Sponsorship Sunday – Week Two – Naika

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During my trip to Haiti in February of 2013 I had the pleasure of getting to know the people of Healing Haiti. Part of their mission there is an orphanage known as Grace Village. It is my pleasure to present one of the children from Grace Village each week to my readership in the hope that you will take them into your heart and sponsor their care and education.

This week’s child is:

Naika-

Naika is a kind and compassionate girl who loves God with all her heart. Naika understands how important an education is to her future and truly enjoys studying and learning. In fact, Naika was hard pressed to choose her best subjects but finally determined that math, French and grammar are her favorite. Naika feels blessed to have such good meals each day, she especially likes vegetables and pasta. Naika wants to be a nurse when she finishes school so that she can help people. Naika’s prayer request is that she can be safe.

Naika came to Healing Haiti in June, 2012. Naika is an orphan, nothing is known about her parents or family.

Birth Info –

•Birthdate: Unknown
•Place of Birth: Unknown

It is my hope that one of you will find your heart touched by this child and take up a bit of Christ’s work by sponsoring them for an extended period. My wife and I are sponsoring a pair of sisters and I look at it this way – I only gave up a fast-food dinner each day to change the life of a child. Healing Haiti will do the right things for these children and I have full confidence in their work. I am not affiliated with them, they don’t endorse this blog, nothing like that at all. I just love kids (can’t be Santa and not love children) and know that Grace Village is the difference between life and death for many of these children. Please open your heart and prayerfully reflect on the opportunity God’s giving us to sponsor these children. Some of them have come out of slavery and have some of the toughest lives you could imagine prior to Grace Village.

Just click the link and it will take you directly to the page where you can sponsor this week’s child. And if God is particularly good and that child is sponsored when you get there, please grab another smiling face and change their life instead. My goal is to put Sponsorship Sunday out of business as quickly as possible and take that day off each week. Thank you. God bless you for your generosity.

Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.

That’s quite a hike for six in the morning.

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During our trip to Haiti with Healing Haiti we did a lot of things that I’d never imagined would be on the list. One of them was a high-speed walk to church at the crack of dawn on Ash Wednesday. 

Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.

Our leader, Becky, made sure we were all appropriately attired and then we set off for the church. She neglected to mention that it was at the top of one of the highest hills in that part of Port au-Prince. And that we’d have to navigate tent cities and rough roads to get there in one piece. But we did make it.

The church is actually a large concrete slab with an enormous tent on top of it. The original structure collapsed during the earthquake in 2010 and they’re working on building a new edifice that’s more sturdy. Haiti learned a lot about how not to build during that earthquake – the lesson cost 300,000 people. Pretty steep price.

It’s often said that great churches have a great sound system. This one did – and the musicians and preachers to make it worth the effort. This was an evangelical service, just like the one I attend in the United States in many ways. People dancing, moving about with the Spirit and dropping to their knees to Praise God. I didn’t understand a lot of the words; my French and Creole aren’t strong enough to make that claim. I did, however, get the idea – God is great. And on a humid morning that was just starting to warm up we got our day started with our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ.

The walk back to the mission house was a lot easier. Especially knowing that a giant breakfast of oatmeal, eggs, French toast, fruit and lots of coffee was waiting at the end of the descent from the hill top.

But it was the visit to the children’s hospital with the nuns of Mother Theresa that left the morning’s biggest impression. There won’t be any pictures of the event, it wasn’t a publicity gig. We went to change babies, hold babies, play with children, feed children, and be the Hands and Feet of Christ.

I’ve changed a few diapers in my time – being the oldest of four kids you learn early to help out. But it is very different when the children you’re caring for have suffered from starvation. The mortality rate for Haitian children is off the charts. Malnutrition is epic. And because these smallest of the small were recovering from a near death level of hunger they were on a special diet of eggs, proteins, and a lot of carbs. This leads to a diaper load that could be mistaken for chemical weapons in Syria. Seriously, I was looking for a mask after that first one.

And then there was another. I dodged the bullet when the third child pointed out to me had a dry well. Thank you!

Haitian children’s hospitals are not quite like the one in your city. It’s more like a hospital for infants circa 1900 in the United States. The Sisters love the children and take excellent care of them, but they are overwhelmed with the demand. The room where I spent my morning had two or three dozen cribs, end to end in rows. I worked the longest with crib 15. No names, no date of birth, just a crib number. You had to remember where you picked up your charge and make sure they got back in the right place. 

