Orphanage

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress... James 1:27


The reality hit me I guess when we were going to the second orphanage. The first one was purely a dump. Nothing more. No toys, no play area. Just dirt and concrete walls, along with bunking quarters and shower quarters which apparently they do not use. It was sad. The kids flogged our vehicle and we could barely get out of the car without having a child attached to some part of our body. They locked on for dear life. Why? Hunger, attention, comfort, love, fear. One or all of the above. It is truly heartbreaking. Not many smiles, although we did see a few. Precious kids, some with no pants- just shirt and tennis shoes. Some with dirt everywhere on them. Some (most) smelled. Some too skinny because of hunger. Some tired. Some sad. Some with untreated sores. All needing love.

It was a few days before we saw the second orphanage. I kept wondering why on earth kids could live like this and who on earth would allow them to? Out of nowhere (I'm sure I learned this verse in Awana or something but haven't read it or studied it lately) I said to myself, "My God will meet all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus." I dug around in the back of my bible for the key phrases to see if this was just jumbled verses in my head or if it was actually accurate. And accurate it was. (I think I left out "glorious" somewhere). It comes from Philippians 4:19. God was telling me he was going to take care of the needs of these children as he sees fit. The second orphanage was a much different environment. Colorful buildings, a play area, devotional time at night, clean babies, clean clothes and freshly cooked food. It really made me feel the need to "help" in some way with the other orphanage.

The whole week was just planned as it was supposed to. A missionary from Lavaca First Baptist (Matt Smithson) flew in on our flight and is helping with the poor orphanage at this time. They are raising money to build a new orphanage, designed with a few children in each "home" with a "house parent" (kind of like the Children's Home in Monticello). The kids will get proper education, clean water, clothes, food and a loving environment. Go here to check out their website, and help out if you feel led. :) Matt also blogs about his trips on here so you can keep up with the latest news. I will be checking with them often to send supplies and support when they need it.

Mariani pictures

 Finally got them to load...sweet faces of Mariani

 This is Island...pronounced "Ishlahn"

 "Jesus is my FBB" :) or BFF as we would say

 Sweet girl 

 Kids service with very energetic little ones!

 They did this every time we left...climbed on the back and rode as long as they could

 This girl had a burn on her leg and Erin and I doctored it. They had toothpaste on it. She would not leave my side after that.

 Luckenson, our translator, Logan and Pastor Christner

 The church in Mariani...can you see why we need future teams to come help yet??

Delivery a success!

Haitian Nation- Mariani

I'm back, safe and sound. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for all of the thoughts and prayers. The week was very humbling, eye opening, and exhausting. I am already ready to go back (after a few months of rest!) The area we went to was Mariani. It was a tough community. The children were so lovable and we were completely overwhelmed with kids. Our mission was to go into the community and share with the people, but each day we arrived to the church, there were kids there. Anywhere from 20-50. One night we had 70. I just kept thinking...this is the future of this community and we have to reach them in order to have a future in Christ here.

Please pray for this community. The pastor is Pastor Christner. He lost his wife a few years ago and has two young kids. He doesn't have a job other than the church- It is 85% unemployment...not because they don't want to work (like some here in America) but because there is absolutely nothing for them to do. The pastor teaches adults how to read throughout the week. He is working very hard to reach the community. But he needs help in his church. He needs disciples to teach the children, and more leaders to help him reach others.

For some reason, I can't get the pictures. They are in iPhoto but I can't get them to pull up on here. So I will post more when I figure it out. I have a few other stories/pictures but I'm going to spread out the posts so I don't write a book. :)

And the emotions skyrocket...

Ugh, I really don't mean to do this. I'm trying to stay positive and not worry. But I haven't had a great feeling about this second go round of fertility treatment. The last doctor's visit (last month) kinda made me think they were just grasping for straws at what to do with me. Like they were just pulling ideas from wherever they could. But I went with it. I was told to start birth control on day 3 (which will be Wednesday). And also to call in with my leftover medication so they could order appropriately for this time. So, this morning, I called to let them know this is day 1, and to make sure I was supposed to start BC on day 3, and to let them know I had a medicine inventory...

I get a call back...not from the nurse, but from the front desk. "Hello, I understand you would like to make an appointment, but you have a current balance and we cannot make an appointment with an outstanding balance." Blood is boiling. "No ma'am, I would not like to make an appointment. I would like to speak to a nurse please, because I have a question for HER." I do not get it. I did not say on my message that I would like to make an appointment. AND...I just gave you $400 last month.

The first of the year is not so great because of deductibles. But we meet ours fast. Plus, the insurance did not cover some portions of some of the testing required for IVF. So we owed around $800 I believe. Can't remember exactly. They were looking at me like I needed to pay this amount (last month/last time I was there), and I told them I cannot pay that whole amount with no notice! So I paid half. Basically, they won't talk to you if you owe them money. I got to talk to the nurse, but she said (in a giddy and annoying voice), "Yes! Go ahead and start on day 3!" Ok, I said, "Do you need to know my meds inventory?" "Unfortunately with that balance we can't schedule anything. As soon as you get that balance taken care of we will schedule a drug start date for you ok?" I am thinking, seriously???

I asked Kyle if I was over-reacting that I was mad about this situation. He said he didn't know. :) Bless him. I very well could be over-reacting so please someone help me out here. This whole communication issue is the problem I've had with this place from the beginning and it just ticks me off. I'm wondering if we should get a second opinion somewhere else and leave it at that? Or just go on and deal with the nonsense, or what seems like nonsense. Or just stop for a little while (aka, a break- which we have done several of those). I really am just tired, in a whole lot of ways, of dealing with all of this. Can a stork not just drop us off a baby on our front porch? Is that too much to ask??