After nine months of family and friends praying for a fast delivery, our prayers were definitely answered. At nine o’clock pm on September 21st we were eating ice cream. At 11 o’clock we called the doctor. At 11:30 I was 3cm dilated. At 12:30 we were heading to the delivery room and at 1:35 am on September 22nd, after two pushes, Miles Michael Ellis was born.
A fast delivery is just one of the many blessings we have received in the past week since Miles has arrived. From a hospital bill a third of the cost of the U.S. to our Christian doctor who generously delivered Miles for free, to being able to skype with my sisters in the hospital to Miles sleeping through most of the night. We feel like God has showered us with gift after gift on top of this new little person in our family.
We have also noticed that it is truly a blessing to have delivered in Bolivia, in a country filled with poverty and tragedy. Too often it is easy for us to become numb to the countless stories and statistics we hear about children being hungry and homeless. Being parents has now given us a new look at things and, while it reminds us to be truly grateful that we have everything we could possibly need to take care of our own son, it also reaffirms the importance of being here and working with children in need.
Its heartbreaking to me that one child every five seconds dies from hunger while I have both the capability to nurse and can afford to buy formula. Here in Bolivia we have been asked to take children who were being neglected by their mother and were literally eating grass because they were so hungry.
We have three pediatricians who are offering their services to us and yet there are nine million children who die each and every year from preventable illness. We met baby George who was born in the same neighborhood of our first orphanage; he had a condition where he couldn’t suck to breastfeed. It is a curable condition, however, the mother couldn’t afford the doctor and before we could locate them, baby George died.
40% of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day and we see the affects of this every week at our Baby Washing ministry. It is very difficult to know that these mothers cannot even afford to buy milk for their children let alone clothes and yet back at home Miles has a closet full of them.
The hardest reality to deal with is that Braeden and I can love our new son so much and want to do absolutely everything for him while our orphanages are being filled with children who have no parents at all to love them.
Again, we want to thank everyone for their prayers for us and our new little addition. We are so grateful for all of the gifts, cards and expressions of joy. Now we ask you to continue to pray for all of the children who are born into poverty. Pray for their parents who long to give them what they need but are unable to. We too continue to worry about getting the new Littlest Pet Shop that our child wants for Christmas just remember those who continue to worry about where their child’s next meal will come from.
Tiffany
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