credit where credit is due.

Hey, I made it to Seattle! Right now I'm in downtown Seattle to be exact.

I'm still fundraising. And I'm still wanting to go home.

We are getting closer to our goal of $30,000. Last blog post I wrote that we'd reached the half-way point. We now only have $8,000 left to raise. $8,000! Amazing huh? We received $7,000 in donations over the last three days which brings the total to $22,000 in about two weeks! I feel instead of writing a blog post I should be writing a book. Have you ever felt like you need to give God more credit or maybe more glory for something?

I'm having a hard time stressing to people how amazing this journey has been. Nothing I have physically done through my traveling in the States has affected our fundraising or at least the money coming in. NOTHING. I think this has been an eye opening experience for me. We always say "we give the glory to God" after maybe winning a huge playoff or championship game. I think it's probably fair to say that even though we "gave God the glory" we didn't forget about the touchdown I scored in the last couple seconds, or the penalty kick I scored to win the game, or the amazing catch I made to end it.

When does it become a phrase we don't just throw around but instead save it for when we really truly mean it?

Well this is how I'm feeling. I mean it. I feel as if my heart wants to explode, and I want to shout over Pike's Place.. "yeahhhhhhhhhhhh, Go God!!!" 

*so since I don't have a picture of me screaming and dancing*

One thing has hit me as well. Some people may look at these posts and fundraising goals, and laugh. Maybe to other organizations $30,000 is easy. Maybe it's not a big deal. I LOVE that $30,000 is a big, big deal to us. I love $5,000 being a big deal. Heck, we love your $20 donations. I don't think the amount is what does it for us.

It's the random emails we get from someone that we haven't seen in 4 years wanting to donate. It's our second grade teacher. It's another humanitarian reaching in their pockets for the cause. It's our family members starting to accept that we won't be coming back and doing what they can to help us stay. It's that random person you meet on the bus that gives you $20 like "Hey, go get 'em." It's the kids that walk up to you after church and pull out their coins. This is what it's about. It's about these people. This is what it always as been about for us.

Looks like I've got my preacher hat on today 'cuz here I am wanting to pray.

God, I pray that we do not loose sight of giving you the glory for how much you love us and for how close you are to us, and especially for bringing these people into our lives. I pray that we always make these people feel involved. I pray it never becomes about big donors. I pray that no amount is ever too small. I pray that children continue to come up after church and offer their coins. I pray that our response will always be, "you are making a difference." And God I pray that we will never give anyone else the glory. 

Starbucks, the travellers home away from home.
You can chill from 6 am to 6 pm, WITH suitcases and they still won't kick you out. ;)

God's country

It's Jenn again. I’m sitting here with all the windows open. It’s chilly here. It’s a nice chilly. I’m not sure if you realized it yet, but I’m not in Haiti. I’m in "God’s country," as Karen would say. Good ole’ Wisconsin. I’ve never been here before but I haven’t seen anything I didn’t like. It reminds me a little of Texas.  I have been here for 6 days and it feels like I’m part of the family. It doesn’t feel like I should be saying good bye to the Gigure family tomorrow. I mean I just now started realizing how to open all the cabinets and doors with their child proof locks. I just realized I shouldn’t get out of the bed in the morning without a sweatshirt. Henry their 4 yr old son has stopped being nice to me. That means I’m fitting in. I’m not new anymore. He doesn’t have to impress me anymore.

My time here has involved amazing conversations, delicious frosty beverages, good meals, speaking at church, making bracelets, church camp, hot showers, Star Wars on the Wii, adoption and haiti talks… let’s just say I had an amazing time.  I have enjoyed every minute of being here.

Pastor Brian @ Mt. Zion

Some good 'eats' - compliments of Karen

telling some attentive kiddos what life is like where I live

So here I am at 8:00 at night and I need to start packing for my morning flight to Seattle. My 6:20 a.m. flight to be exact. I am asked what I will be doing there but to tell you the truth I have no idea. I have learned to stop planning. Some may ask how do I live my life that way. Well to be honest, I couldn't imagine life being any different.

See after returning from two weeks in the States at two different weddings I was told by God on my very first night back in Haiti that I needed to head back. At first I wrestled a little bit, but it was inevitable.  God always wins huh? Karen had been inviting me out her way for some time so she was the first person I called to ask if I could come see her. She said yes without any hesitation. That’s what landed me in Wisconsin.

