at home in Texas

I've been at my new place in San Antonio for two weeks now. So far I really like it. Work at the new hospital is going pretty well and I really like my apartment, but the best part has been being so close to family that I normally only get to see about once a year. On days off I've enjoyed getting to hang out with them for dinners or whatever. Most of my cousins live about 20-30 minutes from me and my aunt and uncle's ranch is about 45 minutes away. Last weekend, my mom and dad were able to come out to visit and we spent the weekend at the lake with my aunt and uncle, cousins, cousins' kids and grandma. It was such a treat. I wish I'd taken more pictures, but here's some of what I did take: Some of the kids (big and little) playing a game of football in the front yard.Dad with Dakota (below). Diane with her newest baby, Hudson. For those of you who have been wanting to know more about where I live and asking to see pictures...I live in an apartment complex in San Antonio's medical center. I like the area and there are several nice hospitals close by, but my hospital is actually located downtown, about 15 minutes from here. Here's some pics of my place:

October Visit

I was blessed to be able to return to Haiti for a week this month. I, along with 4 other nurses, was back in Deye Mon from October 4-11. When I got back to the US, I hit the ground running and moved to Texas only 4 short days later, so I'm a little behind in blogging and posting pictures, so here we go!

The week was so busy and chaotic at times, but I believe God was using us in the lives of the patients we saw and the people we interacted with. After arriving at the Bustin's house on Saturday night, I woke up early on Sunday to be told that one of the village ladies had had her baby that morning right outside of her house as she was heading to the mission for help with the delivery. Three of the other nurses (I'm so glad they were there, as I'm pretty sure that my friend Earl, who is an RN from my hospital in California, and I would have been totally lost if we'd been left to try to deal with childbirth and all that comes afterwards by ourselves - I don't think that watching a delivery or two in nursing school exactly qualifies us to do the job) had gone down to help the mom and new baby who are both doing very well now. There must have been something in the air that day because another lady was carried to us who was also 9 months pregnant (RaeLeen said that this poor girl was actually tied onto a stretcher so that 8 men could carry her on their heads over the steep foot path without her falling off), but we ended up sending her down the mountain for an emergency c-section because she had toxemia.From that moment on, we were running. We ran a clinic from Monday to Thursday and saw about 450 patients. It was an interesting clinic because the doctors we worked with were Haitian and I really enjoyed getting the chance to see how they did their diagnostics and treatment in a rural clinic setting. What made it more interesting was that one of these doctors was the medical director of our entire region of Haiti and is the person who's approval we need to do any healthcare work out there, so I was a little stressed about making sure we stayed on his good side! Here's Earl working in the pharmacy. He'd picked up enough Creole in the first day or two to be able to give medication instructions to the patients by himself...it took me a couple weeks to learn as much as he learned in those first couple days.
I saw several familiar faces at the clinic. Kendy, the baby who I prepared bottles for every day last spring, was brought in by his mom. Kendy is the 9th child of a lady who was so malnourished that she wasn't able to nurse him and he lived the first two weeks of his life on sugar water until his mom brought him to the mission and told us about their needs. It worked out well to have another lady in the village prepare formula for Kendy throughout the summer months, but evidently the formula ran out sometime in September and he had gotten put back on sugar water as his only means of nourishment. For all that, he is such a happy baby and it was good to see that at least he's still alive. We did make sure he will be starting to get plenty of milk again.Another familiar face was this sweet lady who I had spent nearly three months doing daily dressing changes for last spring. Earlier this year, she had been in a car accident that killed two of her children and left her with significant abdominal wounds. It was amazing getting to see the scars where her woulds had finally healed up a few days after I left in June.
Two of the nurses from Kansas spent time doing HIV education with the older kids. This kind of teaching is sorely lacking in Haiti and the people have a lot of inaccurate ideas about AIDS so this was very valuable!

