Flamanda

Flamanda was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. She is doing well. She is eating babyfood well but they left the feeding tube in with formula going in for extra nutrition. She has a doctor appointment with the surgeon in 2 weeks. They will decide then if she still needs the feeding tube in depending on how well she is getting fluids in. The surgeon was happy with how her head was looking. It should continue to slowly drain fluid. She can close her eyes all the way now which she couldnt do before as her eyes are not bulging out as much. The surgeon was impressed at how she tracked objects and how alert she was.Continue to pray for healing and that the drainage hole stays open.
Thanks,
HTH

Flamanda

Flamanda had her surgery yesterday. She did great with it. They were able to put in a drainage hole instead of a shunt to drain the fluid off her brain. There is a 30% chance the hole could close. In that case she will need a shunt and that is much more difficult to maintain in Haiti. Please pray the hole stays open. Pray for her mother as she is away from her and for her host family dealing with surgery and being away from family over Thanksgiving.
What a praise that we were able to get her here for surgery and that she is doing so well.
Thank you all for your continued support and prayers for our kids,
HTH

Crazy Busy...

Life at our house has been 'Crazy Busy' since Georgy got here last Wednesday. I will update more in a day or so. We have learned SO MANY things about his life in Haiti, and it breaks my heart!!!! He is learning things so quickly. He is LOVING, LOVING, LOVING our shower/bathtub. He laughed hysterically the first time I showed him that the water can actually stay in the tub. :-) We will be transitioning him to a new host family in the next couple of weeks. Pray that the transition is not too stressful on him and pray that we have direction on where to place him. We have a couple options and both families are amazing!!!! We should be going this week for his first set of blood work. More later... Here is a pic from the other night... (Luca and Georgy)(Thanks Pastor Kerry!!!)



Here are 2 photos that I took the night that he arrived. He traveled with an amazing AA Ambassador, Dennis! The little boy in these 2 photos is not the same little boy just 4 days later!!! He is soooooo happy and ran around like a 'mad man' playing tag at a park today. It is amazing what love, attention, and food does to a child's spirit!!!

Georgy is here...

Georgy is sleeping now. WOW... That is all I can say. I see how we have WAY TOO MUCH through his eyes. He walked in the back door and there were little shoes scattered on the floor. He looked at me with his big eyes, and you could totally read his thoughts: "You have that many kids???" He has ONE pair of shoes... He came with one very small duffel bag. WE HAVE SO MUCH COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE WORLD!!!!!

Georgy

Hands That Heal has a new patient coming tomorrow night from Haiti. His name is Georgy. He is 11 years old, from Angel Missions Haiti, and we have been told he is a very pleasant child. He will be seeing a urologist in Indy and having genetic counseling done. His care will be life altering for him and will require a very dedicated family with a lot of sensitivity to his emotional needs as we are not yet sure what all will be required to fix his specific needs until he arrives and testing can be done.
Rebekah and her family will be keeping Georgy for a few weeks until we can find a longer term family for him. More information will be available as he arrives.
If you are within 2 hours of the Indy area and are interested in hosting him or know someone that might be, or would like more information on him please contact either Rebekah or Stephanie.
Rebekah is also in need of clothing for Georgy. We are guessing size 8-10 slim boy, girl or neutral clothes are good, we are trying to build up supply of clothes for future kids too all sizes. Shoes and underwear are also a need. If you are in or near Ft.Wayne and can help with this please contact Rebekah.
Prayer for Rebekah's family and for Georgy's transition would be very appreciated. His case will be very delicate and we do not have a lot of details yet.
Thank you,
HTH

HTH in the news...

HTH got some PR today... Hopefully this will cause some more awareness of the need to help within our community. God always provides in mysterious ways!!!

Here is the video... (Hands That Heal interview)

Linda Jackson did a great job editing our 45 minute conversation. HTH was prominent and that was my hope! This ministry has nothing to do with me, but all to do with the people of Haiti needing help, and how God provides in the most miraculous ways!!!

Halloween...

Jean Widler had his first experience with Halloween. His host family could not have picked a better outfit for him. He is obviously seeing better, since he could see where the candy was 'hidden'. :-)
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Here is a little note from his host mom, Nancy.

Cutest little bumble bee of this year!

Notice, it didn't take long for him to figure out where the loot
is...he kept trying to climb the stairs for different angles to that
wonderful bowl of goodies that he was just a bit too short to reach!
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Jean had another eye appointment this past Friday and the doctor is having the Stanley's patch his good eye for one hour a day to start strengthening and retraining the muscle in his right eye. He does not want to do corrective surgery before he sees if the brain will retrain the muscle by itself, now that he is able to see with his glasses. By patching the good eye, his brain will be forced to work with the right eye muscle and learn to use it properly. He will go back to the eye doctor in 6 weeks to see if there was any progress made. At that time, more definite things will be decided for Jean's eye surgery. First Steps has also evaluated him and he is behind in all areas except cognition. We have always known that he was one smart cookie. He will start receiving services as soon as the therapy plan is written up.

Thank you for remembering to pray for HTH, our patients, and our AMAZING host families!

We could not do this without your support!!!