Yesterday, we sent out a newsletter and mentioned in it how much money we raised last weekish. The total was $15,000. Oh, I didn’t tell you the best part of the story...God told me I needed to go to the States to raise $30,000. A lot of people commented today saying I must have done very well in Wisconsin. Does doing well mean I raised a lot of money? Because if so then I didn’t do well at all. I did however do well at getting face to face and heart to heart with people and forming what I hope to be lasting relationships with some incredibly big-hearted people (one of who is pictued right there to the left.) Really its been our donors who have just jumped on board and decided to donate more money this last week then they have the last three months. How awesome is that? God’s funny like that. I keep tell people that I'm really not doing anything special with the fundraising. I think I just had to be obedient and answer God.

So here I am happy and home sick for Haiti at the same time. More than anything I’m just in awe of our amazing God. He continues to show us that if we are obedient and faithful, he will provide. Thank you to everyone who has been praying this week, everyone who has given support, and everyone who I met in Wisconsin. Can't wait to see ya'll again!

Come talk with me

I guess it's time for a Jenn blog post. As you all now know I'm in the States raising money for Second Mile Haiti. I can't wait to tell you all the amazing things that are happening, but for some reason I have a story about Dadou on my heart. 

A couple days ago, Dadou and I were sitting at our kitchen table rolling beads. I was telling him about my upcoming trip to the States. He asked me why I was going to the States and as usual I was flat out honest with him. I said we are really low on funds at the moment and God said, "Go now Jenn." I told him that I asked God are you sure I need to go now because it will be really hard on Amy and I both at this certain time. Then again God replied, Go now Jenn." I continued to roll beads, and I noticed that Dadou hadn't said anything. I looked up and his mouth was wide open. First words that came out of his mouth was.... "you talk to God?" It was priceless. This man prays for everything. He's always saying God does this and God does that. So I never thought he would be so confused. I literally blew his mind. 

I started to think a little about this a little more. I was thinking oh man he doesn't know that God talks back? Then it hit me. It was like a slap in the face. I don't always hear God either. Here I am acting like this is an everyday thing. I get busy and I "forget to read the bible." When this happens God and I don't communicate. I don't hear him, and the reason I don't hear him is because I didn't desire to start the conversation with him in the first place. 

This always gets me. We spend a couple months out of the word. We decide to open the bible one morning and we are hooked. We are hooked on his love once more. And the greatest thing is He pulls us in with open arms. It's beautiful. It's His unfailing love. We have better days. We seek him more. We hear him. We tell God over and over I'm sorry for leaving, and I missed you.

Another thing hit me as I continued to talk with Dadou. I was trying to describe my conversations with God. The first thing I said to him was "you need to talk to God like he's your best friend." I told him how I have two best friends, and I desire to talk to them all the time. I want to tell them when good things happen in my life. I want to tell them when something is wrong. I cry with them. I told Dadou that if the only thing I ever told my best friend is that I need this or I want that then we wouldn't truely be friends. Dadou got it. He understood. We have a connection like that. 

Later when I was thinking about this a little more I realized this conversation was as much for me as it was for Dadou. It's interesting that I used a best friend as my example. When people describe our Father's love they can often relate it to their relationship with their own fathers. Well to be honest my father was never around, and if he was around then he wasn't all the way there, if you know what I mean. I don't know what it's like to have that kind of father's love. Neither does Dadou. Dadou's father passed away when he was really young. So maybe it takes us longer than others to get it. But that's okay. 

I can however look back on the last couple years, and recognize that I have been blessed to get to know a couple of men that have come to fill that role. Boy have I been blessed. I have been blessed to live with some of the most spiritual Dads I know. I think the world of these men. Our God is good like that. It's amazing to see the people God puts in our lives. God has given me insight to a father's love. I think I'm realizing that God has been wanting me to see this for some time. He's been wanting to share this with me. Especially lately. 

Well God... I haven't been forgetting to read your book lately and I just wanted you to know I hear you loud and clear.

