Celebrating a Life

Na’il was our youngest foster-child who joined our family in 1997 at the age of three. He was born with a rare genetic syndrome called the “Klein-Waardenburg” syndrome, of whom only a few cases were known in the world.
His facial features were deformed, he was deaf, partial albino (he had blue eyes), no shoulders and contractured arms. But he lived up to his name, and, being an ‘auto-didact’, taught himself to walk and solve problems without making a fuss. He couldn’t talk or use sign-language, and working with the language board was too time-consuming for him. He had his own way of making us know what he wanted.

Throughout the years we learned to ‘read’ him, were amazed by his perception, the way he observed people and knew exactly whom he liked or didn’t.

As with our other foster children, for each child we choose a Bible verse we felt appropriate for their lives. With Na’il, we believed that God would restore his first very difficult two years of his life. (Joel 2:25).
Now, as we look back on the 11 years that we were blessed and privileged to be able to care for him and love him, we know that God was true to His promise. Na’il blossomed like a little flower, was a ray of sunshine to those who came into contact with him, and who worked with him.
Everyone agreed he was a living miracle, the way he developed and grew into a mischievous, ever so curious boy who loved everything technical. Especially in hospital.
Doctor’s visits, dental treatment – for him it was the ultimate fun outing and excitement. Even operations he looked forward too!

Like so many children in Jerusalem, beginning of February Na’il came down with the flu . We kept the fever down, and on Tuesday afternoon even visited the pediatrician for a check-up. Everything seemed ‘normal’.
That same evening his breathing became labored, and we took him to the first-aid department of the hospital – his favorite place. 12 hours later, we had to say goodbye to him, and give him back into the loving arms of our Heavenly father.
You can read about his last hours in a seperate story: Grieving a Loss

Even though we are not Jewish, we decided to sit ‘shiva’, the 7 days of mourning. It was such a blessing to cry together with all those special people that came to visit us. Yesterday (Tuesday) was the last day, and now we’re ‘back to normal’.

Life without Na’il. It’s still so hard to comprehend he isn’t around any more.
No little boy to care for. He needed help with everything – drinking his bottle, dressing, washing, toilet ~ our days evolved around his needs.
We’ll miss his voice, the funny noises he made, his laughter, his humor.
No longer are we able to touch his short-cropped white hair that had a silver sheen, caress his soft cheek, cuddle him in our arms. The 1.20 meter tall, 14 year old boy only weighed 17 kilo’s ~ a handful.
Never again will he ‘climb’ the stairs (on his back) to my office, to just lie on the floor and be happy. Or ready to do some mischief.

About two weeks ago Na'il noticed some ‘angels wings’ that we received for Purim, and wanted to try them on. Little did we know he was 'practicing' for the real ones he was going to receive in heaven.
Our loss is heaven’s gain. It’s a comfort to know Na’il is now under the Ultimate Care of our Heavenly Father. In our deep grief, we still can celebrate his life, and treasure the precious memories of this special boy, a true ‘acquirer’ who awaits us in heaven.

In honor of his life, we dedicated a seperate page about him on our Website. http://christinaboerma.com/christinaboerma/id31.html