update on heartbeats

Hello again… still hanging out over here in the Dominican Republic! I know many of you are thinking and praying for our babies having surgery this week, so I wanted to give you all an update:
things are great!
Okay bye! :)

Joking…
Okay anyway…

Pricile!

Pricile is still recovering amazingly. She was discharged yesterday to the Jesus House where the mom’s and kids stay here. She is walking, playing, laughing, eating, drinking, everything. She doesn’t have much pain and she seems to be doing great! I still can’t believe it’s only been 5 days since her operation. She’ll go back to the hospital for an ECHO [ultrasound of the heart] on Friday just to be certain she’s good to go, and then on a bus back to Haiti!

Ysnadiere has been living the life at the hotel this week [which he may never do again]. He and his big brother have been watching TV, sleeping with air conditioner, taking hot showers, and eating full meals. They seem very content! He was admitted to the hospital yesterday. His surgery wasn't scheduled until Friday, but today they had 2 surgeries canceled yesterday so he is now scheduled for surgery this afternoon! He is nervous, but I assured him I will be in the room the whole time and I think it made him feel a little better. I also assured him that when he’s all finished, he’ll be able to walk to school with his friends and walk up stairs whenever he wants. I think that made him feel better too :)

Naika had surgery 2 days ago and it went awesome! For those of you who have any idea what I’m talking about, she had a huge PDA that they thought they could fix with a plug in the cathlab. Turned out it was too big and they were afraid the plug would dislodge and cause a clot, so they had to do regular surgery. They didn’t have to crack her chest though, and were able to go in through an incision in her left side between her ribs. It only took about  1 ½ hours and I was able to watch the whole things, which was very cool. Her mom was so thankful that I was with her. Her mom is my age and we are kind of like best friends… even though we can’t really talk haha. I love her! So Naika is already walking around and eating some. She'll be discharged hopefully tomorrow and then a checkup in a couple more days, and she’ll be good to go back to Haiti too!

Zaikel is in the same boat with Ysnadiere.+ He and his grandmother have been staying at the Jesus House and he was checked into the hospital last night and is actually in surgery right now. He’s back to crying when anybody, including me, attempts to touch him haha. However, yesterday when I got to the house he said “Mama aller?” [“mama go?”] and today his grandmother called and said that he had been saying “Mwen manke mama mwen” [“I miss my mama”], and when I visited them at the hospital today he tapped his grandmother and said “Gadier! Mama! Mama!” [“Look! Mama! Mama!”] I love it. I have so many more kids now than when I came to Haiti haha. I must admit… playing Mom, which always leads to me leaving and kids returning to their actual mothers, makes me want to be a real mom. But, I also must admit that at the end of a few days or a week with a kid, I can’t wait to give them back and start living on my own time instead of someone else’s again. So, there’s always 2 sides of the coin I guess! Anyway.. I'll be posting another update when he's out of surgery.

Oh, and we have another kid that we’ve picked up! Meet Loundjenckia. She is a 15 month old baby from Haiti who has a serious heart condition that requires a minimum of 4 surgeries in her lifetime. In May she had her first one and was brought to the DR by an organization who helped her family financially and supported them while they were here. When we got here last week, we met her mom and dad who explained that it was time for Loundjenckia to ha...ve her second operation but the organization could not help them. So they took it upon themselves to get to the DR to save their babies life [and this is no small feat for a Haitian family, I assure you]. We met them and agreed to take them in as one of ours, so Loundjenckia makes Chadasha’s 5th child having heart surgery. Her surgery was today and she is doing great! She is having some problems regulating her blood pressure, so prayers that they can get that straightened out would be great. She will need another operation in 3 to 6 months, and then a final one after that. Praise Jesus He let our paths cross this sweet family!

We ask that you keep praying for these precious kids and their parents, and Chadasha as we do our best to help them see the Love of Christ. As of now, we have 1 more surgery to go, then some recovery time, then back to Haiti! I'll keep you posted!