 

Little Miracles

Little miracles, we've all had em. Your mom calls and you mention you're a bit under the weather. Unbeknowst to you she calls up her prayer group and you don't know how you've done it feeling so sick and everything but by twelve o'clock you've done five loads of laundry and cleaned an entire house.. Healed. You give God a little shout out for back up before going into a meeting with some super snarky and unflexible people and you come out of the meeting thinking, wow, that went rather smoothly.. Helped. Just when you think you'll have to resort to donating platelets, again, you find $20 where you'd least expect it... nah just lucky.

But serisouly...

When you think about how the Creator of the Universe steps into your life to intervene and engage then those little miracles we experience when we pray are really not so little at all, they are actually great spectacular things that should be given lots of publicity.

We've got a few, I mean a fair amount, of people praying for us right now. And we're pretty serious about this prayer business ourselves. I'm going to go out on a limb here and try and make Jesus more famous then Joseph Kony by calling these miracles what they are: HUGE footprints of God moving in our lives. Now I'm no advocate for yelling but I'm really tempted to retype that last sentence again in CAPS! God moving in your life is big time people. It's time we start talking about it.

Kelinise: What do you do with an 18 year old whose blood pressure is hanging out at 160/130? (For those of you less medically minded folks think HIGH and DANGER). Well you'd give her a second anti-hypertensive drug. What do you do if it still doesn't go down? Give her a third. And if its still high? A fourth and then maybe it's time to start praying for the kiddo. Miss Kelinise, our little, but not young, diabetic friend was going on her 7th day of hospitalization for high blood pressure when a group of people decided to make a committment to pray. Not for her specifically, but for Second Mile Haiti, for Jenn's trip to the States, and for big miracles to happen that would advance our project. 30 days of focused prayer starting yesterday. They asked for feedback, for specific requests. And only hours after mentioning Kelinise I got a call from her saying that her blood pressure was down to 140/90. Oh Lord, in Heaven, I never saw it coming. After 7 days I thought those yucky high numbers were here to stay and that I was going to have to tamper with the monitor if there were any hopes of freeing the poor girl from the hospital. Today, day 8, she was officially discharged with a blood pressure of 120/80. Perfection.

Sick, tired, and anti-social: Sometimes I wonder how I have any friends. I love to be by myself. Sometimes, I'm flat out not a fan of talking to people and I'm an expert at awkward. Which is why I hated that today I was not by myself at all and that while trying to "get work done," I had to talk to people. There was no Jenn to buffer my awkwardness and pick up the slack. I just wasn't in the mood for the various situations and conversations that were happening amongst our employees. Ha, wasn't in the mood!? Who do I think I am? And of course I wasn't in the right mood. God had given me some pretty clear direction about what sort of mood I needed to be in to get through the day. That morning, while journaling and praying I asked him for insight into the day to come. He said there would be challenges but he was offering to help me get through them. In order to sail through the bumps I was going to have to adopt an attitude of dependence. I was going to have to see people through his eyes and view situations with his perspective. The miracle? I remembered this around 3 pm and the whole day wasn't wasted. It was like a light switch turned over and the feelings of frustration vanished like darkness at sunrise. Ha, my mood! The miracle? God doesn't write you off for being a huge screw-up, but lets you on for the ride even if you are a few hours late and a few dollars short. God completely took over around 3 pm and I had an amazing rest of the night.

Jenn reads her first non-fiction book: Jenn's been travelling for two days now. Not sure why? read here. Before she left Haiti I was packing her suitcase  backpack because frankly I'm just better at that then she is, and she reminded me to throw in Kisses for Katie, a new book written by a brave young Jesus-lover in Uganda. I stayed cool and collected on the outside but inside I was doing a party dance. This book encouraged me in a huge way and I really wanted Jenn to read it. But you can only push that kind of thing so much. Besides Jenn reads horror, mystery novels so a book about a real life nice person was going to be a bit of a stretch for her. But, of her own accord she decided that this trip might be the perfect time to read Kisses for Katie. I chatted with her a little bit during the end of her final bus ride today and she admitted to me that she had almost finished the entire book. And I quote "I think I was supposed to read this on this trip." The miracle? 1. Jenn read something other than James Patterson. 2. God used the book to encourage Jenn and remind her that's He's big, awesome, and just like he provided for Katie and grew her ministry, he's got something up his sleeve for us too.

