May 23, 2005

Hello to each of you,

Since I find it almost impossible to e-mail, I am taking advantage of the few minutes both girls are asleep to catch you up on what is going on.

The girls are sleeping well during the night.  They are very good babies all day until about 4 PM and we have a very fussy time for about three hours.  It is now 5 PM and both are asleep, something that does not happen often during the afternoons.  They both sleep some in the mornings, but I have to use that time to cook, do laundry, or other things.  The twins have changed my life full circle!!

They are growing and developing very well.  Kathy now has two bottom teeth and Carol is just about to have her first.  They are doing well learning to sit alone.  We got them high chairs and that has helped a lot to force them to sit up.  We still have to put a pillow on the right side for Kathy so she will not lean over, and Carol has to have a pillow on both sides.  However, we see improvement every day.  They eat very well.  They are not picky about any food.  Today, I prepared beef stroganoff with noodles and green beans for lunch.  I blended the beef mixture and noodles for them and then the green beans and they ate it all.  Some days I make extra of their favorites and freeze small amounts and then it is ready when we need it.  They can eat most everything we do.  We just have to blend it.

They are still on the formula.  I believe they will have to stay on it until they are at least a year old.  They were nine months old on May 14.  The formula costs $20 per can and we use one can every four days.  It is an expense, but we see the difference in them and are trying to help them recuperate from the first seven months of their lives without nutrition.

They have therapy three times a week to work on motor skills.  They have really come along well.  Tomorrow the doctor will come to evaluate them again and see what we need to continue to do.  We are hoping that the therapy will not be much longer for them.

About a month ago, Sheridan went to talk with the adoption agency here.  We learned that we had been given wrong information from the lawyer about adoption.  He had led us and Tanya, the twins' mother, to believe that we could all have a part in who received the girls.  The adoption agency said that the mother had to render the children to the State and declare them abandoned.  They would then be put in an orphanage and have to stay there for six months with no contact from the mother.  After six months, if the mother had not made contact, they would be given to someone on the waiting list.  Tanya did not want to do that because she had asked us to help find a Christian home for them.  We would have no say either in where the girls went.  Also, we would never know who took them or where they were.

The following day Tanya called and said she had decided to take the girls back home!!  My heart was broken because I knew where they were going.  Tanya lives in a small room with no water or electricity.  They have a mattress on the floor and she, the twins, and her other two children slept on the mattress together.  The floor is just dirt.  Knowing how the babies loved to be on the floor and roll and play, I began to imagine them on the dirt floor.  I knew they would not sleep well because they had their own beds here and were used to a better way of life.  However, I had no say in the decision and she did come that afternoon and take the babies back.  It was a horrible time.  I cried as if they had died. 

About 9:30 PM she called to tell us that the girls had not stopped crying and that she had to bring them back because she realized that she could not take care of them.  We told her we would take them back but she had to proceed with the adoption process.  She agreed and the following morning she was at our door at 8 AM with the babies.  We went to see the authorities about adoption, hoping they would agree to let us keep the girls until a family was found.  The final judge that we talked to said no to that.  The only solution was to put the girls in the orphanage or take them back home with us.  The judge told us that if we kept the girls for a year with notarized permission from the mother, then at the end of the year, we could adopt the girls.  It would be a matter of returning to that same judge and she would sign the papers.  We were told to document all the doctor visits, special food purchases, therapy, trips, etc., showing that the girls were well cared for during the year and were really a part of our lives.

I could not put them in the orphanage.  We agreed to take this back door to adoption.  So now the girls are legally ours and we are willing to adopt them if no one else can.  We have had dozens of calls and e-mails asking about the girls and adoption.  According to Peruvian law, it would be impossible for us to select a family in the States to adopt them.  That is what the first lawyer led us to believe.  That is also the main reason I took the girls in.  I thought we had a say in the adoption and were just taking care of the girls until a family in the States was approved.  Not so!!  This back door is open just to people who live in the country.  Therefore, another American family here could get legal custody of the girls as we did and then take care of them for a year and then adopt them.  We have prayed a lot for the girls and the situation.  We love them dearly.  However, I do realize that when they are 15 years old, I will be 71!!  They really need younger parents.  About two weeks ago we received an e-mail from a young missionary couple who had just arrived in Peru to work with another missionary couple.  This couple had heard of the girls by way of the wife's mother.  She had read Sheridan's letter about the girls and had called her daughter to tell her.  This young couple is unable to have children and are so eager to adopt the girls.  They are working on getting their visas.  Nothing can be done until they have a resident visa.  Please pray with us that they may soon be granted visas and that the judge would be willing to grant the same agreement to them as to us.

We have communicated with them and feel it would be best, if they can assume custody, that they come to Huanuco and stay for about a month with us.  That way, they could gradually assume the responsibilities of caring for the girls and the girls would feel comfortable with them.  That is something easy to work out if the visas are granted and the judge is willing to work with us.  Until then, the girls are with us.  It may be as much as four to five months before the couple could legally do anything.  We are enjoying the joy of children in the house and their smiles melt our hearts hundreds of times a day!

We had a wonderful time with the April group who came to visit.  They were here for only three days and I was sorry that we didn't have more time together, but Sheridan toured them around Peru and they left very happy and informed.

Leah and John were with us from May 4-16.  We had so much fun with them.  It was good to get to know John better.  The twins traveled to Lima with us.  Leah and I flew from Huanuco to Lima with the babies.  They had their first flight, first ice cream, first hair cut, first hotel stay, first trip to Lima, and their first long car ride over the Andes Mountains returning home!!  They did great the entire time.  Leah and John really got attached to the girls.  I think they would have taken them home if it were possible!!!  However, Leah told me that she definitely does not want to have twins!!  Doing everything two times is very time consuming!!

We have a group of eleven coming on June 4th.  They will be here in Huanuco from June 6-13.  I will have to hire some of the ladies from the church to help me this time.  We are looking forward to the visit.  Some in the group are long time friends and we will enjoy seeing them again.

July will bring another group of fifteen and the last of July, a family of five are coming.  I believe God has designated the year 2005 for me to take care of people!

Many people have written and asked how I can take care of the babies and still do the work I was doing.  The answer is simple:  I just take care of the babies.  When I felt God telling me to take the babies in and help them to recuperate and develop, my argument to Him was, "I will have to give up everything."  And that is just what He told me to do.  I do not think this is a permanent situation and so I will continue to care for them until God provides younger parents.  I tried to have people help, but the customs are so different and they are not careful with the children.  Sheridan found Carol chewing on a plastic bag  while the lady who was helping was standing by watching.  When he questioned her why Carol had the bag, she replied that Carol just didn't want to give it up!!!  We have worked into a good routine and do well each day.  I just can't do anything more, but I believe that is what God wants from me at this time.  I love these children so much and it is a joy to see how God is helping them to develop the skills for their age.  We see success every day and they clap and smile, too!

Another good thing about having to give up some work responsibilities is that God is using two other women to teach in my place.  One is the co-pastor's wife, who is young and has never taught women.  Last Friday night, at our ladies' Bible study, Nina presented one of the best lessons that I have ever heard from a woman.  God is certainly blessing her for her willingness to help.  She is a wonderful person and just like a daughter to me.  The other lady is teaching the ladies' Sunday School class.  She, too, is doing an excellent job.

Well, the babies are stirring and I must stop.  I will try to e-mail each of you who have written just to answer any questions.  Thanks to all of you for your interest in the babies.  You would love them too if you had the opportunity to be with them.  They really brighten up anyone's day!!

With much love and precious memories of times together,

Anita