On our Way Back to the USA for the Summer!

We're on our way back to the USA from Haiti. Everyone got up by 6am in order to make it to the airport for our 11am flight.  We'll be back in Oregon tomorrow. Looking forward to spending time with friends and family.

The trip started out with Naomi getting sick in the van on the way to the airport, but it did get better once everyone was checked in and then on the plane.

Here's a picture of everyone checking in. ....

And a picture of the kids with Joan who is homeschooling our kids.....

And a picture of the family at the Port au Prince airport.....

And us waiting around in Port au Prince. We also waited around for 6 hours in New York, but are just now getting ready to board the flight to Portland. Yay!! We miss Haiti already, but we look forward to returning in August after we spend some time in the states.

Update on Naomi

Just a quick update on Naomi. Thank you for all of the prayers! She is doing really well. We actually went back to the hospital the next day to get the prescriptions for her and also to pay the remaining bill. Praise the Lord that the rest of the bill was only $50 US. So, it did turn out to be an expensive little battery she shoved up her nose (around $1300), but it certainly could have been much worse. For the same services in the states, it would have cost a lot more. The only difference would be that we hopefully would have medical insurance that would have covered much of the expense.

We appreciate everyone's prayers for our family and for our family's health over this past year!

Our First Haitian Hospital Experience- Naomi

Well, it was bound to happen. At some point in time (with 10 of our kids here in Haiti with us), we knew there would be a time where someone would need to be hospitalized. We had avoided this up until this point mostly because we've had such amazing care by the traveling teams that have been able to prescribe medications, put IV's in, and basically care for any of us that were sick without us actually going to a hospital. Even now, we have a highly skilled team of US medical providers here, but after looking at Naomi, we were advised to take her to a hospital. 

Naomi before the surgery

Naomi's 3rd hospitalization: This time in Haiti

Naomi just turned 4 years old. She went down for a nap and was "supposed" to be sleeping. Instead of sleeping, she was getting into other people's things which included one of those little keychain flashlights. She popped the flashlight open and inside were those little round, small batteries She proceeded to stick one of them up her nose-  way up her nose past the septum. Since it was a battery (and no other object), it was important to get it out right away because of the damage it can cause.

She did relatively ok when we first got there. We were sent to what is apparently the best hospital in Petionville. It was a nice place. Not much for staffing, but we got in right away to a doctor who looked at her nose. They felt it was important to remove right away. Since Naomi had eaten lunch less then 5 hours before, they were debating about waiting another hour or two, but they decided the risk was higher to wait. First they tried to just give her a shot to sedate her enough to try to get the battery out. BUT...they could not get the battery out and she was still moving around too much. So, they had to put her under general anesthesia. Since she had eaten rice and beans for lunch, she had some issues with vomiting while she was intubated. Thankfully, she did not aspirate and everything turned out ok. When they pulled the battery out, it confirmed the need to move quickly. The battery had already started to seep acid which could have caused all kinds of problems and potentially be life threatening. Praise the Lord for the skilled Haitian doctors.

Naomi after the surgery. 

It was quite a night and Naomi is still pretty groggy, but is now home with us. She's doing really well. We have to go back to the hospital to pay them more money today (we paid a small fortune and the hospital is still calculating out the cost of the anesthesia). We'll also pick up a couple of prescriptions they want her on to prevent infection.

Naomi clearly on some sort of medication

Naomi was really funny coming out of anesthesia (minus the throwing up continually part). She kept telling random people that she loved them and then was telling other people to stay away from her. We have a funny video of all the things she was mumbling when she was coming out of anesthesia.  She also pulled her IV out as she was thrashing around. 

Feeling better....

It's been a couple hours since I started this post and Naomi is now almost back to her normal self. She's walking around and making funny faces again. We would appreciate everyone's continued prayers that no complications arise and that the rest of the hospital bill is manageable. 

She's back to her normal self! 

Continued Happenings at Mountain Top Ministries

I LOVE JetBlue.....

Ok...this has nothing really to do with Mountain Top Ministries, but I just had to throw it out there that I LOVE JetBlue. They actually give you cookies on the plane! It's amazing how the little things in life make a big impact. JetBlue is now flying into Haiti and if you watch prices, you can actually travel for under $530 round trip all the way from the West Coast (Seattle, Portland, SanFrancisco, Los Angeles) to Haiti. Generally we would pay at least $2-300 more. The flights stop through JFK, but when coming from Portland, it's a much quicker route because it's just two flights vs three or four.