Maggie: Maggie is a dear friend of ours. She's 50-something and her husband is in his 60s. I was shocked to see Maggie at the hospital the other day and saddened to hear that her husband was in such bad shape. Through a combination of high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes he is now unable to see, walk, eat, or talk. "He went from a man, standing on his own two feet, to a little baby," Maggie said to me in dismay. The little miracle came for me at the hospital this evening. I was there to pick up Kelinise. Went I went upstairs to the adult unit she wasn't there. I checked in the peds unit where she sometimes goes to visit a younger patient with diabetes. Not there either. I then checked back behind the unit where families do their cooking, bathing, and washing. There she was but she didn't hear me calling her name. Then I noticed Maggie sitting by herself, staring into space and looking terribly sad. I jumped up next to her and asked the elephant in the room question: how is your husband today? "He's not good at all. I thought he was going to die last night," she admitted. We kept talking. She asked about Jenn. She said the famous Haitien phrase Bondye Konnen, God Knows, which is reserved for times when you need to aknowledge that something is hard and you don't understand why. I told her that Jenn was good, and gone actually. And that a big group of people decided to pray for me while she was away so that I wouldn't get discouraged. She said that was good but that she didn't think I would get discouraged. She told me that "my daughter," Kelinise, had made a great comeback. I told her that that same group of people had prayed for Kelinise too. And before I left I told her that that same group of people would pray for her husband. Oh the smile on her face. The miracle? God ordained that moment. He knows Maggie and Louisnel and loves and cares for them. So much so that he put a group of praying people together at this exact time to love and support them from afar.

Free cash: Oh and some guy did give Jenn $20 on a bus today. (But that's just a bonus and doesn't actually make it into the list of top God moments.)

*Some of this post may get a little silly but it's an attempt at honesty and an attempt to give God glory for his faithfulness and for answering our prayers in strange and redeptive ways.*

The moral of the story, God is doing big things through a bunch of little miracles and a bunch of people who have committed to pray.

If you like to get in on this 30 days of prayer action please send an email to Katie at kgregg319@gmail.com.
Katie is awesome and nice and really good at writing emails. I didn't ask her if she'd be willing to forward our prayer emails along to you but something tells me that she'll be okay with it. ;) Or, leave a comment and we'll get you connected.



News, Beads, and Double your Gift!

In an effort not to turn our two week absence from Haiti into a four week hiatus from blogging I’m sitting at the computer late at night and typing with hopes that this turns into an enlightening or at the very least, an intelligible summary of what we’ve been up to and where we’re headed next.

Did you catch the last couple of facebook statuses? We made two today. The first was something like…:Yay, happy to be home! …which is exactly where we’ve been since Tuesday. The second was to make an exciting announcement, an opportunity that couldn’t have come at a better time.

MATCHING DONATIONS!!!

Remember in January when we raised $10,000 because of a matched gift that set us on our way to accomplish a whole lot of awesome? Well, that happened. And it can happen again! We are so stoked and so grateful for the generosity of a certain family that has offered to match all donations up to $5,000 this week.  

Simply amazing. We’ve got such big dreams and plans for the property and you can help us get that $10,000 to push forward. Thanks in advance! 

And thank you to everyone who hosted us in America. To the friends that loved and encouraged us, and the folks that listened to our hearts and vowed to keep us and our friends here in Haiti in your prayers, a thousand “thank-you” emails (which are coming, I promise) wouldn’t be enough to convey how deeply we appreciate you.

And that brings me to our second big announcement.

I feel like I should be calling for a drumroll, please.

Jenn is heading back to the States! For some reason, it just feels like the right thing to do. She’s headed there for an indefinite amount of time to do some more fundraising. The goal is to raise $30,000 in a span of two, maybe three weeks and get back to Haiti before she misses those of us staying in Haiti too much.

No one, not even those little dancing monkeys, really likes the feeling of asking others to reach into their pockets and dish out the cash. We’re no different. Blessed be the day when we don’t ever have to “fundraise” again…which is why we’ll call this a “connecting” trip which is what it really is about anyway. We want to connect you to the awesome story God’s writing just a few hundred miles south of the great Southern states. We’ve both experienced what it’s like for God to tap us on the shoulder to tell us he wanted us in the game. And we wouldn’t trade that for anything! We believe it’s worth getting to watch a bit of that game, or at least get to know the players, so you can recognize that tap when you see it. You may get sent in for the fantasy version which is my fancy way of saying God might be calling you to play apart in something a world away from the comfort of your home and your community.

