Loving One More Joanna's journal in Haiti

Once again, another wonderful day.  It is so great to see all the patients making great progress and healing so well.  They are such a joy.

We had just finished doing a dressing change and I was just putting some stuff away when Jessica yelled to me that they needed me to go quickly to the Women’s center.  It is the building just across the road where they do births.  A woman that is not part of the program stop and was ready to deliver.  She was quite preterm but we are not sure how many weeks.  She quickly delivered and her 3#6oz baby girl came out crying.  She is a tiny little thing but seems to be doing quite well.  We are keeping the mom and baby with us now at the hospital and we will be monitoring her closely. It is such a blessing once again that the Heartline Ministries exist. This is a perfect example of a baby that was saved because of the care that she will receive. Please pray for Baby Anya, she is a blessing.

Baby Anya

The rest of our day was enjoyable and I spent a good part of it playing cards.  On a couple different occasions I got talked into playing. We were playing some Haitian card game that I still can’t quite understand but I try my best. Needless to say I haven’t won a game yet.

This evening the mosquitoes are out with a vengeance.  Let’s hope that our Malaria medication is working.

Like most evenings, a Haitian pastor came to lead  worship for all the patients. Tonight they were really getting into it.  It was so fun to hear them all singing, clapping,dancing and giving praise to the One that is the giver of life.  It is quite humbling to see those that have so little in a material sense be so hopeful and grateful for all they have and their faith appears to be like a rock. It was very fun to be part of this tonight.

I feel so blessed that I am able to be here and able to serve these patients.  They are some of the most gracious and loving people.  It is such a blessing.

I had another great day. First off, maybe some of you have noticed that I haven’t mentioned or complained about the weather once during this trip.  Well, no need to, it has been beautiful. Each day it is hot but there is great cloud cover, light breeze and periodic misting showers.  It has been delightful.  I have used to sheet each night when I sleep and even got up one night to turn my fan off!  So I am a happy camper.

Today was a great day. The patients are all doing so well and really starting to get up and move more.  It is great to see. I spent part of my day with Jonna and Beth, helping with Prenatal clinic. I gave each of the women a back massage while they waited for their appointment.  I kept trying to imagine how much their backs must hurt.

At prenatals, Jonna taught me how to listen to fetal heartbeat with just my own ear.  It was pretty amazing.  They can make anything work down here.  They also use aloe vera instead of ultrasound gel when using a doptone to listen to fetal heartbeat.  I laughed at first but it is genius. It is much cheaper, and then once you have made a mess with it on their bellies you just rub it in as a nice moisturizer!!!  They have thought of everything here.

The remainder of the day was spent at the hospital. As I got back, I walked in to a huge dance party, staring: our amazing patients. It is the best way to get them out of bed and moving after their surgeries.  It was so fun for everyone.  They are recovering fast with no complaining! They are all so strong.

Rosemond dancing to "All the Single Ladies"

Paul got all the ladies to get up and dance!

I am certain that it must have just been rooster breading season, there was more than a choir of them last night.  I could hear them through my ear plugs!  WOW.  Even though I complain about them, I am getting used to them as did get a good night sleep.

My whole day was spent at the field hospital.  This is the kind of nursing I love to do. You chart only your medications, no computer charting, no calling pharmacy because your meds are late, no consent forms.  It is just an entire group of people that are so grateful for any care than you give them that they don’t complain about having to wait, about sharing a tent with 6 other people.  They are amazing.  So I got to be a nurse for over 12 hours and just got to really care for patients.  We had about 25 patients this morning, 3 got to go home today.  That is always a challenge, where is home.  One of the biggest reasons that the majority of these people are with us is they have no place to go to heal from major surgery. May of them really only have the minimal possessions that they have sitting next to their cots they are sleeping on.  Most of our cares are wound cleaning, dressing changes, IV antibiotics, pain medication and just alot of TLC.  It is great.

Rosemand is such a joy! Please pray for him, he has quite the story.

I am working with great nurses, physical therapists, EMT’s, translators and of course amazing, kind, wonderful, humble Dr. Jen.

Dr. Jen and some of her patients. They adore her!

I am going to put in my ear plugs and try to get a solid 4 hours of chunk of sleep before the roosters begin choir practice!!!

Tomorrow will be another fun, long day of loving these great people.

Thanks for following!

