Thursday/Friday (I know, what a descriptive title!)

Esther and Judler on Thursday

I had already decided that I'm too tired to post tonight (for whatever reason, I could not stay asleep last night), but then I got a bit of a burst of energy and decided that I could at least manage a quick update, just for the two or three of you that might actually read this :)

Anyway, Thursday (wow, was that only yesterday??), I headed back over to Heartline for prenatal day.  I really enjoyed getting to practice what Beth taught me last week--measuring fundal height, checking the position of the baby, and getting the baby's heart tones.  So blessed to be able to learn these things among such amazing people :)  Another fun thing about yesterday was meeting Lena, a labor and delivery nurse from Miami, who is visiting Heartline this week.  It's interesting how quickly you can connect with people here in Haiti; I met Lena just over 24 hours ago, and today, she bravely followed me across Port au Prince (on foot and through the mud nonetheless!) to come stay at Notre Maison with me for the night.  Not something you typically do with a stranger in the States, yet here, it seems normal (to me, anyway. Guess that might not be accurate after all!).  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Beth and Agathe teaching on Thursday

I stayed the night yesterday at Heartline's guesthouse, which is without a doubt the nicest/cleanest/quietest guesthouse I've ever stayed at in Haiti.  Therefore, yet another Heartline plug: if you're coming to Port au Prince, stay with Heartline!  :)

Two of Agathe's adorable daughters, Grace and Anna

This morning, I got to ride out to Heartline's property where they're planning to eventually relocate all of their programs.  Currently, they have their school for the Heartline missionary kids up and running there.  Sweet Hope was so kind as to give me a tour of the school, and Heartline's super tall (as in, I maybe come up to his shoulder, and I'm tall!) driver, Evan, showed me the rest of the property.

As soon as I got back to the guesthouse, Beth came to pick up me and Lena, and we headed to the maternity center.  On Fridays is "family planning day"--Agathe teaches a Bible study, pregnancy tests are given, blood pressures are monitored, and family planning counseling/education takes place.  I spent most of my time taking blood pressures and writing down information on the women who came.

the truck in the "car catcher" drainage ditch

After all the women had gone, Lena and I headed back to the guesthouse, going the second part on foot due to the ginormous truck that had driven into the drainage ditch and was blocking the gate to the neighborhood. Never a dull moment here.  Amazingly enough, within a very short amount of time, the truck had been lifted out by a big group of men.  Impressive.

Christine at Notre Maison

Mid-afternoon, Lena and I again set out on foot to walk to the Deli-Mart down the street, where we were meeting the driver from Notre Maison.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Well, it would've been, were it not for the stream of water/mud/ick/don't want to know what else that is currently present all down that road (though apparently, it's in much better shape than a month ago!).  Regardless, we both ended up with pretty muddy feet and I at least had to concentrate pretty hard not to slide right out of my slimy flip flops.  But we made it :)

We got to Notre Maison with enough time to play with the kids for a little bit before dinner, and then after dinner, Lena and I hung out on the front porch with the kids for awhile while they had their nightly worship time.  Some of these kids can really sing, let me tell you!

Jacob, who is temporarily living at Notre Maison,
along with two other little boys

Now we're heading to bed (hopefully I'll actually sleep tonight!).  Tomorrow's (always tentative) plans are to hang out here with the kids in the morning (Lena bought some special treats for them today at Deli Mart) and then to head back to the Heartline Guesthouse in the afternoon.  Should be a good day :)

Oh, and thank you so much to all of you that voted for Heartline (and especially those who also pestered others to vote as well!).  Voting closed today, with Heartline in fourth place, which means they're a finalist and could win a grant of up to $50k!  Recipients will be announced on December 16th.  So exciting!

mekredi

First things first: click here and vote for Heartline.

Did you do it?  Please note that you can vote multiple times by registering your email address and facebook/twitter accounts.  You won't get spam mail.  I promise.  Never yet have I gotten any messages from Giving of Life, and I've been registered for several months now.  So vote, vote, vote!  And tell your friends, relatives, and people you only send Christmas cards to!  :)  Just a few days left!

Fantastic.  Moving on...  There are a couple of other ladies staying at Notre Maison right now, and they arranged to take a group of the kids up to Fort Jaques today.  It's always really special and exciting for the kids to be able to get out for a little bit, and today was no exception.  They had a great time riding through Port au Prince (if you've been here, you know there's no shortage of things to see!), seeing the fort, having a picnic lunch, and running around and playing in the cool mountain air.

walking up to the fort

A group of UN soldiers from Guatemala was there, too.
They kept taking pictures with/of us, sometimes
without us entirely realizing it.  So strange.

me and Christina

Some things I saw that amused me while driving through PAP:

- a kid wearing a camouflage tshirt that said "Attack the FCAT!"  (Florida's standardized test)

- Shiny School

- Les Jolies Papillons school (Pretty Butterflies school...bet the boys love that!)

