AMAZING ABBY:
Buckner offers help and hope
___By Scott Collins
___Buckner News Service
___LUBBOCK--Jason and Angie Peek's home looks like any other home where infants live. Toys lie scattered around the living room, and Winnie the Pooh sits in a recliner like a king overseeing his kingdom.
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ABIGAIL GRACE enjoys a bowl of cereal. Through the ministry of Buckner Children and Family Services in Lubbock, she has found a loving home with Jason and Angie Peek, who see potential in the special child. (Photo by Russ Dilday/Buckner)
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___In one corner, scores of brightly colored children's books cram a bookshelf. On top of the shelf, two Teddy bears and a pink rabbit surround four prosthetic legs.
___The little legs, adorned with lace socks and tiny children's shoes, are the first evidence something is different about this home.
___As she sits talking with visitors, Mrs. Peek holds a baby in her lap, the seventh foster child she and her husband have cared for. Next to her, Abigail Grace gobbles down one goldfish cracker after another, eating the tiny morsels faster than Peek can refill the bowl.
___"I think she's a normal child," Peek said as she poured more crackers into Abby's bowl. "When I see people looking at her, I'm like, 'What are you looking at? Why are you staring at this child?' And then I remember they don't see her every day, so they see that she's different. We don't notice it. I guess seeing her do all the normal things babies do, you just kind of realize she is a normal baby."
___When she was born May 27, 1999, a birth defect known as Oromandibular Limb Hypogenesis Syndrome robbed Abby of her right hand, much of her left arm and most of both legs. She also required surgery to lengthen her jaw because it was too short when she was born. The procedure meant doctors had to clip her tongue. As a result, Abby uses sign language to communicate, but recently she began learning to talk.
___Melissa Opheim, administrator of Buckner Children and Family Services in Lubbock, remembers how Abby came to need a home.
___"We received a call on Friday night at 5 that a baby needed a home," she said. "We listened to the story and description of the child who needed a place to be and said, of course, to bring the child.
___"They brought her to us, and we saw her and picked her up from the car seat, and she was a beautiful child with big dark eyes and no arms or legs because of the birth defect."
___When she said Buckner would take the child, Opheim knew she was committing to perhaps long-term care for Abby. But saying yes was the easy part. Finding a home was the real challenge.
___"We looked for a home that had a stay-at-home mom or a schedule that was flexible where the chil
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PROSTHETIC LEGS stand on a shelf next to toys in Abigail Peek's room at her new home
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d was not going to be in day care," added Amy Kiker, the Buckner foster care caseworker assigned to Abby. "We needed a family that was able to meet the needs of going to Dallas monthly or every-other month for medical appointments. When we looked at the families, we looked at what was best for the child."
___That search led to the Peeks.
___"I think we instantly fell in love with her," Peek said. "I guess our attitudes were the same as everybody else's at first, thinking she wasn't going to be able to do anything. We wondered what kind of life she was going to have. We felt sorry for her at first. She couldn't do anything, and she was almost 7 months old."
___But the Peeks' ability to see the potential in Abby is what sets them apart, said Craig Langford, Buckner foster care recruiter. "I think they are a special family. ... When we go out and recruit families, we look for special families."
___"It's a lot of hard work," Peek admitted. "But I haven't gone to bed a night since we've had her that I didn't think it was worth it."
___Serving as foster parents means the Peeks go through constant change and transition as children come and go. But whether a child is in their home for an extended period or just a few days, the Peeks believe they have a unique opportunity to show love.
___"Our whole purpose is to teach the kids how to attach and how to love, because a lot of these kids have never had that," she explained. "To love is foreign to them, and they don't know what that is.
___"It's hard when the kids leave," she said. "But even if you've had them for just a day, maybe you can make a difference in that day you have them. I think if you have the opportunity and ability to help these kids, why not do it?"
___The Peeks are hoping Abby will be one foster child who doesn't leave their home. They are in the process of adopting the little girl.
___"We started fostering because we wanted to adopt and we wanted to adopt kids who really needed it," she explained. "You hear so much about foster care, and we figured there was a need for these kids to be adopted.
___"There's a need, and I feel we're here to fulfill that need, not only for her but also for whoever else comes along. If a child needs us, I truly believe God will lead that child to us through foster care. I really think we are here to help her. We became foster parents at just the right time to help her."
___As she eats her snack, Abby nimbly grabs each cracker as easily as someone who has hands. Guests watch in amazement as she moves around the room using her arms and legs to guide her.
___"Every time she does something new, we're so excited that we call our whole family," Peek said. "Everything she does just amazes me. So far, we have not really found anything she cannot do. She feeds herself. She brushes her teeth. She can color. She does everything any other kid would do."
___Having Abby in their home has "taught us how to not give up," Peek said. "She never gives up on anything. She has taught us that to be different and to have abnormalities is just fine."___
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