UPDATE

Hi Everyone, Sorry it has been so long since I have written again but things have been crazy busy as always and we have a group of 140 short-term missionaries here the past 2 weeks and many of the groups spent A LOT of time in the Miriam Center. It is great to have some people from my home area in PA and to see some familiar faces and meet new ones. There are many groups in this missionary team that have a heart for Miriam Center and the kids. They have been a great help with feeding, providing therapy, bringing in supplies, taking the children to church, taking the children on walks, etc. I will try to give you some quick updates on what I have been up to…. 1.SUPPLIES on Missionary Flights International ARRIVED- I am so EXCITED that all the supplies that were flewn in by MFI and coordinated by John Harvey’s group (1,600lbs of supplies) have all arrived. It was pretty awesome that their team was here to help unpack and see the supplies start being put to use. On that flight was cans of fruits and vegetables to puree for the severe and profound to increase nutrition. A 250kcal formula that is great for tube feeding and kids that we need to increase calories and/or have gastroinstestinal problems. They also brought in tons of disposable mattress pad covers for at night to help save the mattresses. Also 200lbs of simply thick was brought in as well. It was pretty EXCITING to unload all those supplies and know what it means for increasing the kids overall health and nutrition. The groups also left A LOT of supplies including peanut butter, toothpaste, toothbrushes, a few kids clothes, children’s medicine, etc. There was enough travel size toothpaste and toothbrushes for us to also pull out enough to bless our staff and my outreach program. 2.For Jonathan Sake Outreach- Outreach has been going great!!! The parents have been faithful in coming and completing their homework at home. The parents continue to be eager to learn and EXCITED about the toys/supplies they are able to check out. I have a couple fun stories. The little girl who I wrote about last update that her mother reported that she was playing in her food for the first time and I provided her with a spoon with instructions to practice having her hold it…well, she is now holding her spoon on her own and today in outreach we practiced with me holding her hand with the spoon in it scooping food to her mouth. By the end she was helping intiate bringing spoon to mouth after food scooped on. Today I had a family came all the way from Cap Hatia (6-7 hours) with their son who had Quadruplegic erebral Palsy because they heard we had doctors and help. When I found out how far they came I realized they were not candidates for our outreach. So I dropped what I was doing in the preschool and took an hour to train them on stretching, brushing, massage, and oral-motor techniques and gave them laminated handouts. I also gave them some toys, therapy brush, oral-motor supplies, etc. At the end they asked when they could come back. I told them anytime but when they do come back to come on a Wednesday or Thursday as their child is at a similar level as the children that come on those days. They said they would see me Wednesday. I am in shock…1 because of how far they came and second how much love they have for their child and third that both parents were there loving on that boy. It makes my heart so incredibly happy!!! After outreach I am spending 20-40 minutes 3-4x a week to train Presidue on different therapy techniques as he will be the Hatian running this program. He now has his own binders with step by step exercise to progress kids at all different levels that are laminated. So EXCITED about this program. The parents have only asked me for 2 things. The first one is a BIG NEED. These parents need Tap-Tap money to get to outreach every week. Many of these parent walks hours or take Motos which are unsafe with their children to get here and it is hard on them and their children. To pay tap-tap for all the kids we need about $150 a month. This would make life so much easier and practical for these families. The other thing the families ask me for on a regular basis is a Bible. It breaks my heart that these parents don’t have a copy of God’s word and that they want one so bad. I had one family pledge to buy 6 of them. The Bible’s cost $13 US dollars to buy them here in Haiti. I need 12 more people to pledge to buy 1 Bible and by the time I leave Haiti these families can have Bible’s :-) 3.FEEDING/NUTRITION- The continues to be one of the BIG focuses of this summer. It is easy to get discouraged because there is so much that goes into it and so many changes we are asking the Haitians to adapt to and change takes time and is a process. I have to choose to look at all the victories…even small ones to stay positive that we are doing something BIG for these kids. The supplies we got from the MFI plane have been very helpful with nutrition for Derson who is on a feeding tube. Currently I have him on a schedule where he gets Carnation instant breakfast in the morning, a special formula for feeding tubes for lunch and dinner and a protein shake at 10 before bed. I am starting to notice him being more alert throughout the day. We have been struggling with how to help Sandley but I feel in the last 3-4 days we have made a breakthrough with his nutrition. Sandley is almost 2 years old and only weighs ~10lbs. Everything we tried to feed him came out in diahrea and went right through him. Even a gently formula mixed with rice cereal. A few days ago Justin asked if we were trying to have him eat too much at a time (3-4oz. was our goal) and so we started 3-4 days ago feeding every 2 hours 1 oz. of food and this has been working!!! Sandley has not had diahrea and has been peeing :-) The kids are