A typical Saturday morning? Is there any such thing?

  I guess today would be closest to a typical weekend day. 

  I arrived at the center a little bit after 9:00 am. The kids had bathed, finished breakfast and had clean diapers. We played outside a bit. I spent specific individual time with four of the kids. Two used the new walker and the other two we just pursued basic exercises and stretching.  This walker that was donated by friends at The Village CHurch has been an enormous blessing.

   First kid out was Iabella. She is perfect for the walker or as they refer to it here as, "The Spider." She is
twelve years old and has arms and legs that are deformed from childhood abuse. She has profound autism and equally profound epileptic seizures. The medication helps minimize the frequencies of seizures, but the autism and very low intelligence are very challenging. Some of the less educated nineras has suggested that the kids experience more seizures because the weather is a bit chilly right now. I do not know much about it, but I seriously doubt the temperature has large impact on the frequencies of seizures.
At any rate, Isabella does very well in the walker. With help she can take some small steps and partially propel herself and partially support her own weight. If the walker is adjusted too high, she uses it to swing both feet ahead together and would seemingly gain little strength or skill. One leg is significantly shorter than the other so she frequently starts to list to one side or the other. She definitely seems to enjoy the perspective of  a: attention  b: an elevated vantage to see the world.   She is unable to speak or respond consistently with much more than a bit of attention if her name is called.

 Second kid in the walker is Haroldo. He has had recent surgery straightening out his legs and feet. He is seven years old.  They used ligaments or tendons from his lower abdominal wall for his ankles. He had also had some oral surgery shortly before the leg surgeries because his infections in his mouth were incapacitating.  Though he is still wearing the casts on his legs, he is energized and eager for physical activity. He takes off on the walker and will no doubt be walking on his own before too very long.
He is a very sweat kid with and eye that goes off at an angle like Lon Chaney.

  I then spent time with Angela. She is the physically most challenged child we have. Profound cerebral palsy combined with extreme malnutrition have left her very weakened and with virtually zero independence. Nevertheless, she is everyone's favorite kid. She has a smile that could launch a 1000 ships.  She is unable to swallow normal food and has a profound scoliosis. When she arrived at the center at 11 years of age she only weighed 20 pounds. She is now 14 years old and weighs about 45 pounds, but still has limited mobility and challenges swallowing liquified foods. I held her and prayed with and for her. I see the eyes of God when I gaze into her eyes. She coos when you stroke the side of her face. I hold her on my lap and help her trying to keep her head upright. These days she has sufficient musculature to maintain it in an upright position almost a full minute. Previously, her head would only flop about like a raggedy Ann doll.  She is so precious and appreciative of any attention and warmth.  I prayed with her in Spanish and English. I told her how much she is loved by God and me.  I think she may understand some of what I prayed in Spanish and I hope the Holy Spirit helped her "feel" some of the love embedded in the prayer in English.

 My final hands on kid was Kerina. She is one of our smallest and youngest children. She has one of the lowest intelligence and some of the worst autism. She frequently rocks back and forth and will bounce her head on the floor.  She has horrific scars on her forehead from early childhood trauma. We are told that her Father is also her Grandfather.   Yeach.....
Her physical constraints are different than others. She has no obvious  obstacle to crawling and walking; rather it is her extremely low intelligence and the fact that she has been institutionalized and waited on her whole life that keeps her in her own autistic world.   Importantly, she benefited from a surgery a year and a half ago that fixed her Achilles tendons so that  her feet were not frozen at an angle that one would use to walk on your tippy toes.   Unfortunately, she feels little impetus to stand or crawl much. She receives some physical therapy, but not enough. When I put her in the aforementioned walker, she just pulls up her legs and swings in the harness. So today we spent time just working on her standing with knees straight. I maintained a hand on each knee and leaned her back against me while we excercised. It is obvious that the lack of muscle development in her legs from years of atrophy remain an obstacle but I remain optimistic.

  Thanks for reading this and may God Bless you in so many ways....

***  Names are fictional to protect their privacy. If you want their real names you can email me and I will give you the cross reference. Those of you who have visited can guess which kids I am talking about.