Depending on when you get this post, it is either good night or good morning.  For me it is good night. I arrived with no problems at all today.  It has been a great evening to get caught up with all my friends.

There are lots of people at the hospital so the night went long.  I am going to make this post short as I need to go to sleep to be up to work at 7am tomorrow!!!  Most of you know that this will be a huge stretch for me to be up and functioning that early.  I feel like I can do almost anything in Haiti.

Hope to post more later.  There is amazing stuff going on here at Heartline.  I am very proud to work with this amazing good of people.

It has been awhile since I have written.  All is well and life just keeps going.  I am excited to write tonight as I tuck myself into bed, set my alarm for 3:15 am and get to lie here with excitement knowing that by this time tomorrow I will be back in Haiti.

This wasn’t a totally planned trip.  A couple of weeks ago a dear friend that I met just days after the earthquake, Dr. Jen, invited me to join the Heartline medical team that was going to be doing post op care for a few weeks.  At first I didn’t think I could make it happen.  As the days passed, my heart kept nudging me to look into it a little further.  So what do you know, I am going back and couldn’t be more excited. I will be there from Sept 28th till Oct 6th.

Me with two amazing women I get to call my friends! Jen and Tara

Like usual, this trip will be much different than any other trip I have ever been on.  This one will be consumed with doing patient care at the Heartline field hospital.  There has been a team there the last week that has been busy doing all kinds of greatly needed surgeries.  My job along with many others, will be post op care and of course lots of unconditional love.

Please keep all the Haitians in your prayers and the heavy rains are much life that is really tough, just a whole lot tougher.  If anyone can stay strong, it is the Haitian people.

Follow along on my journey. I will be attempting to post most days if we have electricity to get on the internet.

Thanks for your continued support and out pouring of love!

This past week has been a big one and I have found myself doing a lot thinking, reflecting and just trying to wrap my mind around it all.

On the 4th of July, I couldn’t help but think of freedom in a whole new way this year.  Since I have a personal encounter of my own freedom, it made we appreciate more than ever before the freedom that we have in our country.  There was one night about 3 days after the earthquake that I laid in bed trying to fall asleep as the tears welled up in my eyes.  It was the first time that my freedom as a citizen of the United States really meant something to me.  All because I had a US passport, I was able to leave Haiti at any moment, no questions asked.  It seemed so unfair to me yet there was an underlying amount of comfort.  I had seen lines of people doing everything they could to maybe get a chance to escape the pain and suffering we were all living in.  I had dear friends that were trying to get their children that were in the process of adoption out and there were many challenges.  It made me think, freedom is a gift and I need to thank ALL who have served our country to make freedom what it is today.

This past Friday I celebrated my 35th birthday! I couldn’t have asked for a better day.  I started out my day waking up at the cabin with some of my dearest friends.  It was a beautiful morning so I set out on a walk.  As I looked around at God’s creation, I just felt different.  This is a feeling that some of you have experienced before but for me it was a first.  I had so much gratitude for life in that moment.  I didn’t want any gifts for my birthday (I usually have a pretty good list). I was so content to be alive and celebrating my life.  To be so close to death, has made me reevaluate all I am, all I have and all I want to be.  I have so much to give thanks for and on my birthday it just seemed to be more of a gift than I could have ever imagined.

As I sit and reflect this morning (Monday), I can’t help but have some heaviness in my heart.  Six months ago, this afternoon was the earthquake.  It is hard to imagine that it really did happen and all that has gone on in my life and those around me I love so dearly.  Lots of good has happen, but there is so much that still needs to be done.  Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti, the missionaries that are living their lives to help the best they can and for the government of Haiti. It seems pretty challenging and overwhelming today but God is bigger than I can imagine and I need to give it over to Him.

I have now been back in the States from Haiti for just about a week.  It is a very different feeling than I have ever had before.  I can say with confidence that I feel healed and whole.  I was seeking healing on this trip but I never imagined that it could feel this good.  The trip was laced with many ups and downs but I feel that it was all part of what made me now feel whole.  This chapter of my life can now be closed but closed in a healthy way.  I am not looking back with regrets and things I wish I would have done differently. I am content and ready to move forward.

