If you had not realized it from any of the past posts about Ruby, she is darling and adorably loveable :) AND she just celebrated her 14th birthday! She may be one of the tiniest 14 year olds around, but that doesn't keep her from stealing the attention when she wants it.
Wednesday we went to the pool and then pizza hut for dinner. Some of our dear friends Andrea, Angie, and Emily were able to come with us to celebrate, and we had a blast. Its hard to believe that this was Ruby just over a month ago. She is SO close to walking now. Today she walked across the family room all on her own without even having someone behind her to catch her when she fell. and Tuesday afternoon she conquered the stairs. There is a little stair case at therapy and holding on to both sides of it she can independently climb all the way to the top!!!

This adorable and many of the others in this post were taken by Emily :)

But needless to say, she loved her day.

She had a blast when the waiters at Pizza Hut sang to her. She danced and clapped like it was the greatest celebration ever. Plus she got some 'happy birthday' (the name given by the babies to all cake/dessert item because that's usually the event that warrants it :) back at the house

This girl certainly has been a blessing to all of us. She dances without reserve and loves to cuddle. She laughs with the greatest zeal you could imagine and loves unconditionally everyone who glances her way.



SO Happy 14th Birthday Ruby!!!



Hertylandia

Drive one kilometer outside of Jinotepe and you may come across this place hidden back among the trees out of sight by the general population. Go down a drive lined with those canopy trees that cover the top of the road and at the end you may just find . . . a waterpark!!! Created in the early 90s by Herty Lewites (who later ran for president), I'd have to say I was pretty impressed, and had quite a good time! you may ask, "Lauren, why did you go to Hertylandia?" Well, let me tell you!

Twice a week Ruby goes to therapy at Tesoros de Dios, a children's therapy ministry in Managua, and Friday all the kids from therapy and their parents went on a field trip! A group from a church in the States who helps to sponsor the ministry came and funded a field trip for all of us to spend the day at the water park :) Ruby and I went, and had a blast! Ruby loves the water, but was torn between wanting to be in it or not because it was a little cold. Our compromise. . . sitting on the edge with our feet in :)

But I’m going to share what more than anything else, touched my heart to the point I almost cried right there in the middle of the water park. The mothers. I have noticed it at therapy sessions before, but today more than ever seeing all the moms in one place (there were maybe 70 kids there, most accompanied by their moms) really touched that humbling point. Everyone knows that a child with disabilities requires more resources than a normally developed child; Ruby doesn’t walk on her own, still wears diapers and has to take medicine every morning and night. BUT ruby is very independent. She can move around the house on her own, tells you if she wants food, drink, or a diaper change, and when you hold her, she can hold on back. All of these moms devote 24 hours a day to care for these children that are nearly 100% dependent on them. They have far less resources than us, less money, less people to help and less suitable living conditions yet still they devote themselves fully to giving their kids the best possible. I think of the strength them must have to be the main (and often only) caregiver to a handicap child while also having other children too. While I know they probably feel very defeated at times, it was so great to see them all so happy to see their children having so much fun. Laughter is universal, it’s not a culturally based emotion, it doesn’t have to speak the language of the land, it doesn’t bias people who have normally developed genes, it is a symbol of LOVE. And that is what I felt at the waterpark, the love that not only the mothers had for their own kids, but the love they had for everyone else’s kids (for Ruby), the love that the team of Americans had for all our kids, and the love the staff and volunteers have for our kids too. It’s a pretty humbling thing.

One of the women loving on ruby :)

griffin :)

When God performs miracles, he doesn't stop when you get a little glimpse of his glory, He pours it out to show that only HE is capable of such complete healing and restorations.

Praise the Lord for the life of little Griffin. He has gained over 5 lbs and 2 cm of height in less than 2 months.

that whole electricity thing

when your camera has a flash it's difficult to actually document the dark. . . but imagine the power being out, and the room only being illuminated by this candle

The power was out for three-ish hours- not by any means the longest we have gone, but it is a little more complicated when it's dark out but not yet bed time. It went out right before dinner time and came on right after we decided to put the littlest ones to sleep early because we ran out of ways to occupy them in the dark.

So while this is what the room looked like with no flash. . .

Here we are enjoying the dark. (Like I said, you can't tell by the pictures, but we had fun playing with the flash and aiming in the dark to see what appeared)



I can drive a manual

I would just like to inform all my dear family and friends that I have now successfully conquered the task of learning to drive a stick shift. Last night I drove to church and back (no stalling) and today I . . .

Backed out of the gate, drove down the mountain to Ruby's therapy, drove from therapy to the grocery store, turned left out of La Union (grocery store) onto the main busy road (a daunting task in an automatic let alone anything else!), drove back up the mountain, and turned into the gate, all without stalling one single itsy-bitsy time!!!!!