It’s more than a tough life – it’s a marginal one.

These kids had a shot at living. Most of the malnourished die when they hit this point. And that’s a lot of children in Haiti. One of our team members took a lot of grief over the feeding part of the morning because the child was so weak that it kept tipping over while my friend tried to feed a simple breakfast. We joked that a new organization was born that day: “Feed My Sleeping Children.” It would be a lot funnier if it wasn’t because the child didn’t have the energy and muscle strength to sit upright while eating.

I hadn’t thought very hard about that morning since getting back from Haiti. But I’m going to spend some time praying about those children, those nuns, and that hospital before I go to bed today. I hope you’ll take a minute and join me.
 

**this will be included in all posts until further notice. Please subscribe now to Commotion in the Pews and then “like” the Facebook author page. I will be giving away a $100 prize from Walker Farms Honey in May if, and only if, I get 100 new subscribers and 100 new likes to the author page. It stands at 67 today, needs to hit 166 before the prize can be awarded. This helps me when I approach agents and publishers trying to get my books published. Thank you!**

It’s September 10th – again.

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For those of you tuning in for a light-hearted post or a restaurant review you’re going to have to wait a day or two.

For those of you who would like to read an original short story about what I think happened on September 10th and 11th, 2012, this is the place. Once again, I have no contact with active duty intelligence sources. I gleaned all of this from the news and threw in a little bit of personal experience. Below the fold you will find the story. If you read any further you’ve been forewarned on the topic.

There is nothing classified here. I found all of this information on government websites. So, if it’s good enough for Uncle Sam to put on an official government website, I don’t think I’m giving away any secrets by using it in my story.  I’m publishing this in advance of the hearings on Wednesday because I can. I still have free speech rights. I’m also publishing it because it proves that this information is out there if the press had chosen to look for it instead of being lapdogs to the current administration. If you like what I’ve written, that’s a plus. It’s how my novels look and feel as well. If you’re easily offended, give it a pass. Continue reading →

Beer and dirt.

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My boy Edzell is getting old. Losing weight (evidently the only male in the family capable of that feat) and getting more feeble every day. He’s mastered snoozing. But back in his youth we shared a common fondness for Corona beer.

Once upon a time I would have a cold one after work and if I set it down on the step next to me his tongue was down the throat of the bottle in record time. So much for that beer. He knew he’d won when I poured it on the sidewalk for him to lap it up.

A part of approaching the end of your days should be doing all the things that are considered “bad for you.” Seriously, who cares if the elderly woman in hospice wheels outside for a Camel and a shot of Jim Beam. Or if the diabetic has a final cupcake on their deathbed. Ed isn’t checking out this afternoon but he sure deserves a beer. So I went to the liquor store to get him a cold one. Six of the small bottles – the kind that wind up as salt and pepper shakers in seafood joints.

This morning, as the picture shows, I poured my boy a beer.

Dog + bowl of beer + dirt = mud

One sniff, one taste and he wandered over to the tree and started eating dirt (his latest weird behavior.) I guess dirt is better. As he did this I looked over to see Stormy trying to levitate and chase birds in the trees.

Now I’m stuck with 5 bottles of Corona and two really strange sheep dogs.
**this will be included in all posts until further notice. Please subscribe now to Commotion in the Pews and then “like” the Facebook author page. I will be giving away a $100 prize from Walker Farms Honey in May if, and only if, I get 100 new subscribers and 100 new likes to the author page. It stands at 67 today, needs to hit 166 before the prize can be awarded. This helps me when I approach agents and publishers trying to get my books published. Thank you!**

Let’s get a term or two correct before we go on to the rest of the day.

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First, the three animals who held those young women prisoner in Cleveland for the last ten years are not misunderstood, they are not outcasts, they are not twisted. Nope, they are EVIL. That deserves caps.

The young women are victims. They are survivors, they are strong, they are damaged, but they are not heroes. Sorry. Nothing heroic in this one. It is a bad use of the term. Lots of good things can be said about them but that word isn’t a good fit.

So, now that we’ve got that one nailed down, let’s move forward.

*this will be included in all posts until further notice. Please subscribe now to Commotion in the Pews and then “like” the Facebook author page. I will be giving away a $100 prize from Walker Farms Honey in May if, and only if, I get 100 new subscribers and 100 new likes to the author page. It stands at 68 today, needs to hit 166 before the prize can be awarded. This helps me when I approach agents and publishers trying to get my books published. Thank you!**