BACK HOME!

We made it back to the States last night and spent the night in Miami & today we got home in the late afternoon. For me, it was surreal coming back to the ever so busy and over stimulated USA. We are very tired!!

This will be brief as we will post more stories and info after the move. But the first praise--all of our luggage arrived in Haiti. We did not have to go back to Port Au Prince to pick up our luggage. TSA in the US did go through one of our bags and placed the medical supplies at the top of the bag--the same and only bag that the customs officer checked in Haiti. When he saw the medical supplies he immediately started asking about drugs being brought in, but praise God that our Haitian leader was there and was able to get our bags through without being counted and the rest being checked...it only cost $40 for the officer to leave our other bags alone.


There were five individuals as of Thursday that had accepted Christ.

In 4 1/2 days we saw over 600 patients! It was a lot of work, but there was much unity and hard working within the team...and of course God provided us with the energy we needed to get through the days.

Here are just a few pictures. We took 701 pictures and a lot of video...we will get more up later! Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Mackenzie and Jake

Overwhelmed...

I have been meaning to write this message for three days, but have been so busy and stuck in my head with everything going on I have put it off...writing this that is. First I need to share a verse Jake shared with me at the begging of last week (a week ago tomorrow).

Psalm 113

1 Praise the LORD. [a]
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.

2 Let the name of the LORD be praised,
both now and forevermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised.

4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the LORD our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,

6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?

7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8 he seats them with princes,
with the princes of their people.

9 He settles the barren woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the LORD.



The most important part of the verse for us is the last. Going on this trip has meant trying to stop getting pregnant...which was a difficult choice. I know it was hard for Jake to stop with the fertility process, but being a women- the one who's hormones where being jacked-up- emotionally it was hard to stop. On Tuesday when we dropped stuff off at our team leaders house she asked Jake and I if we wanted to go see an orphanage with babies...not to treat but to look at adopting. She stood in between Jake and I when she asked that. I locked eyes with Jake and could feel my emotions rising, the tears rising. There was an moment of silence that seemed like forever for me and I finally said, "yeah, I guess that would be okay." So, I waited until Saturday to even tell my mother. I know and feel convicted to adopt, but part of me has had a hard time accepting that adopting may be the only way that we get to have kids. It has been very hard. So, pray that if we see a baby that we are supposed to adopt (not saying it's final or that we will come home with a child---adopting is a long expensive process) that it wont be out of my urgency to have a child or to fill that void, but rather that God would make it clear.

Three most important things to pray for:

1. That we would be safe in everything we do and everyone we come into contact with and that we would have safe travel.
2. The God would be at the forefront of everything thing that we do.
3. That our supplies would all arrive together on Monday in Haiti and that our supplies stay with us.
4. For Jake as this will be the first time practicing as a doctor (he will also have an Haitian doctor that he will be working with.)

I think my nerves have finally changed from worry to excitement. It was weird walking the dog around 5 pm tonight because Jake and I realized that at this time tomorrow we will be in Haiti. And Jake just informed me that it is 11 and we need to get up in four hours...so with that good night and we'll keep you up-dated! Thanks for your prayers and support.

One Week!

It is one week until we leave for Haiti. I looked at the weather today and my stomach nearly dropped as I watched the satellite image of the massive storm swooping over Miami and Haiti...we have a connecting flight from Miami to Haiti. All I thought about was turbulence...I must remember to pack Dramamine. Here's the weather for when we arrive:
Mon May 24
Scattered T-Storms 97°
Check Flight Delays

Tue
May 25 Scattered T-Storms 98°


Wed
May 26 Scattered T-Storms 100°

It will be a drastic change in weather for sure. Today it only was 64 and windy and cold.

We bought stuff for the trip too today like bug spray, wet wipes, a fanny pack to carry our pass ports in (but a cool fanny pack!), ponchos, pepto bismol tablets, travel inflatable pillows, and this really cool bug spray fan to set in between Jake's and mine mosquito netting tents, cliff bars, and sun screen---and some long socks for me. I am definitely learning to pack light...very light. I think Jake laughed at me when I wanted to bring three pairs of pajamas. He said, "one will be enough you need to ruff it!" Clothes we bring down we will leave there so we are getting stuff from Goodwill. This last week I went three days without washing my hair, that is progress. I figure I may not be washing it at all while I am there.

I read a Bible verse today that stuck out to me about our trip. It is Psalm 63:1. It says:

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I feel this just reminded me to stay focused on God no matter what the circumstance may be on our trip...whether I am hot, thirsty, tired, or hungry, God can make it all okay.

