We'll start with good news. The twins came for their weigh-in this afternoon. BOTH girls are over six pounds. They really seem like they are gonna make it ... we pray they stay healthy and keep moving in the right direction. They are about five-six weeks old now. Paige was pumped about their weight gain.
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The baby to the right is Judline. Judline is the niece to Lovely. Lovely started coming here last November and was born close to the same time as her niece. Lovely was the one we put in the feeding program. Judline was being nursed and always outweighed her aunt. She was the healthier of the two up until April. This photo was taken by Troy when she came here sick and not eating well in mid-April. We put her on the formula and then the Widow's Mite program paid for them to go to a nearby clinic to try to get help for whatever was causing the fever and diarrhea. They came back for a second box of formula and then we had not heard anything for a few weeks. We wondered if the mom went back to nursing or what had happened. Troy asked around earlier this week and found out that shortly after the Dr. visit Judline died. It is so common-place to our Haitian neighbors that it did not even make enough noise for us to hear about it right away. She was not yet seven months old when she passed away from her illness.
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The second bit of discouraging news is regarding baby Emmanuel. He came back with the same two caregivers on Tuesday late in the day. He had lost weight. They told us he had been vomiting up a lot of his formula. He looked terrible to us. We asked the aunt and cousin to come back to the mission at 6am on Wednesday morning. We planned to take them to a newer hospital where the twins went called St. Damiens. We waited and waited ... sent someone to look for them where we last knew they were staying ... they were not to be found. At 8am we finally headed into Port but as it turned out they never showed up and have not yet let us know why they did not come back to go to the hospital in Port au Prince. As of right now we still don't know what is going on. We are concerned he may have died Tuesday night.
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I know those who have been here for years still feel frustration even after seeing it over and over again, so I don't expect we'll get used to it. There is a helpless feeling when you cannot offer enough solutions or offer them fast enough to see ALL the babies live. There is frustration in knowing that given a chance to intervene earlier, the outcomes might be different. In these cases we're thankful to know a God who comforts and heals.
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Paul to the church in Corinth- 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (The Message)
3 -5 All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.
6 -7 When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.
6 -7 When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.
