On Thursday, my little Tea Pot made it just a couple hours at school before I got a call to pick her up. Her head was hurting enough that she knew she had to take some medicine. So she told her teacher she needed to go to the office. The problem is, that Teagan is a Stewart. Which means that if she’s sorta kinda upset at all, anyone who shows her any sympathy will end up watching her fall apart.
She was on her way to the office when she ran into Tarissa. Sweet Tarissa was just 12 when she became our babysitter. At that time we just had Madi and Eli and they were only about 2 and 3 years old, so they spent Sunday mornings in the nursery. One Sunday when Tarissa was working in the nursery, we went to pick them up after service and she said, “If you EVER need a baby sitter please call ME.” So we did. And the kids all know her and love her and she was able to be our main sitter for years before moving away for a bit. Now she is back in town and is a teacher’s assistant at the little girls school.
So as I was saying, she was on the way to the office when she ran into Tarissa. And then as soon as she saw her, she started crying. Bless her heart. I got a call and by the time I got there she was in a dark quiet room by herself just laying there weeping. Totally stinks.
She had an MRI scheduled for Friday but since I had shared on Facebook (oh social media how I love thee) that she was home, I got a call from the tech (who I happen to know) saying to bring her on in. She had a lot of cancellations that day and made room for my Tea Pot. Long story short, the MRI was normal and we still don’t know what is causing her pain so we are being referred to a pediatric neurologist.
This all got me thinking though. As I sat there holding her sweet little hand while she was having her MRI and was scared to death, I thought about how much this must be costing us. And it was at that point, and that point only, that I realized I hadn’t even given one single thought to the cost of her care over the last few weeks. Why? Because she was sick and she needed it. And no matter the cost, we were prepared to figure out the problem and fix it.
When I was in Haiti last April, I saw so many children who didn’t have that. Children who would fall down and get a boo-boo and have no Mommy to hug them. No one to kiss away the pain. I started thinking about how if one of those sweet orphans had a headache like my Teagan then they would just have to deal with it. There is no Mom who is actively looking for answers and ordering medical tests without any regard to the cost.
That first day in Haiti, after we finally got to our “Taj Mahal”, we loaded up in the tap tap for a tour of the city. After driving around for a bit, we visited an orphanage called Hope Village. There is a main building there that houses lots of sweet children. It’s a really nice facility where the children are learning and eating and playing. Our group enjoyed playing with and loving on the children for an hour or so.
Then we walked to another building on the Hope Village complex. Seeing the children in this building was much harder on us. While it was again clean and seemingly well staffed, the children in this branch of the orphanage were all sick. Orphaned because they had medical conditions that their families couldn’t provide for. We heard story after story of children who had a fever or other symptom and because their family couldn’t afford medical help, the symptoms took over and they were never the same. If only those parents had the opportunity that I have had these last few weeks. The opportunity to take their children to the doctor when they realized that they weren’t getting better. The opportunity to seek medical treatment ou to prevent further medical issues.
Please pray for these sweet children and the countless others that are just like them. Not only in Haiti but all over the world. Even here in America. I don’t know that we will be able to visit Hope Village again while we are in Haiti again. But these are some of the faces that I have been, and will continue to pray for. I’d love for you to join with me and pray for them!
Gah. Sweet girl!
This is Alan. Kids LOVE him. Love!
These photos are both by my friend Jen. I’m so thankful that she was there. As someone who is generally behind the camera it was awesome to have a friend who was being sure to get shots with me IN them. This little guy was a sweetheart!
That super smiley guy on the left is Gary. He is one of the GCOM guys that helped us with our trip.
This little sweetie cried a lot. A. Lot. She was handed off to me and I just loved on her and sang to her and she was happy. And she continued to whimper, but she wasn’t crying like she was before. Bless her little heart. She kept coughing a ton. And when she was coughing, she would cough up some sort of brown mucous. I told my friend Alan that I wanted to pack her up and take her home to Stillwater to see a doctor. There was obviously a medical issue going on with her. I pray for this sweetie a lot.
These sweet children just wanted to have some attention and love.
My friend Stu loving and praying for a new friend.
A group shot as we pulled away. Goodbye sweet kiddos. I promise not to forget you!
They do have a wonderful property. As we drove off, I watched as the children ran to an area where they could watch us as we decended the “driveway”. I sure do hope that I will be able to go back to Hope Village again someday!