Little Miss O

Her name is Olivia and she is one of my most favorite little people in Haiti. Her story started off a bit scary but she is proof of how much Jesus loves children. I have to say that HIV in children is one of the hardest things for me to deal with here in Haiti. I have become passionate about treatment for mothers and children. I can't begin to explain or understand HIV in the life of anyone. I don't know how it feels and I am not good at the debate of why it all stated. But, I have found God's hand to be sweet when he moves on the behalf of children, allowing children up to two years in age to revert back to a negative status.

Graduation Day!

If I said the word sewing school to you, I am sure you wouldn’t see a picture of Felix Unger and Oscar Trevor Madison in your mind. Instead you would be thinking about ladies working with different fabrics sitting at treadle sewing machines making beautiful bags. But as I was thinking about our upcoming graduation, The Odd Couple seemed like the perfect word picture to me.

We are talking about bringing two very different cultures together to create a program that can live and breath on it’s own. John reminded me yesterday that we are on the front line with these ladies fighting for change. He said, think about their lives and what they where doing six months ago before they entered school. We are working to create a place for women to be educated on so many levels of their lives and challenged on things that may have never mattered in the past. Creating a place where they can build self-confidence, bring hope to their families and provide for them.

When we first started school, John said to me, “If you have one that graduates, this will be a success”. I will be honest; I didn’t find his words encouraging. We made the rules hard and it would cost them something thing, personally they would have to change some things to get here everyday and get here on time.

Today, I am left without the proper words to tell you how happy I am to have a graduating class of seven ladies push through manifestations, sick children and the many, many other things in order to graduate. I am thankful they are willing to be part of The Odd Couple. I promise not to eat really awful food or make strange noises while holding my nose. We can let John do all of those things.

Jean Kelley

October 2000 was my first trip to Haiti and the first time I met Jean Kelley.
He had an infection in his leg that had gone untreated for so long that his leg had split open - really! I still can't imagine the pain he was in and he never said a word. He had come to the clinic we did in the mountains above Pestel for treatment. It still makes my stomach flip-flop thinking about the penicillin locking up as we gave him a shot. Several months later I came back and spent three weeks taking care of him with my kids after setting up an operation to fix his leg.
I will never forget the doctor asking me if I had Advil?
Advil? Ummm, yeah!
Good!
And they rolled him off the bed on to a cot and two guys carried him down the stairs and put him in the truck for me to take him home. They just sent us on our way after opening his leg from the ankle to the knee, digging a new canal in his bone to hopefully get rid of infection and creating new area for marrow to grow in order to save his leg. I remember sitting in the truck looking at the mountains thinking about the scripture that talks about mountains being moved in one day thinking how he needed that same kind of miracle at that very minute. Again, never saying a word about being in pain.
I have spent eight years keeping track of him, getting him medical treatments when needed and having a new x-ray done to check on his leg on every trip I made to Haiti.
I am now his white mama! He is really part of our family.
Today, I can look back at those same mountains and really know that a miracle did happen for Jean Kelley. His leg is fine. Not pretty, but fine. He can play sports and walk with no problem. I do love him like he was my boy - well, he is my boy!

How To Keep A Boy Clean

We have this on going battle at our house and it goes like this...

Every time we get ready to go some place Parker tends to get ready first. Well, most of the time! But the problem is he can't seem to stay clean. As we are walking out the door I often find myself saying, Parker, go get on some clean clothes so we can go and at least you will leave the house clean. Today, I may have won this battle. Well, for today that is. We had plans to be some place at six o'clock. Parker, was again, the first one ready. As I looked out side to check on him I saw him digging in the flower box in front of the house. Seeing his hands black with dirt I said, I will make you take a shower again if you don't get out of the dirt!
But Mooommmm - it is only my fingers!
I don't care! I will make you take another shower!
His eyes got really big and he backed away from the flower box.
He did leave the house clean!
This time!

What A Weekend!

Yikes, we had a busy weekend!
We started with English Camp graduation on Friday at 2:00 - I guess you can tell which one is Parker!
For Maddie's birthday on Saturday we spent time with Joseph at Visa Lodge swimming one last time. At 5:00 we had a "Good Bye" party for Joseph, Chelsey and Yverline, Jori and Katie and finally a sleep over at our house with the little girls for phase two of Maddie's party. Sunday was church and phase three for Maddie's birthday with everyone here for lunch!

Happy Birthday Madisen Grace!!

Today is Maddie's Birthday! Woot!

This is another picture from our adventure to Pestel....It's a little windy in the back of the truck!

Yesterday Parker said to me, "Mom, living in Haiti is like going to Disney, just with out the rides". I am pretty sure that this is a true statement! But, I would have to say that riding in the back of the truck has always been a wild ride!

God's Plumbline Ministries

Here are some things you may not know about Haiti:

- Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world, with eighty percent of the population living in abject poverty.

- Nearly half the population is chronically undernourished.

- Healthy life expectancy at birth is only 43 years.

- The government is not able to provide the resources to educate the nation's next generation. 


- The unemployment rate is over 80%. 


- More than half of Haitians live on less than a dollar a day. 


- There are few paved roads, an inadequate supply of potable water, minimal utilities, and depleted forests. 



- Less than 20% of Haitians age 15 and over can read and write. 


- Fewer than 75% of children attend school. 


- 40% of the Haitian population does not have access to primary health care. 


- The United Nations estimates 6% of Haitians are infected with HIV/AIDS. The highest rate in the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 30,000 people die of AIDS every year. 


- One in twenty Haitians is infected with HIV/AIDS and there are over 150,000 AIDS orphans.