Manuel: My New Sponsored Child

Do you guys remember back when my sponsorship of Debora ended and I said I wasn't going to replace her sponsorship because I wanted to save money? Do you also remember that whenever I make a plan, God always has a different plan?

You think I would learn, wouldn't you?

Anyway, I was scanning the website and praying for kiddos (I do this quite often) and I started noticing a pattern of kids that all had the same background in their pictures. I searched this center, EC-535, specifically and saw over 30 kids waiting for sponsors. It turns out that this project had just opened up in July. I'm not sure what drew me to this center (except, now I know it was Manuel). I started looking through each child individually and when I neared the end, I saw a boy with just the cutest little face and smile I think I've ever seen. Here's the face I saw:

Well, naturally I had to click on his page to learn more about him. His name is Manuel, he's from Ecuador, he's 9 years old, he lives with his parents and four siblings. he likes to play soccer, he likes to sing, and he has above average performance at school. I just fell in love with him. 

Manuel also has a form of dwarfism. I recognized it immediately as achondroplasia. It's characterized by short stature, a large head, and disproportionately short limbs. A lot of people with this form of dwarfism tend to have problems with their legs, because their body is typically too heavy for their legs. They often require surgery over time. A good friend of mine in elementary school had this form of dwarfism and had about 6 surgeries before he entered Jr. high. Manuel is not listed as a special needs child, so he could be one of the lucky ones that has no physical problems. That's great! Or, it could have been a mislabel. 

Either way, I'm seriously in love with this little boy. I am so excited to get to know him. Here is his full picture: