First Week in Haiti

May 26, 2012 WOW!!! I can’t believe I been in Haiti 5 days already. God has already done so much. I have spent these first few days just loving on the kids, getting caught up (as so much has happened, so much is happening, so many changes happening and to come, and so many decisions that need to be made), and starting a few little projects. The past few days have been staff retreat/meetings and yesterday the summer interns arrived. I fall more and more in love with my mission family daily. I am truly blessed to work alongside such Godly men and women who are Christ-Centered in their service. There are huge changes that have recently happened and are happening at the mission and I love how our staff training/meetings have focused around prayer and praying for miracles and circling specific requests in prayer. With that said we as a mission and mission family could use as many prayers as we get for wisdom as we sort through A LOT over the next few weeks. Also prayer to keep our eyes fixed on Christ and that we each would find daily time of prayer and quiet time with God to be filled especially as the summer picks up and groups arrive. MIRIAM HOME: I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet our 12 new kids that we have gotten since I was in Haiti last summer and EVEN more loving on my kids. We are up to 47 kids in the Miriam Home!!! It is hard to believe. I have finally got to see the special education school up and running and Stephanie is doing an AMAZING job with that. I have also got to see the sever and profound preschool up and running and my heart was soooo happy watching the mother’s (caretakers) working with the children and doing therapy and playing with them! I am so excited to teach them more this summer and get them even more hands on. SIMPLY THICK: I have really enjoyed loving on the kids. I started introducing thickened liquids with the Simply Thick that was donated (I can not thank Simply Thick enough!!!). The kids are now not aspirating when they drink and we are working on encorporating 2 drink breaks to be encorporated into the severe and profound children’s schedules. The past few afternoons I have gone around and given each of the children a drink, they were so excited. The child who was most excited was Rosalie who is one of our oldest and most fragile children. It warmed my heart so much!!!! NUTRITION: I have also spent a lot of time the last few days brainstorming how to increase nutrition and the amount of protein, fruits, and vegetables our children receive and what is really sustainable on a regular basis. Currently the children at the Miriam Center are not receiving appropriate nutrition and many of the children are malnourished. My BIG focus this summer is to increase the safety physically with positioning, decreased aspiration, etc. but also increase nutrition. I am EXCITED that I really feel we are making strides in this area. I am taking A LOT of the money that my faithful supporters have donated this year and using it to buy food for our kids and get this nutrition jumpstarted. I am really excited as John Harvey (a pastor from Florida leading a group into Haiti in the middle of June) is not only carrying many supplies in for me but he was also able to book a flight through MFI to fly us in some needed supplies. He graciously went to Sam’s club and picked up food we cannot get here in Haiti and some others supplies and we will be getting it into Haiti by end of June!!! He is also carrying in more Simply Thick for us. :-) FUN FEEDING STORY: I brought chocolate Whey Protein in to trial with the kids. I added it to the milk for their cornflake dinner one night. The kids LOVED it. Natalie (who is Autistic) engulfed her meal and even liked her plate clean. I was feeding one of the harder feeding children sitting next to her. She handed me her plate when she was done. The other children would come up to me and try to hand me their plates when they were done and Natalie would steal their plates and lick them clean :-) It was so funny. Then later when I was feeding another child Den-Den came over and grabbed the Whey Protein container and was hugging it. I asked if he liked it and he said “Wi” which is “Yes”. Unfortunately when I went to order more I realized it would cost 60 cents per child to use this and we are only allotted 23 cents per child per meal. So we had to find other ways to get protein that is sustainable. Also we cannot get Whey protein in Haiti. FOR JONATHAN SAKE: I am so excited to work with these families again this summer but most excited about training the parents and giving them tools to use at home. I haven’t really started working with this program yet but I have had A LOT of fun seeing my families and kids and just loving on them. 2 of my outreach kids are walking!!!!! I am sooooooo proud of them. If you are facebook friends with me I took video!!! One of my outreach boys has an amputated left foot and a club right foot. Last summer his mother had to carry him everywhere and it was so AWSOME to see him walk with his new prosthetic!!! The other little girl who started walking is Sydney. Those of you who have followed my journey in Haiti the last few years might remember Sydney as the little girl that was brought to us who was so tiny and malnourished and we took her into the Miriam Center for ~ a month till we got her healthy enough to go back to her family (this also gave time for mother to get healthy as she was very sick). She has an AMAZING family who loves her so much. Mother that summer asked me to be her godmother. Well long story short she is walking because her mother is constantly working with her!!!! She has a club foot but is walking and is getting strong enough to have surgery on the next team!!! I can’t believe how BIG all my kids are getting both in outreach and in the Miriam Home. WHEELCHAIR RENOVATIONS: I decided the first step to safe feeding is getting appropriate seating and positioning. Today I renovated Walden’s wheelchair and got creative with tape. I also took apart Kem’s wheelchair and found some really gross things living in it!!! :-/ so I bleached the whole thing and will hopefully rebuild it tomorrow or soon. It is so funny though because I had all the high functioning boys out there trying to help me and Kem made sure I knew tonight she was not happy I left her wheelchair undone and the boys made sure to tell me an order that I needed to do the wheelchairs in. I love how the boys take care of their siblings and look out for their needs. I am having fun being creative with DUCTAPE as well. ALTHOUGH I am praying my crates clear customs soon as we have 7 good wheelchairs custom to kids in the Miriam Center, bean bags, Tumbleform feeder seats, trip-trap chairs, and tons of other AWSOME stuff that will be so helpful!!!

