On Insulin

Milonia is now on insulin.  This is great news because several doctors said she should wait before starting on insulin until she was a bit healthier.  She must be a bit healthier.

She has started school and Jude says she is doing great.

Tony and I are hopefully heading back to Haiti in the next couple of months or so to pick up our boys we are adopting. I can't wait to get there and see how well Milonia and Roseny are doing for myself.  If you have any special notes or small gifts you would like to send along with me to take to Milonia, get them to me and I'll make sure she gets it.

Thank you to all who are supporting this family prayerfully as well as monetarily.  I can't wait to tell them all about God's people who have stepped up to help them.

Things Just Keep Getting Better!

  You may recognize this young lady as Roseny (Milona's mother.)  Second Mile has hired her on to help with their bead making.  If you have never seen the paper beads these ladies make, they are very fun!

  This will be in addition to the business that she is running outside of her house.  She is a hard worker and they are excited to have her as part of their team.  This job is helping Roseny to become more independent and rely less on others.  Her expenses with Milonia's healthcare are such, however, that she may never make enough money to fully support Milonia and her health.  Please continue to pray for this strong woman as she works to provide for her sweet girls.

Recent Facebook status for Second Mile:
Meet Rosenie!
This is our newest bead maker. Rosenie lives in the Cap Haitien area and has two daughters. Her oldest daughter is an 18 yr old living with Type 1 Diabetes. Having a child with a chronic illness isn't easy in the United States

. Imagine the extra obstacles one might encounter in Haiti. Rosenie is an amazing mom and we are excited to have her a part of the team! We are thankful for all the jewelry sales (and sellers) that are making these jobs possible!!

These are examples of the jewelry that they make.  Each piece comes with a card telling about who made the jewelry as well as her story.

Progress!

I got word from Jude yesterday that Milonia is starting school today!  This is a big deal for her as it takes a great deal of energy just to walk there when she is feeling sick.  So, that means she is feeling better!

I also got word from Jenn that the doctors have started her on insulin.  Milonia seems to be doing so much better.  I can't wait to get out there myself to see her.  Thank you to all of you who have prayed and supported her financially to make this possible.

Thanks to Mckinney Pharmacy

I recently got a dose of what it may be like to be a type 1 diabetic in America without insurance.  I went to Walgreens to get a monitor and some test strips to send to Milonia.  I was unprepared.  They give you a monitor for pretty much free, which is nice because the least expensive test strips that work with that monitor are $70 for 100 strips.  That may not seem like a bad deal, but Milonia is currently using 5 strips per day to monitor her sugar levels.  So, that will cost $70 for 20 days of use.  I don't know about you, but that would alter our budget significantly.

And that's in America...$70 and 10 minutes of my day.

If you've ever been to Haiti and tried to accomplish, well...anything, you know it's not like America.  You can't just run down to your local Walgreens and get what you need.  Most likely it will be a project consuming half if not all of your day.  Imagine heading down to your local Walgreens to get any given prescription.  They tell you they don't have your medication and won't for an indefinite amount of time.  Or they tell you that it will cost you more today than usual because...well, they don't have to give you a reason.  Or they just give you the wrong medication, but it's close to what you need (this summer, Milonia had plenty of pills for type 2 diabetes...useless to her.)  In short...EVERYTHING IS MORE DIFFICULT IN HAITI!!!

So...I called my sis-in-law who is a pharmacist.  She has told me before that the pharmacy where she works is very charitable and the owner has a heart to help the poor.  Well, by American standards, you can't get more poor than Milonia.  He graciously agreed to give us 3 monitors and sell us the test strips for his cost...half of what they normally cost.

So, here's a shout out and a thank you to Mckinney Pharmacy in Springdale, AR.  If you live in Northwest Arkansas, head down to Mckinney Pharmacy in Sprindale, AR the next time you need a prescription filled.

 Mckinney Drug Store
601 W Maple Ave
Springdale, AR 72764 
 (479) 751-4536

Not a Handout

I've never been one to believe in "handouts" or "entitlements" as some call it. As I sat in my Social Work courses in college I tended to disagree with 100% of my classmates and instructors 100% of the time as they claimed that we all have the right to equal material possessions.  In other words, if you have it, and I don't...I should have it too.  This just doesn't work in the real world.  

I teach my children "life is not fair."  And that would be because it's not.  There is a world of truth to the what Madame Blueberry needed to learn... "a grateful heart is a happy heart."  God created us to be grateful for our blessings, not entitled to what we don't have.   If you are in Christ, by God's grace you have the spiritual blessings of holiness, blamelessness, adoption by God, redemption, and the inheritance of eternal life (Eph.1.)  If that's not enough to keep a person content, I'm not sure what else God can offer.

Before we arrived in Haiti last July, I had told Jude to let Roseny know that our team was willing to help her start her own business when we came. Upon our arrival, I was anxious to get over to see Roseny and hear about her "business plan" for lack of a better word. As we got comfortable with one another again and I introduced her to several new visitors, she explained that she would like to sell snacks and drinks from a stand on the street just outside her house. It was agreeable that there was a market for this in the neighborhood and she should move forward. Then, she asked me to look out her window. Perplexed, I stood up and I saw a half-built wooden structure. Roseny had managed to scrape up some wood to build the stand for her business herself. She said, "I wanted you to know that I'm serious about this. I'm willing to work for it. I want to provide for my family myself." I fought back tears. Tears coming because I see a woman who just wants a chance, a chance to fight for her family herself. Not to be rescued by someone who considers her to be a "project."

I was impressed once again by the strength of this woman. She was excited about the fact that she could provide for her family...that we wouldn't have to support her for a lifetime.  This is a chance she is not going to let slip by.

The guys went over on one of our last days in Haiti and used some of the lumber and materials we had left over from another project to help her complete her stand.

Roseny and Nellie.  This is the stand Roseny had worked on herself.

Tony and the guys  worked hard on the stand on the last day.

The stand completed.  From left to right Tony, Milonia,
Roseny, Jude, Trevor, and Silas (in the front)

Time for School

School in Haiti usually starts in October (it always seems to be up for debate every year when they will actually begin.)  Well, I've been told that our Milonia is feeling well enough to attend school this year.  The local congregation here has collected a backpack (which will swallow her whole until she puts on some weight) and school supplies.  Thanks to the members of the the Logan church of Christ for meeting this need.

The money needed to pay for school will be in addition to the monthly funds that are needed.

Check Up

This last week, Cap Haitien Children's Home had a group of doctors come for a mission trip.  I asked if they would spare someone to go over and check on Milonia.  This is Dr. Ken Turner from Johnson City, TN who went to see her family.  He agreed that she should wait for insulin until she is a bit stronger.  

Roseny (Milonia's mother) had an infection on her leg so they gave her some antibiotics.  Many children in Haiti are orphaned by such infections.  Thank-you to this team for taking time out of their hectic schedule in Haiti to visit their family.

Anyone who doubts the benefits of short term mission trips, here is an example where their visit made a difference to one.