Memee- A little girl and God's miracle!

Memee* is a special little girl!
Abandoned by her family but not by God! He clearly has His hand on her precious life!

Here is Meme the day we went to bring her to our Children's Home.

 

First she had to have a bath.

 

She was very scared... as you can well imagine...

 

 Memee is so needy. She requires supervision and needs one on one care. She needs a small family.
I started to pray, “Lord, Memee needs a family. Would you please provide this little girl with a family who will love her and help her to be all that you intended her to be.”

So I presented my list to God -all that I believed Memee would need. 
 
Top of that list -two doting parents - with only one other little one in their care. A girl would be great but not a necessity!!

Why? Because Memee needs to feel special and because a new mum and dad would need to keep a close eye on her and have a special understanding of special little girls!

One or both of her parents would need to speak Thai.

If they spoke English as well that would be good!

It would be perfect if one is a school teacher.

Memee's mum and dad would need to understand the needs of ‘adopted’ children, or at least children who grow up in a family other than their birth family.

Oh, and please Lord, could they be Christians - we would love them to be of like minded faith.

So I advertised in our newsletter.

Not one reply.
 
Then the doubts - and questions - came.

How would we find the right family? What authority do we have to find an adoptive/foster family for this precious child?

How would we get her grandfather’s permission to place her into a family?

His phone number was lost and we actually didn't know where he is! How could we track him down?

One day I was praying and God spoke quietly to my heart that I was not believing that He would find a family for Memee.

 A couple of days later we went out to a restaurant in Chiang Mai. I was very tired and not feeling like talking to anyone. Actually I was feeling like quite a failure.

We had had our long term helper leave, 42 (forty two!) referrals of children that we couldn’t help had recently come in, and I couldn’t find this little girl a home!

A man at the next table smiled and said hello. He was American. Feeling as I was, I simply didn’t want to go through the polite talk, and all the other usual questions one asks when you meet a stranger here.

I actually whispered “Lord, I am tired, defeated. I don’t even want to be nice to the man. I know that is not pleasing to you. Please help me.”

The man's wife smiled at me and I returned her smile and said “hello”. She was chatty and friendly and thankfully didn’t ask us very many questions at all! After a while she slid along the bench seat, stood up and came and sat with us.

Her husband is “oriental looking” and I wondered about his background, as he had no accent so clearly wasn’t Thai.  

After a long conversation she mentioned that they would love to adopt another child.

I asked “Oh, you want a boy?”

And she replied, “No, we’d love a little girl. One who is about six years old would be perfect.”

Can I refer you back to my prayer to the Lord?!

This woman is American and speaks only English.

Her husband IS Thai and yet spoke only English for the first 12 years of his life. His English is perfect AND he speaks fluent Thai!

She is a teacher and runs a school!!!

He is home a lot and also travels.

I gave them my business card and went home incredulous at how this was all panning out!

Then an email arrived from this couple saying,  'We have really committed this to the Lord and believe He would have this little girl join our family!'

Even though this is clearly from the hand of God – the story gets better and more amazing!

A few days before our senior staff member left, I asked her to come into the office, showed her Memee’s file and said, “Why don’t we have contact details of the grandfather? We have no way of contacting him.”

So she searched for the district in which Memee was born, rang the “town hall” and spoke to a man who knows “District 10” and asked him if he knew the village leader (who is always an important man).

He said, “Yes, I have his phone number!”

So he called the village leader and asked if he remembered a little girl being given to a children’s home nearly two years ago.

He did.

Did he remember who the grandfather was?

He did.

Could he talk to him about Memee being adopted?

He could.

Subsequently we have been informed that Grandfather has given his consent for Memee's adoption, with the small proviso of his being able to see his precious granddaughter one more time.

He also needed to contact some cousins to see if there was any objection. 

Grandfather managed to contact the relatives and there was no objection lodged so he has consented to Memee being adopted!

Bless God and thank you to all who prayed.
 

A miracle was had that day for one of God’s precious children.

And did I mention… they have a beautiful 2 year old Thai girl whom they have raised since birth?!

We are handing over this precious child to her new family. It is of course with mixed emotions but we dearly want the 'best' for this little girl.

On “gotcha day” (the day Memee left with her new family), Memee and her new sister Rosie sat side by side in their little car seats, drinking from their sippy cups and talking secret little girls talk, while their parents beamed in the front seat.

We all marvel at God’s hand in this little girl's life.

In her new bedroom with her little sister.

 

Sisters on bikes 

 

 

 

My first visit with Memee after she had gone to her new family. It was a very wonderful reunion!

