Sweet Moise(Moses)

I would like to tell y'all about one very special little guy who brings some much joy into my life and makes my heart so happy every time I see him. His name is Moise, and he has been here at Lifeline since the end of 2010. Moise was brought to mama Nicole here at Lifeline by the police. He was found in a ditch where part of his body was submerged in water and filth. I first saw Moise in January, 2011 and my heart immediately broke when I saw this sad little guy. He had sores covering from head to toe. He couldn't make eye contact and he constantly rocked himself in his bed and probably weighed less than 6lbs.The doctors told mama Nicole that Moise would not be able to survive and that there was just no hope for life. Of course mama Nicole didn't believe that as she serves the Great Physician so she brought him back to Lifeline and the ladies here began nursing him back to health. In July, 2011 a friend of mine who is a nurse was here and said at that time Moise did weigh 6lbs and she said he was flaccid(no muscle tone) except the muscles he was using to breath with which he had to work very hard at. By October, 2011 he had gained 6lbs but very clearly had Marasmus which is when a child has been severely malnourished and has an old man face, bright eyes and wasting of the body. His hair was still orange, which is another sign of malnourishment. He could sit on your lap if you assisted him and was able to hold his head up. In January, 2012 which was the next time I saw him he looked much better but still was very limited mobility. A couple of the women who came on the work team spent their time here pretty much dedicated to working with, nursing and loving on Moise. They would hold his knees together in a position to crawl. His hips were always spread wide apart and he did not like putting his legs together. He would sit up on their laps but only for a while then he would want to lay down again. He did a fairly good job at picking up cheerios out of your hand but still wasn't real motivated to do anything that would cause him to have to use his muscles. In April, 2012 he had only gained 3lbs since October, 2011 but he was also more mobile and physically was using more energy. Since February I have tried, when possible to go work with Moise. The mama's and I have forced him to get on the ground and crawl around. I would make him grab my fingers and pull himself up to his feet on his own. By March he was doing it all on his own in his crib. By May he could walk around his crib and the room holding on to things as he went.

Moise is 2 now and was last weighed in August at 20lbs!! I wouldn't be surprised if he weighs even more than that now because that kid can eat more than all the other kids in his room. Moise laughs, he plays with the kids, he crawls EVERYWHERE, can pull himself and can even climb which has become a little annoying because he tries to climb out of his crib and has been successful a few times :) He no longer has the hair and skin of someone who is completely malnourished. He throws fits and they are not cute, they are very loud, he has no problem showing when he doesn't want or like something. He can walk just holding on to one of my pinky's. He can walk on his own and I tell him that every day but he is still too nervous to try. Every time you tell him to stand up or walk he gets the biggest grin in his face. When I tell him to stand by himself or walk by himself he just looks at me and laughs because he thinks it's so funny. When he knows someone is watching him walk around the room his face shows how proud he is of himself, it's so cute. On Sunday I was feeding him and I gave him the spoon to see if he could feed himself and he did GREAT! He had a hard time getting the food on the spoon but after I helped him get it on there he had no problem getting the spoon to his mouth. He responds when you call his name and can follow commands like "stand up", "sit down", "don't climb that", "don't hit", etc...He can talk but doesn't use real words, he mostly says "Dah" but you usually know what it means. Yesterday we wanted to know if he knows people by their name so we started asking him where certain people were. We would say, "Where's Junior?" he would find him, point and say "dah", "Where's Matent Fani?" he'd point and say "dah". When we asked him where Dashka is he even tried to say her name but it came out more like "Dahdah", we were very proud of him nonetheless. When they asked him where Emily is he, he looked at me, smiled and crawled to me. I can't tell you how full of joy that made my heart! As I am writing this I can't help but cry thinking about this precious little boy who was thrown away probably by someone who wasn't loved well herself, someone who hasn't been shown her life is valuable and therefore didn't know the value of Moise's. This little guy who doctors said had no hope of living and honestly when I first saw him, I thought he had hope of living but didn't see much hope for him to being fully mobile or the size of a normal child and his both now, is alive and very much full of life! "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." Psalm 40:2 God literally pulled Moise out of a slimy pit(ditch) to give him a firm foundation. God never lost sight of that sweet baby boy as he was left in that nasty ditch and as soon as he was left there, God sent someone to save him. Oh for Moise to one day understand his Daddy's great love for him and how precious his life is to Him! "Jesus said,' Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14 God rescued Moise out of the ditch because his life is precious to Him, as are the lives of all of these children and He desires for these little ones to come to Him! This is just one miracle story from the kids of Lifeline but I truly am amazed by such an amazing and loving Father I serve!

Birthday Blessings

I would love to tell you about my first birthday celebrated in Haiti because it will give you an even clearer picture of the amazing children and women I am surrounded by here.

