Sylvany

In my previous post I talked about God's plan for our lives. Well listen to this one!

About ten years ago when I was in Haiti, one afternoon  I walked into the girls dorm of the orphanage. I did not usually do that but my curiosity had been raised because I heard a tiny little baby crying. It was odd because at the time we did not take in babies since we did not have the means to nourish them, something we still don't do. I walked into the dark hallway and soon found the room with the little crying child. There was nobody in the room and I picked the baby up from the bed it was laying on. She was so little so perfect with her silk black curls and she squeezed her little eyes against the light that peeked through the window. I hummed a little song to her and when she was quiet, all of a sudden one of the caretakers came in and swiftly took the girl out of my arms. I was a little disappointed and asked the lady " I did not know that we took little ones like that", and "What is her story". The lady answered that I would better ask pastor Pauluis.
With that said I left the two behind and went about my work.
That evening during dinner I remembered and asked Pauluis. He got all excited and shared  Sylvany's story with me.
Sylvany was born in a little village called Bankamarie where we had a feeding center. The father had died earlier and the mother was in bad shape after giving birth. A few days later she died and Sylvany became an orphan. The maternal grandmother tried to take care of the child but had no ways or means. Sylvany was quickly wasting away. In utter distress the grandmother laid  the baby without clothes in the yard behind the house where a hog was pinned up. Although this is something no one talks about, it still happens in Haiti from time to time. The hog was expected to eat the baby. But it did not happen that way. A neighbor lady had witnessed the act and snatched the infant up just before the hog touched it.
As she had now taken the responsibility for the child she took it to Bohoc where she knew a lady who was at the time on the board of Matie Vingt-Huit, the orphanage.
It just so happened that Pauluis, the director, had married Marita the head care giver nine months earlier and that Marita was expecting her first child, which was due to be born any day. Without much trouble she was able to start nursing Sylvany and when shortly thereafter her own daughter Clifline was born she fed the two together. Marita was of course in the unusual situation that she had plenty of good food available and thus was able to feed the two of them without problems. Any other woman in the area would barely have had enough milk for one.
Now to me that was a miracle, a chain of events in which I clearly see God's hand.  How much did He want little Sylvany to live. Just imagine how much He loves you too. I marvel at the idea of seeing God play chess against Bobby Fisher or Karpov. They wouldn't know what hit them. He thinks all these moves ahead and He is waiting for you to make your move.