Emily Marie: 5 1/2 lbs - approx. 7 months of age

5 1/2 lbs. - 1/28/08

7 1/2 lbs. - 2/12/08

Summer 09

On January 28, 2008, the local judge came to the orphanage in Bercy. He was accompanied by local police and some of the nearby UN contingent. He had a very sick baby girl. The child was shrunken from malnourishment, her hair was blonde & falling out. She had facial sores that were huge and they were oozing. Worst of all she was covered in her own feces.

This abandoned child was in a critical & very fragile condition.

The infant girl's condition was evaluated and it was determined that she was probably between 7 and 9 months old, even though she weighed only 5 1/2 lbs.

The baby was very dehydrated, too weak to suck, and needed an I.V. so Nurse Kristen and many helping hands went to work. After the I.V. was unsuccessful we looked for other ways to give her nourishment & rehydrate her. Even though she would lap up formula dripped onto her tongue with a syringe it wouldn't be enough.

A nanny who has a nursing baby of her own was called in and asked to nurse the sick baby. Between the breast milk, the formula, the meds & the intense care given we were able to keep her going long enough to relocate her to an infant rescue ministry a few days later. Thank you Jesus for your provision of just the right people at just the right time to care for this precious little one.

January 30, 2008

Emily Marie continues to improve under Dorothy & Tasha's care. She weighed 5 1/2 lbs on the day we received her and had gained up to 7 1/2 by arrival at Dorothy's Infant Rescue. Thank you Lord for providing skillful & loving hands to hold & care for this sweet angel. Thank you also Lord for providing a mother to share her life giving milk with E-Marie.

Dorothy wrote to say that "Good guests often bring gifts when they come. Tasha has great manners and brought very special gift: a baby girl! She was abandoned somewhere near Cabaret, up the coast from Port au Prince. The police, a judge, and UN soldiers brought the baby to the JBA orphanage. They asked us to keep her here for a while because we specialize in malnourished infants. She will return to the JBA orphanage when she is stronger. She is negative for HIV, TB and syphilis. If she were an American baby we would guess her age at 7 months. With a Haitian child abandoned out in the countryside it’s anybody’s guess. I doubt that she is more than 12 months and probably not that. She ‘talks’ to us, tries to take away the spoon to feed herself, and ‘dances’ to music. She cannot sit up without help and can only turn from stomach to back. Her thin, wispy orange hair and her hemoglobin of 8.1 confirm long term malnutrition. She weighs 7 lbs 10 oz. and is 22 ½ inches long.

It's A Girl: Emily Marie Francois.

February 12, 2008
"Emily's fontanel is bulging some but she doesn't act sick. Emily has learned to entertain herself in her bed or on the floor with the play gym. She babbles all the time - has a really sweet voice (except when she's yelling at us) - and grins when we look at her. When she grins, she wrinkles her nose and her two bottom teeth show and she is so cute you can hardly stand it! Tasha is going to have a hard time leaving her in July. ( I might have a hard time giving her back to you. Emily is SO malnourished I am afraid she may be more fragile than she appears to be with her good disposition and appetite and activity. Keep praying!" Dorothy



17 lbs. 06-08