Before I forget the events over the last few days I want to blog so here goes…
On Thursday morning I made the comment
to Brandy that I was “off to my day, whatever it may hold” and boy did
it hold something I have never experienced here. When we got to school
to what would normally be Daniel, Lydia and I staying for class and
James running errands or helping with medical runs, we discovered there
were 5 children needing to go to the hospital and 3 moms were there and
the other two have no mom, so I needed to go because Kim (the one who
normally does all the hospital stuff) was taking 2 others to another
hospital a few hours away. So we set off for the hospital and among our
crew was a very sick little boy named, Troy. His mom left him and his
brother here a few months ago to go work. Not like work and send money,
but work because it is best for her. Anyway he is a very troubled and
hurting young man and you can see it all over his face. Well for almost a
week he has been sick with a stomach virus type illness and the
dehydration finally caught up with him. He got admitted to the hospital
right away. He doesn’t understand much English and I don’t understand
much of what he says which is little to nothing, but I can read hurt and
this boy was in pain. As the nurses proceeded to get an IV started I
literally cried along with him as I had to help hold him down. After the
nurses were done, I held him the best I could to comfort him. About 30
min later they had to do some skin tests and he began freaking out
again. The girl in there with him at the time (only 13) came to get me
so I could, once again, hold him still. And again, I just cried. I kept
thinking he needs his mom, how could she just leave her sons. Lots of
unanswered type questions, but ultimately I knew where I was needed most
and that was by his side. The rest of the crew we took with us had
minor things that were easily treated and we sent home. When James got
back he took them home and I stayed behind with troy and the 13 year old
leslibeth. At one point she looked so young and so lost so I held her
and apologized for her having to grow up so fast here. She lives above
our church. She has family but no mom and dad and her family can’t take
care of her and her sisters, so she, along with about 14 other girls
live above our church. So around 1pm James came back to get me and I was
sick leaving leslibeth there alone but I understand this is the way
they do things here. On our ride home I didn’t say much of anything and
when we got home I went straight upstairs and sobbed in my pillow. I
cried for so many reasons, for troy, for the way the hospitals are here
(just not clean and you share a room with so many people and no privacy
at all) for kids being orphaned, for my selfish ways, for my kids, for
my family…I really could go on. But James came in and prayed with me and
talked me through some of the pains. I’m so thankful for the rock I
have in him. I stayed in bed and napped with Sam Sam and that afternoon
we hiked to a feeding where most of my students live. This is where
Troy’s people are so I was glad to be able to report to them. The hike
was only about 25 min, but I was worn out because I carried Sam on my
back and I’m sorely out of shape. However, the view and feeding those
precious kids is worth every step. After the feeding this boy, Jessie
(who will probably be our son one day) lead Daniel, Lydia, and I down
the mountain a different way so we could go get Jerome (Troy’s brother)
and tell him about troy and see if he and Jessie could stay the night at
our place. Well when we finally got to Mam Norrie’s, where the boys
stay, it was dark. Jessie led us there but this walk was down the
mountain, down another road, then through a rice field…adventure
awaits!!! I will say putting my trust in an 8 year old was hard but he
knew every step of the way. Well there are 6 boys that stay at mam
Norrie’s and I wasn’t about to not have them all come stay if they
wanted and sure enough, they did. So we piled in our van and headed
here. It was so awesome to feed them and give them new toothbrushes and
have an indoor bed for them to sleep on. WE just turned the mattress
sideways and 3 boys slept on it while 2 others slept in the twin bed.
The next morning, which is today, they were all up by five and watching
cartoons with Daniel. When James and I got up at six thirty James headed
down to make breakfast while I got ours ready for school. 21 eggs and a
loaf of bread later, we were all ready for school. After a normal day
at school all the boys, plus one more, headed back here with us. Mercy
had fried chicken and rice waiting for us and the boys ate well. Jessie
wanted some ketchup…definitely my kiddo!! After lunch I laid down with
Sam while James took all the boys plus Lydia and her friend swimming at
this place they call the falls. It’s a river but it has small cliffs
which the kids loved playing on. After that they all returned and had
warm showers, with soap, and new clothes (James bought them each one
outfit-$5 each) they were so grateful for the clothes and throughout the
day Jessie kept smelling his shirt. He loved the clean smell, I guess.
So this evening we had our feeding here and 37 kids were here. It is one
of the biggest feedings there is and that is Awesome!! After the
feeding James took sister Anna and pastor Leo to Caticlan to the market
so they could shop for food and I fed the 14 kids who were either
staying or just hanging out at my house. We had basically chicken and
rice. There is a fancy Filipino name, but I don’t know it. So after
dinner they continued to hang out and play kindles and after mam Kim,
robin, Sister Anna, Pastor Leo, obed and Jessie left we settled in for a
bible story, prayers, teeth brushing and bedtime. I hugged them all and
told them I loved them and closed the door. As I write this I can still
hear some of them going to the CR (we call it bathroom, they call it
comfort room-cr). I’m so happy they are here and we can feed them and
clean them. Tomorrow they will stay all day and tomorrow night, they go
home after church on Sunday morning. This is the part I love; this is
what I was created to do. To mother, nurture, encourage and pour myself
into children. I’m so thankful for this chapter of my life and I’m
trying desperately to be ‘all here’ and soak it up. Missing my family
and friends makes it hard, but I know God knows what He’s doing the
wherever He leads, I’ll follow.
Oh, and troy gets out of the hospital tomorrow and will come here to stay the night!!!
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