On Thursday morning, I “graduated” from counseling.  It was a wonderful feeling.  I told my therapist John when I started that I was seeking counseling to be sure that I came out on the other side of this tragic event as healthy as I could possibly be.  I wanted to be sure that I processed it all in a way that I would feel closure and I would not look back in years to come and realize I had so much that I didn’t resolve.  I am not foolish to think that in the rest of my days here on earth that I will not encounter any other tragic events.  I want to be able to handle and manage them in a healthy way and I feel that I have proved to myself that I am capable of doing just that.

Although the journey has been long and hard I feel that I am “in the light” at the end of the tunnel.  I knew I could get here I just wasn’t certain how or when.  I have arrived and I feel whole.

Now I can move forward; for myself, my family, my friends, my people in Haiti and doing it all while clumsily following Jesus!

Thanks to each and everyone of you for your amazing support. This journey wouldn’t have been complete without each one of you along the way.

Abundantly blessed!

Joanna

Now matter how you look at life in Haiti is hard. Everyone has a story and every story is harder than I could ever dream my life to be.  It is easy to get jaded, angry and frustrated with it all.  In the end, it is the everyday people who are suffering the most.  Each time I get ready to leave Haiti, I have so many more questions and feel more confused than when I arrived.  I think this is good.  It challenges me to be a better person in my everyday life and it gives me so much to think about that I could never forget this place I love so dearly. 

Today was a good day.  I did have to say goodbye to my friends but saying goodbye only for a while and certain I will see them again soon. 

Gertrude picked me up at Heartline about noon.  We headed back to the orphanage and were met at the gate by the adorable kids returning home from school.  They are so precious and have smiles that can light up a room. 

There are only 3 guests including myself tonight so we thought it would be fun to go to Epidor and bring pizzas home for dinner.  Something simple and fun (or so we thought). We ventured out with Gertrude’s brother and half way into the trip on a narrow busy road our car stopped.  This hasn’t happened to me before.  After trying several things with no success to get it started, Gertrude, Rosie and I got out to push.  It was muddy and there I was with a skirt and flip-flops.  We pushed the car enough and he was able to do a clutch start (I have no clue what that means but it worked).  He got us to the site of the old, crumbled guesthouse and we waited for another ride to pick us up and continue the trip. 

On our way to get the pizza, we stopped at Venia’s home.  I first met Venia in 2005.  She has been the cook at the guesthouse for as long as I have stayed there.  She like many others lost her home in the earthquake.  She lives with her 4 grown children.  They are so delightful.  Thanks to many of your extremely generous donations, we are helping Venia and her family rebuild.  Going to see her and the start of her new home was such a blessing for me. 

Venia and I with 2 of her children inside the start of their new home

There seems to be very little progress on anything here.  So it did my heart good to see that for one very special family, their dream of a new home is coming true.  Thanks so much to all of you!

We finally made it through all the traffic and got our pizzas to go.  While we were in getting our order it once again started to rain. (no thunder tonight! Praise God!) I think this is the 4th or 5th night of rain.  So many of the streets have streams of water running through them.  I will tell you, this water is far from clean.  It just is so sad to me that people are living in the conditions that they are and still have so many challenges. 

Water pouring down the street on our way back to the orphanage

We had a fun evening of eating pizza and your guessed it, playing Uno. 

Goodnight one last time from Haiti!  May God continue to bless you richly. I know that leaving here I am feeling abundantly blessed!

As I write, it is 10pm and I am listening to the drops of rain continue to gently fall.  It has been a pretty intense 48 hours.  For those of you that have followed my blog since last fall may remember that I told you from the beginning that I was going to be honest, up front and share my heart. Some days are great and some are tough but as we all know, this is life.

So Saturday morning seemed to be just another day in Haiti.  I was feeling as little apprehensive because it was going to be the first night that I was going to sleep in the building that I was in when the Earthquake hit.  My mind knows that I am safe but this was going to be one of the things that I was going to successfully conquer on this trip.  I keep telling my Haitian friends that they should be staying in their homes but then here I sit full of apprehension.

I spent the morning and the afternoon tending to the patients at the field hospital so that the day nurse could take a sick child up to a rescue center for nourishment.  It was a fun day to get to spend with the patients.  I really enjoy the time that I get to spend with them and get to know them a little more.  Everyone of them has an incredible story.

When finished, I walked back to the guesthouse in the smoldering heat and after arriving decided that I could use a little rest before dinner. 

