Sunday, February 26, 2012

Sarbin Team Arrives

For all of you who have been to Haiti you will love this post from Dr. Sarbin. Please pray for us all of there luggage did not make it so I sent them on ahead and stayed in Port to try to get it for them. Oh the fun...

Since it turns out I can get a signal out here at the end of the Earth, I just had to share about our ride to Haut Moustiques (I learned how to spell it).Let's just say it was a good thing I stopped typing when I did earlier. If I had to sum up the ride in 2 words, here goes:"HOLY *@!#" - for adult ears only.Imagine going 70mph on a 2 lane highway playing chicken with oncoming dumptrucks. That went on for 2hrs until we left Gonaives. We were then treated to a mix of roads that resembled washed out river beds, actual river crossings, deeply rutted/washed out dirt & rock roads with 12 inch round boulders strewn across them and my favorites: roads that made double black diamond mogul runs at Aspen look easy AND a cross between Supercross and the Baja challenge course.Cerel accomplished all this while traveling at speeds up to 55 mph, with oncoming traffic on single lane roads; with pedestrians, goats, dogs & chickens everywhere; motorcycles and mules in the way; we even came upon an 18 wheel tractor trailer on these roads-unbelievable. The kicker was Cerel getting cell phone calls and taking them with ease while driving through this.This went on for nearly 3hrs straight. Imagine riding a professional bull for 3 continuous hrs - that's as close as I can come to describing how it felt. I think Cerel missed his calling - he could probably win the Baja challenge easily. After all, he was doing all this in a Nissan SUV with 7 other passengers and we did arrive safe.It was a hair-raising ride but there was also an awful lot of laughter to go with it. Needless to say we are exhausted and a bit delirious now that we have arrived and will be turning in quickly. (Hope nobody wakes up peeing blood.) Tomorrow brings our first day in clinic in a whole new environment...with NO meds. Welcome back to Haiti!Love to all. Sleep well and please don't worry. We are obviously in "good hands".More tomorrow,The TeamPS- I am sending this Sunday AM because I did eventually lose my signal last night when I tried to send. Here is a teaser for tonight's message. We are waking up to some familiar and some new sounds out in the country.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Off to Haiti again

Hi everyone, I leave for Haiti in the morning. We have back to back medical teams, this year we are headed out into the mountains to Haus Mistiquo a very small village. Then the second and third weeks we have therapy teams coming in to do much needed therapy in different areas. Will try to post photos and updates while in Haiti. Please pray for all of the travelers and their families. All of the Haitian people we hope to help. love V

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Chrisno has successfully healed here he is at Christmas













Evenson Update













It is week number 13. Evenson has to have Chemo and Raidiation for 31 weeks. He is doing so well. He has the best doctors and host family in the world. Again God brought all of this together not us.

Extreme Makeover Angel Missions Style




You ready for a drastic before and after? No this isn't Extreme Makeover (but if anyone wants to call them for me maybe they'll consider doing an Extreme Makeover Home Edition Haiti!).
Remember this pic?

And here is Evenson after surgery removing the tumor that was in his abdomen.

Praise the Lord!We were literally setting up hospice care here in Haiti for Evenson as he was suffering so much and we were unsuccessful in finding care for him.But the Lord is always on time-he opened a door for Evenson in LA-actually several doors. It fell together so perfectly that there is no way any of us here at Angel Missions can take credit for this. Obviously someone much higher than us had a hand in this.Evenson is still getting chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He is not out of the woods yet. But we have proof that our God is a great God and we know He can bring Evenson the rest of the way through.Angel Missions Haiti is looking for care for several other children. Please visit the website. Pray for these children and talk to people in the profession. You never know when the Lord might use you to be the link in finding them life saving or life changing care!
More after photos of Evenson!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Thank You



Never a trip goes by that some parent does not show up to Thank everyone in the office for helping their child. They stop and show us photos, school papers, report cards....






The children smile and hug and kiss us. We can never get enough of that. Just last month we had Sebastien and his mother come in all smiles. Sebastien had trouble going to the bathroom for years. It took us 4 years to find someone willing to see what was wrong and fix it. It was painful to hear this little boy try to make himself go to the bathroom. It made me cry. Now he is all smiles, he says he has no more pain. What more could we ever ask for.



Thank you to all of you who help fund all of this work. Without you we would not be able to help these children. love Momma V

Saturday, February 4, 2012

God Opens the doors....will you walk through them?







Hi Everyone,










As you all know we mainly help children. Since the earth quake we have been able to help about a dozen adults. Last week while in Haiti a man and his wife came to the Clinic. He had been diagnosed with a Brain tumor. I was upset for him that more was not possible for him in Haiti. Even though I thought that getting surgery and treatment would be impossible I had him go get a CT Scan for me to bring back to the US. This man had recently lost most of his vision (he can only see light now not shapes) so I went on a hunt to find him a cane. Michael next door gave us a beautiful carved cane. So with that I tried to teach him how to use the cane to get around. He did great and was very thankful. I explained that I would bring the CT scan back and get it read and let them know if there was any possible treatment. I thought that we were going to have to tell them NO enjoy the time you have left with each other. Well God had other plans. I honestly do not know how long it would have taken me to get the CT scan to a doctor to be read. When I hit the ground here it always seems to be on the run. I landed in Ft. Lauderdale and the first call I received was from Tom asking if I had seen the urgent email he had sent me last night? Baby Sammy was very sick and needed to return to the US. Baby Sammy was born on my Birthday in 2009. He was born with a terrible case of Spinabiffita. Though God opening doors we were able to get him to the US and he had many surgeries and today is a happy healthy boy of 3. Right away I called his host mom told her I was in Immigration please call Dr. Lisa and let her know. (Sammy has a shunt and if it gets infected it could kill him) Then I called the hospital to ask if they would write another letter of free care. Continued on my 3 flights to get home. Once home Dr. Lisa called me I explained to her what I had been told of Sammy's condition. She said I do not think it is the shunt. I think he has a bad virus. While on the phone with her I asked if she would be willing to read the CT scan I had. She said yes bring it first thing in the morning. She also told me that she operated on adults as well as children. The next day I am in her office. YES this can be operated on.... I need him here yesterday it is very important to get him here ASAP. I go home and make flight arrangements. Now 4 days after leaving Haiti both Antoine and his wife Ania are here in Roanoke with my family. We are awaiting the hospital ok for surgery. Please pray. But God had opened all of these doors. Who am I to question it? I follow and walk through with him. Please pray for Antoine and Ania they speak very little English and this would be a scary time for each of us. Let alone being in a different country all together.










Oh I forgot to tell you, things never work out this fast. God had known this was coming and both Antoine and his wife had been granted 5 year visa's 2 years ago. So we did not have to do any paperwork, get passports, or visa's. Do not even try to say God is not working here. He is opening so many doors. Look around in your life today. What doors is he opening for you? Will you join him and walk through them. I pray you will. Have a blessed day Love V