I am not going to lie, at first I wasn't SUPER excited about staying around here for my birthday. I mean I wanted to be with the kids on my birthday but I also thought I could use it as a day away. At the same time I really didn't want to make a big deal about my birthday because the majority of the kids here don't even know when their birthday's are and haven't been made special so why should mine. Now I will say that every month we have a birthday day and for all the kids who have a birthday that month, I make them a cake, we sing "Happy Birthday" and I tell them I love them and that I thank God for creating them. Anyway, I just didn't think it would really be right to make mine a big deal.

The day started as a fairly normal day here at Lifeline. I made peanut butter/chocolate brownie things to share with the kids that evening and then I went out with the kids. I spent about three hours taking braids out, played a pick-up game of soccer with some of the little boys which was short lived as usual, was able to sit and hold my baby boy while listening to some of the mama's sing hymns. I had hoped to get a nap but that didn't exactly happen. Mama Nicole sent out for Coke and had someone make me a birthday cake which was beautiful AND delicious, it was SO sweet of her. So when it was snack time the kids all came in and sang "Happy Birthday" to me and we had a little party. They got their favorite snack that evening of bread and peanut butter along with Coke and the brownies that I had made for them. They all loved it and I so enjoyed their beautiful singing and birthday wishes! Throughout the day I received sweet gifts from the kids. I received 3 little stuffed animals which I fear came out of the hands a smaller child :), a few silly band bracelets, a really cool chain necklace(don't go too crazy with your imagination, it's like a $0.25 machine chain), a really cool chain bracelet and lots of kisses and "I love you, happy birthday, Emeely"'s! I loved every sweet little thing I got from the kids! After I finished with the kids a couple of the mama's asked me to come up to their room. I took the cake Nicole had made for me with me to share with them because it was too much for me but not enough for all the kids. All of the mama's who stay here came into mommy Delva's room and they gave me one of the best birthday blessings I've ever received if not the best! Delva told the ladies that she wanted them to bless me because I live here by myself because the Lord called me here and that I can't be with my family but that she wants me to understand that they are my family. She said, "We don't have any gifts to give you because we don't have anything but I know that the gifts God will give you are better than anything any person could give you. So we want to bless you for you birthday as your gift." And that's EXACTLY what they did. The ladies sang a beautiful hymn to the Lord and after that in unison all prayed blessings and coverings over me. When they had finished praying, maten Saurene read Psalm 24 which is BEAUTIFUL, when she finished they sang another amazing hymn and then sang "Happy Birthday" for me and it was probably the best and most fun "Happy Birthday" I've ever heard! I could not stop crying. Delva knew I was already missing my family and friends back home but I couldn't feel more a part of a family as they make me feel. I told them that I was so happy to be with them and that I am so glad they are my family. Then my day ended Skyping with my family :) It was so good to see their faces and hear their voices since I couldn't be with them. My mom was even clever enough to send my birthday card and gift with a friend who came on the August work team!

It was a birthday I will never forget. I was so humbled and honored to receive so much love from such hard working, amazing women of God. These women have given up everything, they've left their kids at home to come to care for others kids SO THAT they can care for their kids at home. I feel like I'm supposed to be loving on and spoiling them and then they pour love and blessings over me and spoil me beyond what I could ever even dream of being spoiled and in such a God honoring way. What a birthday and day to remember. Receiving love and blessings from 100 precious children, an amazing woman who is the director of this orphanage, the amazing women who care for these children and so many friends and family back home who sent me more birthday wishes and blessings then I could have hoped for! The Lord is too good to me, I'm blown away by my Father's love for His children!

Blessed

I know it has been too long since I last made a post. I arrived home a week and 4 days ago and have enjoyed every minute here in the states with my family and friends. I have also greatly missed the kids every minute :) 
My first 6 months in Haiti have already come and gone! Of course I have many stories and experiences I could share with you. I could share about how I've had to learn how to be a nurse and care for cuts, fevers, abscesses, rashes from fungus and parasites. I could share about the silly games the kids make up and play. I could share about laying under the stars with the older kids talking and laughing for hours. I could share about the work that's being done on the compound. I could share about dancing, singing and memorizing scripture with the kids every Wednesday afternoon. There is so much that has happened in 6 months sometimes I don't even know how to process it all. I can tell you that I still am daily humbled and blessed by the fact that the Lord has chosen me to be surrounded by these beautiful amazing orphaned or abandoned children, to love on, hold, pray for, protect, play with, care for, and kiss goodnight everyday. I can also tell you that I am so blessed to be able to learn from and work under Nicole, a true woman of faith. Of course I can think of some hardships, struggles and frustrations from the past 6 months but right now what rings loudest are all the many blessings! Merci Jezi!