This to pray for:
-Our supplies getting into Haiti safely.
-For safe travel.
-For our safety as we work with people. That God would protect us from blood born diseases.
-For good sleep.
-Drinking water.
-Enough supplies to take care of people.
-That we would be able to interact with the village people and specifically with the children....that we would be able to have a weenie roast with them.
-That God would heal people and give us opportunities to pray with people.
-That God would keep use well and that no one would get sick.

Benefit Concert: Help Project Hope

Our awesome sister-in-law put together a benefit concert to help us raise money for our trip. Preforming was (and check these people out!) Ben Harris, Photoside Cafe, Leaving the Boats, Gabriel Kelley.

Haiti Video By Mackenzie Pictures donated from past trips by Project Hope

Deciding to go to Haiti

I realized that I should probably explain how we got to this point of wanting to go to Haiti.

As I briefly stated above, I wanted to go to Haiti after seeing what images from the earth quake which was a huge step for me. I had been going through fertility treatment (which was emotionally exhausting) for four months. My doctor had corrected one of the problems and the second (a hormonal imbalance) was the next thing to work on. Jake and I had gone back and forth about stopping treatment. I felt like stopping treatment meant we would never have kids...which I know is not true. But when you want children badly it feels that way...it can be dark and sad. However the day after the earthquake I felt a strong urge to go and my first thought was, "if I go I will need to stop treatment so I can get my vaccines and take the malaria medication." And for that short moment I felt at peace, the most at peace I felt about stopping the fertility treatment. I went home and told Jake that I wanted to go to Haiti. I am sure He thought this was one of my crazy ideas that would pass...but it didn't pass. In the days ahead I emailed my art therapy professors to see if they had heard of art therapist going to Haiti to help, but they hadn't heard anything. Then one Sunday our pastor talked about where your money is, your heart is. After this sermon, Jake and I were talking about this money we received...we were thinking about going on a vacation with it. A nice vacation before residency. But as we drove home, Jake said, "You know how we should use that money" and I quickly finished his sentence (as good wives do!) and said, "on a mission trip." He agreed. Right then and there we decided to go to Haiti.
We then tried to find a group to go with. But do to the earth quake organizations were being flooded with emails and we were not responding. I was feeling a little frustrated and questioned whether we were to go to Haiti or somewhere else. Then on a Saturday I met a nurse I worked with who travels to Haiti to do medical missions and was adopting two boys from Haiti too. Her group was going when we wanted to go and with in a short 15 min. conversation we had a group to go with. Within a month, my sister in law arranged a benefit concert and God has continually blessed us and the group with medical an finical support. It has been incredible!

May 12, 2010

Today was my last day of work, which only means Haiti is coming that much quicker. I am starting to feel a little anxious about going...the great unknown. But, as I would always tell my patients, "One day at a time otherwise you miss out on life when worrying about tomorrow."

I can't help but think how awesome God is that he has brought me to this point of going to Haiti. Being an art major, I avoided science classes as much as possibly...but I was always interested in the medical field. At one point I thought about being a medical illustrator. I remember praying before Jake started his first year of medical school that God would give a job where I could minister to others. I then worked in oncology/hematology chemotherapy for a year. As an art major, I was taking vitals, assisting the doctors with bone marrow biopsies, assisting with central lines...doing things I never imagined doing like going into an OR to learn how to make slides with the cytologist. My favorite part was when patients asked me what my degree was (this usually happened before a procedure and as I was prepping them). I always told them a Bachelor of Science and left out the Studio Art. I think this made them feel better. With all this to say, God put me at this job, I believe, so that I could go on trips like this. I really wanted to go to Haiti as an art therapist and help with the post trauma that individuals encountered. Yet, I feel really comfortable that if all I do is help medically, I feel competent and excited to do so.

There are some things I fear like me or my husband accidentally getting stuck with a needle, I do not handle skin infections well...so like scabies is going to be hard. Lice...that is definitely going to be hard...I probably will be itching my head even though I know lice can't jump. And, wounds that have not healed well. I had heard from a friend that went to Haiti that a patient un-bandaged his wound and maggots came out of it-Yikes! I can handle blood, cutting someone open, and the surgical side of things. But it's those small simple things that I hope I don't get sick. I am hoping that my empathic self will take over and just care for people and that then the fears will slip away.

We will also being going in the middle of rainy season, so pray for our safety---no flooding and no hurricanes. Growing up out east I know that hurricanes can start in the outter Atlantic in late May early June.

Things to do---I have a TON!