 

 And...she has started ballet lessons!

 

Until next time,

with love,

Sam.

Post script from Memee's new Mum...

Isn't it weird how the Lord works??? After leaving the restraunt that night her name just kept playing in my head. When I mentioned it to Rory* he said he couldn't get the name out of his head either! It was like the Lord was NOT going to let this one get by us.  We prayed right away and then I ran to email you.  I had no idea what would happen, but I knew we had to met this girl. 

Three months later and it's like she has always been with us!  I cried at her first ballet lesson, and Rory beams with pride as she yells "Daddy watch me!!!!" during swimming lessons.  We can't ever thank you and Allan enough for making our little family complete!
*Name changed to maintain privacy.

Life with Lu

Lu is a wonderful child. Big dimples, easy laugh, pretty features. She loves talking to people and getting to know what they are like. Lu loves it when we host visitors, quietly watches them and interacts shyly until she gets to know them - then everyone notices her lovely demenour, her easy laugh and of course...those dimples!

Early days with us - she was so cute...still is as a matter of fact!

Lu with a Christmas gift from Australia.

She is a very artistic little left hander and delights in her creations whether it be cooking or craft or music.

Lu plays a Thai instrument at school. I marvelled at her talent as she was so deft at moving the instrument and drawing the bow across and made some intersting sounds - she did it with such ease I have to admit to being a little surprised. Now if only we had a live in music teacher!

Lu tries playing the ukelele which she of course found quite easy!



Lu making a "monkey." She loved seeing her creation come to life.

Being such a generous soul, she gave her hand made toy to a little girl at school. When asked why she did this, she looked shocked that I didn't understand. "This little girl -she doesn't have much Mummy. I wanted her to have a little friend (her precious home-made toy)."

She loves cooking and will mix, stir, shred, grate along with the best of them.

Lu loves our youngest member of the household and is always ready to teach him things and to just love on him.

She is also quite a complicated soul. Today was a sad day. She stayed close by me all day today.

“Mum, can I get you a drink”? “You look tired” she says as she rubs my back. What is going on in that pretty little head of hers? She insisted on rubbing my feet and said "oh Mum. You (your) feet very dirty." I just thought that went with the territory of walking around in bare feet but the Thai's don't seem to get dirty feet! She quickly got a wet cloth and cleaned my feet for me. "There (you) are Mum" she declared. "All clean now. You want (a) massage? Oh, I get you a cup of tea first."

Gee - am I overwhelmed with this child at times. I tell her constantly that she doesn't have to please me all the time. She roars with laughter. Mummy does tell the funniest of stories!

Of course, ALL Thai children are told to respect and honour their parents. She classes me as her "Falang Mummy" and says quietly "When I am with my mummy, I miss you Mum." "Do you Lu? Thankfully that's only once a year then." She says "Oh, is OK Mummy. When I stay with you I miss my (birth) Mummy too. Funny isn't it Mum?" she says with a far away look in her eyes.

We hug and it's my turn to rub HER back. What a precious little girl.

Thanks for supporting us to "do what we do" and to love on these precious little children.

We are indeed blessed.

With love, until next time.

Sam.

Food, glorious (Thai) food!

I love good Thai food. 

I say "good' because i have certainly tasted some food that would not fall into that catergory!

 

Most Thai food is... seriously delicious!

We had to laugh though when the dish pictured below was put on the table for our visitor. We thought "oh, isn't that nice of our staff to be so caring to our visitor. How lovely of them." But after seeing the look of shock on our friend's face, we realised that this was not "normal" where she was from. We had to assure her that she didn't have to actually EAT the fish head- even though the children didn't understand why she wasn't thrilled to be given this tasty morsel!

 

 

The Thais are famous for the four" s's" - sweet, salty, sour and spicy!

 

Green curry chicken aka "Gaeng Kiew wan gai."

Satay pork and peanut sauce. The chillies are mixed with the cucumber and vinegar.

 

Fish sauce is served at the table along with chillies in vinegar, dried chilli and sugar so you can add your own flavourings to taste.

Having fish sauce with our meal is now as natural as having salt and pepper on the table!

This is a common sight in Thai restaurants in Thailand. Sugar, fish sauce, vinegar and of course -chilli!
I had to laugh recently when I carefully 'held back' the chillies and scooped out a little vinegar to put on my noodle dish. Afterwards, the Thai man next to me carefully scooped out some chilli to put on his dish, leaving the vinegar to fall back into the jar!

