{"id":191,"date":"2009-05-05T09:31:06","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T09:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2009\/05\/micah-before-after.html"},"modified":"2009-05-05T09:31:06","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T09:31:06","slug":"micah-before-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/05\/micah-before-after.html","title":{"rendered":"Micah: Before & After"},"content":{"rendered":"

MICAH’S STORY<\/strong>
We met our sweet son, Micah Yoseph, on November 25, 2008 \u2013 a 4-month old boy from southern Ethiopia.  Micah appeared healthy, but was very small.  His big, brown eyes and story stole our hearts immediately, and we never looked back.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Micah in November 2008<\/strong>
\"Micah<\/a> <\/div>\n

DONATE NOW TO SEND FORMULA TO ETHIOPIA<\/a>
(put “Ethiopia Formula” in the note)<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have been extremely grateful for the love and care that Micah received at America World\u2019s Transitional Home, but their nutritional resources for him were limited.  Over the next several months, as we waited for the Ethiopian courts to grant our adoption we prayed fervently for Micah\u2019s health and strength to increase daily.  While at the transition home his pattern was to gain only ounces (instead of pounds) each month.  Though his situation was not as acute as many of the other baby\u2019s, it was still very scary for us\u2026always wondering of his little body was absorbing at least the minimal nutrients it required until we could bring him home.<\/p>\n

AWAA sent us an update on Micah toward the end of December \u2013 in his photo he looked so thin, and had spit-up on his shirt\u2026both indicators that his body was not responding well to the formula.  AWAA was constantly trying to acquire high-calorie, pre-digested formula for the children in their care, but it was expensive and scarce.  When we traveled to Ethiopia to bring Micah home, we saw first-hand the wonderful care that he and the other children at the transition home were receiving, in spite of their limited resources.  The AWAA staff never stops fighting for these children!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Micah in December 2008<\/strong>
 \"Yoseph<\/a> <\/div>\n

DONATE NOW TO SEND FORMULA TO ETHIOPIA<\/a>
\n(put “Ethiopia Formula” in the note)<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we met Micah in person, it was apparent that he had continued to gain some weight and was healthy, yet he suffered with diarrhea.  As soon as we returned home from Ethiopia, we transitioned him to a lactose-free formula and his diarrhea cleared up within days.  He also began to rapidly gain weight!  It was a miracle to watch as his personality and body blossomed in response to the increased absorption of the lacto-free formula!!!  <\/p>\n

Micah has been home five weeks as has continued to grow, and is quickly gaining in percentage on US growth charts!!  We are so blessed by our son and our experience with AWAA, but we are continually burdened for the babies in Ethiopia who\u2019s future is much more grim.  Without the proper nutrients, it will be impossible for their little, fighting bodies to gain weight and stave-off infection!!!  Not only those in the care of international agencies, but especially the children still in orphanages; the resources of orphanages are even more limited! <\/p>\n

Micah in May 2009<\/strong>
\"Micah<\/a> <\/span> <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

DONATE NOW TO SEND FORMULA TO ETHIOPIA<\/a>
\n(put “Ethiopia Formula” in the note)<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have no doubt that God is calling us to continue to grow our family through adoption, but we are especially committed to right-now fight (through financial donation) for the millions of orphans who may never be placed in a loving family!!!<\/p>\n

For the least of these,
Vince, Alisa & Micah Martin<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"Micah<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MICAH’S STORYWe met our sweet son, Micah Yoseph, on November 25, 2008 \u2013 a 4-month old boy from southern Ethiopia.  Micah appeared healthy, but was very small.  His big, brown eyes and story stole our hearts immediately, and we never looked back. Micah in November 2008 DONATE NOW TO SEND FORMULA TO ETHIOPIA(put “Ethiopia Formula”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swaziland"],"yoast_head":"\nMicah: Before & After - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/05\/micah-before-after.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Micah: Before & After - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MICAH’S STORYWe met our sweet son, Micah Yoseph, on November 25, 2008 \u2013 a 4-month old boy from southern Ethiopia.  Micah appeared healthy, but was very small.  His big, brown eyes and story stole our hearts immediately, and we never looked back. 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He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}