Sorry has taken me so long to post this blog May 21, 2012 Well my friends I apologize that it has been a few months since I have sent an update out and here I am writing one sitting in Miami airport waiting to fly into Pourt-Au-Prince. I can’t believe how fast the last few months have flewn by and how much has happened in those few months (especially last 3 weeks). Lets just say my life is surely always an adventure and there is never a dull moment. Not sure where to even start….I guess I will start by filling you in on my personal life. About 2 weeks ago I put in my 2 week notice at work. God made it really clear that I could not do both Haiti and continue working that job. It was very hard to pull out as I had formed great relationship with many of my kids and their families. I had a handful of kids that had made tremendous progress in the last 9 months and it just hurt to let go. I am trusting God to bring a new therapist to take over my caseload who will be able to do even more for these kids and their families. I am still discerning God of where He is calling me to work next year. I plan to work for 1 more year to put money in savings to then be able to move to Haiti for at least a year beginning next summer. I am really feeling the call to be in Haiti for an extended period of time to really get things on the therapy end grounded and to be able to take fieldwork students (I currently have 4 students interested in doing a fieldwork in Haiti). 3 days before I was to leave for Haiti found out I needed to be completely moved out of my apartment before I left for Haiti (I was planning on moving out end of August)…It is a long story why. After a time of freaking out and 3 days of being completely overwhelmed I sit here looking back and can only stand in Awe of God as He showed me just how many AMAZING friends/people He has brought into my life since I moved to Vegas. I had so many friends come and help me pack and move all my stuff into storage. I got very little sleep. So at this point I semi have a job lined up for when I get back (as long as God confirms that is where He wants me) but if I take that job will not start till September 4th which means having ~5 weeks in PA with family and friends. I hope to travel and speak at churches while I am home and raise support as I plan on moving to Haiti next summer. I need to find to be fully funded by monthly sponsors by then :-) If I can get fully sponsored by end of this summer I could just move to Haiti now, which would meet some immediate needs and make me very happy! I mean all my stuff is already in storage..lol. Seriously though, I am putting it in God’s hands. At this point I am just EXCITED for the short 2 months I get in Haiti and what God has in store (though I have absolutely no idea what this summer looks like).