Some of you know that one of my greatest weaknesses since the earthquake and to this day are thunderstorms. (To me the sound of the earthquake was a thunderstorm x 100) I had just walked down the stairs of the guesthouse into the kitchen after a short rest when the first huge clap of thunder shook the house.  I handled myself pretty well, I think mostly because there were many guests in the kitchen, none whom I knew very well.  Then the storm ramped up and really got the best of me. It was a massive downpour, so much that some of the streets are still flooded.  As the thunder got louder and drew closer, I began to panic and couldn’t hold myself together.  I began to shake and cry.  I was so lucky to have 2 wonderful caring women that came to my rescue to comfort me and love me through this traumatic time.  It lasted about 30 minutes.  In between each clap of intense thunder, I was able to verbalize that I knew I was safe and nothing was going to happen to me.  Just when I would calm down, the next clap of thunder would hit and would send me again into a tail spin.  I HATE losing control like that.  It will get better with time I hope.  Once I was able to calm down, I thought about it and believe that this was part of my healing that God had me endure.  It was intense but I made it and I think these tough steps are what are going to make me whole again. 

After finally pulling it together enough we went to our usual community  dinner.  It was a little tough but I was able to gain the strength I needed.  It made the thought of sleeping at the Women’s center seem like a piece of cake.  I can say at this moment that I have overcome some huge obstacles this trip.  Mission accomplished. 

Once we got to the Women’s Center, we were just getting ready for bed and we got a call that a woman was coming in labor.  It was a great way to finish off an intense evening.  We had a beautiful birth of an adorable baby boy at 11:05pm. 

Slept really well and got up in time to bring the mom and her new baby over to the field hospital to be watched for a while.  We then headed up to church.  Remember this is a huge highlight of my week.  I love this place.  I was able to see the 2 nurses that I had the pleasure of working with my first 2 nights after the earthquake.  It was so great to reconnect with them. 

Arriving home after church, I wasn’t feeling very well.  I was hot, nauseated and had a headache.  I am sure it was a combination of many elements.  So I spent the afternoon relaxing in bed. It was too hot to sleep but I got time to relax.

After I felt a little better, I went to the hospital to see everyone. Spent time at the guesthouse. We then finished the night with dinner and outdoor worship. It was so hard to say good-bye to all the amazing people who have so blessed my life. 

Tonight, as I type, I am staying again at the Women’s Center with Jonna.  We had a great night visiting and just being together again.  Tomorrow (Monday) Gertrude will pick me up and I will spend my last day with her at the orphanage. 

So much can happen in so few hours.  Life is short. Make the most of each moment!

PS:  Now my trip is really complete, the roosters were back last night! Hate to say it but for one night it wasn’t that bad.  I also got to use a sheet when I slept, mostly to keep the mosquitos away but I didn’t melt. 

Hope everyone got to enjoy Father’s Day in one way or another.  I am so grateful for you Dad, I miss you, love you and will see you this weekend!

I am going to try to not talk about it anymore but this weather is incredible.  Today was the hottest day I have ever experienced. I couldn’t cool down or stop sweating no matter what I did.  Beth did remind me that all of us are experiencing it together so no need to complain.  I was trying not to but failed miserably. This is intense. Today, Accuweather is saying the “feels like” temp will be 122 degrees by 2pm.  That is unimaginable.

Anne and I spent the morning at the field hospital with the kids and listening to some of the patients tell their stories. It was very powerful.  Anne said her good byes and we took her to the airport.  I can’t find the words to thank Anne enough for taking this journey with  me.  It was a huge sacrifice for her and her family and she did so well.  I am so blessed to call you my dear friend Anne! I will be praying for you as you attempt to transition back to ”your reality.” It is tough but I know that you have lots of people around to love you.  Thanks for loving me. 

Baby Aiden stole Anne's heart!

I spent the afternoon at the Heartline Women’s Center helping Jonna pack and organize.  The Women’s Center is moving to a new home next week so I spent the afternoon back in post earthquake role, organizing medications. It was great to spend time with Jonna.

This evening I got the pleasure of joining John for 2 hours of prayer and praise at his church. I enjoyed the ride to the church with John to have time with him to really learn.  He is an incredible man with so much wisdom and love.  I had never been to an event that all you did was pray for 2 hours. I was very relaxing and enjoyable.  There was a band made up of Haitian musicians that did an incredible job leading worship.  What a great evening to reflect, rejoice, mourn and heal.  So much to give thanks for in my life.