Bye, Sami!

Yesterday we said goodbye to little Sami. Sami was brought out of the jungle by Florence Judd (a missionary nurse) last year. He had been neglected and was incredibly skinny and underdeveloped for his age. He had a cleft palate, and we think the parents were just overwhelmed with not being able to properly provide for him.

He recently had his 2nd surgery that corrected the roof of his mouth, and that was a big deciding factor in his parents taking him back. Although....he did not have ANY problems eating before that surgery..... :) He is quite the little gordito! That has kind of been the joke and joy of watching Sami develop since he arrived here. He gained weight so fast! His belly was so huge, but it took much longer for his arms and legs to catch up to match his belly. They still haven't....:)

Florence brought his parents here yesterday afternoon, and Sami came walking out to meet them. Florence had to tell them that it was Sami, because they didn't even recognize him! You can see why....

April 8, 2010, when he arrived November 2010 when we moved into
the new property. I picked this pic, b/c this
is his classic Sami face. :)

It was a joyful reunion although Sami didn't recognize (or react if he did) his parents. They had their youngest son with them, and there are 3 more older than Sami at home. 5 boys! A lot of the tias and kids came to give Sami goodbye hugs and kisses. We all prayed with the family as well, and everyone kept telling them to feed Sami A LOT!
Dwight gettin' some lovin' while the parents talked to Mama Ines
Right before they left, the mom pulled a tiny little monkey out of her baby sling! It was a gift to Florence for helping them. Florence turned to me and said, "What on earth am I supposed to do with this!?!" lol.... She's about to leave on furlough, so she can't keep it. She asked the mom if she could leave it here at CDF, so we could take care of it for her while she traveled. The mom replied, "No, you can just stick him in your bag and carry him with you when you travel." :) So...she ended up leaving with the monkey and bringing him back this morning. We're babysitting for a week.
Sami made THE FACE (in the pic above) whenever he saw that the monkey got a banana. His facial expression worked, because the tias gave him one too.
Our kids could not get enough of him!
Walking away...Sami was waving and blowing kisses, but I couldn't quite catch it.

Please pray for Sami's parents...that they would come to know Christ more fully and that they will have the strength to care for their 5 boys. Pray that Sami would grow up being loved and taken care of!