares for orphans and provided Leah with not just a family, but an entire community that loves her. And that's just an amazing story. 

She (Leah) said, "Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, He gave me this one too".  

Genesis 29:33.