Images from Chambrun

After church we walked around the town of Chambrun. I love this day and seeing everyone.

Flamanda

I was able to see Flamanda and my friends in Chambrun on Sunday at church. Flamanda looks good except her head is exactly the same size as when I returned her the end of December. It is not getting any bigger but it should be shrinking. I left her info with the people from GAIN that are helping NVM in Haiti. They are supposed to be checking to see if we can get her a shunt in Haiti. Since the earthquake there are a few more options in Haiti for treatment if they are still there. I have not heard back from them yet.
I was sad to see this. We knew that there was a chance her ETV drainage hole would not stay open and I would guess it has closed off. Im praying she can get treated there. If not we will begin working on finding someone to put in a shunt here.

Girls washing dishes in very dirty water.

A lot of people like to just sit around and watch clinic. We had several young boys this day.

Adorable and all cheeks!

This was a different IDP camp that had less than ideal location to do a clinic in. It was so hot that day but we made it work. This camp didnt have any regular tents. They were still living in sticks and tarps, sheets and lots of garbage. Probably one of the worse ones we saw. I would say almost every girl age 15 to 40 got treated for STD's that day. It was sad.

Getting ready to set up another tent

I begged these girls to let me take their photo. I love watching them do hair. It is a big part of their culture!

I love the faces of the elderly in Haiti. Such a hard life and to reach this age is amazing.

Seriously, can you get any cuter than this??

Look! No translator!

I was able to almost independently translate in the pharmacy! My Creole is getting better.

Haiti photos

This woman went through the clinic. At the end she started praising god and waving her hands in the air. I wasnt sure why she was so excited. Everyone took note of her as she was pretty verbal. She proceeded to tell the translators that this was her first time to ever in her life be treated by a medical team! Can you believe that. She had 8 children all in her home. She was late 80's. Unbelievable! She was quite a character. It was a great day.

Some Haitian cuties!

Tent cities

This was the first day clinic in an IDP camp.

Been home for a while

Sorry I havent posted about my trip yet. I had a good trip. We worked in IDP camps every day instead of Chambrun. I missed being in Chambrun but there is such a huge need in the camps and we had great days every day. We had a very small team this time but were still able to treat about 500 people that week. The team was mostly from East Point Christian Church and they were sooo nice. They adopted us right away and we all worked together. The men worked in Chambrun every day on concrete mostly and the women all went to the clinics.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. I most likely wont return to Haiti with NVM for a while. I dont know what Hands That Heal has in store for the immediate future. We have several children to work on but the process for medical visas is even more difficult than before.
Our family is doing great. Since I am not working every weekend anymore we have been able to go back to regular worship on top of our small group. Nick does great in the special class for him. We are so thankful for it and Jer has been joining us in the regular service and seems to enjoy it.
Steph

Heading to Haiti this AM. Prayers Appreciated. Feeling some anxiety but ready to serve.

Sendy

For anyone new, Sendy is a little girl at His Home for Children in Haiti. She has Hydrocephaly. She made it to the U.S. just prior to the earthquake and is in OH now. I met her on my first trip to Haiti in Sept of 07. We attempted to host her in our home for her initial treatment but it did not happen. She got the treatment in OH and returned to Haiti until recently she needed her shunt removed and made it back to OH right before the earthquake.

I have kept up on her since I met her. Praying for her and hoping we might adopt her. I felt God was giving us the opportunity to do this but it never happened. She never had a family come forward to adopt her so I always felt that there was a chance that it could still maybe happen.

A family has come forward to adopt her now. It was very difficult. I had to let go of the idea that it would ever happen. I have talked to the mom and emailed with them several times. Sendy will be blessed to be in their family. She just sent me these photos of her. Sendy does not need to have a new shunt put in which is great. It was very sad for me at first but I feel at peace now. I would love a daughter so much. Only God knows if that will ever happen. I know that I am to continue to work in Haiti and that will be harder if we adopt a child.

Sendy will cross my mind still often and I pray for her as I put closure on this.

Steph

Life keeps rolling along!

