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.