As exciting as the clinic and everything was, my favorite time is really just getting to be spending time with people there and I wish I'd gotten to have more time just to hang out but when all we had was a week I think our time was well spent, I'll just have to make sure I go back soon for a longer visit. One thing I was able to do was hang out with the kids who live at the mission (there are 10 kids living there currently) every night and watch movies on my laptop with them. So far their all-time favorites seem to be The Sandlot, The Parent Trap and anything to do with soccer. Another thing the kids love is my iPod. Apple will do really well when they decide to open a store in that village, the youth are already huge fans.
These are the three latest kids who have come to live at the mission. For those of you who didn't get my email update, the recent hurricanes have wiped out a ton of crops and they're seeing worse malnutrition in that area than they've seen in years. These three girls (left to right: Lonese, Vaglin and Melinda) are living at the mission because they're extremely malnourished. They'll stay there until their nutritional status has improved and then will go back to their families. Vaglin is about 8 years old and has been on the daily feeding program since last May but she was so bad off that most days she was too weak to make the 45 minute trek to the mission for a meal. Melinda also looks to be about 8 or 9 and Lonese is the youngest at 4 and weighs about 15lbs. We put Lonese in clothes intended for a two year old and she was swimming in them. Although all 3 are severely malnourished, they're all in very different places. Melinda is happy to be at the mission, loves getting to eat and really enjoys having so many playmates. Vaglin is to the point of malnutrition where she doesn't even want food, keeps to herself and very rarely smiles. Little Lonese appeared to go through a big improvement this week. She started out similar to Vaglin, no appetite or smile, but gradually started to eat more - she likes peanut butter on bread but not much else - as well as smile and play. The next picture is of Lonese on one of my last nights up there. Hopefully God will continue to work in these little girls lives and bring restoration and healing.
Another cool thing to be able to see was how well Trameze is doing. Last January Trameze was brought to the mission in much the same state of severe malnutrition as the other three girls. It is so wonderful to see her as she grows taller and visibly healthier, and also to watch her thoroughly enjoy life.


Spending some time visiting at a friend's house. Here's some of her family hanging out as dinner (the small black pot on the right) cooked over the fire of this outside kitchen. The mom was busy doing laundry and preparing dinner when we came.
A few more old friends...Jetson (above) and Kenley (below) are my two special buddies. It was so good seeing them again.

Successful Surgeries

Well, it's been quite a week for our Haitian patients in the US! Two successful surgeries, praise God! Jacky's surgery on Tuesday went well and as expected, and Steven's today went great also. Below are the specifics and pics from Steven's guardians here in California, who are too wonderful for words. I just wanted to say thank you again for taking the time for reading these updates and praying, most of you for months now, joining with us in our hearts' cry for Haiti, and specifically little Steven. God has his hand on this young one's life!

Here's the letter from Fayanna:
Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above! With wisdom power and love, our God is an awesome God!!!!!
As I write this to you our faithful family and friends we are in an incredible ICU room looking at a precious baby laying on his back for the 1st time!!!!WHOO HOO
His surgery was perfect!!!
He is doing great. His surgery lasted 4 hours. It started late because the room was too cold. So it started almost at 9:30. Everything the doctor hoped for happened. When he was in recovery, the first thing I did was run my finger under his foot and he flinched. Whoo Hoo. Full mobility!! Teddy and I spent most of the day, praying snoozing, waiting, and of course crying ( you know Ted, he is so emotional.. ) :)
We are settled into our ICU room now, and just enjoying every wince and flutter he makes.He is still pretty out of it. Laying on his back with one arm over his head. Probably thinking: 'Oh this feels good' His bump is gone!!! The doctors were able to remove the bump, and sew all the nerves back into place.(The myelomeningocele aka 'bump' before and after surgery)
He has a 4 inch scar straight up and down. He will be in ICU till tomorrow then we will move to a regular room through the weekend. We are praising God for his presence and for his peace.
The people at UCLA, all the nurses, doctors,everyone who works here. are the nicest people in the world. If you wonder where all the nice people went??? They went to UCLA!!The anesthesiologist 'Judith' made me cry. She was the sweetest one in the bunch today.
She has been a Dr. for 30 years, and told us with tears in her eyes her trips to Haiti where she helps to repair cleft pallets for over 100 children each time is always the highlight of her year.
I could go on and on and on. with so many stories. The people stories!! Oh wow. the people we have met!! The love you feel from a stranger who just catches your eye from across the room and smiles in a way that says ' its going to be O.K. and then you nod back as if to say, Yes, I know, its going to be o.k. for you too. Bless you.
Oh this experience!! Its one I hope each of you some day in some way can experience as well. It makes you look hard at life and for us its had us say, 'What matters most really is just love and caring and giving out hope!!' All the things Jesus talked about. What hit me hard today while pondering through sobs alone waiting my turn to see our little guy while sitting on the corridor floor outside of the recovery room ( when then a precious maintenance man came over with a chair, tissues, and a hug.... see I told you), was 'Jesus, let my heart always break over what breaks yours and let my heart be open to what makes your heart smile!'
He is teaching us sooooo much about what really matters most. Yes, the 'experience' we asked God to give us 6 weeks ago, is in full swing, and we aren't finished yet!!
Thank you and know that your emails calls, texts, gifts, meals, money, gas cards, diapers, formula, precious visits, bringing us lunches,babysitting so we can take in a movie, housework, helping with laundry and even ironing 'oh thank you soo much. I have shirts again' (From Ted) and the list goes on and on are all appreciated times100!!
Thank you Thank you !!
We praise God for each of you and the difference you have made in our lives!!
Keep praying that little man will do o.k. coming off the pain meds and will sleep wonderfully (backside down) through the night!!! We have to hold him flat for a couple days which will be tricky, since his favorite position is up and looking around.
Check out some pix of our day and if you texted me today, I remembered to bring everything to the hospital except my phone :(
Teddy was happy I forgot it. He says I text worse than a teenager :) I will have it with me by tomorrow late afternoon :) Thank Goodness
Hi, this is me (Ted) As Fayanna finished this email Steven just downed his first two ounces or Pedialite and threw his arm around a beautiful little stuffed animal that appeared in his cradle from nowhere ( I think that the surgeon slipped it in the crib) and fell fast back asleep. What a joy!! You can never know what a blessing it is to be put in a place you would never expect serving a God that fills the smallest places of your hearts desire that you may have never known even existed. Wow!! What a Joy it is to be here right now. Wonder what's next :)
We know this was a very long update. We really wanted to add all the wonderful stuff we have felt in our hearts for weeks now, and also these past few days. So thank you for bearing with us on this long one! The rest of the updates will be shorties :)
Love you all
Teddy and Fayanna and Stevie Stud baby!
Oh taste and see that the Lord is Good!!!!