Occupational Therapy at Miriam Center in Haiti 2011

For jonathan's Sake, Miriam Center, Haiti DVD.wmv

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!!!

So tonight as I was doing my Beth Moore Bible Study...she challenged us to reflect on the supreme authority of Christ over all created things after reading Col 1:15-17

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

As I was journaling God reminded me a blogpost I had written back in April 2009. I went to my blog and loooked it up. I just finished reading it and once again was reminded of HOW GREAT my God is. I wanted to share because I think it will change your perspective of God today. I also encourage you to take time to look up the youtube videos and listen to the teachings...They are sooooooooooo good.

The past few days in my quiet time I have been learning and studying about the grandeur of my God. On youtube there are 2 different 5 segment sermons based off of 2 of Chris Tomlin’s songs How great is our God and Indescribable. The talks are done by Lou Giglio and I encourage anyone to go and listen to these. They will blow you away and make you step back and think and put your life in perspective.

The past few days, I have been blown away by God’s greatness. I quickly have learned how really, really, really big so much bigger than I ever thought or realized is the God I worship. I worship a massive God of glory and grace. A God who is able to hold me together no matter what circumstances may come my way. My God holds the universe in His hands. I used to say this statement all the time but now I have a better understanding of what that means. I have never been much into astrology but there is so much to learn about God in it.

We live in the planet earth and earth is a very small part of the Milky Way Galaxy one of hundreds of millions of galaxies in the universe. The Milky Way is 100,00 light years away and our solar system is the size of a quarter and the Milky Way the size of the continent of North America. The Milky Way Galaxy has billions of stars in it. If we were to count 1 star per second it would take 2,500 years to count just the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. WOW!!!

Neil Armstrong on his way back to earth after walking on the moon stated “ I remember on the way home on Apollo II it suddenly struck me that the tiny pee figure pretty and blue was the earth. I put my thumb up and shut one eye and my thumb blotted out earth. But I did not feel like a giant, I felt very, very small.” One of the psalmist wrote “I look at your heaven’s and the stars that you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him.” That is how I feel…who am I a little spec. We are so small but it is significant, insignificance because as small as we are, we are prized by majesty who sent for us and knows us and loves us even though we are teeny, tiny little people, living on a spec floating through the vas cosmos that he created. Just as God knows every star in heaven and has named them and placed them just where he wants them, so it is with us. He knows each of us by name, has placed us just where he wants us and He holds us together. WOW!! It is amazing to think about how big he is that we know his name.

I could go through star after star that I have learned about the past few days and how amazing and marvelous God is and how these stars cry out the glory of God. But, for time and space sake I will talk about 1. The Darling of Astronomy- The Whirlpool Galaxy. It is 31 million light years away and is made up of hundreds of billions of stars. With the Huble telescope they were able to look into the black hole in the center of the whirlpool Galaxy and you know what they found…..the shape of a cross. WOW!!! All creation declares the glory of God. The grace of God is everywhere.

What is just as amazing as looking at the universe and how big and grand it is, is looking at the human body God’s fingerprints are all over it. St. Augustine said, “men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains. The huge waves of the sea, the long course of rivers, the vast compass of the ocean, the circular motion of the stars, but they pass by themselves and don’t even notice.” How true that statement is. We don’t even realize the miracle of who we are. We are fearfully and wonderfully made by the God of the heavens. There is also so much I learned about the human body and our DNA that blew me away, but the thing that blew me away the most was the protein Laminin. Laminin is a little protein molecule that is a cell adhesion molecule. This protein is like our backbone it is holding your membranes together and it is the glue of the human body. What is so amazing about Laminen is that it is shaped like a cross. WOW! The stuff that is holding my body together is in the shape of the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Col 1- talks about how all things were created by and for Him. Jesus is before all things and in him all things are HELD TOGETHER! Do you know that there are millions and millions of micro crosses holding you together right now and 1 giant glorious cross of Jesus Christ that’s holding everyone of us who have trusted in Him! Now we see the little details God put in our body and in the universe to make stand back and stand in AWE of Him. There is so much we still don’t see or know and will never know. But one thing is for sure. We serve a grand, mighty, powerful, gracious, faithful, loving God.

