We have a tradition at our house. When kids visit, they get a Rudy’s bar-b-que cup with their name on it.
“Ya’ll come back now, ya’ hear?”
This was born partly because we had a bajillion Rudy’s cups leftover from various events, and partly because I hate when someone uses a cup, puts it down, forgets it’s his cup and gets a new one. By the end of some days, we’d have fifteen half-full cups lying around.
So we started writing names on cups, and when you come back to our house, we pull out your cup and you use it for the day. It’s become much more than a cup, though. It means you belong in the Davis house, you’ve put down a bit of real estate here, and we hope you come back. And looking back at cups from five years ago, we’re reminded of some friends who have moved away and the good times we had together.
The Davises will be writing a new name on a cup this August: Rebecca. Ten-year-old Rebecca is coming to Austin from Bugesera, Rwanda. She is going to have some treatments to correct her club feet, and possibly some other problems with her shoulders and hands.
Dell Children’s and several wonderful doctors and surgeons will be donating their services to make this happen . . . and she’ll be staying with us! She’ll travel with a translator who will stay for a couple weeks, hopefully through her first evaluations and treatments, but then she’ll be leaving. There are still many questions that won’t be answered until she gets evaluated, but we definitely know Rebecca will be here for many months. The kids and I can’t wait to meet her . . . Clay already has.
In November of 2010 Clay took a trip to Rwanda to teach a business seminar to small business owners. While there he visited Bugesera, a community where Africa New Life Ministries (ANLM) is starting a school and hosting a sponsorship program, and he met Rebecca. Through a series of coincidences we found out Rebecca was sponsored by a family who attends the same school as our kids, and the father in that family is a doctor. Connections started firing and here we are, awaiting our new friend.
We know Rebecca is shy, very tiny, and she has a beautiful smile.
She’ll leave behind her large family, father and mother, sister and brothers, and her small mud hut home. She’ll fly for the first time across the ocean to a family who will most likely overwhelm her with enthusiasm and love and questions which will all be jabbered in a language she can’t understand. Please pray for sweet Rebecca, that her surgeries would be successful and she’ll be able to walk properly. That she won’t be too homesick, that she’ll be able to communicate, that she won’t be fearful, and most of all that she will know the peace that passes all understanding. That we all would.
How will we soothe this child when she cries for her family, and for familiar?
How will we care for her recovering, frail body?
I want to write her story. Her amazing story. But first, I have to know it. We can’t wait to get started.
As for adoption news, our number has crept to #47. We continue to wait, knowing that’s all we can do on that front. We’ve begun to renew paperwork that’s expired, and we continue to paint our numbers on little onesies as the countdown continues. In the meantime, I know one little girl from Bugesera that’s going to need some tending to, and we’re just the family for the job. We’ve got a lot of love to give, I just hope she’s ready for us. I know we’re ready for her.
Meredith, I loved reading this! Having Rebecca stay with you will be quite an adventure for your family and for Rebecca. I will pray that she transitions well to your home, that the treatments will be successful, and that you will know just how to care for her when she is sad, in pain, or fearful. I’m also excited to hear about your impending adoption! I know it must be so difficult to continue waiting. But, as I’m sure you keep reminding yourself, God will bring the perfect child for the Davis family at just the right time. Can’t wait to hear more about what lies ahead!
Oh, and I love the cup tradition!
What an exciting Fall for your family. Can’t wait to hear more.
David and I were just talking about how hard that must be for her family to trust that she will be loved and taken care of and that this is her only chance to have this deformity corrected. What an amazing story this little girl will have for her life and how cool that you will all be a part of that story. God has quite a plan for this little girls life.
Oh, Meredith! How wonderful for your family! God is so AMAZING!!! I will share your story with my kids when I am in Honduras and we will be praying for Rebecca and her ENTIRE family!!!
How beautiful are the hands and feet of Christ! I look forward to hearing of the many ways that HE is working. May Rebecca be comforted as she travels so far from familiar surroundings and family with great hope… How special to be part of HIS miracles. May HIS blessings cover all~
Oh Mere,
I can hardly wait. Your life is so full of anticipation and love.
Rebecca is beautiful. Your cup tradition is beautiful. Your family is beautiful. This story is beautiful; I’m overwhelmed!
Love the cups, and love Rebecca’s smile. How awesome that you’re bringing her here for surgery. **Hugs** You inspire me!
Thank you everyone-I did want to clarify that we aren’t actually the ones responsible for bringing her here for surgery, but we’re so very glad we’ll get to have her stay with us.
Love the cups! And it’s so awesome that you’re bringing Rebecca here for surgery. **Hugs!** You inspire me, Meredith!
Ndagukunda cyane! xoxoxo
What a beautiful story so far. And the best part is it’s true! I already feel blessed just having read the beginning. Can’t wait to hear more about sweet Rebecca.
What a beautiful story so far. And the best part about it is it’s true! I feel blessed having read just the beginning. Can’t wait to read more about sweet Rebecca.
Amazing!
Thanks for stopping by – see you Wednesday. And we all look forward to seeing Rebecca again!