Each morning I drive Carol and our neighbor's 4 year old daughter to school named Saphia. When we arrive, Carol goes to her classroom and I usually give Saphia a piggy-back ride to the kinergarten playground where she waits until classes start about 30 minutes later.
Usually there are several teen-age girls there to greet us and watch the children before school starts, but this morning I did not see any girls there waiting for us.
So I decided to stay with Saphia and wait until they showed up.
While waiting we talked about many things, and then Saphia said she would like to touch a branch on a tree. So her climb a sliding board near a tree and by standing on the top (with me holding her of course), she could touch the branch of a tree. By this time there were other children waiting for the school to start and so I let them all have a turn touching the tree branch.
Then they wanted to climb a tree, so I took them over to a tree and taught them how to climb it. At first some of them were scared, but the tree was next to a wall, and when the other kids said they could see cars and people over the wall, the ones that were scared got up their courage and climbed as well.
It was a thrill to see them overcome their fears and experience something new, as well as learning a new skill.
That is one of the things that makes teaching fun!
I saw that this was one of those "teachable moments" and had them sit down at a picnic table and asked them if they knew anyone in the Bible who had climbed a tree. Apparently they had not heard the story of Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10), because they could not think of anyone. So I taught them a kids song about Zaccheus, and told them the story.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see
And as the Savior passed that way
He looked up in that tree
And He said, “Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I’m going to your house today
For I’m going to your house to stay”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV8wFANocHY
I told them that before meeting Jesus, Zaccheus stole money from the people by charging too much for taxes. One of the little girls said "Is this story true?" I said "yes", She said "Well I'm glas Zaccheus is not around now because I don't want him to steal from me." Then I went on to explain how Zaccheus said he would stop stealing because he wanted to follow Jesus and asked forgiveness for the bad things he had done.
So these little ones learned how to climb a tree today, and also heard about how Jesus will forgive them for the bad things they have done. All because of teachable moment!
What "teachable moments" will you look for today with your children or grandchildren?
Monday, November 11, 2013
Francoise has a baby boy!
Francoise, the single Mom who lived with us after the earthquake for a year with her 3 children has just had her 4th child! A healthy 7.7 pounds baby boy. She was assisted in the birth by her fiance, the Father of the baby. They are planning a wedding in December. While this is not God's preferred order (First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage), God ordained the birth of this child and has a good plan for him.
Carol was present at the birth and got to hold the baby moments after he was born. We have been letting the couple stay at our house for a few days while the mother recuperates from the natural birth and they can enjoy a modern bathroom and 24 hour electricity.
Odens, Francoise's fiance has been very gentle with her and the baby and seems like he is going to be a good father.
Francoise now has 2 girls and 2 boys, all of them happy and healthy. Children are a blessing from the Lord!
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Awestruck at being present for the birth of Francoise's baby!
When we got a phone call at 6 am, I said “I wonder if Francoise is going to have the baby?” Sure enough if was Odense telling us that her water had broken at 3 am.
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Originally Françoise had wanted a home birth with a midwife like she had with her other children. But we were suggesting that that wouldn’t be a good idea because at that time she lived in an area that was pretty accessible. Where she lives now, if she had had an emergency situation, someone would have had to help her down a small cliff to the ravine and take her down the ravine a few hundred yards to where the car so she could get to a hospital. So we invited her to stay at our house when the time was coming close.
A little over a week ago, when we thought she still had a month to go, she went into labor. Then the labor stopped and she was on bed rest. It was a rough time for her. Then her doctor asked for another sonogram and when he saw it he said he thought the baby would be born within a few days. He was right about that, but he said the baby was small. Apparently a lot of babies born in this country are low birth weight babies, but this little boy weighed 7.7 lbs. So I guess the original due date was wrong.
When we first got to the clinic, we were happy to see that it was nice and clean, but when we questioned the request to buy pitossin and antibiotics, we were told that we should take her somewhere else if we didn't agree with that. This was the clinic where Francoise received all her prenatal care and she felt comfortable there, so finally we all agreed to stay. The first nurse was not very kind or friendly. But I guess she was perturbed when I tried to suggest that she wouldn’t need pitossin to get labor going since the water had already broken. I didn’t like the idea of giving her the antibiotic just in case of any infection that might happen because where I’m from they don’t like babies to have antibiotics. But, Francoise said that this clinic had a good reputation—many women we know have had their babies there, so I kept quiet and prayed. First prayer answered: First nurse went off duty! :) The second one was nicer. Next prayer answered: Nurse #1 forgot to open up the drip for the pitossin—so all the labor was natural. But later the other nurse opened it up, presumably to help with the placenta.
