everything glorious

yesterday we got to got to be a part of something so heart wrenching yet glorious. the pictures above are of a little boy named po thet say... which translates to "long life" in english. he was conceived 10 months ago... his mother (a burmese lady) did not want him and took an abortion pill to kill him. after 5 months she began contractions and she went to the burmese refugee clinic here to essentially get what she thought was a dead baby out of her. po thet say was born weighing in at less than 2 pounds and alive... a miracle. the mom still wanted nothing to do with him and left him there the very same day at the clinic. this is the clinic that we went to yesterday to pick him up... he has been there ever since. the conditions are pretty bad there and they are understaffed. basically he would get fed when nurses "had the time." otherwise, he would lay on the floor of an office (where we got him) all alone. now 5 months later, it is miracle that he is still alive. he should only be 1 month old if he had stayed in the womb the normal 9 months. this is why the nurses decided to give him his name "long life." even they were astonished.
po thet say is healthy other than not being able to see as of right now. we picked him up yesterday with the idea that as soon as life impact could find a thai care giver to look after him in the hospital in chiang mai, he would go and get eye surgery and should be able to see. the cost of the surgery is about $2000.
so by 2:00 yesterday, there was a new addition to the family here at life impact... long life. and this is a great example of just how this organization works... they see a need and meet that need. giving kids a new life. before yesterday, long life was an premature orphan baby lying on the floor of some office with no one to feed or hold him... he was rejected. and later that day he had new life. a family that would love him. people to hold and feed him. people that wanted him.
we had an opportunity to try to lighten the load here for the staff... long life spent the night with us last night. he will again tonight. but tomorrow...
he is going for eye surgery in chiang mai!!! one of the thai staff here at the children's home is going to chiang mai with him to act as a care giver! yet again, the staff is meeting the need and rearranging to make it work. all the details have yet to be worked out but by monday, long life will have new eyes!

"my eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that
YOU make everything glorious" - david crowder band