Leaving

I am coming to the end of my first 6 months and it is crazy to think I've already been here that long. I am 3 weeks away from leaving and the closer I get to leaving the more conversations we have about how much I will miss the kids and adults who work here and how much they will miss me. The all understand I am coming back in July but we have all become so used to being together everyday for the past 5 months that it is hard to think about not waking up to their giggles and yelling at 6:30 every morning and falling asleep to Guerby and maten Delva singing in their rooms at night. 

Last Saturday I took a break and went and spent the day with a friend. I left around 8:00 in the morning and returned a little after 8:00 in the evening so I was away from them for the whole day. When I got home I thought most of the little ones would already be in bed but I was wrong. We pulled in to the compound to find most of them in the yard and on the porch waiting for me to arrive. The greeted me at the car door and as soon as I stepped out of the car I was bombarded with hugs and kiss, a beautiful greeting! A few of the boys had gotten sick that day with fevers and colds so after I said hello to everyone I went to care for the sick ones. The next couple days a few more got sick. They are all well now just getting over their coughs. The boys decided the reason they all got sick was because I left them for the day. They said, "You can't leave again. When you left for one day the boys got sick, if you leave for a long time EVERYONE will be sick!". It was a little dramatic and I told them I really didn't think that was going to happen but it was a good attempt to keep me here :)

Yesterday I was talking with some of the mama's and they were asking me when I am leaving and coming back for the hundredth time. They told me if I don't come back that they are coming to America to find me! We all laughed as I told them it would be so funny to hear a knock at my door and open it to find Saudriana, Saurene, Jossi, Veralin and Nadia standing there!

The other day some of the girls asked me who is going to pray with them every night. We joked about me calling every night to sing and pray with them :)

Last night I was informed by Mackenson, Schnaider, Fenic, and Kimbel that they are all coming with me. Fenic will be riding on my feet, Kimbel will be hiding in my hair, Schnaider will be hiding in my ear and Mackenson in my shoe inside my bag. Mackenson also told me that I will have to stop to let him out when I eat because he can't stay in my shoe that long, he might die he said :) 

I am always praying that these kids really do know how much I love them and that they understand the reason I am here and trying to care for them is because God has put a love in my heart for them. Sometimes I feel like they're missing it and that I'm not making that message as clear to them as I would like to. Then the Lord gives me moments like the ones I just shared and though I know I don't always love them as well as I want to and should, He's allowing me to see that they do know I love them and that they even love me too :) Thank you Lord for your kindness!

Evenings with Delco

Let me start this with informing you that "delco" is "generator" in English. We have two generators, a small one and a big one. The small one was set up with a remote start and stop so that I could shut it down from my room at night, unfortunately the small one hasn't been working properly for about a month now so that beautiful idea isn't really working. Let me also tell you that it's the rainy season and it rains almost every night and almost always right when I want to go shut the generator off or like 5 minutes before, of course. Usually Guerby, one of the older boys goes with me to shut it off so I don't have to go out there in the dark by myself. We have had a couple interesting trips to the generator when it's pouring and the entire area surrounding the generator cage is flooded, he has finally started to laugh WITH me as we're running through the pond in the yard to turn off the generator. So now I have a story.

I fear this story is going to be a lot funnier to me than it will be to y'all, there are just many times in my life here that I just laugh and laugh and think about how funny and different my life is now :)

So recently a couple guys came to look at the generator situation and ended up only changing the oil,which is a frustration on it's own but anyway...They left the nasty bucket of oil right outside the door of the generator cage, brilliant placing. The other night Miguelson, another older boy, decided he would go with me this time to turn off the generator. He came to me at about 9:55pm and told me we should go turn it off, I wasn't finished using it so I told him I'd call him in 5 minutes. He did tell me it was going to rain but I was foolish and didn't listen so when I finally called him at 10:00pm and  stepped out of the guesthouse it started POURING! Nesly, a younger boy, Miguelson and I all ran for the generator cage. We shut it off and then I hear Miguelson yell at Nesly. I put my flashlight on Miguelson and he has that nasty black oil all over his leg! I start laughing of course, though Miguelson was not. I then put my flashlight on Nesly who had managed to step both feet into the nasty oil bucket and cover his sandals and legs in it! I then laughed even harder as we all ran back up to the guesthouse in the pouring rain with oil covering the boys. Nesly lost his sandals on the way because they stuck to the ground. I went in the house and the boys went to clean up. I got inside and turned my flashlight on because now we have no electricity, and I too have it on MY foot! I went outside to figure out how to clean it off knowing that the only water I have right now is the rain and also knowing you can't really wash oil off with water. I hear the boys yelling for me and they ran back over to where I was. We tried 3 different soaps before Miguelson and Nesly finally ran to get some gasoline. Let me tell you that I literally never stopped laughing and am still giggling as I am writing this, after about 20 minutes the boys joined in laughing too. The three of us bathed in gasoline moving from puddle to puddle to try to find some "clean" water. It took us 40 minutes to get clean and Nesly lost his shorts and sandals :) Oh what a funny evening!

