glissons-babies

I love babies! It’s as simple as that.

So it breaks my heart to hear the stories that Scott tells me about orphaned babies in the village when he comes home at night. And it breaks my heart to know that our local hospital doesn’t have the resources to provide care or treatment for any child who doesn’t have a parent.

A few months ago, I went to the hospital and asked if I could care for babies who have been abandoned or recently orphaned. My plan was to save them from the hospital’s plan of “under-treatment” by bringing the babies to our home for a short while - giving them lots of hugs and kisses and yummy formula - before sending them to a nearby orphanage where they would have a chance at adoption. No one had ever approached them to offer this service, and soon we received our first call to help. Our family was elated!

We rushed to the hospital thinking we would find a happy baby, but instead we found the most sick child I have ever seen. At 8 months she weighed only 8 pounds, she couldn’t lift her head, and she had sores all over her sweet little body. She was in the final stages of AIDS (her mom had died that morning of the same awful disease). I didn’t know what to do. So I did what I would do for my own child: I wrapped her up, held her close and started singing to her. No one knew this precious girl’s name, so we called her Mary. I went to the hospital several times a day to take her milk and feed her, change her clothes and sing to her. This sweet baby never had a chance to survive, but I’m thankful to God that He gave me a chance to love her. Baby Mary died 3 weeks later.

While caring for Mary, the hospital called again. This time they had a tiny baby girl who was only a week old and whose mother had just died of pneumonia. I went to the hospital to see her and was expecting the worst, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw a cute little healthy baby. I named her Baby Grace and took her home where she enjoyed a fun welcome home party from our own 4 children.

Two days later, the hospital called again with another tiny baby girl who needed a home! Sadly, the mother had died from cerebral malaria while in the hospital to deliver. Weighing just over 2 pounds, we were sure that the hospital wouldn’t release Baby Hope to us, but we were wrong! (We later had her checked out by an American pediatrician who estimated that she had been born 10-12 weeks prematurely.) This baby joined our family and all of a sudden we had 6 children in our home, and baby Mary whom we were still caring for at the hospital. At this rate, we were going to need to add on to our house pretty soon! But it brought so much joy to my heart to have my home full of kids.

We delivered Baby Grace and Baby Hope to the orphanage, as planned. But Baby Hope very quickly became sick with a small infection and began losing weight, so we immediately brought her back “home.” (After all, if you are only 3 pounds, you can’t afford to lose one single ounce!) She has been with us for the summer and is still here today. For a while, things seemed pretty quiet…

And then the most extraordinary thing happened. We received a call from a missionary family in a different part of Uganda telling us that they had heard about our baby ministry and were interested in adopting - specifically a newborn baby boy. She wanted us to keep our ears open. Unfortunately, we had not had a call from the hospital in several months and we told her that the likeliness of us being used in that way was very slim, but that we would let her know if anything came up. Amazingly, within 30 minutes a police officer called to tell us that a baby boy had just been born behind the post office and left in the bushes. The mother had run away and this baby needed a home.

Baby Samuel was in our arms and in our home within the first few hours of his life. As Scott and I washed the dirt and the grass from his body and gave him his first bottle, we felt very honored to be in this ministry. And as sad as it was to hear that the boy was left by his mother, we realized she must have been in a desperate situation. We couldn’t help but think that God was preparing a special future for this baby boy! The missionary family we mentioned is now in the process of adopting little Samuel. Our God is so awesome!!

The stories could go on and on, and this proud “mother” would love to relish in every detail. But for now, there are bottles to be warmed and diapers to be checked...

EDITOR'S NOTE:

In September, God put it on the Glisson's hearts to adopt Baby Hope themselves -- she is now Ansley Glisson! Scott and Emily have cared for ten babies in their home since June 2005. (See Ansley Below...)

Ansley Glisson - 2005