Castillo

Happy 2nd Birthday Fabi!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FABI!

On Saturday Fabi turned 2 years old! On Sunday we invited her family over to celebrate! She’s such a little miracle…. and I’m so thankful God brought her into our lives.

I still remember the day she came through my clinic…

I remember Fabi’s mom – Micheline – was sobbing in the waiting room. She was SO overwhelmed and unsure how to help her daughter. Micheline has a learning disability and everyone was teasing her. They told her she was a bad mother for “letting” her daughter get so sick.

I was seeing another patient at the time when I heard the commotion outside my door. So I rushed to the waiting room and brought them into my office.

Fabi was unable to hold her head or track my finger with her eyes. She was lethargic. She only weighed 7 pounds which isn’t too bad for a 2 month old.. except she wasn’t 2 months old. No…she was 9 months old!

Not only did she not weigh very much but she was only 19.4 inches long. This little girl just wasn’t growing. She wasn’t tall enough OR heavy enough to even make the growth chart. After much discussion – I offered to keep Fabi for a week so I could figure out this medical mystery.

And well….one week turned into one month….and one month into one year…. AND their lives – AND our lives – – were forever changed.

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Micheline shared about all the scary things people had told her to do – so that Fabi would be “normal”. She told me about the voodoo services that were held for her daughter in order that she would grow.

She told me about the time Fabi had been tied to a hospital bed for 3 WEEKS. Seriously – her legs were tied to the end of the bed. Using a twin sheet they tied her chest around the mattress. Every day they’d “stretch” her by moving her chest up a few inches…still leaving her legs tied.

Fabi’s mom thought she was doing what was best for her… never realizing how harmful and dangerous that advice really was.

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Fabi’s house was destroyed in the hurricane. We thank Jesus that she was with us when it happened. We finished building her a new home a few months ago.

Fabi’s mom didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. She came to our 8-week discipleship class and started attending church. She’s been coming for over a year now!!

Micheline joined our sewing class last year. It takes her a little longer to learn than the rest of the students….but she’s doing well!

It took us some time before we felt comfortable transitioning Fabi back with her mom. We wanted to make sure that she would be safe, loved, & cared for. We wanted to make sure that her mom wouldn’t be pressured to do something that could be harmful.

I’m happy to say that Fabi is thriving!

We hired Micheline to wash clothes and she brings Fabi to work with her every Monday-Friday! This allows us to continue to pour into the mom, to make sure Fabi remains healthy & eats every day, and also brings stability to Micheline. This momma now has the chance to provide for her family.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!