Treading Water

Life is happening too fast. Wow we are so busy that we feel like our heads are just above water. Many of the missionaries here are finding the stress too much. Laurens and I are holding Ok and are having more and more days of control with our jobs. We are trying to put in place the things we need to resume a normal (busy) pace. Things are a little more in a routine.

Great things are happening. Construction is all over our mission with projects moving forward and things being built to accommodate growth. Laurens has entered his busy time for sure. The initial "medical only" time is over and construction has started. He is working on building a new guest house, the village orphanage, the temporary hospital, supply warehouses, repairs etc etc. He often will have 8 projects that are all high priority at the same time :)

Medical is crazy. 200 primary care outpatients a day, orthopedic surgeries, inpatient ward of 27, wound and ortho outpatient care, ER and ambulance transfers, mobile medical clinics, prosthetics for amputees, logistics, scheduling, Haitian and North American team leadership and direction.

I am working on a medical visa to send a woman to the US to try and save her foot from being amputated. Getting the visa is not easy and very time consuming. Her husband died next to her in the earthquake, her baby died in her hand and she got crushed by a wall. Her hand is deformed, a constant reminder of her dead baby and she cannot walk as her foot is only attached by an external rod. She still has a 15 year old and a 1 year old to take care of.

Emotionally the kids are doing great! They have bounced back almost to normal with only a few things here and there remaining. Laurens is on a break this week and I am so happy as he needed it. I am stable unless my stress level gets to high but I am starting to grieve. I thought I was ready to soon go to the mass grave for closure until a mom with a still born came in this week. It was delivered in the back of a pick up truck on the way to our clinic. As I wrapped and lifted the limp fetus and put him in a bag for her to take home, I knew that I was not quite ready.

We are blessed to be where we are and doing the work we are doing. God is teaching us amazing things. Our strength of character builds daily and for that we are thankful.

Please pray for our strength to endure the stress, the time to take a rest, the grieving to continue and make it's way out and for the Haitian people who live under a sheet in the mud.