Waiting Wednesday: Molly a.k.a. Ovalyn

After posting about Andrey earlier, I'm featuring another little girl in his orphanage today - Ovalyn.. more commonly know as Molly! :)

Molly

Girl, born June 2006

 Molly is a smiling, adorable girl!  

She has an organic lesion of the central nervous system, left-sided hemiparesis, delay of psychological and motor development, right-sided fixed torticollis, farsighted astigmatism

From a missionary who visted with her recently:  "Molly is an absolute definition of pure joy! From what I've been told, Molly suffers from shaken baby syndrome. As a result, she has significant physical limitations. Molly can hold her head up by herself and sit with support however she cannot stand or sit by herself. Despite all the injustices that Molly has faced in her life, she is a ray of sunshine and is rarely seen without a smile on her face. She is content, happy and full of joy. She loves simply watching the happenings around her and laughs and smiles whenever anyone so much as looks at her. She loves to be held or to be given any type of loving touch. Molly is a very determined little girl. If she focuses hard enough, she is able to control her arms/hands and often reaches for toys, etc. She is a little mischief in her along with a great sense of humour and was always making me laugh. She would take my hand in hers and bring it up to her mouth to lick it and whenever I responded with an exaggerated, "Eew!" she would just laugh and laugh. When I took her outside in her stroller she would move her head up and down so that her hat would fall over her eyes and then, when I would bend over to fix it, she would grab onto the strings of my jacket, again, just laughing away! Technically, Molly does not speak but I have heard her attempting to say certain words in Russian. She is a very smart, motivated, delightful little girl who I believe would truly blossom with a loving family and access to physical therapy, etc. My heart breaks to think of what will happen to this little girl, now so full of life, if she is left alone in her bed day after day which is what will happen if she is transferred. I can tell you from experience that Molly will be such a blessing to whatever family is fortunate enough to call her their own and that she will give/teach you so much more than you will ever be able to give back. " 

$1032.50 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Molly! Ahem... *Ovalyn* is another sweety at the orphanage in I visited last summer! Below is a post from Andrea G about her, but first, I want to clarify about her name... :) Ovalyn is not her real name, but what I named her. :) Most children on RR are renamed before they are listed, and Ovalyn was listed while I was at Michelle's house.... I was insisting on one name, Michelle on the other... but because Michelle was the one listing her, she won. I had my revolts though. None of them worked unfortunately. ;) So she remains Molly.. she will always be my Ovalyn though! :) She is also known as Obeliskini... I'll leave you to wonder about that one.

Trivia - Did you know - That there are 2 people named Ovalyn in North Carolina, 1 in Nebraska, 1 in Indiana, and 1 in Flordia!?!?!? I love it! :)

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Please Note about Andrea: I have mentioned her in several blog posts before and linked to her, as well as reposted posts she wrote about kids. However this is NOT Andrea Roberts, founder and director of Reece's Rainbow. Andrea G, the one I talk about here, is a young woman who has a heart for God, and is living her life to serve His children, whether in Africa, in a certain Eastern European Country, or right at home in Canada. She spent 6 months in the city of Molly, Andrey, Logan, Aiden, Maxim, Brody, Ryan, Victoria, and Andriy's city. You can find her blog here. Just wanted to clarify that Andrea Roberts is different! :)

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I know, it’s not Monday but something happened yesterday that was just too exciting to wait ‘till Monday to share… the last of “my angels”, "Molly", was listed on Reece’s Rainbow!!! (stay tuned later this week for the amazing, “Wow God” story of how that all came to be) On top of that, today is a very special day… today is Liza’s birthday! So you see, I just couldn’t help it, I had to do "Molly"“Where is my Mama Monday” post today.

From what I’ve been told, "Molly" was born a healthy baby until one day her father took her in what should have been his safe and loving hands and shook her so hard that it resulted in a lesion in her brain. I do not know whether her parents abandoned her at the hospital because they did not want to care for a “disabled” child or if their rights were terminated as a result of the abuse that she suffered. All I know is that when "Molly" was discharged from the hospital, she was sent to a baby orphanage as opposed to the loving home that she deserved.

To say that "Molly" had a rough start would be a huge understatement however you would never know it to look at her. I believe that "Molly" may be the most content, happy, joyful little girl I have ever met. I saw her nearly every day for months and I could count on one hand the number of times I have seen her without a smile on her face. Unlike many of the children around her, "Molly" is unable to stand at the side of the playpen or even sit without support yet she doesn’t let that get her down. Whether lying flat on her back or propped up in a walker, "Molly" finds such joy in observing the other kids around her. Many evenings I would sit on the floor amongst a half a dozen rambunctious toddlers tickling them, tossing the over my shoulder, dancing with them and teaching them to play ring-around-the-rosie. I couldn’t bring"Molly" on the floor with me as she would have been trampled by the other kids. I felt sad for her but she certainly didn’t feel sorry for herself. She would simply watch, smiling and laughing away, entertained by our antics and happy to see her friends having fun.

"Molly" has significant physical limitations but I sometimes think that cognitively, she may not be “disabled” at all. Like I said,"Molly" loves to laugh and she has a great little sense of humor. I remember the first time I took her outside, before I had gotten to know her very well. She kept moving her head in such a way that her hat would fall over eyes and every few minutes I would have to stop pushing her stroller to bend down and adjust her hat. At first I thought that it was an accident, that maybe the way her head was moving up and down was out of her control. It took me a few laps of the building before I caught on to her little game. You see, whenever I bent over the strings on my sweater would dangle in front of her and she was mustering all her determination to reach out and grab them! At only four-years-old at the time, I’d say this little girl is smart as a whip!

God taught me so much through "Molly" and her pure, unconditional joy in spite of the numerous injustices she has faced in her short life. Whenever I was feeling discouraged I would look at "Molly's" beautiful smile and listen to her infectious laugh and know that if "Molly" could find something to rejoice about then so could I. Unfortunately, another injustice lies around the corner for"Molly" and just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach. Sometime within the next year, "Molly" will be transferred to an orphanage for older children with special needs. Because of her physical disabilities, she will likely be classified as “bedridden” and forced to spend her days lying alone in her bed. It kills me to think of what will happen to this precious, social little girl whose greatest joy is people watching when all of that is stripped away from her. How long will her spirit, now so full of life, be able to survive such an existence? I, for one, do not want to find out.

Tuesday "Molly"  turned five-years-old. There was no party, no cake, no presents. In fact, it is unlikely that there was any acknowledgment of that day whatsoever. Will you help me to make sure that "Molly's" birthday does not go unnoticed? While other five-year-olds are getting ready to start kindergarten, "Molly"is about to be transferred to a place where she will never leave her bed. This precious birthday girl is not asking for Barbies, a tea set or a sparkly princess dress. What she needs is a mommy and daddy who will love and cherish her the way she should have been loved and cherished right from the start. I can think of no better gift for"Molly" on her birthday than a chance at a family. Because "Molly"is already 5-years-old she does not have a grant of her own but if you are reading this and wondering if "Molly" is your daughter, I promise that I will rally behind you and do everything I can to help you raise the money you need to bring her home so please don’t let that stand in your way. In the meantime, I am asking everyone who’s reading this to please help me celebrate "Molly's" birthday by sharing her story with everyone you talk to today/this week and joining me in praying that this time next year, "Molly" will be celebrating her birthday with her forever family. For more information, click here.