Living Proof of God's Love

It’s been a long time since I posted something in this blog. I guess it’s time for a new one because I found something interesting to write about. The topic: *drum roll* my sweet boyfriend, Steve. He blesses me so much with his life.

The other night, he went over to his parent’s house and was able to retrieve some of his baby photos. He scanned those pictures and posted it on Facebook. Let’s take a look at it!

That cute little baby boy above is Baby Steve Huffstetler.  Aside from being born cute [which the picture clearly shows], Steve was also born with club feet. The picture above was taken when he was 3 ¼ months old. Notice that both of his legs are in cast and yet that doesn’t stop him from being a very happy baby.

Club feet [medical name: Congenital Talipes Equinovarus] is a developmental deformation of the feet. Babies born with club feet have their feet pointing inwards and downwards. There are so many people born with club feet. A recent statistics show that at UK alone, 1 in 1, 000 children are born with clubfeet or clubfoot. Having club feet will not stop you from doing anything and Baby Steve proved that!

those bars can't hold him back

 

Even with the cast on both legs, Baby Steve is unstoppable. He is also a very hard headed and strong willed baby. He refuses to sit still. The casts don’t stop him from doing what he wants. I guess he did everything he can until he successfully removed the cast from his leg on his own. This cast was the one he had before his surgery.

They wanted to do the surgery when Steve was 3 months old but he kept pulling the IV out so they had to wait for a few more months. His first surgery was on his right leg at 6 months old and the second on his left leg when he was 8 months old. The picture below shows that he already had his surgery on his right leg. See how stubborn he is! He would still stand on his left leg and the "just-had-surgery" right leg. He obviously got very strong legs!

Steve with his brothers: he already had his first surgery here

Anyway, after all the surgeries, when he is a year old, here is little Steve trying his first steps without the casts. His Mom was the happiest person in the world that time. She was watching his son walking on his own feet. She never thought that he will be able to do that or was afraid that he won’t be able to do it but, HE DID!

first steps by himself!

Unfortunately, he just started using bars when he was already three years old. It is a thin steel bar formed to hold his feet in certain position. See the shoes he is wearing? The bars are clamped into the bottom of the shoes and hold his feet in a specific position. This became a problem because not only were his feet and muscles were already forming but because at the age of 3, this little stinker became a smart bugger. He would observe how his Mom was putting the bar on and off using a wrench and then when Mom was not looking, he would go hunt for the wrench. Well, Mom became really good at hiding it but didn’t notice that the little stinker was also observing how the buckle of his car seats work. He would then undo his seat belt in the car seat, slide down between the seats and stand on the hump going down in the middle of the car and with the bar over the hump; he would place his hands on the ceiling and push down! Before his Mom would know what was going on, the bar was already bent. She had no choice but to remove the bar. Little Steve went through three bars until his Mom gave up. If that was me, I'll give up too! LOL!!!

And those were some of his crazy adventures from being born with a clubfeet, the surgery , the little misery [yes! misery] that he constantly gave his Mom growing up and how God was able to turn the not-so-nice situation into something great and wonderful.

One thing is for sure: Steve's life is a living proof that God loves us and takes care of us.

 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14