Of course, now I'm blanking on the other things I was so determined to remember and laugh about later.  I know one had to do with a strange barber shop name...but I forget now.  Oh well.   

The tentative plan for tomorrow is to go with Gertrude to take several of the kids to therapy in the morning, and then go to Heartline for their prenatal day.  I'm also hoping to spend the night at Heartline's guesthouse so that I'll still be on that side of town for family planning day on Friday.  We'll see :)

* Technologically dumb: it's taken me a week of waiting foreeeeeeeever for photos to upload to realize that if I just compress them, they'll post in seconds.  Good grief.  At least now I know...

Child Development Day

Whew, finally, the pictures uploaded!  I've literally been trying to get this post up since last night, but the silly internet has not been cooperating.  

Yesterday I spent most of the day at Heartline.  It was child development day, when the women in their program who have already given birth come with their babies for a class, postpartum check-ups, and lunch.  Lots of cute, healthy babies!

Beth and Agathe, talking to the ladies

I also got to see sweet Esther again, and her baby whom she has now named Judeler.  They've done well over the past few days, and so after a final check-up, Beth and I gave them a ride home.  Esther and Judeler will continue coming to Heartline on Tuesdays, and we also hope they'll come on Friday for Bible study/family planning day.  Most exciting news of all?  Yesterday morning, Agathe (a wonderful Haitian woman who works with Heartline) was talking to Esther about the Lord, and Esther decided to give her life to Jesus!  That, even more than the classes and check-ups and care during labor and delivery, is what Heartline is really about.

Esther and Judeler

sweet baby Judeler, two days old

Please also pray for Mama Emmanuel.  She has been staying at Heartline for the past month or so, awaiting the birth of her baby.  Her due date was off (which is pretty common in Haiti, to not really know the actual date), and she is really ready to have this baby and get home to her family.  Her son Emmanuel is staying with her here, so she at least has him, but it's still very hard on her to be away from home.  On top of that, she's faced more difficulties and experienced more sorrow than many of us can even begin to imagine.  Tara wrote about her here.  Mama E is such a special lady, and we would really appreciate your prayers for her healing, her comfort, and for a safe delivery of this newest baby.

Mama Emmanuel

Now, off I go to spend the day up in the mountains!  We're taking a group of the Notre Maison kids up to Fort Jaques for a picnic!

Oh, but don't forget to go vote for Heartline, if you haven't already!  Click here.

mesi Bondye

Seyè a, se tout fòs mwen. Se pou li m'ap chante. Se li menm ki delivre m'. Se Bondye mwen li ye, m'ap fè lwanj li. Se Bondye zansèt mwen yo, m'ap di jan li gen pouvwa.


The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Exodus 15:2

Edson and Lovely

Christine - not to be confused with
Christina, Ti Christine, or Christelle :)

601. For the safe birth of Esther's baby boy.
602. Sweet Esther's courage and quiet strength.
603. Melissa's skills as a nurse-midwife.
604. Heartline.  Oh so thankful for their faithful ministry here in Haiti.
605. Advice and suggestions from those wiser and more experienced than me.
606. Finally being back in Haiti after being away for far too long.
607. Getting to spend time with the Notre Maison kids.
608. Getting to hang out at Heartline.
609. The Hendricks' fabulous Halloween party.
610. Roof-sitting.  Houses in the US really should be built with roof access.  We're totally missing out.

Wini (Heartline's nurse) and Beth with Esther's son

Photo Update -- and Heartline plug :)

I'm taking advantage of a rare occasion in which internet is actually working at a relatively decent speed, so let's see if I can get a few photos up from the past few days:

Christina, waiting for her turn at physical therapy

Nathalie

On Saturday, I headed over to the Hendrick's to hang out for the day and attend their awesome Halloween party. That day went rather different than anticipated, with Esther from Heartline's prenatal program going into labor, but in the meantime, the Heartline folks proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they know how to party!  Heather posted photos here.

Hudson Hendrick, a.k.a. Super Dash
- he is making this face in every
picture I took of him.