After checking Francoise's blood pressure (normal) when we first got there, we never saw the doctor again. Guess that's why you can have a normal birth here for about $30.US. Thank you US AID for subsidizing this clinic!
I was the first one to hold the baby in my arms, even though I tried to tell the nurse to let Odens hold him first! But everyone else wsa busy helping Francoise. After a little guilt, I enjoyed it. He’s a beautiful baby. He seemed very healthy except that his body was fairly blue/pale. His face was nice and pink though and he was breathing pretty well, just had a little mucus. He cried well when he was born and then he looked alert. He also tugged back well when I held his hand and tugged gently. He found his thumb to suck and liked that a lot. Then he nursed. Mama and baby are doing well! - Carol
PS : After a little research I found out that as medical professionals are trying to reduce maternal mortality, they encourage the use of oxytocin (pitossin) for postnatal use to avoid postpartum hemorrhage.
I also found out that more than 500,000 women die each year in childbirth--99% of them in third world countries. So the systematic use of antibiotics is in reaction to that. I don't think there was a risk, or hardly at all for infection in this birth. In the US and other countries it's not considered safe to give antibiotics to a pregnant woman unless there is a serious infection because of the risk for the child.
.jpg)
Originally Françoise had wanted a home birth with a midwife like she had with her other children. But we were suggesting that that wouldn’t be a good idea because at that time she lived in an area that was pretty accessible. Where she lives now, if she had had an emergency situation, someone would have had to help her down a small cliff to the ravine and take her down the ravine a few hundred yards to where the car so she could get to a hospital. So we invited her to stay at our house when the time was coming close.
A little over a week ago, when we thought she still had a month to go, she went into labor. Then the labor stopped and she was on bed rest. It was a rough time for her. Then her doctor asked for another sonogram and when he saw it he said he thought the baby would be born within a few days. He was right about that, but he said the baby was small. Apparently a lot of babies born in this country are low birth weight babies, but this little boy weighed 7.7 lbs. So I guess the original due date was wrong.
When we first got to the clinic, we were happy to see that it was nice and clean, but when we questioned the request to buy pitossin and antibiotics, we were told that we should take her somewhere else if we didn't agree with that. This was the clinic where Francoise received all her prenatal care and she felt comfortable there, so finally we all agreed to stay. The first nurse was not very kind or friendly. But I guess she was perturbed when I tried to suggest that she wouldn’t need pitossin to get labor going since the water had already broken. I didn’t like the idea of giving her the antibiotic just in case of any infection that might happen because where I’m from they don’t like babies to have antibiotics. But, Francoise said that this clinic had a good reputation—many women we know have had their babies there, so I kept quiet and prayed. First prayer answered: First nurse went off duty! :) The second one was nicer. Next prayer answered: Nurse #1 forgot to open up the drip for the pitossin—so all the labor was natural. But later the other nurse opened it up, presumably to help with the placenta.
After checking Francoise's blood pressure (normal) when we first got there, we never saw the doctor again. Guess that's why you can have a normal birth here for about $30.US. Thank you US AID for subsidizing this clinic!
I was the first one to hold the baby in my arms, even though I tried to tell the nurse to let Odens hold him first! But everyone else wsa busy helping Francoise. After a little guilt, I enjoyed it. He’s a beautiful baby. He seemed very healthy except that his body was fairly blue/pale. His face was nice and pink though and he was breathing pretty well, just had a little mucus. He cried well when he was born and then he looked alert. He also tugged back well when I held his hand and tugged gently. He found his thumb to suck and liked that a lot. Then he nursed. Mama and baby are doing well! - Carol
PS : After a little research I found out that as medical professionals are trying to reduce maternal mortality, they encourage the use of oxytocin (pitossin) for postnatal use to avoid postpartum hemorrhage.
I also found out that more than 500,000 women die each year in childbirth--99% of them in third world countries. So the systematic use of antibiotics is in reaction to that. I don't think there was a risk, or hardly at all for infection in this birth. In the US and other countries it's not considered safe to give antibiotics to a pregnant woman unless there is a serious infection because of the risk for the child.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Our kids get more kids! Goat distribution in Verrettes
Today we distributed goats to 3 teams in the Artibonite valley. It was a beautiful day and did not rain at all, which is unusual because it has rained almost every night over the past week.
Our players were really happy to get the goats and as I quizzed them on the basics of goat care, they all gave the right answers!
I did the distribution at two of the schools and got to share how God preserved my life after getting shot. I used this story to illustrate the point that we never know when we might die, and the Bible tells us we can know we have eternal life if we have trusted in Christ.
We also gave a Bible story book to each of our players to share with their families.
So thanks for your prayers!
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