Unshed Tears

Yesterday a mother sat outside our hospital with pictures of her and her children... she was not asking for money or food... she had a sign in English asking someone to adopt her youngest child because she had no way to continue feeding him.  For eight months she has been breastfeeding her son, as he is growing her milk is no longer enough to satisfy him.  This woman, who obviously cares and loves her child felt if was better to part with him than to let him starve.

This evening two women working at a local orphanage explained to me that several of the children at the orphanage were left by parents who were unable to take care of them.  The mother of one of the babies who was a patient at our hospital came every day and night to take care of her baby, yet had to leave her when she was discharged from our pediatric unit because she does not have a place to live, much less money to care for her.

I spent the better part of one hour listening to one of the hospital employees telling me how she is beginning to get discouraged, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.  My conversation with this strong beautiful woman started when I saw her studying English, within 15 minutes of our conversation I could see that my friend was not her normally happy self, that something was bothering her. When she began to share with me her discouragement I had no words,  saying "I'm sorry" felt inadequate and "I understand" did not ring true either.   She is currently living in a tent on the hospital ground with her only son.

It is eight months after the earthquake; money is scarce , food even more so and people are still living in makeshift shelters or if they are lucky under a tent.

Almost every day it rains here in Haiti, when I ask how they endured the night the common response is " we survive". 

I wish I could end this blog on an upbeat note, give me a day or two... but for now... ;(

Traveling Light: Singing does help after all

Traveling Light: Singing does help after all

Singing does help after all

Tuesday Night

Tonight one of my patients who is a paraplegic was crying because she was in so much pain because of the spasms in her legs. The mother of another patient and I decided to sing to her as I massaged her legs. We told her that the singing would either be really good or just bad enough to make her forget her pain. At that point the only thing we could do was make her laugh. We sang for almost an hour until she fell asleep. I'm not sure if she the singing was good or bad but thank God something worked.

Not to be a downer, but for some reason tonight my heart hurt as I looked around and saw all these children with serious injuries, some orphans, and some with parents living in the hospital
with them because they have nowhere else to go. I keep thinking of what is going to happen to them when they have to get discharged... where will they go...

Wednesday Night.

Last night as I was in another patients room having a small worship with them, in the middle of singing I saw a big stinking spider crawling around the room... that was it for me... I swear I almost tossed the kids off the bed trying to get away from the thing...that is until this 11 year old boy with this massive wound on his leg with metals and screws coming out of every which way asked me "do you believe in God?" I replied "yes" (all the while keeping an eye out on the spider), then he asked "so why are you letting the devil distract you with fear?" Dang it... that little bugger was right. What came into my head was Philp 4:6-9 be anxious for nothing...
I am sitting here worrying about so many things and forgetting to give it to God. Why am I letting the devil distract me...

This morning I woke up with a song in my heart and for at least one hour before I left my room, before I interacted with anyone else... I decided to sing.

Marc
S.A.L.T (sisters actively living the truth)

Out of the Rubble-Haiti story.

Out of the Rubble from Loma Linda University on Vimeo.

Living Love Out Loud

This week I have seen what real love looks like. In the middle of their suffering two women put aside their personal pain to to help someone else. There is a young girl at the hospital who suffered a spinal cord injury that left her a paraplegic. After going though several surgeries at another hospital she was essentially cast aside. She later developed multiple decubitus ulcers, on her right hip and on both her heels. This young lady also has wounds on both her legs which she explained to me were caused by rats. She described to me how she could see the rats eating away at her but did not have enough strength to call out for help. She is now at our hospital in Haiti receiving care.



For a long time Mai Mai's (pronounced my my) family were unable to come to the hospital to visit or take care of her for various reasons, Two ladies that are in the hospital saw that she did not have anyone to take care of her decided to cook for her, buy her food, clothes and even wash and turn her several times a day. The amazing thing is that neither of the women knew the young lady previously and neither had any source of income. Out of their meager savings they decided to share what they had with Mai Mai. One of the women has a baby girl in the hospital to take care of and the other is a post op patient who still has not regained her full strength. Both of these women saw a need and have quietly gone about to take care of this young lady to the point that I believed them to be family. It was only as I was giving out some instructions pertaining to the girls' care that they quietly informed me that they were not related to her.
I wish you could see how these women are treating this young lady as their own, with such tenderness, they treat her like a beloved family member.






"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing,therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
- Stephen Grellet,

Three days and counting- two months and counting

I am visiting my family here in FL. Since I came I have spent every waking moment with my niece and my nephew. Wow, I did not realize how much I miss them. I have three days left to spend some quality time with my family before I head to France, two months before I head to Haiti.

Found an apartment in France

OK. I think this is it. I found the place that I am going to stay in France, however the host is asking me for my ID and to send the deposit ahead of time. Do you think this is a scam. I told them that I will only give the deposit after I am in the place. I hate the fact that I have to be suspicious, I want to trust everyone but in this world there are so many dishonest people. Arrrrrrrhhhh. What do u think am I being too paranoid?