We have more shelves in Haiti at the clinic. Yay!! We now have a section to organize physical therapy supplies and a shelf to organize all our needles, syringes, etc. We're also in process of completing shelves for school supplies. Thank you for those that  have donated resources  for the medical clinic with material, storage bins, etc. Your help is greatly appreciated!

The trade school is amazing! Thank you to everyone who has worked on this process. It's been incredible to see so many teams doing sections of this school throughout the year. And now we have a roof! 

They poured the concrete this past week. Watching the process was impressive!

Above is the roof before they poured the concrete.

I cannot believe how many people came together hauling pails of concrete and spreading it out on the roof. They started in the morning and by early afternoon were finished.

The school is actually underneath. There are a couple other doors that can't be seen from this picture. This is just the first part of the roof. The rest will be finished within the next couple of weeks.

We welcomed Emory University students and our amazing friend and pediatrician Dr. Mandi last week. They joined the last part of an Indiana team (and some team members from other areas) that worked long and hard at the clinic all week. Our good friend Ron from Canada was here as well. So thankful to see old friends. He was able to bring his daughter along on this trip. It was great meeting you Jane! We look forward to seeing you again in Canada and back in Haiti someday soon. 

Dr Mandi also brought clear vinyl for our family table. Thank you! Thank you! We've had an issue trying to cover the table because it's a huge table. We put three different smaller table clothes on, but they kept sliding off. We just have plywood for the table, so it needs to be covered. Amazing what a difference the vinyl has made. We were able to lay out our maps under the vinyl to outline our upcoming USA road trip and also to look at the map of the world. Good geography lessons for the kids (and for us too)!

We also had another b-day party and celebrated Talitha, David, and Kaavya's birthdays (one of the team members). We made homemade pizza, apple pie, and cheesecake. We feel blessed to have so many amazing people serving along side of us. We'll miss Dr. Mandi and the college girls when they leave!

Orphan Summit Chicago

It was a huge blessing to travel to the orphan summit in Chicago this past week. It's amazing to see so many individuals come together for the cause of orphans and explore strategies on improvement. Many adoptive families, foster families, churches, non profits, and various ministries were presented.

It was also a nice break to fellowship with good friends and prayer warriors! Thank you to those that have circled around me (and our entire family) over the years. I want to spend just a few minutes and acknowledge a few of these amazing mentors and friends that were also at the summit.

Stephanie and Darryl Fast (http://www.stephaniefast.org/media.asp, and http://loving-shepherd.org/stephanie/stephanie.html).  Stephanie has such an amazing and inspiring testimony! Check out the link above. We heard her speak on focus on the family many, many years ago and were touched by her story. Years later, we met through our connection with Chosen International. It has been a joy getting to know her and her husband Darryl. We also were able to meet in Haiti just a couple of weeks ago. We traveled to where Darryl and Stephanie were serving in Haiti (Les Cayes) and Billy was able to meet his birthfather and numerous other family members for the first time. Stephanie was there and able to talk to Billy about that experience as an adoptee herself. Thank you Stephanie and Darryl!

Greg and Cindy Bigelow (www.choseninternational.org). I met Cindy many years ago at a Chosen International adoption conference for teens. Cindy has a heart for adoption and has come along side families through the adoption process for years. She is an amazing prayer warrior and understands the challenges that face so many adoptive parents. I can't tell you how many adoptees and parents I have seen her mentor, pray for, and just come alongside and help in so many ways. Her and her husband Greg started a ministry that helped assist families with funds to adopt and then later saw an additional need of assisting families through the teens years in particular. There's a lot of information and resources out there in regards to adoption and attachment, but so many families come up to me and say, "But how do we apply these strategies with teenagers?"

Chosen is trying to help families in this area by providing resources and support to parents and teens. It's hard being a parent of a teenager even in the best of circumstances. The adoption piece adds additional challenges that often bring families to their knees. As a parent of six teenagers, I will say that although there are many ups and downs, there are ways to survive. We need to help families keep their head afloat on this journey. Please pray about funding for an upcoming teen camp for Chosen. The camps are an amazing experience for teenagers to not only come together in fellowship, but to embrace God's plan of adoption in their lives. We see lives transformed through the experience and numerous teens turning their lives over to the Lord. Praise God!

