Today was such an amazing day.
I woke up to read about Chile and the earthquake and for the next few hours I could not get my mind wrapped around a 8.8 earthquake ... I still cannot. I know what 7.0 felt like and I cannot imagine moving more than that. So very scary. I am terribly sorry to hear of more loss and destruction.
I hurried up and got ready to head over to the hospital. Jen had invited Beth and I to join her on a trip out to the Comfort Ship. I had no idea how much I would get to experience. I have been on the ship once before in April when they were here for a good-will scheduled trip. Today was so much more interesting having so many connections to people on the boat.
As we arrived by smaller boat, we were greeted right away by beautiful women. They were nurses, a midwife, and doctors (all military) that knew Collette, knew baby Esther, had deep connections and were a part of the larger story that God told with Collette.
We got to hear about the surgeries and the situation with Collette and what they went through to make their decisions. We all stood there teary-eyed realizing how many miracles lined up for Collette and Esther and how amazing it is that they both withstood those injuries for 6 days before we ever found them. There was supernatural protection around Collette and Esther, there has not been anyone that can believe they both lived. They told us that Esther is famous all over the world. She was in LIFE magazine and on the cover of a Navy Magazine. :)
We got to have lunch on board the ship and hear the stories of what went on during the first crazy weeks on the ship. It was both heart-breaking and encouraging ... like so many things have been since the earthquake. They shared about the huge need and the feelings of not being able to get to everyone quick enough. They told of survivors that defied logic. We asked lots of questions and they graciously answered all of them.
(Troy- I got to meet C. Jones too! Cool, huh?)
We got tons of fun pictures but Jen was the only one with a camera so Beth and I are patiently waiting for her to be able to share them with us.... she is still hard at work tonight and I would be a total butt to bug her for them now. :) I will add a few in to this post later tonight and more tomorrow.
The Comfort Ship will leave Haiti in the next day or so. They have done AMAZING things there. They have loved Haitians and served so well. I am not being critical of them leaving, just sad they need to leave. I know that they needed to make that tough decision and I know things like that happen at very high levels. The people we met all seemed a bit sad too. They so clearly loved the people, I could tell in the way they shared the stories. It is a bummer to lose loving people like that. I loved that they figured out many true things about the strength of the people. I hope they share that back at home. If I knew of a better way to officially thank the military folks we met today that did SO MUCH for Haiti, I would do it - THANK YOU TO EACH AND EVERY PERSON THAT SERVED ON THE U.S NAVY COMFORT SHIP in the last six weeks. THANK YOU SO MUCH! (Thank you to all the civilians that worked on board too.)
One of the more amazing things that happened- Jen was asked if we could take a little ten year old boy named Rony to recover at our hospital. She happily agreed. It turned out that Rony was the VERY LAST patient to leave the ship. We took the boat ride into the port with him in a little boat ... the crew clapped for him when he left, people cried, it was incredibly touching. I tried to explain to him that he is kind of famous being their last patient to leave ... he had specialized surgeons work on him, he has a lot of recovering to do. He has very severe injuries to his face. The Comfort Ship provided him (us) with some of the best medication available today and we hope to make the next two to three weeks at our hospital a comforting and healing experience for him. He looks really roughed up right now. He did not get help until four weeks post EQ and the infection was/is quite severe. His adult older brother is staying with him at Heartline.
It was so humbling and touching to meet a lot of people who were happy with the partnership with Heartline and who spoke so highly of Jen and ALL of the medical professionals that have been in and out of our little post earth quake clinic/ER/hospital. I was struck by how amazing it is that our tiny little operation (relatively speaking) has received so much positive recognition and affirmation. God is good like that. :)
Right this minute, we have a beautiful Mama named Jesula getting ready to push - this is her third baby. Dad and Sister are here supporting her. We'll share more after baby arrives.
Here is a little video Dr. Abe Jacob from Minnesota took last night of our patients singing and having church time.
Check back for photos from the comfort ship and of new baby later. It is raining here tonight. We hate that for the people. The tents are not a great place to be in the rain.
Thanks for following along and holding these people in your prayers, it means a lot.
tara
JEN blogged about it here.