You may be asking why $30,000? That's a  fair question. My quick answer is that God just put that number in our heads somewhere along the line. But since some people may not find that answer fully satsifiable, I'll give you some more details. We want to finish the clinic! It's going to cost around $5,000 to finish the roof and fully stock our clinic with two beds/exam tables, waiting area benches, selving, and of course some first aid supplies and basic medications. Secondly, we need $2,500 for each mom/baby home. We want to build 6 of these homes at one time! That's another $15,000. And the last project we hope to complete is the back property. The back property needs fencing and lots of chickens, goats, and cows. With just a little bit of attention that back property can become a garden that will feed our comound and an exciting agricultural training program that we've yet to talk much about on the blog. Can you believe all of this can be done for under $30,000?

If we can achieve our first goal of $10,000 through matching donations, and Jenn goes to the States and raises another $20,000 we could finish all of our building in less than two months! Our clinic could be open to serve the community next month!

So let’s do it. Garage Sales, Burrito sales, auctions, cook-outs, bracelet parties, car washes you name it! Jenn is starting her trip in the Mid-West and she’s ready to travel!  Just send us an email if the thought of Jenn coming to visit you is so exciting you’ve already whipped out the lemonade stand in celebration.

 

 

We woke up early yesterday and today to cut cardboard boxes and to roll beads. We have quite the team and its all hands on deck. With Jenn heading back to the States in four days we want to make as many bracelets as possible. Many of you participated in a recent fundraiser where we sold bracelets made by Haitien artisans in Port-au-Prince. These bracelets made out of recycled paper products were a huge hit!

It's so exciting to have some of our own!

 

 To donate to Second Mile Ministries, follow this link.

Donate online. 

And don't forget Jenn wants to visit you!

Email us here: connect@secondmilehaiti.com

What a ride

It's a tough task to compose a post that depicts the progression of Second Mile Haiti in our first five months this side of the Atlantic. But what the heck, why start only there when we could take it all the way back to the beginning.

Hold on tight. This'll be a quick recap of what's happened since our inception. Inception...wow, that's an intense word. But really, if you haven't been following along then you've stumbled across a gem today. This post will bring you up to speed.

Jenn and I had each been serving in Haiti for 9 months (+ a previous 2 month trip) and 18 months respectively. We were both volunteering at a creche at the time, taking care of babies that had been given up by their families due to illness or poverty, some for just a short time and some permanently. As we worked side by side to rehabilitate these infants we became great friends and coincidently discovered that we were passionate about the same thing: keeping families together. While we loved the babies, we couldn't stop thinking about that people that had given them up in hopes of a better life.

We couldn't get their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles out of our heads and off of our hearts. What about them? Surely there must be a way to empower them instead of taking from them. It became the sole focus of our attention as we began to constantly brainstorm ideas for what 'keeping families together' might look like in the area where we lived.

We quickly came to the conclusion that there's no better time than the present to pursue the calling that God had placed on both of our hearts. So, in October 2011, we headed back to the good old US of A to start a non-profit. We gave it the name Second Mile Ministries. We planned to go the extra mile to make sure that families were equipped with not just medicine and not simply money, but the knowledge, the skills, the tools, and the courage to do it on their own.

We knew we were going to focus on mothers with severely ill and malnourished children. We knew we wanted to offer a haven of hope for these families during their time of crisis. We also knew that we weren't going to be content with just offering food and medical care alone. We needed the caregivers, mother or otherwise, to understand concepts of infection, disease prevention, water purification, nutrition, and first aid. We couldn't wait to give parents of children with special needs like Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, HIV, and heart defects a chance to understand how to adapt to these conditions and help their children reach their full potential.

Our excitement grew as we made plans to offer mothers not only the opportunity to gain health-related knowledge but also a chance to flourish in the realms of agriculture and business. We knew that the only real way to prevent malnutrition from recurring would be to equip families with a way to earn money. Thereby allowing them to put food in their children's bellies, pay for them to be seen at the hospital when ill, and maybe just maybe put them through school.

So...we created a vision that matched these ideas and away we went. Our first month in the States was spent visiting friends and getting them caught up. Conversations started something like this: "you might think we are crazy but...." Usually we were able to convince people that they should feel privileged to be among the first to hear about God's great plan for our futures in Haiti. Even if they did think we were a little bit nuts they at least all acted supportive.