Deborah Gray (http://www.deborahdgray.com/home.html). What can I say about Deborah Gray? She is a dear friend. There are people in life that you connect with for one reason or another and it's funny that in this situation adoption has very little to do with our connection. I met Deborah many years ago. I had certainly heard about her for many years prior to ever meeting her. When I worked in adoption processing, we often referred families to her in Seattle even though she was 3-4 hours away from the Portland area. There simply was nobody local to refer to PLUS families that traveled to see her in Seattle just raved about her. She has an incredible success rate working with really tough cases. I have been blessed to be trained by her both in Portland and up in Seattle. Please check out her new book! She has a wealth of experience! 

Ok....and I want to acknowledge one more couple even though they were not at the summit this year: Cindy and David Wilkins (http://www.stagesyouth.org/about-us.html). Cindy and David are pros in the world of adoption. They have been on the roller coaster ride (both in helping process adoptions and as adoptive parents) for over 30 years AND they are still smiling! They are amazing with children, teens, and parents. They are always an encouragement to those around them. If you're in the Hillsboro area, please check out the link above to Stages Performing Arts Youth Academy. They have some incredible camps coming up!

Medical Teams, Birth Families, Organization, and Furniture

A great big Thank You to the Oregon medical team. What a wonderful group to work with! It was an amazing week with multiple services offered including medical care, nutrition, and mental health services. It was a busy week and we look forward to working with the group again next year! 

We had some great help working on organization of the clinic. I will try to take some pictures of the lab area because that is looking really good as well.

Ron now has some wood/material for building more shelving upstairs. The ministry transported it up to the clinic area. Yeah!! He is in the process of building a physical therapy section. We'll also have more room to put overstock above. This way we will be able to more effectively rotate our stock and eliminate the issues of expired medications.
                                                                     

Steevenson was able to meet his birthmother for the first time! We are so happy to connect with her. I have met her on previous occasions, but we lost contact this past year. He is actually her only child which is somewhat rare in Haiti. Most of our children's birth parents have multiple children (at least 8 or more).

Steevenson with his birth mother

Billy and I were able to take a trip to Les Cayes to meet with Billy's birth family and also visit with some good friends (Daryl and Stephanie Fast). They have been involved in orphan care ministry for years. It was nice to meet with them and see the services they are able to offer with the ministry they are involved with in Haiti. 

It took us over 5 hours to travel there, but we were then able to stay at the guest house with an incredible team from Austin, Texas (Victory Christian Center). What a blessing to meet fellow believers in Christ that are dedicated to serving and promoting the kingdom of God!  Billy's family was able to travel about an hour and a half into the "city" that we had traveled to. 

Billy with his birth father and birth mother

It's good to be able to fill in some of the details of his adoption story. Our children from Haiti were originally adopted by other families into the USA. They were all at the same orphanage and I knew all of them since I had worked with that orphanage for adoptions, but I didn't know about their particular cases or situations. 

Apparently Billy's father had not seen him since he was a baby. The father had been injured with a farming accident and was not around during that time due to the struggles of trying to feed the family.

Billy with three brothers and his cousin

If I understand the information correctly, it had been a dry year and the crops did not get the water they needed to grow, so there was no food by the time Billy was born. He is the youngest child. We have met his sisters that live in Port au Prince and previously met his birthmother as well. She was in Port au Prince, but has since moved back to the countryside with Billy's father.

Billy with Godparents (family that brought him to the orphange)

The family above are neighbors and Billy and his siblings. They were also struggling due to no crops over a few years time span. They brought their daughter to an orphanage in Port au Prince because they could not feed her. She was eventually adopted into France. When Billy's family was struggling to survive, they brought him to the orphanage on behalf of his family. Everyone was very happy to see Billy and see that he is doing well. You can tell that his family loves him very much!

The kids with Joan sitting on new couch (still in process)

Ron continues to build things for the ministry and for our family. We now have another couch and most of the kids have somewhere to sit (besides the floor). Some of them still like to sit on the the little rugs on the floor, but at least now we have some options. We'll work on getting some cushions made for the couch. Right now it's just a wood bench. We are feeling more and more at home in Haiti. Just simple things like hanging up pictures that were on our walls from in the states helps make us feel more "at home". 

As a heads up, our family will be in the states this summer. Twelve of us will be on the road throughout the US and partially into Canada in the months of June, July, and August. We are visiting friends and family, but are also raising support to continue to serve on the mission field. We would appreciate your prayers! Please let us know if you would like us to visit your church or home group.