September is nearly under our belts and HOPE is off to a great autumn. We were blessed with a new little girl, Loudia. She is 10 months old and was pretty ill when she came. Her family had carried her 7 hours to reach a medical clinic in the mountains in order to get help for her. Her mother had died and they had no resources to feed her. They had been giving her water and some occasional juice but she was not thriving. The medical clinic folks offered to start her in their baby formula program but as the family was a 7 hour walk away, it was not feasible. Knowing that if they did not do something the outcome would be poor, they made the heart-wrenching choice to abandon her there and pray that she would be cared for. We know that God was involved in this. He brought Loudia to the very clinic that we have a relationship with and have received girls from before (remember Ronise and Berlinda). Now Loudia is doing well. She is gaining weight, playing and crying. We have come to love the sound of babies crying, it means they have the strength and energy to care, make effort and expect an answer.
If you are not on our monthly email update list, you may have missed the arrival of both Chrisna and Chasley. Both born on July 22nd, they came a couple of weeks apart. They are as different as night and day. Chasley arrived relatively healthy, with a lusty cry and hearty appetite. Chrisna arrived weighing in at only 3 pounds 8 ounces. Tiny but tough is our little Chrisna. She was only 11 days old when she arrived; her mother had died from complications of the birth only 4 days after Chrisna was born. We got a crash course in premature infant care and spent the first couple of weeks in a form of sleepwalking as we woke her up every 2 hours to feed her. She gained weight quickly and is now 7 ½ pounds. She is starting to smile and is a delight to us all.
School is underway and going very well. In Haiti, children are started in school from age 2. For us that means 12 of our 19 girls go to school in the morning. This year we elected to hire a teacher’s aide to help since we have so many little ones in class. Rachelle (our teacher) and Dejanis (the aide) are working hard to give the girls opportunities to learn and the girls are like sponges.
Please pray with us for the new girls, for the one girl that God has chosen to come to HOPE but has not yet arrived, for the staff as they care for so many little ones, for our family as we keep 4 babies in our apartment, for a productive school year and for protection from dark forces and discouragement.
Religion that God accepts as pure and without fault is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help, and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence.
James 1:27
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