A new little girl

This afternoon I was called to the girl's dorm to welcome a new arrival. This little girl is about five years old. Her mama abandoned her here today on the sidewalk by our clinic. The ladies who work in the clinic found her sitting there alone. She is blind, cannot walk, and is possibly autistic. She doesn't talk, but she does an awful lot of babbling and "singing" in baby language. And screaming. We prayed for her, and then Rachel (missionary who is helping in the girl's dorm) and I brought her back to my house to change her diaper and bathe her. She loved playing in the basin of water and splashing it all over the floor. 

We have no idea what her name is, so I got the pleasure of giving her a name. The only name that kept coming to my mind was "Lydia". That happens to be my favorite girls name, but I always just planned that I would name my first daughter Lydia. I never thought about naming another child that. But today that name just seemed right. (I just looked up the meaning, and it means "Noble, Kind". Nothing extravagant, but atleast it is not Mara which means sorrow!). 

She is a bit of a handful, but also sweet. The girl's all gathered around to watch me feed her her supper tonight. Then I set her on the bed in the room she will be sleeping in. I think it was her first time to sit on a mattress. She loved it, and laid down and kept rolling over and laughing. I think she is used to sleeping on grass mats on the floor. 

Please pray for Lydia. She has old cuts on her shoulders from witch doctors (they cut the shoulders with a razor blade to "bleed out the infirmities"). 

Tomorrow morning our home visiting team will head out to try and find her mother. If they don't have success we will look at putting her in another children's center for disabled kids. 

It is such a privilege to be here, to be a mother to the motherless, and welcome with open arms kids who have been rejected and abandoned, and to pour out love and life into each child God brings here. 

Thank you for your prayers!

Meet our 5 newest little ladies!!

In the past 2 weeks we have had 5 new girls join our family! 

And in 2 weeks we will be getting 4 more little girls who have spent a year in the "transition house", aka Little Dorm, where they live after the baby house before transitioning into the bigger kids dorms. So we are growing, and having fun!

Meet the new girls:

Eliza, age 11

She came along with several other children from a center down the road 'Padre Andre's'. You may have heard me mention that center before. Paulo, who lived in the girls dorm for 1 1/2 years, was from that center. Receiving these kids is totally an answer to prayer! The center director was removed from his position, and a new Padre put in place. This new Padre has a heart for the disabled children, and is going to reopen the center after cleaning it up and repairing it, as a center for disabled or special needs kids!

"Mimi" (Emilia), age 4 

and her sister and 2 brothers arrived 2 days after Eliza. 

Their mother died, and their father was unable to look after his 8, 6, 4, and 2 year old children, and work. So we will take them until they are a bit bigger and he can make arrangements to care for them. 

Serina, age 6

Sister to Mimi. She is smart, and loves to help. She passed first grade this year, and I have been reading with her to help her with her reading skills. She is improving quickly!

Their brothers are Horacio, age 8, and Jose, age 2. These four siblings love each other and love to be together.

Rosa, age 2

Our baby house is full, full, full! So Rosa has come to live in the girl's dorm. Her dad died, and her mom has 3 other school age children. Her mom was leaving her alone in the house all day while she went out to cart water for neighbors or do odd jobs for people to earn a little money to feed her kids. We have agreed to take Rosa at least until she starts school.

She was very shy when she first came, and didn't speak to anyone. She is slowly starting to break out of her shell, and she even smiled a little bit. I love to hold her in the mornings while she takes her naps, or sit and read to her. She's very sweet!

Fatima, age 7? 

(We don't know how old she is for sure)

Fatima arrived today with her little brother. Her mom abandoned them, and her father mistreated her. They were taken by someone who discovered what was going on, and brought to the central hospital. Their dad is now in prison. Social services brought them to us today.

She is a sweet little girl, and I am praying God brings emotional healing to her quickly.

We are loving on these precious little ones, and praising God that He lifted them out of the dust and has set them up in heavenly places! They are treasures, and it is a privilege to be here, mothering them.

Please lift these 5 girls up in prayer!

~Hello and Good bye~

"Hi mom and dad! Just wanted to post a picture of you guys so I can look at you:-)" 

I love my parents!! And I miss them. It was nice to talk to you on the phone today!

Meet Rosalina! This happy girl [age 13] arrived last week on Friday. She is receiving medical treatment, and was transferred from a children's center an hour away that was being closed down. She has a grandmother who is unable to provide for her. Rosalina has settled in quickly, and is full of joy! She has made friends quickly with the other girls. She's just finished second grade this year, but she cannot read. So hopefully with the reading program up and running again she will learn the alphabet and be reading soon.

And the reason this post is "hello and goodbye" is because these two girls, Salma and Maizinha (pronounced My-zinia) were both reintegrated back into their families a couple of weeks ago. They have both living here for about 5+ years, and both have families who are now able to care for them. It's been amazing since we have started the cooking program (every Saturday night the girls make supper for the whole dorm), and both girls have been a part of the sewing classes. They are well equipped to go back to living in the communities, with skills they can use to live and work. And neither of the could read 2 years ago, and they are both reading quite well now since the reading program started! I always feel excited when any of the girls are reintegrated. It is so much better for them to be living in their families if they have good families. 

Salma and Maizinha asked if we could make a cake for the girls Friday night snack, as a going away gift from them. It was a special time to do one last activity with just those two, and then give them the opportunity to say good bye to their friends here. 

Little Baby Dear!

Baby Elliana arrived 9 days ago! She is now 3 weeks old, and doing so well. She was abandoned at the hospital by her mother. A big answer to our prayers that the hospital would start calling us when they have desperate cases, they did! And brought us this beautiful baby girl! We named her Elliana which means "The Lord Responds". 

She is such a gift:-) She weighed 5 pounds on arrival to our center. She is small, but very healthy. We missionaries have been taking turns having her each night. Tonight I get to have her again. She needs fed every 3 hours. It's such a joy taking care of newborns! Very tiring, I am not sure how a mother does it EVERY night. But I love it:-)

Isn't she so beautiful?!

(excuse the yellow medicine she spit up all over the front of her outfit)

Back to Mozambique!!

At the airport Wednesday morning (August 8th, 2007)
We all got frappicino's at Star Bucks. It was so nice to be with my dear family a little while longer...

Lots of laughing and talking and being. Then lots of crying and hugging and me not wanting to go any sooner than necessary!
(*Notice we all wore our "crocks" for fun:-)*)

I arrived in Mozambique on Friday, August 10th! As we began our descent, I could see all the corrugated tin roofs, and red dirt roads, and tiny caniso huts. How my heart leaped when we came in for a landing at the familiar tiny airport. Getting off the plane I could see Bob and Inge, 2 missionary friends who came to pick me up, watching for the balcony. Yay, I am home!

It was very hard saying good bye this time, for some reason, so it was a relief to actually feel at home when I arrived here in Mozambique!

We drove the familiar busy roads to the center, dodging people running across the streets, and keeping alert for any shoppas (Mozambican transportation by bus) cutting out driven by crazy

drivers. And soon, we were pulling into the gate at Iris Ministries in Zimpeto. We drove up the path, past the church, and around the maintenance building. To my surprise and delight, all the girls were standing there outside their dorm screaming "Mana Anna! Mana Anna!" I couldn't help but cry a little as I opened the door and was smothered with hugs. I was then brought into the girls dorm where they sat me on a chair, sang and danced around me a song of welcome in the Shanghaan language, and then they proceeded to lift me up in my chair singing and laughing! How sweet they are:-)

After being here a week, I hardly feel like I ever left. Except that I feel very refreshed and patient;-)

Monday we got a new little girl, age 5, named Margarita. Her Father ran away after abusing her mother, and her mother is now unable to walk and could not take care of her two small children. Margarita's brother has gone to the little boy's dorm, and she has come to be a part of our joyful group of girls. She was a little shy

at first, especially of me being white. But she has quickly warmed up and is running and playing and laughing

with the rest of them!

