life. . .

i feel like i am constantly challenged here in haiti to realize the true value of life.  

there are so many times when we value lives that are perfect, people who are beautiful, successful, impressive.

the first week i was here nicole, (the mother i have shared about who came from so far away and was in congestive heart failure) came here with her little nine month old son.  they were both so sick, from my perspective, i wasn't sure either of them would live.  last night they went back to their home in leogone, both in good health.  i have to say the first day i saw them i thought perhaps we would provide comfort measures to help them in their last days of life, but God had different plans.

as i write this i have a little one right beside me.  she was brought to us yesterday.  her mother had her on saturday and then died.  her father brought her because there was no way he could care for her.  she is 3 lbs. 2 oz.  she doesn't have hands or feet and her little tongue is stuck to the bottom of her mouth.  who knows what she has going on internally.  her father didn't want to keep her, he wanted us to take care of her.  i don't know that we will do more than provide comfort measures and love her over the next few days of her life, or if God has something else in store, but i do know that it isn't for me to decide.  her name is naomi.

little ones like naomi challenge me to look again at what i value in life.

team awesome!

this morning around 4:30, the rest of "team awesome" left. (yes, that is what my friends who were here from kansas city decided to call themselves.)  it was such a great time to have friends from church and work here over the last two weeks.  thanks for coming guys!  you brought so many smiles and laughs.  

the meshing of my two worlds was a bit crazy.  really though, that is what i want to do, bring two completely different realities together.  bringing the positives of both cultures and places to the other.  i want people to see and know what life is like for those who live here in haiti, how they can do so little and make a huge difference.  in contrast i think haiti also shows beauty and peace that comes along with simplicity and i know so many people come here and leave having been blessed and learned lessons far beyond what they imagined.

highlight. . .

today was a rough day!

but the highlight to my day was when little jmex (the little one on the right) leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek.  at first i thought that couldn't be, but then he did it two more times with a huge smile one his face every time.  what a beautiful baby!  

two weeks ago i wasn't sure he would live and here today he is completely lifting and encouraging my heart.

These are a few stories of the people I have been working with. .  .

Nicole Change - came from south of port-au-prince to here.  she said that is took her 15 days to come.  she is here with her 19 year old son and nine month old child.  she has four other children at home.  the father died in the water (hurricanes).  she is extremely sick, probably a heart conditions.  her baby is 9 months old and weighed nine pounds when they came.  i told her that her baby may not live and she said that she is with God and God will help her baby live.

Loudnika - came last week, horribly malnourished.  she is 2 years old and weighed 10 pounds.  i saw here at clinic before i left last time and tried to get her set up for a supplement program, somehow the mother never made the right connections and brought loudnika back to clinic because her teeth were falling out.

this is little Loudnika the day she came.  she has since gone to the hospital where she died.  the pediatrician i talked with said that she had heart failure from malnutrition and chronic anemia.

Frisken was horribly malnourished with kwashiorkor.  i was extremely worried about his kidney function the first few days he was here.  he came in extremely swollen, even his eyes were swollen.  he has slowly but surely made progress and yesterday looked like a different kid because his skin color was so much better and his swelling had gone down.

tickets. . .

the young people of the church here in st. louis put together a concert today for a blind man to help him raise money to be able to rent a house and help pay for some of his living expenses.  the man who is blind is a wonderful musician and his songs are amazing as he sings about how he has been created to praise God.  

to raise money tickets were sold for his concert.  one of my friends here purchased a ticket for me.  although the concert was supposed to start at 3 this afternoon, i meandered over to the church around 4 and was there as it was starting.  as i walked through the church courtyard, various children came up to me asking that i would take them into the church with me or that i would buy them a ticket so they could come.  most of these kids were little guys that probably wouldn't have even wanted to have sat still for such a concert, but as they asked, i was struck with a thought.

really these kids need a ticket out, they need a ticket away from their hunger, a ticket to receive an education, a ticket to a better life.  unfortunately, that is not simple.  but i have to believe that our programs here are making a difference in many lives.  our nutrition programs is meeting the needs of so many children, the medical programs, the surgery, the sewing hope project, these are all tickets to a better life.

really though what matters most is similar to the courtyard of church as those little ones asked to go with me to the concert,  is the hope that people see and ask to know the same Jesus that i walk with and that they desire to enter into eternity with a God who promises that there will be no more tears.  i have to believe there is that hope for an eternity where there will be no hunger, no pain, no death. 

amazing!

there is a little guy here named widley who has hirsprung disease and has had major complications with his bowels.  he has already had two surgeries, so we all know him rather well and he is just the cutest little guy you could know!

about 6 months or so ago he also started having problems urinating.  that didn't really correlate with his bowel problems.  today because we have a urologist here they were able to check him out and he had an almost centimeter size stone removed.  no wonder he could not go the bathroom.  what a blessing to have that doctor here and have the tools what he needed to really make a difference for this little guy.

one thing widley said after surgery was "if you guys don't give me something to eat, i am going to pull this IV out!"  what a cute 6 year old!!

to the hospital. . .

this morning i did something that is extremely hard for me to do and yet the only option that i have.  i sent two children who had been staying with us to the hospital.  one is loudnika.  a little two year old who weighs about 10 pounds.  i will write her story here later, but basically she is horribly malnourished and i think could possibly have tuberculosis.  the other little one was also horribly malnourished, but not in as acute of a condition.

the local hospital has a treatment center for malnourished children and for those with tuberculosis.  although i know they will receive great treatment at the house of hope where i wanted them to go, it was still hard to watch these little ones leave the gates in a tap-tap.  

i think i have to realize over and over again how little control i have over situations and people.  i can really truly only do what i can with the resources i have available and then trust that God will take that and do His will.  i had to trust Him as i watch these little ones leave the gates to go to a place where they can hopefully be provided with better care and have a pediatrician available.

hit the ground running. . .

i arrived in haiti safe and sound.

the only real problem was 60 missing bags from american airlines.  not sure how that many didn't get on the plane, but we got them a couple days later to the relief of the eye surgery team who couldn't operate without them.

i think to say that i have hit the ground running would perhaps be an understatement.  i knew things here in haiti would be hard due to the hurricane and it is!!

children are sicker, adults are sicker, things are extremely difficult here.  the hard reality is that things will more than likely get worse before they get better due to the hurricanes.

the awesome aspect is that God has placed extremely important people here at just the right times because they are seeing and being burdened for this place.