Sin makes us think God is smaller than what he is. The fall tricked us to think we are so important, but maybe we aren’t as important as we thought we were. Maybe our lives are not as grand as we made them out to be. Don’t get me wrong, we are loved unconditionally by God. He breathed life into us and made us in His image and likeness. He even sent His one and only son to die on the cross for our sins. Oh How He Loves us! But, we are but a grain of sand in this huge universe that God holds in his hands. How amazing His love for us. The cross is even more amazing after looking at the rest of the universe. How amazing that long before I decided what I was going to do for and with God. God decided what he was going to do with me and that was to not give me what my sins deserve but to give His son what my sins deserved. Instead of giving me what I deserve instead he offered me a personal relationship with Him to live forever in a bi story all about Him. How amazing that God casts our sins as far as the east is from the west.

Listen to God speaking through his creation. God says I am the universe maker and I am a heart former but I am also big enough to be intimately aquainted with all the circumstances of your life and I promise you no matter what comes in this lifetime, no matter how difficult the road or how dark the night I will hold on to you and I will literally hold you together and carry you through any circumstances that come your way, any moment on this planet.

I challenge all of you and myself to stand in Awe of God and realize just how big he is and how small we are, but at the same time how unconditionally God loves us and how special and important we are to Him, He has called us his sons and daughter that is how intimately He loves us and cares for us. He cares for us as a Father cares for his children.

Protein Laminen
Darling of Astronomy
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Overflow by Brian & Rachel Lusky

"Lord Bless me so that I may be a blessing, heal me so that I might bring healer, cover me so that I may be a covering to the broken and weak to the weary and meak..." This is the song my blog"Overflow" was named after :-) IT truly is the prayer of my heart.

Things I am Thankful for 4 and 5

#4- FOOD and CLEAN WATER TO DRINK- It is so easy to forget what a gift access to food and clean water is when we live in the United States BUT not so much when you have lived for extended periods of time in a third world country. I have had countless children come up to me rubbing their tummies asking for food…many it had been over a day or 2 since their last meal. I have seen the bloated bellies and yellowish/orange hair… I held severely malnourished children as my heart broke for them. I have had the gutt wrenching job of turning families and children away when there was no food left to hand out…fully knowing how hungry they were and had no where else to get food. I have lost 5 dear friends to cholera in the past year (cholera is caused by unclean water). I have watched people drink brown water, bathe in dirty rivers. I am so incredible thankful for the fact that I can walk to the faucet and get a glass of water to drink…anytime. That I can take a shower and get clean. Thank you God for this privilege and blessing. Lord I pray for all those who don’t have this privilege that you will protect them from illness and disease and provide food for their hungry stomachs.

#5- SHELTER: I am so grateful tonight to have a warm apartment to come home to. There are many days I look around my apartment and feel guilty for the fact that the size of my apartment is the size of 9 houses in Haiti. Each of those 9 houses would average hold 10 people. My apartment has windows, doors, running water, electricity, a toilet, refrigerator, stove and when it rains the water stays out…The people in Haiti have a dirt floors, possibly some chairs, maybe a bed or 2, a few clothes and when it rains they get soaked. The truth be that the ones who have a house (shack) are the lucky few…many people in Haiti don’t have a roof over their head. Many in Pourt-A-Prince are still living in tents since the earthquake. I don’t even have to reflect all the way to Haiti…I look around Vegas and see how many homeless people there are here in America…so many people who are freezing tonight because they have no where to go and no roof over their head. Thank you God for providing me with shelter. Lord please protect all those who are cold tonight and have no where to go. Be with all those who do not have shelter and LORD until they find physical shelter may they find shelter in you.