 After the party, Heather and I headed back over to the maternity center, where Esther had progressed enough to no longer be smiling but not enough to keep her off i.v. meds.  She still had a long, hard night of labor ahead of her, but she did such an amazing job.  Her baby boy was finally born at 7:26 a.m. -- 31 hours after her water broke.  There were many complications during her labor, but God has provided an amazing nurse-midwife, Melissa, to work with Heartline; because Melissa was there, Esther was able to deliver safely, surrounded by people who love her.  Had Melissa not been there to provide her medical skills, Esther would have had to be transported to a hospital, where she would have received minimal medical attention and no support or encouragement.  Furthermore, had Esther tried to deliver at home, it's likely she would not have survived.  Praise God for Heartline!  This truly is a life-changing, life-saving ministry.  The level of care they provide for Haitian women is incredible; they so value each woman that goes through their program and treat every one with a dignity and respect that is practically unheard of in this country.  I've seen this firsthand, and I really cannot say enough about this amazing ministry.  Please, if you haven't already voted for Heartline to win a $50k grant to further their work here in Haiti, do it now!  It literally takes 2 seconds (assuming you have faster internet than I currently do; so much for the good internet I had earlier)!  Click here to vote.

Sweet Esther and her baby boy, about two hours after he was born.

born October 30, 2011 at 7:26 am -- 6 lbs 9 oz

Beth, doing the newborn exam, and Tara

Please pray for Esther and her baby.  Esther lost a lot of blood giving birth, and so she and the baby have been staying at the maternity center so that her recovery can be monitored.  She and the baby were doing well last I heard (earlier this afternoon), and if all continues to go well and the baby doesn't have a fever tomorrow, they will be able to return home tomorrow afternoon.

Quick update

Heading to bed in a minute but wanted to post a quick update first (primarily for Everly, who has already figured out that I made it to Heartline today) :)

This morning I went with Gertrude to take several of the kids from Notre Maison to physical therapy.  Christina was one of them, so I happily held her in the car and most of the time at the hospital; Christine, Valencia, Jean Daniel, Woodmayer, and Alain also went.  It was encouraging to see the therapist (an American who is on staff with Project Medishare) interact with the kids; it was obvious that she loves kids and is good at what she does.  She even wants to come out to Notre Maison on her own time and see the other kids (and perhaps train the staff on how to work with them).  Oh how I hope that happens; these kids have so much potential, and if the nannies could/would do these exercises with them, I really think many of them would benefit greatly.

Shortly after we got back from physical therapy, I left again to head to Heartline, where they were kind enough to let me observe as they did prenatals.  Beth even gave me a mini-lesson in determining the position of the baby and how to measure fundal height, and she let me use the doppler to find the baby's heartbeat.  This may not sound too exciting, but hey, I'm completely new to this (though hopefully not for long), so I thought it was pretty great :)  I didn't take any pictures while I was there (oddly enough, I took a sum total of THREE pictures all day today, so weird!), but Heather and Tara both have pictures up from today on their blogs.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to be able to head back to Heartline for a few hours, as long as Gertrude's driver is able to get me there :)

I've intended to write a list of prayer requests for my time here but have still not managed to do it, but one thing especially that I'd appreciate prayer for is for wisdom and guidance in some decisions that I'll likely soon be making.  There are several conversations I'm hoping to have/continue over the next few weeks that should help me as I figure out where to go/what to do next, so prayers for all of that would be great :)

And with that, off to bed I go!

Oh, but if anyone has any ideas for a very simple Halloween costume, that would be fantastic.  The Hendricks are hosting a Halloween party on Saturday, and I am clueless as to what to dress up as.  Didn't exactly pack for Haiti with Halloween in mind... So suggestions from you more creative people would be great!

Back in Haiti!

Bonswa!  M'ap chita sou tet kay Notre Maison nan...mezanmi mwen vreman kontan pou m la!  Mwen pa la depi lontan; sa fe m kontan anpil pou we timoun yo isit la anko.

I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back!

I'm sitting on the roof at Notre Maison, my belly full of yummy Haitian food, listening to Haitian music blaring from a nearby disco.  And best of all...some of my favorite kids in the world are a mere two floors beneath where I sit.  Oh how very long it's been since I was here last.  But now I'm back, for two whole weeks that I'm sure will absolutely fly by...but I am grateful for every moment I get to spend here.

I arrived yesterday--with all my luggage, despite temporarily forgetting that I had a carry-on suitcase and leaving it at security at the Austin airport...  Gertrude and her driver picked me up at the airport, and we made the short drive over to Notre Maison.  As we drove in the gate, the kids started yelling my name, and it was as if I'd never left--except that we're all a year-and-a-half older, and these kids have sure grown!

I spent the next few hours playing with the kids, and then about halfway through dinner, my 45 minutes of sleep from the previous night really caught up with me, so I quickly headed to bed....for 12 hours!  Hopefully I'm caught up now!

Uh oh, looks like internet is cutting out, so let's see if I can post some pictures before it goes away again!

My Christina :)

Gus and Wilberson (Olguie in the background)

Mimose

Tomorrow's plans (which are, of course, tentative, given that this is Haiti!) are to run errands with Gertrude in the morning and then to hang out at Heartline in the afternoon.  So excited!