There is so much going on but nothing post worthy it seems. Daily life, chores, homework, dinner and work fill up time. The kids are doing fine. Last weekend was my last weekend of working every weekend. I will be working 2 days a week and every third weekend now. A regular hospital schedule. I can take off work whenever I want to! It will be so much more flexible but a lot less money. We are looking forward to getting back to going to church on a regular basis. We still have biblestudy every week but miss regular church.

Hands That Heal is expecting a lot of patients this year after the earthquake. We did 6 last year and have been approached by the orphanage we partner with to do 50!! We are trying to figure out what we are going to need to accomplish this. I did get the letter a few days ago from Methodist Hospital to do a little boy at the Nehemiah Childrens home that I have been wanting to help for 2 years. He has severely deformed legs and is going to have them fixed. This will change his life forever. He is the sweetest boy!

NVM has been extremely busy with medical teams going nonstop to run the clinic and mobil clinic. Many patients are being helped. I will be returning April 6th for a week. I have been very busy coordinating supplies and medicines for the teams.

Thats all for now!
Steph

I think I might be in the wrong "field" sometimes?

I really needed this devotional the other day when it came over my phone. I was just thinking about the stress and how difficult something in my life has been lately and here it was. With Jesus things should be light if we are where he wants us to be. Not a burden. Not that things are going to be easy all the time I understand that. Maybe Im not in the right yolk at all and trying to do it on my own? Maybe Im in the wrong "field", there are so many I see in front of me sometimes. Praying that God shows me where Im supposed to be and/or the burden or stress will lighten, or to make me rely on Him to help me more and I am not doing things on my own. So confusing sometimes! Anyways here it is (maybe someone else needs to hear it today)


Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) 28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."


Has life worn you out? Tired of trying to get it all done? Tired of trying to please God, feed your family, help a friend, and take care of the million little demanding details that life can be full of? Go to Jesus! He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you and learn from Him.
Yokes are usually for a tandem pair of oxen. Younger oxen would often plow with the older experienced ones. Imagine yoking up with Jesus. Talk about experience! He went through it all without sin. He can teach you how to plow through life. Yoked to Him, you will learn from Him. He is gentle and humble in heart. No better qualities could you find in a teacher. He won't get on your case because you didn't get it right the first time. He gently instructs and directs. Learning from Him is a place of rest for your soul. That means your thoughts, emotions, and impending decisions can all rest in His perfect instruction.
Yoked together with Jesus you will see that God has it all under control. He teaches us to trust in the Father and act at His leading. When we do that, everything comes out best in the long run. We can trust in His wonderful knowledge about all things and His power to do anything. That makes the yoke feel light and the load we pull easy. He plowed this path before us and broke up the soil we could never have pulled the plow through. Now we pull the plow through the furrow that He already plowed for us. Just stay in the yoke with Him. Don't go trying to plow another field in another yoke. You'll find that without Him, you can do nothing. The yoke will be unbearably heavy and the burden unmovable. Which yoke are you under? Which burden are you pulling?

Steph

Still Smiling

This week has been very uneventful for me. I have slipped back into work, laundry, dinner, dishes, homework and tv. Though sleeping has been difficult and memories are always there. I try to remember their smiles. The Haitian people are still smiling! It amazes me still. They live in extreme poverty even if you have a job you still dont have much. We are so spoiled here and I dont want to forget that. Thankfully I get a wake up call every time I go. There is much work to be done. More than ever before.

Hands That Heal did 6 medical kids last year. We are gearing up for possibly trying to do 50 this year. The needs will be huge. The medical visa process is currently on hold. Nobody comming out. We do not know how long this will last.

NVM has teams ongoing through May. I will be busy ordering meds and supplies for some of the teams. I welcome the work. It gives me things to do to help from here.

Tomorrow night I am going to a meeting at St.Vincent's Hospital where I work. It will be all doctors and medical personell. I will be sharing about NVM and what we saw in the 2 weeks that I was there as well as our upcomming trip needs. St.Vincent has sent 2 teams already and they will be sharing as well. I hope it is a good time of networking for supplies and volunteers.

Praying for my friends in Haiti,

Steph

More Photos

Ponpdlo is one of my favorite people in Haiti. His wife is having a baby next month. They are sleeping on the ground with too many cracks in their house. He is excited for me to see his baby when I return.

Many signs around for help, or "we need food".

The helicopter that took our patients to the hospital near the airport.