New trip...New country...New adventure

Two weeks and counting.... yes it is me again. Man I am bad at this blog stuff. I promise to be better this trip around. Getting ready to head to Haiti to work, but first with a stop off in France (wee wee) wait that is something else ... I ment "Oui, oui". I am back living with J until I leave again. ( this is becoming a habit) seriously. for the past several months I have been trying to find a place in France to rent for the months that i will be there. Man there area a lot of scams going on, but shall push on. it is now 1 am.. will update more tomorrow. Ciao

Ecuador or bust...

I am here... or there depending on where you are. I have finally reached Ecuador. Believe it or not I do not have any adventures to share. the whole process of getting here was so smooth, I knew something was bound to happen.... Wait....

O.k y'all know how I love to travel but I HATE flying. I am one of those people that you hope does not sit next to you because you know that as soon a there is the slightest bit of turbulence they are all over you... YES that is what I did. There was this gentlemen sitting next to me, we had a nice long conversation about his life a little about mine ( for those of you with a dirty mind.. no it was not a mid-Atlantic hook up). It was a nice conversation... I LIKE TO TALK...

...Anyways back to the story... at one point in this long flight from Cali to Atlanta there was some turbulence... let me tell you, before I knew it and most certainly before he knew it I was all over him. I mean, I had a grip on his arm and I was half on his seat.. ( dang it y'all planes are not suppose to drop and sway that hard!! I thought that I was going to die). So thus began my not so short conversation with God.

Why don't planes carry parachutes instead on life jackets?...

The whole time that I was holding this man that I don't even know hostage (dang it why couldn't it be some gorgeous, young..ish, mission minded, guy sitting next to me... Oh well... just my luck...) I was apologizing... but yet I would not let go. (it was o.k. he didn't mind).

Well I have officially completed my first week... or my first school week in Ecuador. Spanish is hard. Every morning I walk 15 blocks

to school and back home (I will send you pictures of this mammoth hill I have to climb every day to go home) I better be fit before I return home.

Everyday I walk pass the American Embassy, ( I don't know why, but I feel secure knowing that I live close to the embassy). to go to school for Spanish classes. Some days I feel as if I will never learn the language.

Yo etsoy un poco triste. Yes I miss all of you... I have been hoping that one of you guys would come and visit.... then again you do have a whole year to come... and you better... please :).

This weekend if we get enough people to go we should be going to Mindo, essentially the cloud forest, however if we don't have enough people I am going to spend my Sabbath missing ya'll... well just a little... you know in between catching up on sleep, and reading.

next time I will write some more words in Spanish... right now my brain hurts.

byaaa.

Love y'all lots
Marc

One Week... The Countdown Begins....AHHHHHh

O.k... O.k... O.k... I know I have missed a week, however I do have a good excuse... Mac had an emergency... Yes for you non Mac users... Mac is a computer... More so HE was my brain ( now at this point I can make a joke about men... but it is too obvious)... Love ya guys:) My hardrive died and I needed to replace it... and no I did not back it up... ( yes, yes, lesson learned). So... getting back to the original story I could not post a new blog B cause I did not have a functioning computer. Yes I Cried, O.K maybe not actual tears, but... my friends did after they heard me lamenting on and on and on about the information that I have lost....

Anyways... One more week left.. actually I have less than 5 days left B 4 I leave... you can let out your tears now...don't try to be strong I know that you will miss me:( in fact i can almost see the tears now... Oh wait that's me...hee hee... I'm eating some spicy food... :)


Anyhoo ... I will leave you for now...
Read, learn, post and share your thoughts..

Love you
Marc J A.K.A. Peppaseed

Book I: Three weeks and waiting

Marc: Book I Chapter: Three weeks and waiting

This is the story of my life.

Marc Book I : Three weeks

Language learning!!! HA


I love this period of my life it is full of expectations, and fear, I not sure what God is going to do and how.


The countdown is on I now have three weeks to the day before I leave for Ecuador. Three weeks to make memories that will sustain me when I am all alone. I have three weeks to make y'all miss me :wink:Three weeks to get into trouble... and out of course, y'all know me, I'm a good girl :wink: and three weeks to miss all of you.. O.k, all right enough of the mussy stuff. :bigkiss:




Guys, as the date draws closer to leave my anxiety builds, I sometime think that i will never learn this new language , yes SPANISH arrrhhhh, yeah, yeah, yeah everyone says that I will learn Spanish easy, o.k now y'all just know that if you are a native Spanish speaker THAT IS NOT COMFORTING, try saying something in another language... you see people smiling at you with the look that says " ohh how sweet, she is butchering my language but she tried"

A lot of you (my friends) are telling me that I will learn this language, that better be the case or this is the last that you will hear from me.......until I do.



This is the story of my life, not in its entirety, just in part. it is my book to write, my adventure to tell, friends to make, tears to cry, and new joys to discover, all with the love of my life (that my friends is another chapter, wouldn't you love to read it....tss...tss.... patience)

Until next time
Love you all

Marc
Marcy
Marky Marc
Peppaseed
Caribjewel
(pick a name, depending on what you know me as)
and if you are looking for a new name to call me...
Call me Mujercita hermosa

Love ya, ciao

My Rescue

Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs in Haiti