Bella

Several months ago I wrote that it would be hard to imagine life here at Agape without Annabell.  Well that is exactly what we’ve had to do since her death on June 17th.  She had been gradually deteriorating over the previous several days.  Annabell’s family had come to see her on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday around 11PM in the Asiphe House, she made a few small noises and was just gone.  I learned about this the next evening as Gabi drove me from the Cape Town airport back to Agape.


We held her funeral at Agape, in the Asiphe House where she had spent most of her 2+ years.

It was a beautiful occasion where we could mourn the fact that she will be missing from our day-to-day lives and celebrate what a wonderful and mysterious thing that God had done before our very eyes.  Here was a child that the doctors said would live no longer than a few days.  Other people would say what a waste of time and money for her to be cared for.  But what is so amazing is that this one little girl who never spoke a single world was able to touch so many lives all around the world – doctors and caregivers in the hospital who were amazed by how she lived so long against all odds, housemothers in Asiphe House who were blessed daily by Bella, and people from all over the world praying for her and emailing to ask how is she doing.  God has a purpose for every single person’s life, including Annabell’s.