Monday, November 14, 2011

Learning to Trust

When Wendy arrived, the scars of abandonment were two months fresh on her tender, broken heart. There was a story no one wanted to hear in her deep, longing eyes. She wanted to be free, to laugh and to play, but trusting us with her heart was going to take a lot.


It was outside one afternoon when we saw a layer of fear slowly peel itself away from Wendy's sad contenance. The day before she refused to go down the slide, sitting at the top... scared, until someone carefully lifted her down. Today it seemed like it would be the same. But then it was discovered that, with each hand being held, one in mine and one in Myra's, she would cautiously slide down, a smile emerging as she reached the bottom. It helped that Lily was right next to her on the other slide, encouraging her as well. Wendy's joy grew as she went down again, and again, and again. Soon she was laughing.


Then Myra held one of her hands and I encouraged her to slide down. "No." she refused. Two hands or nothing, sliding down is a scary thing. We encouraged her that she could do it, Lily reached out to hold her empty hand, and I crouched down onto the slide, promising to catch her. She slid. She laughed.


We slid down that way over and over, then Myra let go of Wendy's hand and crouched down onto the slide herself. "Come on, Wendy," we called, "You can do it!" Then, with both hands free, Wendy slid into Myra's waiting, open arms.


Some call it progress, but we'd rather think of it as a miracle of love.

10 comments:

  1. BEAUTIFUL post, Hannah! You totally had me in tears. Tears of JOY for a breakthrough for a precious and deserving little girl, with a tender and cautious heart, who let those layers begin to peel away at the place where LOVE GROWS! Yes indeed, true love never fails!! I am SO glad God placed her there at ND, just where she needs to be. Can't wait to watch her in the weeks and months ahead as she blossoms even more!

    Blessings & Hugs,
    ~ Tanya

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  2. What a beautiful smile! Nothing like that unconditional love to take away the fear...so lovely:-)

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  3. A miracle of love indeed... how gorgeous!

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  4. Your best post EVER! This is exactly what it is all about!

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  5. Hannah,
    I am totally in tears. It reminds of reading about our little gal in her early days at New Day.

    Oh how my heart aches for this sweet girl. The pain, fear and grief that she is experiencing.

    If there is ever a place for her heart to be emotionally healed, it's at New Day.

    I look forward to following Wendy's journey.

    With Blessings & Much Love- Danae

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  6. A mircale indeed. Continuing to lift this precious little girl up in prayer.

    Blessings,
    Anneli

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  7. What a blessing for both Wendy and her future family that she is beginning to trust again now. Oh the precious place that New Day is...

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  8. There you go again ...
    Simply beautiful.

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  10. so beautiful..so happy she is learning to trust.. our beautiful blessing Tsz-yan became part of our family on Novemeber 21 2004.. Tsz-yan was blessed with Down Syndrome and some medical challenges.. she is our Joy and a Blessing.. we adopted her from Hong Kong I so wish we had the money for more.. we have room in our hearts for more.. maybe one day..

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