Sunday, June 28
Hard to believe how quickly these last few weeks have flown by! It's hard to describe all that goes on here at Shevet as things tend to change continuously each day bringing adventure and drama of it's own! God has been teaching me about the value of working in unity with others, choosing to trust, and being jealous of my times with Him.
Things have stayed very busy as we have had eight children and their parent or grandparent living with us here in our house in Jerusalem. One of the children (Hamza) is recovering from surgery and will be going home soon. Six other children are awaiting surgeries which will all happen in July.

(Me with some of the mothers and children living with us)

In the midst of all of the busyness, there have also been some very difficult and tragic circumstances with several of the children here. One little girl (Varen) was inoperable due to the complexity of her heart condition and a couple of days ago she went home to Iraq with her mother. This was an especially hard situation as everyone had expected that Varen would be operable and going in for surgery which made the reality a shock. Medically speaking, Varen will only live for a few more years. But - all things are possible with God! Please continue praying for this beautiful little girl and her family.

(Picture: Varen and I at the screening in Jordan) (Video:Varen before she went home to Iraq)
More sad news came when we heard that Mohammed from Gaza had died at home after a long struggle of doctors trying to resolve the problems in his small body. He had been in the pediatric ICU for several months after recieving heart surgery with his mother faithfully staying at his side. Finally, Mohammed had been sent back home to Gaza as the doctors had exhuasted all possibilities for effective treatment. Several days after returning home, his little body finally gave out.

Although we were all aware of the possibility of losing Mohammed, it was still very difficult to say goodbye when he finally died. Please keep praying for his family and especially his mother!

(Me holding Mohammed's hand - Mohammed and his mother right before returning to Gaza)

Hamza

(Hamza, Mohammed, Akram, and I)

June 4-8, 2009

Thursday, June 4
Today we visited Hamza in the hospital! He is recovering so well. When we first entered his room he looked up, flashed us a bright smile, and then promptly got out of bed and sat down in a chair next to us. Mohammed was with us and could hardly contain his excitement as he presented Hamza with the gift of a watch that was identical to his own! As soon as Hamza put his new watch on, I walked outside with Mohammed and several of the other patients' mothers and had a little picnic.

(Picnic time!)

After our picnic, Hamza, Mohammed and I met up with Justin (Shevet Achim staff) and Akram in the kids' activity room at the hospital. There we made some amazing clay creations! We had a great time visiting and look forward to Hamza hopefully getting discharged from the hospital in the next few days.

(Akram making a clay hippo while Justin and Mohammed play a game.)

Monday, June 8

Hamza was released from the hospital today and got to come home with us to Jerusalem! Yeah! We celebrated with cake and Kurdish dancing!

(Mohammed and I dancing while Esther and Akram's mom look on)

(Akram bowing to Mary! Mohammed and the rest of us all had a good laugh!)

(This is what we want people to think)

Back row: Esther (volunteer for a week), Akram, Mohammed's father, Justin (staff),and Mohammed

Front row: Mary (staff), Akram's mother, Me, Hamza, Hamza's grandmother, and Donna (staff)

(This is a lot closer to the reality)

Goran & Lucy (Rebecca too)

(Affectionately overpacking copious amounts of dog treats)

There once was an interesting fellow
His favorite color was definitely not yellow
He always would cry out, “Foood! Fooood!”
Yes, I know, a typical dude
But any way, as I was saying –
At times, yellow is left where Lucy is playing
Yet his depth of affection knowing no end
Goran gladly cleans up after his friend
A leash, a bed, a toy, a treat
Golly – that life’s hard to beat
From what I know – she’s got it made
Her beck and call would be obeyed
The fluffy, small poof ball returns the devotion
With whimpers of love to portray her emotion
Between the two, the bond is deep
Without each other, each would weep
I heard a rumor, perhaps it's true
They’d cry so hard, they’d both turn blue
Blue is the shade of a Wal-mart cart
So I hope the two will never part

That is all… oh.. no wait -

P.S. Sometimes Rebecca feeds Lucy.
P.P.S. Sometimes she feeds Goran too…. sometimes….
P.P.S. Dear Rebecca - I love you more than Lucy. Don't tell Goran or he might not speak to me again.

Jordan Heart Screening

(First meeting - me with a patient who will eventually recieve surgery and her mother)

Monday – Wednesday, June 1-3

On Monday we traveled to Amman Jordan where we met 30 Iraqi Muslim children and their parents who had come for their children to receive an echocardiogram. The “echo” determined whether or not each child’s heart defect was repairable with surgery. The first evening we met them was an orientation time during which we explained the process of the heart screening and possible heart surgeries. We also shared several Bible stories with them and then Esther (a volunteer from Jordan) and I led some worship songs in Kurdish and Arabic. At the end of the evening, we all shared a meal and spent some time laughing, talking and playing with the children and their parents. As we got to know the families, the depth of their need was made so evident. It’s hard to get more tangible than holding a blue baby or more real than having a parent tell you that you are their child’s last hope.

(Me, two other volunteers, and a woman who came to have her unborn baby's heart checked - everything went well and the baby is healthy! PRAISE!)

With these needs on the forefront of our hearts and minds, we started the heart screening the next day at 6:30am. It turned out to be an incredible experience that didn’t end until past 1am! My primary job during the heart screening was to get each child’s weight, height, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure before they went in to see the doctor in the next room for their echocardiogram. Although it seemed like an easy enough task, with small children it proved to be rather difficult at times.

(Vareen listening for my blood pressure! Vareen and her mother are now with us in Jerusalem for Vareen's up coming heart surgery. Vareen's info. page: http://www.shevet.org/vareen/)

(Checking Vareen's weight....not much!)

My other job was to sedate the younger and more rambunctious children and babies so that they would sleep during the “echo”. This also proved to be rather difficult at times as most of the children were not too keen on the idea of drinking odd tasting medication out of a syringe. But by the end of the day I had successfully sedated about a dozen babies!

(Cardiologist - Dr. Tamir performs an echocardiogram on a sedated little boy.)

(Dr. Tamir worked tirelessly throughout the break and paused here breifly to eat a banana with a little friend!)

Overall, the day brought an intensity of both joy and heartache as some of the children were told that they didn’t even need and operation while others were told that they were inoperable. The few who were inoperable have heart conditions that are irreversible or too complex for surgery which means that they will go back to Iraq and, medically speaking, die within the next couple of years. But our God is a God of miracles – that is the truth that we have and continue to pray over each of them.

(A young man who does not need heart surgery! - We had prayed for a miracle for him the day before and saw the goodness of God's mercy after his echocardiogram.)

(Playing music while the families wait to hear the results of their childrens' "echos". The little girl pictured is inoperable and flew back to Iraq with her mother. Keep praying!)

For more details of the day, what our team did, and more pictures, check out the Shevet Achim website: http://www.shevet.org/screening/

(Happy to hear that they are operable and will probably recieve surgery within the next 6 months.)

(After echocardiograms - families waiting to hear when their children will recieve heart surgery.)