Between October and the end of December we visited 8 different states, spoke in a couple of churches, and managed to fundraise a little bit of money doing desperate things like hold garage sales...daily. We even tried to make and sell burritos. Considering that a.) neither of us had any cooking experience and b.) we only managed to rack up about 15 orders, I'd say the Great Burrito Sale was a bit of a flop.

In fact, I'd like to take this time to thank those who ordered burritos and apologize to those who actually ate them. I am getting better at cooking though and would love the opportunity to try again, free of charge. :)

In those three months and with the help of angels, a.k.a new friends that came out the wood works just when we needed them, we were able to submit an application to become a 501c3 non-profit and create a website.

Racing to the post office just before closing to send off the finished application

December 2011

Then, although many voiced their doubts that we would actually make it back to Haiti after the holidays, we pushed ahead. We found ourselves sitting in the Cap Haitien airport (with no place to go) on January 7th, 2012. If you want to read those details then please dig back in the archives. The general gist of it is: God's been GOOD, faithful, present, and so gracious to let us be a part of his divine plan to change the lives of women, specifically moms, in Haiti.

We don't even know these women yet, but we pray for them daily.

Between then and now, with your help (and because God's resources are limitless), we've been able to get a few things done.

• we bought a truck
• found land
• i got a job, which gave us a place to stay and extra money for the project
• we became permanent residents of Haiti
• got Haitian driver's licenses
• celebrated our 24th and 25th birthdays
• hired two full-time employees
• Jenn became project manager and dug a well
• built a clinic 
• built a wall, with a gate 
• and started to forge some sweet relationships with people in the community. 

the land before the wall

Thank you for your donations! 

Today we put up the gate. 

It's a bit of a statement really.. A good place to step back and thank God for how He has directed and provided and put up with our antics up until this point. It's a good place to stop and thank him for what he is going to do, for how he will continue to heal and restore and transform. It's a good place to pause and regroup. What perfect timing really. We both had friends getting married in America this month (in the same weekend actually) and we had planned to be there for their big days. 

Jenn just arrived in the States a few hours ago and I'm due to head there on Friday. We will be away from Haiti for two weeks, enjoying the company of our friends, family, and Second Mile Haiti supporters. 

Please join us in thanking God for all that He's done. And please pray for this time. Much good can come from these trips "stateside." And much good can happen on the other side of that gate when we come back. 

Guess what else! We get to come back to an official guard puppy. ;) 

Pick a tune, any tune

It's amazing what a little praise and worship does for the soul. 

Sometimes people ask us what we miss about the States. Sometimes my answer is church. Or more specifically, worship. I miss standing in a huge auditorium with hundreds or thousands of people, arms raised and voices loud. I miss being in a body of people just as moved and in love with Jesus as I am and the way that makes me want to praise my Father even more. It puts a smile on my face and a peace on my heart just thinking about it. 

I went to a fairly charismatic church back in Tucson. They sure did like to dance. The band would adapt songs by Hillsong, Jesus Culture, and Planetshakers (see even the name of the band tells you they were up to something). ;) Needless to say when I hear those songs it puts me back in a place where Jesus met me over and over again. We're headed to America in just a few days and we can't wait for the opportunity to sing familiar songs and to worship with other people who speak English!  

Don't get me wrong, Haitian Christians love to sing. And there are plenty of aspects of the Haitian worship culture that I adore. 

I love that almost all of Haiti uses the same song book. These books don't correspond with sheet music like you see in an English hymnal. This means that when you pick a song you also have to pick a tune... any tune. You'll here fast versions, slow versions, and many one-of-a-kind versions. 

I love that when these songs come on the radio you'll find that 4 out of 5 people are singing along. This happens in waiting rooms, in grocery stories, in Tap-Taps, and on street corners. 

I love that a Haitian church might not have a full stage of instruments but that people manage to raise the roof with their voices alone. No holding back.  

I love that within churches and communities you find an unlimited number of devoted singing groups. The young and the old, the men and the women have all formed their cliques. Its a tradition so important that godmothers and godfathers are appointed over the groups and each are assigned special Sundays in which to perform their well-rehearsed songs. 

I love that prayer is practically synonymous with singing, and that when asked to pray before a meal kids rise and sing a song of thanks before saying a few words of grace. 