Haitian boy watching the airplanes from an IDP camp.

Vending on the road.

What amazed me too was the normal activites that continued. People have to live and go on in the midst of chaos. God's Spirit was quite evident to our team the entire time. It was difficult to logistically place, feed and sleep the amount of people we had there but we did it and it all worked. Not that we didnt have moments of frustrations by any means but we did faithfully turn to God to make decision and keep Him first even before the medical care. We prayed with many many people in the clinic. We are praying that through the medical care that seeds were sewn that God can continue to water and the fruit of all our service will be evident in Heaven someday. HE continues to be our main focus.

Other Random Things from the Trip

We saw military planes galore.

Boy with Lymphedema caused from parasites in the lymph system.

Waiting on the road.

Man walking his donkey.

Pastor Pierre's brother Joab. He was sitting alone with a far away look for a while. I wondered what he was thinking.

Cutie in the clinic. He wasnt too sure about this blond lady!

Grafitti wall we pass every day.

Tim RN taking out stitches in the clinic.

Our last morning we went to Chambrun for about an hour or so to tell everyone goodbye and get the next team going in the clinic. These boys were juggling rocks. It was a great day. We had sung worship songs prior to going out there with the translators and all prayed together as a group. I cried of course:) It is always bittersweet leaving. I love it there so much. Two weeks was a long time to be gone and I missed my boys (which I enclude Tom in when I say that). I had gotten sick right before we left too so I was ready, or as ready as I ever am. One of our translators Junior is an amazing guy. He was the one that had consoled me in front of the Presidential Palace and said to be strong. He walked us as far as he could at the airport and I said to him when we were all hugging him goodbye for him to listen to his own words and be strong now. He said "I can tell a part of you is Haitian, it is evident in you". I truly feel that when I am there. Everyone in Chambrun knows me know. Others on our trip said they would be standing with Haitians and when I would come into sight they would all start saying "Stephanie, Stephanie!" Even most I dont recognize anymore seem to know me. It is quite and honor and I am humbled that God has allowed me to be in such a position. They know I am there to help them and that makes me so happy.

Tom and the boys did amazing while I was gone. Im so proud of them. Tom has been extremly supportive. We prayed for our families back home everynight in out group prayers. I couldnt do this without my family and I thank God for them.

I plan to go back in April.

Steph

Cutest Little Man

This little guy also had no food for 8 days. He was suffering from malnutrition but in the form of Marismus. He was skin and bones literally. He sucked down the pedialyte like a little bird too. He was very lucky to be flown to a hospital for treatment as well. The difficult part is that we have had no word about any of out patients that we sent out. He was so alert and looked just like a little man. He had a very bad case of pneumonia too. I pray he is doing well.

Flamanda

Flamanda is doing very well with her mom back in Chambrun. Her head has only gone down a tiny bit from when I saw her a month ago but she seemed still better. She smiled at her mom and let me hold her 2 Sunday's in a row at church the entire service with out crying. Her mom came to see me most every day while I was there. I'm thrilled at her progress!

People of the IDP Camp

Images from the first IDP camp I went too. We did a food distribution that day too. The little guy in the last pic was so cute. He walked around all afternoon with his little bag of rice. They were grateful to say the least for the medical care and the rice. We got to tour this camp and walk through the tents. People were cooking, sitting and talking, kids were playing. The one little guy had a kite he had made from a plastic bag. Most of the kids make their toys from garbage. The string was even made from the bag. They were very gracious to let us walk around in their misery. It was slightly uncomfortable to see. Imagine someone touring your home on your worst day ever. They delighted in us playing with their kids and taking photos of them. The kids of course loved it.

I saw in the middle of the camp as we were walking a woman bathing her husband. I had never seen this practice before. She had a lg bucket of soapy water just out in the open. He had on just a pair of sm shorts. She was washing him. There is NO privacy there at all. They didnt have much before, now there is none.

Everyone has lost a family member there. We talked to one family that had 5 children die in their house. The mother sat in a daze with a baby on her lap and her husband next to her. They said their kids were "good, strong children" and now they are gone. They were praying for God to provide them a house and a school for the kids left to be able to go to. It was so so sad. We prayed with them.

Not something any of us will forget.

Steph