Emanuel goes home

November 21 2008

Emanuel Marcelus and his twin sister, Emanuela, came to live with us in July 2007 when they were 6 months old. Emanuel weighed 6 lbs. His sister was only slightly heavier. Most of her weight was caused by her hydrocephalus, though. Emanuela died in December 2007 of an infection following shunt surgery. Emanuel stayed with us until November 2008.


I drove Emanuel and his mother home the afternoon of the 21st. Emanuel's older brothers were so excited to see him they had him out of the car and halfway to the house by the time I grabbed my camera!

Here is a picture of the family's home. They are VERY poor. We provided money to pay for their mother's chest xray to diagnose tuberculosis, sent lots of food and clothes, and will continue to help with food, medical care and schooling for Emanuel.

Triplets! Remember them?

November 22, 2008

Remember the triplet girls who came to us in March 2006? They were about 16 months old and only one of them, Natasha, could stand. Natalie could sit up and Naomi couldn't do anything much except turn over. They were badly malnourished.

By August 2006 all three were walking. After a little more than a year with us the girls returned to their family. We helped their mother set up a small business so she could support the girls, their 3 older siblings and their parents.

The girls came to visit us on November 22nd and we were SO thrilled to see them. They are all beautiful and healthy and smart! They turned 4 in October and will start to school next year. We definitely want pay their school fees.

We love happy endings!

Haiti Update - Out of the hospital, again!

Nov. 21 2008

Hi everyone.

Less than 3 weeks after coming back to Haiti I had to have an emergency appendectomy. Oh, that was an experience I could have done without but it's over and I'm now fine. Kathy Brooks, Sam and Casey flew down from Georgia to care for me and help Kez with the kids and the team we had in this week. Thank you Kathy, Sam and Casey! Thank you Lord!

Nerlande went home with her grandmother while I was in the hospital. Emily will go back to Bercy tomorrow. We will then 'only' have 19 babies. We had agreed to accept another baby from Gonaives found by Dr. Karen at a clinic but she didn't survive even her first night of hospitalization and a blood transfusion at a Gonaives hospital. We pray for the family of this little one who seems to have died of starvation.

We actually have 2 teams in: Sisters from Tennessee and a church group from West Virginia. What a group! They came in, asked what needed to be done, gathered the materials we had on hand and bought the rest and started right to work. They haven't stopped working yet! The house is being transformed with paint and decorations and shelves and organization. Every child gets special attention every day. This is a Spirit filled group and the whole household is overflowing with love. Praise God for these wonderful people!

Oh, and Sister Miriam went out yesterday and brought home a refrigerator and washing machine. She hopes to go shopping today to stock our shelves with all our basic needs. We feel like the heavens have opened and blessings are pouring out on us. Well, to be honest, they are! God is always good but I especially love the blessings part!

Dr. Karen McCarthy from Jacksonville came Monday to examine me and 2 of the children. Poutchino hasn't been himself since starting on TB meds. Dr. Karen thinks his tegretol levels (for seizures) are affected by theTB meds. We'll get test results today to confirm it but in the meantime have started cutting back the tegretol. Poutchino already is more alert and eats better. Levinsky had an infection and she put him on meds. He is much better.

Sorry for no pictures. I jsut haven't been able to get around to take them. When the group shares their photos with me I'll put them up on the blog.

God bless you.