Surprisingly many dishes are not spicy.

Of course you can add the chilli later!

 

The children enjoyed a visit to our staff member's village. Even the little one pictured had a ball - even though this is not her 'best shot!'

 

 

On of our favourite things to do with visitors is have a "muu khataa" - a lovely way to sit and eat and cook your own food. Dr Warwick and our lovely Jojo enjoyed eating our special Thai feast!

 

A famous dish of Northern Thailand is "Khaow soy" which is a noodle dish with curry. Yummm!

Our volunteer Amy asked what the khaow soy tasted like. "Is it spicy?" she asked? "No, but it's very flavoursome" was my reply. Amy believes I have lost my taste buds...or my mind! She found it to be VERY spicy!

This is another much loved Thai meal. In fact our kids salivate at the sight of grilled chicken, sticky rice and mango salad (don't ask for it to be a 'little spicy' as the Thai's will only add 3 or 4 chillies instead of the quarter of a chilli that you would like!

 

 

Thai's LOVE sweet food. Here is our sweet Jump, our oldest girl enjoying a tiny cake.

They love their fruit too - many of which we have not grown up with.

 

 

And the Thai's are quite famous for their fruit carving.

I haven't quite mastered the art yet!

 

Jump with the skin of a Thai fruit - som oh.

As you would... lol

 

And here is Jo and Mia getting in on the act... 



Jo helped us to care for little Mia who needed some specialised medical help.

More about this special little girl another time.

Hope you have enjoyed reading.

Until next time,

With love from Sam

The one...

She had been left to fend for herself, scavenging food from leftovers that had been carelessly tossed on the ground. She was only three years old. There are many children who are in need of care. We can't help them all. We are not called to help them all. We were called to help "the one".

 

Because her mother worked so sporadically, she was left for long periods of time. This is not how it should be.

 
A friend’s husband saw her and enquired to a villager as to the whereabouts of her parents.

Our friend spoke with the mother and learned her story. “Do you have other children?” our friend asked. Yes she did. Five other children. Her husband had died leaving her with six little mouths to feed. Sadly, she had given all her children away. She did not want to raise any of her children so the last one had been left to fend for herself!

Our friend emailed us and sent us photos of this precious little girl. 

  Oh my! What a 'lost' looking little girl!

 

 

She looked so helpless. So tinyl So... lost!

Her name is Chubby.*

As Chubby was ‘at risk’ and the mother didn’t seem to want to care for her, had given away her other children, we felt this was definitely a child we could help. We don't discount what may have been a difficult decision by the mother.

My husband travelled back up the mountains with our friends to collect the child.  Our friends spoke English, Thai and Hmong so there were many translations going back and forth all day with the Hmong villagers, our translators and hubby. Very tiring!

Chubby's village is "on top of the world" and overlooked a neighbouring country.

Most Hmong villages are right up on top of a mountain. They are very difficult to get to and are so remote that it is often difficult to get an education or to receive basic medical help.

 

Her family's kitchen.

 

 

Her last meal in the village was a bowl of boiled rice and water. She sat on the dirt floor and ate her meal.

 

Her last meal at home

On the way home our friend stopped and gave her a quick bath at a roadside service station. The water was practically black. Once it dried, her matted hair sat where it had before. 

Many hours later hubby arrived home with Chubby and a nanny bathed her.

 

They laughed that the water was still so ‘black’ but after her THIRD bath, some shampoo and clean clothes we could start to settle her in to our home.

I was not here when Chubby came into our care. When I returned a week later, one of our other children told Chubby that I would look after her and was the "Mummy" of the home. Chubby grinned, hopped on my knee for a cuddle and had been firmly attached to both of us ever since!

 

 

 

This little girl has not been back up the mountain to see her family. That is where we are at now. Our goal is not to keep children from their family. We want them to know their family and extended family. To know where they are from.

 

But it is so difficult. We want her to feel safe. To BE safe.

Really never a more trusting child would you find.

 

Chubby is happy more than 95% of the time, loves singing, dancing, dolls, reading, school, playing and being part of our large, extended family.

 

 Our son with Chubby

 

Chubby and Coco

 

 

 

A decision will need to be made in the coming months. Do we allow her to go back to her village for the school holidays? After all this time?

 

Such a hard decision. She is so vulnerable. So precious. But this is her family. Her culture. Her roots.

 

 Pray with us as we have to make many decisions like this and other decisions that affect the lives of these wonderful children.

 

 

Until next time.

With love from our family to yours.

The Smiddys.

 

*Name changed to protect her identity