getting more nutritious meals with more fruits and vegetables. The little guys meals continue to be less nutritious than the bigger kids meals but this is not a battle we are ready to fight completely and so I am currently making babyfood out of canned vegetables and fruits that were flewn in on the MFI flight to substitute for now. The kids are being feed with the appropriate size spoons AND the picture check-off system is working so that all the staff know who has eaten and who hasn’t and it allows the Americans to walk in and help feed and not know who hasn’t eaten. Stephanie Mosier has played a huge role in helping the cooks learn to cook new food for the little guys and big guys. Justin Clark has been huge in helping us get the food depot set up. 4.SEVERE and PROFOUND PRESCHOOL- This is definitely one of my favorite parts of the day. I just love watching these children get so much stimulation and 1:1 therapy time. I love how eager the mothers are to learn and apply what I have shown them. I started training the mothers in the last few weeks how to stretch, brush, use bolsters for tummy time, oral motor techniques/massage, and how to do a basic massage with lotion. A few weeks ago I made boxes and binders for each of the workers to try to make it more personalize since they have specific group of kids I will be teaching them to work with BUT today we realized this is too hard to keep organized as during preschool (especially when short-term missionary groups are here) the supplies are being pulled all over the room and it is hard to get them back to the right boxes. So today I re-organized the boxes so that the boxes were by item instead. This will just make it easier for all involved. Gildine is standing while holding onto something and starting to take steps forward with hands held. Gildine and Love-jinnie can sit all by themselves when weightbearing through hands for support. Andy, Emma, Lounide, and Jessica are getting good at lifting their head during tummy time over the bolsters. John Kerry, Chrit-TCherry, and Shamma love the vibrating chewy toys. I could go on and on about each child. I see each child making small steps of progress and having an increased quality of life thanks to Heather Meyer for starting the preschool and pouring into these beautiful children who have so much potential. I am so thankful God has allowed me to come alongside her to train the workers (Momma’s) and work with the kids. 5.BLESSING the Workers- One of our BIG things this summer/year is finding ways to bless the workers and help them understand how much we appreciate all the hardwork and love they pour into these kids. One way is that through Kimmy’s House’s help we are working to make sure all the workers get meals while at work. Heather even blessed them this week with a special meal this week. We had a team down here who asked to wash all the worker’s feet, lotion them, and put nail polish on them. They loved it!!! AND I loved watching them be loved on and appreciated. I went around a few days the past week and tried to give each of the workers a back massage. They LOVED it!!! I also had an MFR certified PT here who also went around and massaged the worker’s which was a huge blessing to them. WE have the most AMAZING staff at the Miriam Center. 6.Prayer Time- On Teusday we started our first time meeting together as a Miriam Center staff and praying/worshipping together. I am so EXCITED About this time we will have together 2x a week to pray for each other and the children and the Miriam Center as a whole. I am praying that God really uses this time to first of all bring himself glory, second of all bring unity and a stronger bond between the staff, and thirdly as a time of refreshing and filling for all of us. 7.Documentary- I am soooo EXCITED about a team from California that was here this past trip and filmed the different aspects of the Miriam Center and got interviews from the Miriam Center staff (American and Hatian) as well as the parents of outreach and some of the short-term missionaries who came to visit the Miriam Center. There plan is to make a 20-40minute documentary of the Miriam Center that will be used to help us raise sponsorship for our kids and raise money for BIG projects we want to do and to increase awareness of the Miriam Center and what we do. Prayer Requests 1.For energy, strength, wisdom, and provision to finish strong the rest of this summer and that what I set up is sustainable while I am not here. 2.For Presidue (the Hatian who runs outreach) that he would feel empowered to run outreach and for out times of training that I will clearly and effectively train him with the knowledge/provide him with the tools he needs. 3.For the health of all the staff in the Miriam Center to stay good and for protection from illnesses going around 4.For Heather as Stephanie is going home for the month of July and will be directing the Miriam Center by herself. For her to not feel overwhelmed and find balance to get everything done. 5.For Stephanie to have an AMAZING time of rest and rejuvination back home in Denver, Colorado during the month of July. 6.For Peace for me as when I think about the next 6 months and everything that has to fall into place for me to be full-time in Haiti by January stresses me out. Pray for wisdom to know when and how to do everything. This summer is flying by and I can’t believe I only have a little over 3 weeks left in Haiti for the summer. The only thing making leaving a little bit easier is knowing that I will be moving here full-time in January God willing and that while I am in the states I will be fundraising to move to Haiti full-time and advocating for the kids’ stateside. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Part of this was written June 25, 2012 and part was written June 29, 2012