Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been very busy around here and many things are going on right now. Kyle and Katie are back in school and Mary went home a few days ago (I miss you sweetie!). We are preparing for Darrell's next surgery which is scheduled on the 10th at 11a.m., and also getting ready for Katie's birthday! She will be 11 on the 17th. She is growing up sooo fast. This year she is in 5th grade and will soon learn how to play an instrument. She is trying to decide whether to play the violin or flute. We shall soon see.
We have received many donations this past week. Thank you to all of you that have donated. We currently have 3 boxes full of stuffed animals and care bears...thank you Laura! Medicine, pencils, clothing and even a child's plastic picnic table have all been donated! We are sending the picnic table to the RC. The children are served their meals on these tables and Licia is in need of more. The rest of the donations will be split up with half going to the RC/Clinic and the other half to Barbara in Port-au-Prince for the orphans in her care.
Flooding is still very bad in Haiti. Hundreds and dead, thousands and homeless. There is NO clean water for the RC and clinic right now. Please pray for Haiti tonight.

Haiti Needs Your Prayers!!

Please keep Haiti in your prayers. They are currently being hit by their 3rd hurricane in less than two weeks. Thousands of Haitians are now without homes, clothing, food and clean water. Many people have lost their lives in these storms and many more are still unaccounted for due to flooding and derbis. The river near the rescue center/clinic is still very swollen but was starting to recede,although now that more rain is being dumped on them it is sure to rise once again. They are almost completely out of clean drinking water. By tomorrow evening it will most likely be completely gone. With so many bottles to make, meals to cook, children to bathe, clothes to wash, and a full clinic and rescue center to keep clean, the loss of clean water could literally be the difference between life and death. We have not heard anything specific about the orphans in Port-au-Prince but I do know that a few towns outside of the city have been flooded and shelters have been set up in Port-au-Prince. Please keep all of Haiti in your prayers. Pray for their safety from the storms, strength to rebuild, receding flood waters, and clean drinking water.

Kids & Kittens

We've been very busy around here the last few weeks. Darrell is recovering from surgery on his left elbow where a tendon was removed and is currently getting ready for the same surgery on the right elbow. So needless to say, he has been unable to work for a few weeks now. Things have been very tight but we we're managing. We have also had many guests with us throughout the last couple months. The tiny,cuddly, furry type... Kittens! We are currently caring for our second litter of 5 kittens. Now before I go any further let me first say that none of these kittens belong to our cats. Both litters were born to stray mama kitties that we feed daily. Our first 5 lil guests were born the end of May. By the time they were 5 weeks old their young mama decided they were big enough to be on their own. Of course they weren't, so after a couple days of hearing them cry and seeing them sleeping in the hot summer sun we brought them inside. Within a couple days they were all litter trained, eating, and becoming very social. We quickly found homes for 4 of our 5 little babies. The 5th lil one I fell in love with and when it was time for her to go Darrell told them that we were keeping her. She became a late Mother's Day gift to me!!! I named her Angel. She loves to cuddle and is turning into quite the lapcat! Within a couple weeks of our first lil guests going to their forever homes we took in our next lil guests..mama too!
This mama kitty was rapidly losing weight after giving birth. We fed her extra food but it just didn't seem to help. It got to the point that we were afraid we were going to lose her and all 5 of the kittens too. So ...in they all came. Danielle, the mama cat, is finally starting to gain weight and all but 1 of the kittens are growing nicely. The runt of the litter is a beautiful lil long haired gray male and he just doesn't seem to have much interest in nursing or eating. Although he is VERY happy to crawl up onto your lap to cuddle and sleep! The lil ones are old enough now to go to their forever homes but we haven't given any away yet. I wanted to give them a few extra weeks to grow stronger and bigger due to their rough start. They are an active bunch and keep us all very very busy. We also have another young guest staying with us for awhile. It's been great having her here and I'm going to miss her alot when she goes home. She has become my second daughter and calls me mom just like my own kids do. She's a great kid and plans on becoming a vet just like Katie does. Mary and Katie have become very close sisters. And last but not least school is starting soon and we are trying to get all the kids ready. This time of year is great for donations. All the summer items are on clearance and there are tons of sales just about everywhere. Don't forget all our young friends in Haiti when you go by those sale racks of sandals, and summer clothing. The children are in need of everything, even school supplies! But most of all they need your prayers. Thank you for taking the time to care and pray for the kids and for us.
P.S. Hopefully we will receive new photos in a couple weeks! I will post them as soon as we get them.

Bake Sale Success

Our Smiles For Haiti bake sale went great! We had it on the 4th of July and made a little over $61. Today we sent the money and also 2 boxes of donations for the orphans under Barbara's care. We are sure that she will be able to put the money to good use for the kids. She will be in the states in a few days and will be able to take the money and donations back to Haiti with her.
We want all of you that helped out with the bake sale to know that we really appreciated all that you did. Whether you made goodies, spent the day helping us at the sale, or stopped by to buy treats, Thank You...over and over again! We couldn't have done it without all of your help.

Yves

We would like to introduce all of you to sweet little Yves. He is one of the many children that has been admitted to Licia's rescue center in Haiti. Isn't he precious? We think so. Let us tell you about him.