There you have it, one of my most entertaining times of the day, going to turn off the generator!

Our First Excursion Together

We went on our first excursion together and it was fun :) We took all of the kids who are 6 and older up to the Baptist Mission. I have been to the Baptist Mission several times but only to eat and shop for souvenirs and once to take one of our kids to the hospital there for x-rays. I didn't know they have a little zoo, that is where we took the kids. When I found out we were going to the zoo I was very curious what a "zoo" in Haiti would be like. Now, I do think there is an actual zoo here in Haiti but this zoo was a little...more like what I thought it would be. They had different kinds of birds, goats, rabbits and one monkey. Let me tell you about this RIDICULOUS monkey. I like monkey's but this guy was ugly! We were all standing around his cage and the kids were trying to take pictures but he wouldn't stay still. He came over to where I was standing and planted himself on the fence of his cage right in front of my face. All the kids gathered around and watched the funny monkey who was making faces at them, they laughed it was funny. I decided to move out of the way so some other kids could come look, well when I moved to another spot he followed me, the kids laughed and I was like, "Ha that's funny." Well I moved again and...he followed me again! So now EVERYONE thinks this is the funniest thing and they kept telling me to walk around his cage to see if he'd follow me, he did. I even sneaked away and hid behind the crowd then walked to the other side of his cage and HE FOUND ME!! Let me tell you what the children are calling me now, "Madam Makak" which is "Mrs. Monkey". I don't love that name but the kids are sure getting a kick out of it! 

After we walked around the zoo which took about 20 minutes, we went back to the truck to eat the sandwiches that the older kids made for us the night before, yum! Then we went to the little museum they have. I didn't actually get to see the museum because our little Edwar had an upset stomach and I held him in the truck. 
Now for my favorite part of the day, the drive home! I wasn't really looking forward to it because traffic was horrible that day and what normally takes us about 2 hours to get to the Baptist Mission took us 3. Anyway, we headed back and few minutes down the road one of the men with us who was helping with the kids started singing, the older kids joined in and soon the whole truck was in song. Misterline, one of our older girls, kept asking me to sing the English songs that I sing with them at night before bed. I thought the songs would die out but these kids sang praises to our Savior the WHOLE WAY HOME and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! For a while we had a couple trucks full of white people who were following extra close to listen and watch the kids sing and dance on the truck. I noticed they weren't the only people who were noticing this truck full of children from an orphanage singing and dancing, the people on the streets were pretty intrigued by the sight as well :) I just closed my eyes and listened to the kids and mama's praise the Lord. I thought, if I was enjoying that moment so much I could only imagine how blessed the Lord was by His children, these sweet orphans, praising His name! It was a fantastic end to our excursion! If you want to see more pictures or hear a little bit of the singing you can check them out on Facebook. These kids amaze me all the time, they have so much joy and I know it comes from their Father. I pray I get to continue watching them grow more and more in their joy for Him!

Bonwit

So one of my favorite times with the kids starts every night around 8pm when I go say "bonwit", goodnight. Last year when I was here with a team we started meeting with the girls every night before bed to sing, pray and kiss them goodnight, it was a very special time. When I returned this year with the team the kids of course wanted to have that time together again. It didn't take long before the boys were asking me why I sing and pray with the girls but I just say "bonwit" to them. Now that I live here I start with the little kids rooms and end with the big girls room and I get to sing, pray and kiss each little precious face goodnight. 
For a while some of the 11-14 year old boys thought they were too cool for a kiss on the cheek and a hug goodnight, but now they all ask me why I spend more time in the girls room and make sure I sing with them EVERY night :) Tonight 3 of the boys blessed my heart and they don't even know it. When I went to say goodnight to the boys 3 of them hadn't made it into the room yet. I returned a little later to ask one of the oldest boys to help me with something and my almost 14 year old, Nesly said with his head hanging and a sad voice, "Emily, you didn't say goodnight to me..." I said I am so sorry, kissed his cheek and told him I love him. Then the other two boys of course needed their "goodnight" too. They were so cute and made me feel so good to know that they do accept and appreciate my love for them! I think our "bonwit" time has become as special to them, at least some of them, as it has to me. If I don't get to say goodnight to some of the little ones because they are already asleep when I come to the room, they always ask me first thing the next day, "Why didn't you come pray with me and say goodnight?". I get yelled at if I try to leave before they get a chance to give me hugs and kisses from them, they're too cute!!
My prayer is that they would experience God's love through me. I know that sounds crazy because God's love is perfect and I am a sinner but praise Him because He has saved me from my sins AND because He uses us with all of our imperfections so I am praying He will use me here with these precious children who love to be held, hugged, kissed, told "I love you" and kissed "bonwit" no matter how old or young they are! Bonwit!