Death and New Life

Death

Someone very precious to our church here at GVCM went to be with the Lord this week.  They are grieving here for the loss of a 16 year old boy who died suddenly from Hepatitis.  Had he been treated sooner or had better health care this boy may not have died, but we rejoice in knowing that he is with Jesus and suffers no more from the afflictions of this country and our earthly vessels.  

One thing Michael and learned from this was that grief is the same in every culture. Painful.  Even though we are surrounded by children who are orphaned, there are many other families close to us here who truly love their children and provide for them however they can.  

New Life

Something so cool happened here this week. Through Starkey Hearing Foundation and World Wide Village we got to see all of our deaf children hear for the first time in their lives.  It was so humbling to watch and I am so thankful to have gotten to be a part of it.  Seeing their faces light up is something I will never forget.  

Here they are waiting their turn to be fitted.

Dianna, who has no ear canals was even able to be fitted with an external headband that enables her to hear.  We are hoping that our older children will be able to learn to speak as well, but they say that the younger children usually do better picking up speech.

Bill Rancik from Season 1 of The Apprentice was there to fit our kids with hearing aids. Of course they had no idea who he was!

Pastor Yves, Bill Rancik and Roventzley.
All of our deaf children became deaf from having a very high fever as a baby. Something that is so preventable with the right resources.

Jeffly is hearing and feeling his own voice.

Emma being fitted by the founder of Starkey

Yoline, New Life

We also celebrated our May Birthday's.  This is David.  We actually have no idea when his birthday is or even how old he is but we celebrated him anyway.  He was so overjoyed by the celebration, and we guess this may have been his first and only birthday party.

Hot Dogs and Soda

Rudjerry celebrated his 9th Birthday

Marie-Dieunel's life was also celebrated, we don't know her exact birthday either.

Happy Birthday to Baboo too!!

Lots of cake

Remember Mia?

Beautiful Shelby and Mia

This is Mia's Mother. We were also able to fit her with hearing aids.  As a result she has decided to give it another go at mothering baby Mia.  Mia and her mother went back to their hometown.  We will miss her, but if momma can care for her, then that is where she should be.  Please pray for Mia and her mother as they begin their new life.

The Last Week Or So....

This is Michael spraying concrete on the panel wall. The wall surrounds the campus and is about a quarter mile in length.  That's a lot of concrete to spray.

This is the set up they have to keep the sprayer going continually.  Usually Haitians do this by hand, but we are trying to be more efficient with our time and resources.

We also finally have the gate installed so the campus and the children can be secure.

Michael and the boys started planting our mango, avacado, lemon and grapefruit trees. They only got three planted before the shovel broke.

We met the Smithson's in the airport on a trip over here once and learned that their church in Arkansas has committed to feeding 117 children at a "make-shift" orphanage in Leogane.  They are hoping to buy land and build a new orphanage to serve these children.  They have taken on a huge task, but nothing is impossible with God.  They came to visit us at All God's Children to research the best ways of going about the whole process.  Please pray for the Smithson's, their church family, the missionary family that is planning to move here and especially for the children at Leogane.

Here they are picking Yves brain for the best way to go about starting an orphanage in Haiti.

We have also had a very special group of people here who came back to visit after being here just about a month ago.  They blessed the nannies with jewelry, new clothes and pedicures.  

A much deserved treat for some very hard working women.

A group was sent from World Wide Village to fit all of our deaf children with hearing aids.

We will be taking the deaf kids to PAP on Wednesday to get the hearing aids.

It will be so awesome to see if the kids can hear after being deaf most of their lives!  

A mold was taken of each child's inner ear.

Amanta, this chick is going to be able to hear next Wednesday, I just know it!!!

Praise God in advance for this miracle!!!

My favorite thing to do is give stuff away, especially when people really need it.

We are handing out Toms shoes to these kiddos.

Elijah and his Haitian buddies helped hand out shoes.

This baby boy most likely has worms that are making his tummy so big.

When you buy Toms they really do give a pair away to a child in need.

Lovin' their new shoes.

We are always looking for something fun for the kids to do around here, Michael thought of this one.

Our own slip and slide!

And last but not least, the big news is, we got another baby on Mother's Day.  This is Mia and she has been badly neglected.  Her mother is deaf and unable to care for her here.  She came to us last night and has a bad burn on her leg.  I'll post more pictures when she is feeling better.  Our little room is getting more and more crowded, but we are sure God is using us to help change the lives of these babies.