I loved what I experienced today at the hospital. 

Kelinise, the 17 year old that stayed with us for a weekend about a month ago, has been going through some up and downs lately. On the upside of things she has settled into life at the orphanage where she also attends church and school. To our pleasant surprise she was enrolled in school even though the school year is coming to a close. On the downside, she's been having to battle some unfortunate, yet common, complications of diabetes: high blood pressure, damage to the blood vessels in her eyes, and skin infection.  High blood pressure means she has to take extra medicine each day in addition to her insulin. Vision difficulties means she has to fight twice as hard with her school work. And her increased  susceptibility to infection means she just spent three full days at the hospital due to a leg abscess.

On Wednesday Jenn randomly decided to take a little detour at the orphanage. She had gone in to check on Kelinise when she noticed the abscess. Thursday I took her to see her doctor at the diabetic clinic at the local hospital. She was referred to the hospital's best and only surgeon who decided to incise and drain the abscess in the operating room under general anesthesia. We stayed late into the evening. Jenn brought her in the next day to change the dressing (which we only wish could have also been done under general anesthesia). Our little friend was in excruciating pain aggravated by someone's unwelcome play by play description of gory details, and a glimpse of the gaping hole in her leg. Jenn filled me in when I came to switch places with her yesterday afternoon. Again Kelinise was held late into the evening because of high blood sugar and the unavailability of a physician to sign discharge orders. 

I got to experience the agony of it myself when I was present for this morning's dressing change. While the doctor removed the bandages, flushed the wound, and shoved gauze through one giant whole in her leg an out another, our little friend yelled the Creole equivalent of "Help me, Oh God, I'm dying, and Doctor, you have no heart." Ouch. 

In her defense, the leg looks brutal. :(

After her dressing change, they decided to admit her to the adult medical-surgical unit. Her blood sugar was 600 at the time despite having given herself insulin that morning. ...It makes us wonder whether the lack of 24/7 electricity at the orphanage has resulted in the deactivation of yet another bottle of insulin... Either way she was advised to stay in the hospital until it normalized. They prepared a bed for her which she almost refused to take. But again I don't exactly blame her. After the trauma of the dressing change and what with this being her 8th hospitalization... but we managed to talk her into staying. 

Kelinise fell asleep almost the moment the IV fluids started flowing and Jenn had already left the hospital to meet with Dadou and check on the progress of our gate. I settled in to pass the time with some people watching. It was a hot day and the unit had virtually no air circulation. I had to drink about a liter of water an hour to avoid being admitted myself.  But the heat didn't seem to keep the student nurses from hustling about their tasks and it definitely didn't stop the visitors from visiting. 

One by one and three by three they came.  Sometimes an occasional group of four or five would slip by  the security guard and disappear into one of the unit's back rooms. For 5 hours I watched a steady stream of faithful church goers coming to pray for the sick. 

Sometimes the groups knew the patients they were praying for personally. They marched directly to said patient's bed and prayed fervently. Others were just firm believers in God's healing power and had come the one place they'd be sure to find a few people who needed it. These visitors would stand in the center of the unit and sing comforting songs to the sick and those caring for them. They would then choose a handful of patients and head to their beds to pour out more requests for healing.  The common denominator with every group was song. At one time I heard three separate prayer melodies coming from different corners of the unit. 

Some sung from books, others sung with their eyes tightly shut, others sang in harmony, and others merely hummed but everyone used song to enter into the presence of God and bring the needs of the sick along with them. Would I see the same scenes in the States? I don't know that I would. I think I got to experience a special piece of Haitian culture on a hot but quiet Saturday. 

Kelinise's blood sugar behaved itself for the most part. Later, Jenn arrived with Kelinise's mother-figure from the orphanage, and the doctor decided she was good enough to go. We could have been upset that that we'd been told to purchase enough medicine and IV fluids for a full 48 hours of hospitalization and now weren't going to have to use it, but we were just happy Kelinise was well enough to leave. To add to our already high spirits we heard probably my top two favorite Haitian praise songs coming from a radio in a nearby room. Naturally the four of us and 50% of the people in ear shot sang along. 

Then the nurse ripped out Kelinise's IV in what promised to be her last painful experience of the day and we headed for home. 

Here's hoping our next blog post speaks only of safe arrivals in America and nothing of further hospitalizations.