Little Yves was born May 29 around 1am. His mother, like most women in Haiti, had no prenatal care. She didn't even know how far along she was when he was born. Now let me explain that medical care in Haiti is nothing like it is here in the states. Here we have doctors in every town, and hospitals in our cities. That's not how it is in Haiti. There are not many hospitals or doctors. And when you do find a hospital it usually offers very substandard care and is very expensive also. This is why there was no prenatal care. So when little Yves was born his mother knew he needed help. He was so tiny, weighing only 3lbs 10oz. He was brought to the rescue center and admitted right away. Since the rescue center is full of children there is no room for the parents to stay while their children are there. His mother had to leave him and go back home without her new baby boy. I'm sure that was a very difficult thing for her to do. But she knew that he would be safe, loved and cared for in Licia's care. All the parents know this. Every week more parents leave their precious children at the rescue center because the children are sick or injured. Some are there only a few days, others for months. Parents try and visit their children but it can be very difficult to do when they live in a village a few hours away. Remember, they are very poor and walk most everywhere they go. They do not have the luxury of cars like we do. Some of the children currently at the rescue center have not seen their parents in a very long time.


Little Yves had a very rough start due to his size. Since he was so small he was unable to keep his body temperature up on his own, so a heating pad was placed under him to help keep him warm. Shortly after, Licia checked on him only to find that he was no longer breating. Seconds later his little heart stopped beating as well. But after receiving a couple puffs of air he was breathing on his own again. This happened three more times that day. His first day of life he was revived a total of 4 times. I can't even begin to imagine what little Yves, Licia or Lori was going through, but he was fighting very hard to stay alive and Licia and Lori were fighting to keep him alive also. There are no monitors at the center like we have here in the NICU at our hospitals. No alarms to go off when he would start to slip away. No incubators to keep him warm. Little Yves had a nannie instead, a loving nannie. She watched over him to make sure he was still breathing and did not leave his side.


The next morning little Yves once again stopped breathing and his little heart beat it's last beat. He fought as long as his little body could but in the end he just wasn't strong enough. He is now in Heaven where he will never have to suffer or struggle again. Now I'm not telling you about Yves to make you sad, but to make you aware. He is just one of many that does not survive. He is one of many that was admitted to and cared for by the rescue center and many like him will also pass away. But not all of them. Many more can be saved and desperately need your prayers and support. That is why the rescue center was started, to save as many children as possible. Many of the children that are born healthy in Haiti soon become sick from malnourishment. Many fall victim to intestinal parasites that cause their little bellies to swell with worms. Others have had insects burrow under their skin and lay eggs. There are 2 little boys in the center right now with this exact problem. Every night they have to have the eggs and worms removed from under the skin on the bottom of their feet. Can you imagine how painful that must be? We are so blessed here in the States. Our children have access to quality health care, they have food, clean running water, sanitation, shelter, clothing, and shoes. These are things that we take for granted here. Things that our children will never go without, but many children in Haiti will live their entire lives without some of these things, like shoes. Shoes would have prevented the boys from those horrible bugs, but they didn't have any. This is what Smiles For Haiti is about. We are trying to help as many children as we can to live a better quality of life in Haiti and hope to bring a smile to their sweet little faces in the process. There are many more children like precious little Yves that are patiently awaiting your generous donations. Everything from formula to diapers and medicines are needed. I know many of you have already donated and we thank you for that, but so much more is still needed. Whether it's a donation of a new box of crayons or a donation of a case of formula or anything in between please know that it is all very much needed. There are many more children like little Yves that are waiting and need your prayers. Please.... don't forget about them.

Quirks

Ok, so we've been tagged by our good friend Lori. Now we have to tell you a few of our quirks. Since Katie and I share our blog we are each going to share 3 quirks about ourselves.

these are the rules:
*link the person who tagged you
*mention the rules in your blog
*tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
*tag a new set of six following bloggers by linking them

So here we go, Katie first, then me:
1) Cheese. I WON'T eat any cheese on a sub, sandwich or salads. But I will eat it on a burger,pizza and macaroni n cheese.

2) My hair. I HAVE to wear it down all the time. Sometimes my mom makes me put it up and I hate it!! Everyone says it looks nice being up but I DON'T think it does.

3) Jewelry. My newest quirk is that I HAVE to wear my blue and white seashell necklace everyday.

1) Laundry HAS to be folded as soon as it comes out of the dryer. I can't leave it in a basket or even in the dryer. I just HAVE to fold it right away.

2) I love coupons and use them all the time. If I'm shopping and forget to bring my coupons I WON'T buy any of the items on my list that I had a coupon for (even if they are on sale) until I have my coupon/s with me.

3) My feet. I don't let anyone touch my feet. Even my kids learned very early on that when they would try and tickle me...my feet were off limits!! I was very ticklish as a child, especially my feet....so now as an adult my feet will no longer be tortured!!

We're tagging 4 more bloggers,

Brittan http://www.livingmylifefromcovertocover.blogspot.com/
Carly http://www.formulaforhaiti.com/
Debra (Carly's mom) http://www.debraparkerdesign.com/
Licia http://weblog.xanga.com/no_Im_not_a_nurse

Bon Nwit, Good Night

Today Katie and I received an awesome package in the mail. Lori sent us a CD and book to help us learn Haitian Creole!! We opened it right away and got to work on learning the language. It was tough at first but after a couple times though it started to make more sense and the words became easier to pronounce. Lori, thank you so much for this. It is going to help us immensely. Mesi, Thank You.