Though at times there are struggles, and situations to work out, and people to discipline or teach, this is my

calling. Lord help me live each day from the strength you provide! Thank you for your mercies that are new every morning. I would rather be no other place than right here where God has placed me. Whether it's for 1 year at this center, or 10 years, may I never grow weary in serving the Lord, and running wholly after Him with all of my heart!

The next part of the journey has begun, and I look forward to sharing with you the things God is up to over the next year!!

Many blessings to you!

Anna

Father, I thank you for life!

Please pray for LIFE!
God really is GOOD! He is perfect, and His grace is sufficient and His love is abounding (without boundaries!).He is just and Holy. He is faithful...

Hello friends!!! How are you doing??I am doing well. I slept in till 8:30 this morning. I didn't get much sleep the night before because I had Sina for the night(our DARLING little girl that came to us at 1 month old weighing 1.7 kilos--just under 4 pounds! She is now 9 weeks old and weighs 2.7 kilos and is just thriving! She is so perfect and amazing). we have to do feeds every 3 hours, and at night every 4 hours. It was a joy to have her though. I just prayed over her and thanked God for the miracle of her life. While rejoicing in God's goodness for Sina, we are also warfaring and believing God's victory for Matteus (Matthew).The police brought us this little boy, about 1 1/2 or 2 yrs., last Friday afternoon. They found him abandoned. He is VERY malnourished, and he has a sickness due to malnutrition that is so very dangerous, the dr. said really kids with this could drop dead at any moment. His legs are quite swollen, and we are tube feeding him. He is such a treasure! His eyes are the sweetest eyes I have EVER seen in my life! He is the saddest baby I have ever seen. Often the weak kids brought here are fighters, and that is how they survive. Our precious Matteus is so sad I just want to cry for him. We named him Matteus (or Matthew) because it means God's gift. He IS a gift. And we are thanking God that while he was out there abandoned on the streets, GOD still saw him and cared for him and didn't leave him there, but brought him here. God is so faithful and GOOD! I just ask you to please take some time and just lift up Matteus to Jesus! Thank God for His life, and pray for QUICK AND AMAZING healing! That his life would bring glory to our Father, and He would be a testimony to the world of our faithful God.Thank you! Love,Anna

Miracles!!

Dear friends and family,

I hope these pictures do not take to long for you to load!

I would like to introduce you to Paulo! This little boy is about 8 years old (we are guessing this from the fact that he has his adult front teeth,
and from his head and face), has cerebral palsy, and he weighs just 8 kilos (17.6 pounds)! God is truly rescuing in the desperate children that have no voice.
Paulo is from the same center as Yuran (for those of you who read my last blog). It is a children's center down the road that is in quite a state.
The children are pretty well neglected, and dirty, and smelly. Slowly God has given us a cracked door into that center. We've been visiting every week and bring small gifts like stuffed animals for the kids (about 70 children live there), or sweets. 3 1/2 weeks ago Yuran (age 3) came to us quite sickly. They told us he was paralyzed on his left side and couldn't walk. A few different missionaries have been working very diligently with him, and since he has come, he's put on 4 kilos (about 8 pounds!), and IS walking all on his own! Today in the baby house he stood up and, slowly and wobbly, walked to me to ask for water! I wanted to cry. He's been transformed from a constant blank expression, and cranky personality, to a joyful little boy.
He laughs all the time! He had horrible scabies when he came, and his skin is almost completely cleared up.

Miracle #2 came to us one week later. Feliciano is about 6 years old and suffering very badly from TB, and probably many other conditions. He has gone untreated. We asked if we could take him, and the director of that center said "Yes." So we brought him here and immediately started tests and exams at the hospital, and treatment. He also is walking now, and laughing, and a very happy little boy (which happens to be what his name means! "Feliziano"--Happy little one).

