What a Day!!

Last Tuesday started out so calmly. I've begun taking Tuesdays off language school to give me more time to help the kiddos with their home-schooling not to mention that I'm forty-something and pregnant and don't have the same amount of energy that I once enjoyed. So, I'm was reveling in my first Tuesday off language school and getting my 'stuff' done. I was sitting at my desk working on long overdue correspondence and lesson plans. Hope and Patience were right behind me in the little cubby where my desk is. All of a sudden Patience banged her head on one of the various weird-angled alcoves that stick out of the walls at our house. (Remember all the strange angles?) Anyway, Hope was one foot closer than me and so she saw the damage first and started streaming bloody murder. Patience was pouring blood from her forehead. It was the deepest wound I've seen on one of my children....and unfortunately I've seen plenty....too many.

I tried to lay her back to access the damage but she was bleeding so badly that her eye sockets were filling with blood causing her to scream even more. I yelled down to Joe to come up and bring some towels. Thankfully he had just walked in the door from school. He took one look at her and got on the phone. He asked our friends to meet us at the hospital to help with translation if we needed it. We took her directly to the ER. While I was changing my blood-soaked shirt for another one and Joe was loading her into the car he sent Benjamin to fetch the camera and took the above pic. As we left Hope was still screaming certain that her sister was going to die.

At the hospital they saw the severity of her wound and ushered us straight back to a bed in the ER where they cleaned the wound and ordered x-rays to see if her skull was fractured. (Thankfully it wasn't.) The doc on call said because of the seriousness of the wound he wanted a plastic surgeon to sew her up. However both of the plastic surgeons at that hospital were in surgery. So they sent us to yet another hospital.

When we arrived at the ER at the second hospital there was no one there. I don't mean no patients, I mean no one. No nurse. No doc. No administrator. Nada. We knocked three different times, then our friend went to find someone. The nurse he found said knock again. We did. She watched. Sure enough, she said, there was no one there. (Duh!) An ER with no personnel. The nurse finally tracked down someone and Patience was seen. The plastic surgeon was wonderful and did a great job on Patience's stitches which are in the middle of her forehead. She had to put in 3 layers of stitches since the wound was so deep (I told you it was!). She got a total of 25 stitches....19 on the inside and 6 on the outside. YIKES!!

Through it all Paish was a trooper. They didn't even have to knock her out! We took her out for an ice cream when it all began to sink in to me what had happened. God was good and gave us all strength throughout the entire ordeal, but I'm so glad that this Tuesday has been much quieter....so far.....of course the day's not over yet! :>)

P.S. After we left for the hospital Jake took Hope aside and calmed her down by showing her all his stitch scars as well as those of his brothers and sister. Hope then realized that Patience would be okay. What a good brother!!

P.P.S. This incident put us over the 50% mark. Now, 6 out of our 10 children have had stitches....60%!

To Clear Things Up

I'm not sure I was clear about the travel to the US and the baby stuff. Here's what I was asking for:

I'm going to the US in May for a short visit. While I'm there I hope to pick up some baby things that we just can't get here. (There are lots of things we can get here, but some that we can't.) So, I was asking what sorts of things do you all consider "can't-live-without-baby-items". If the items are things that I can't get here, I hope to find them when I'm there in the States and pack them in a suitcase to bring back to Coch with me. I hope this is a bit more clear.

Thanks to all of you who have replied. I'm still working on my list, so if you haven't responded or if you have already responded, but think of something else, please let me know.

A Question for You All

I'm planning a trip back to the States before mid-June if possible. I have a dilemma and need your help. Here's a question that is not theoretical...If you were going to have a baby and you had only one suitcase in which to put baby 'stuff' what would you put in it? What are the items that you used the most/can't live without with your babies (from in utero until about 10 months old)? Remember I have limited space.

P.S.

Here's another email from my friend....read the post below this one first.

Hey Denise,

There was something else I thought would be great to add to the blog. The day we went to the dump for the church service was pretty amazing. We pulled in and there were about 50 kids waiting in a line to get into the school for the service. They pretty much came all by themselves. There was a little boy about 2 sitting in the dirt completely naked, just waiting to go to church. So, in we go and in the midst of the despair of this place the kids are singing "Jesus loves me this I know" and clapping with the music. It was like being taken out of the dump for 2 hours for all of them. They sang, smiled, heard the gospel and were given homemade bread and juice. God shined there in that darkness and it was amazing to see. I thought this might be something to share with your readers.

Love,
Kerri

Letter from a Friend

I have a friend and supporter in the U.S. who just went on her first week long missions trip to another South American country. I prayed for her while she was gone and emailed her to ask her how the trip went. I asked her permission to post her response here since I think it gives good insight. I thought it might challenge some of you to go on mission trips as well. You are always welcome here.

Hi!

It's so good to hear from you. The trip was really good, but hard. Having never been out of the country before and never seeing poverty like that in person took some getting used to--The dump (La Chureca) if you want to google it to see pictures, was something I'm still processing. That kids live there is surreal. But, God is doing some great things. A church service actually started in the dump on Saturdays and we had the chance to participate. Also, there is a huge endeavor going on right now- a building project. Eight group homes are being built and it's a beautiful place. They are going to take out 64 of the most at risk kids in the dump and move them here. They will go to school, and be given the opportunity for a life out of the dump. It's called Villa Esperanza and if you go to Forwardedge.org and click on the Nicaragua link it tells all about it, We toured it and what a haven it will be. The first 8 girls are scheduled to be taken out of the dump in April. There is alot of prostitution that goes on between the girls and the garbage truck drivers. In exchange for first dibs at the new garbage coming in, families offer their daughters to the men. It's pretty awful. But the kids....they were so amazing. Smiles that went on for days. Beautiful people. I had the opportunity to share my testimony with around 60-70 kids of all ages. We did sports evangelism and did teacher training for the dump teachers and an orphanage/school nearby.

Whatever romanticized thoughts I had about the mission field are much more realistic now. In my head I knew it must be "hard" but I only spent a week there and saw how tough (but great.) it can be.YOur obedience to the call into full time missions is such a testimony. WE continue to pray nightly for you all. THanks so much for asking and for praying for me.

Love,
Kerri

Another New Favorite Quote

"Good things come to those who find it and shove it in their mouth."

----the rat on the newer Charlotte's Web movie

The Bucket List

Okay, time for some group participation on this blog. I recently saw the movie The Bucket List. It's about a couple of guys who discover they have terminal illnesses. They end up making a list of things they want to do before they 'kick the bucket' and then they set about doing the things on the list. So I want to know...what's on your bucket list? What do you want to do before you die?

Having a dream is one thing. Sharing it is another. Please consider sharing your dreams and goals on this blog. Who knows...maybe you will inspire someone to pause and do the same...and
ultimately maybe you will inspire yourself to achieve the goals you have written down! Some maybe deep and take a huge commitment. Some maybe spiritual. Others might be just something fun you've always wanted to try or somewhere you want to visit. There are no right or wrong answers. The more participation I get the better. After all I need amusement. I live in Bolivia for pity's sake.

Don't wait. Make and share your list now. I've had way too many friends pass on to the next life at too young of an age. In fact a few years back Joe and I had decided to take a cruise for our 20th wedding anniversary. Well during our 18th year of marriage we had three very good friends die. We decided, why wait? Let's go now. So we went for a cruise on our 18th wedding anniversary. It was so fun we went again on our 20th and our 23rd too. :>) Why not start working on accomplishing your bucket list now?

Just post it as a comment or send it to me by email if you'd rather. (denise.holman@sim.org) Thanks in advance for sharing and entertaining me.