As most of y’all know, it has been my privilege to offer So Loved as a way to honor our beloved daughter Esther and, at the same time, support some very special little loves in China just like her – babies born with broken hearts.
Over the last year, I have had the incredible blessing to partner with Meredith at Morning Star, who is simply the bravest person I know. She loves, and loves deeply, these precious, tiny warriors, and dreams the biggest of dreams on their behalf.
Today she shares her thoughts on So Loved, and the heart-mending dreams she has for one very precious warrior, Miss Lilah Lu.
From Meredith:
It’s this little shirt we wear – my ayis and the babies, the older ones at least. Every time I see it, it just makes me smile wide because here? It’s so much more than a shirt – it’s a tangible piece of hope.
There was this tiny baby girl named Kate. She was so small and so frail – with a heart so very broken. We were told she had a VSD, but the first minute we saw her in that train station, we knew something was very wrong. We got to the hospital and fears were confirmed — our sweet baby Kate? Her heart, which should have been the size of her fist, was actually the size of mine. One broken little heart, so tired and enlarged and overworked – crushing her lung and beating slow.
She was rushed into surgery the next day, and So Loved rallied for Kate – funding her surgery, and bringing with it incredible hope. That was a year ago last month – and today? Kate is walking. Smiling. Dancing. She’s a little miracle girl and we’re amazed every day by her spunk. The difference of a healed heart – I will never grow tired of watching the change before my eyes.
Baby Joy was the next – another sweet warrior babe, with a heart so very broken. Her tiny little nose and the longest eyelashes in the world captured the heart of the whole wide world and she truly was So Very Loved – with the sale of the shirts raising enough funds to cover her entire complex heart surgery.
Joy recovered amazingly well, was able to come home to us – and absolutely thrived within our care. She lived her name, and we adored her and her precious little laugh. The best news of all came in January, when our precious Joy met her forever family of her very own – and her mama walked in that door wearing her So Loved shirt – the shirt that brought her baby such great hope.
Today? It’s Lilah’s turn. Our precious Lilah Lu – you may have heard her story. She arrived at our home just over a month ago, so very teeny tiny. Nearly a year old, she weighed only 7 pounds and we began to do all we could to help her gain the weight she needed for her lifesaving heart surgery.
She was doing so incredibly well, until just last week, when we noticed her struggling to breathe.
We got to the hospital just in time, as she went into respiratory distress and needed to be put on a ventilator. As she grew, her little heart was just put under more and more strain, and today? We rally for her. She is still in ICU, still on the ventilator – and we are letting those brave lungs of hers rest up just a bit.
We are hopeful that she can go in for her heart surgery just as soon as she’s stable – and we are hopeful? That So Loved will make a way for her here, too. She truly is So Loved, this precious baby girl, and you can be part of her hope story. Her surgery is expected to cost around $10,000, and her life is priceless. We will do whatever it takes to give her the care she needs – and we would love to ask you to partner with us.
So Loved for Lilah Lu – one little shirt…. but one big, big miracle.
Lilah Lu, we all really do SO Love you.
Meredith
Join us?
– Pray for Lilah, who is in the hospital fighting so brave – her tiny heart needs mending very soon.
– Pray for Meredith, as she does pours herself out in loving, fighting for and caring for these extremely fragile babies.
– Pray for all the children at Morning Star Foster Home, and around the world, who go to bed tonight and every night, without a father or mother.
– Buy a So Loved. Give a So Loved. Share about So Loved – about orphans in China with broken hearts – and be part of making dreams come true for a little girl who truly is So Loved.