And yesterday the director of our center went to this children's center again to ask for another child that isn't doing well, Paulo. For some reason they really didn't want to let us take him, so Ros asked if we could just bring him for a few hours so he could have a physical exam by our Dr. (we have a registered clinic here on
the base, and a Dr. who comes in 4 afternoons a week). He consented, and she brought him back. I looked after him all afternoon. Fed him, bathed him, and prayed for him. The Dr. said he has a very bad ear infection in both ears (it smells, too). And he has pneumonia, and horrible scabies. When we took him back to the center late in the afternoon, and explained his condition and that it would be easiest if we could treat him at our center, the director consented to letting us take him for a week. Please pray with us that he will let us keep him after the week is up. We also found out he came to that center in March or April 2006, after they found him behind a building across the street in a plastic bag!
Because he is on medicine and high maintenance, I was asked to have him sleep with me and care for him and keep up on his medicines. So I have gained a son for a week! During the day when I have lots of work he can sit in his stroller in the girls area with the dorm mothers. I am giving him all his medicines at the appropriate times, bathing him in the morning and evening with a special antibacterial treatment, and then doing a spray to treat the scabies. Feeding him his meals, changing his diapers, and loving on him! my girls think he is wonderful and all want to push him around in his stroller, and he laughs and smiles while they do! Please pray for healing for him, and for a miracle in his life!

We are amazed at how God has given us these 3 children, and I know you can rejoice with us! I want to ask you to please join with me in warfare for the rest of the children still at that center. Especially the youngest ones. Pray God would open doors to get them out of there and give them a better life! Please think about the many children throughout the world that are neglected, abused, broken, and forgotten. Cry out to God on their behalf. He HEARS the intercession of your heart, and I believe he is already responding.

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. You mean so much to me! I so appreciate you sending me out as an extension of the body of Christ, to
care for God's children in Mozambique. I love being here!
May you be blessed richly,

Love in Jesus,
Anna

Hope for the Hopeless...23 September, 2006

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Photo 1:

Our joyful baby house!

Photo 2:

Our newest addition to the girls dorm. Mira was brought to us yesterday by the police. She is about 6 or 7 years old. The police found her on the streets alone and brought her here. We took her to the clinic for an exam. I showered her in my house and dressed her in new clothes. She is darling, and a little bit hyper. Right now she is sitting next to me on the bed and some other girls are in looking through photos a visitor sent. Last night I set up a movie for the girls, and was just leaving them when Mira came running up to me and said, "I want to sleep with you tonight!"

I explained to her that she would be sleeping with the other girls, and introduced her to her dorm mother. She had her mind made up that she wanted to sleep in my house, so she pouted and hung onto my shirt. This morning she seems to be settled in a bit more.

Photo 3:

Meet Yuran! There is a children's center down the road that is in quite bad shape. The children are not being well cared for, and it's filthy. We have been praying for a couple months now that they would decide to close down and we could get the children. Or that they would clean things up and change the way they are doing things. We just want the children to be taken care of!

Social Services said they would give them one more chance, but nothing has changed. Ros (wife of Steve Lazar. They are the directors of this center.) has been visiting every week, and this little 3 year old that weighs just 15 pounds really touched her heart. On Monday she was praying and felt the Lord tell her to just go ask for the baby! So she did! And the director of that center said "Yes"! And he is going to make a list of some others that are not doing well for us to consider taking. That was such a miracle! Tuesday she went and picked up Yuran. He is being cared for in our baby house now. He definitely has the mind of a 3 year old even though he is very week. He interacts with people, and talks. He's a fighter, which is a good sign! But he has picked up habits from being treated like a baby, so we are trying to break him from them (like gagging when it's time for medicine). He has sores all over his body, and his left side is weak. But we are trusting God to do His miracles and heal this boy. He will be a new child soon! I can't wait to share his testimonies with you.

Photo 4:

Yuran hates bath time and screams the whole time. All bundled up in my arms after his bath!

God is doing miracles every day. The children here are lovely! It is such a privilege and honor to mother the motherless, and give hope to the hopeless. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please pray for Yuran and Mira.

May the Lord bless you richly!

Love in Jesus,

Anna Coumos

Serving Jesus in Mozambique, Africa with Iris Ministries