to die is gain.

That the Light of Christ will shine in this country. That the Love of Christ will be shown to these people. That the Power of Christ will be revealed in a mighty way. That the Name of Jesus will be made famous here and throughout the world. These are our daily prayers.

God answers these prayers daily in various capacities. Some days it's through our children at the Children's Home, or through our Bible studies with each other twice a week, or through the church we attend in Pernier, or through mouths that we are able to feed on the street. I wanted to share with you the way that God has ordained that we would fulfill His Will this week.

About a week ago, we got a call from a UN Officer in a tent camp that she had come across a baby who needed medical attention asap. The baby, Bulin Noel, turned out to be a 2 year old little boy who had been severely burned by cooking oil over a month ago. His mom and dad were at work, and he was home alone with his two brothers [who are probably about 4 and 6]. His brothers cook for the 3 of them when their parents aren't there, and on this particular occasion Bulin stumbled into the hot oil. He spent a month in a hospital after which his mom left without discharge orders because she believed she could take better care of him in their tent. This is a picture of him the first time we saw him:

After a few days of building a relationship and finally some straight forward talk about the dangers of having this child in a tent camp, the mom agreed to go to the hospital with the baby. So we took them to Medishare and have been checking on them and giving her money for food and to get home and back daily. The baby is going to heal fine, but the situation just isn't good. His mother is 7 months pregnant with her 9th child [yes, 9th!] 4 out of the 8 she has had have passed away. They have almost no money and the kids often go with only 1 meal a day [or less]. Prayers for this family and the hundreds of thousands who are living in the same situation are so appreciated.

sweet baby on the way to the hospital

The other way that we have been able to show the Love of Christ this week is through loving on Baby KenKen and his family. Things are looking worse and worse for him [or better and better, depending on how you look at it]. His mom called today and said the AIDS hospital suggested he go to the Children's Hospital to stay at least the night because he was so sick. It probably won't be much longer until this sweet baby meets Our Lord! We are clinging to the promise that "To die is GAIN" for those who'll step from here to Heaven.

Both of these are such sweet baby boys. Honestly, I don't know how people who don't know Jesus handle things like this. If I had no Savior to hope in, I would have no hope. If I had no Savior to believe is good, I would not believe that good existed. So much darkness and sadness and pain that we face on a daily basis [as do you, whereever you are], but we face it all with a certainty that Our God is GREATER and STRONGER and BIGGER and more in CONTROL than any force or thing we could possibly imagine in this world or any other. He is our Rock and our Refuge, and we praise Him for situations like these that bring us to our knees and on our faces and remind us that we are nobody and this world is nothing, and that He is EVERYTHING.

Oh, and one more thing just for fun. Today while we were spending time with our charcoaled baby at Medishare I got to practice my "atraumatic care" skills that I developed in nursing school, which I'm certain my sweet pediatric professors would be so proud of. Check it out:

Peace and Love from Haiti!