Steven in the States

I'm so happy to share these pictures of Steven here in the States! After traveling nearly 24 hours, Steven and I arrived at the Los Angeles airport at 2:15AM Sunday morning. Steven was a total angel while we traveled. The little guy was just so happy and content to be held, and he spent over half the time sleeping. We were met at the airport by my sister Jana and the family who will be taking care of Steven for the next several months as he goes through all of his medical treatment (actually, all but one member of the family, their oldest daughter is on a missions trip to Germany right now).
Steven loves his new family and they are just so sweet with him. In preparation for Steven's arrival, Ted (the father) sewed a special pillow for Steven's car seat so that he could sit in it without putting any pressure on the 'bump' on his back caused by the spina bifida. It seems to work great and Steven enjoyed riding in a car seat for the first time.

Here's my sister Jana meeting Steven for the first time. She's done so much work to make getting him here possible and has been involved nearly since the beginning. Below, is Steven getting to know Fayanna, and me after a long day of travel. :)

Yesterday Steven had his first appointment at UCLA. He will have an MRI in a few days in preparation for the surgery, but the doctor yesterday said that he looks pretty good overall and hopefully will not have many long-term problems with walking.

I spoke to some friends in Haiti on Monday and got an update on Steven's mother. She has moved back home to her village to live with her family again (we had been renting her a room near the mission to be able to take care of Steven for the past 3 1/2 months, as her village is a good 8 hour walk away). She seems to be doing much better. Hopefully it'll be good for her to be able to start building her life back up again.

Success!

We got approval from Haitian social services today! I'll be taking Steven back to California with me tomorrow!!! When I think about all the uncertainties and all that COULD have happened this week, I'm just in awe and so grateful that God moved his hand and accomplished all this. Two patients through all the legal processing to get to the States with nearly impossible deadlines. Awesome stuff. I'll try to post pictures soon.

Tomorrow night Steven's host family will pick us up from the airport in LA and take Steven from there. I'll miss him, we had some good bonding time this week, but plan on visiting him often. :)

After that, I'll be home approximately 30 hours before emarking on a road trip with my sister to Texas for a family reunion. The timing of it all is amazing. Thanks for being a part of this journey with me!

MORE Good News :)

Today Jacky got on a plane headed for the States and will be landing in North Carolina in just a little while. He'll get to have surgery soon! It'll be a long road for him, as they will most likely resect his jaw and we don't know if he'll be able to talk or eat again, but to him it's worth it to take these risks rather than living in misery and pain at his home in Haiti. I have to admit that up until the last moment, I was holding my breath waiting for one last thing to come up to delay things, but he got out just fine. Praise God!

On the way to bringing Jacky to the airport, Steven, his mother and I were dropped off at the embassy for Steven's visa appointment. I've said before that I thought we were pretty well prepared, but considering how his last visa application went, I really had no idea what to expect and didn't stop praying. After the embassy officer looked through Steven's new papers (he was already familiar with Steven's old papers), he called us up and actually complimented us on having everything so well put together this time. He did want one more paper, but I explained how something else covered that requirement and he was satisfied with that and granted us the visa after about 2 minutes of talking! When I asked him if we could pick up the visa today, he said he didn't know if it was possible because they close so early, but he'd put it in the pile to be printed.

With the pick-up slip for Steven's passport with the visa printed in it, we headed over to the Haitian social services office to get started with proceedings there. (We need their approval to take minors out of the country.) This is the office that has historically taken about 3 days and has shown some horrible heartlessness -- they even told the Bustins that the baby they'd been working with who had hydrocephalus should just be put outside to die. They normally would never start proceedings without a visa, but since my friend that was with us said he had a friend there, we went anyway. Walking into the office was like going to a family get-together, EVERYONE there knew my friend and were so happy to see him. They cooed over Steven and showed compassion about his myelomengiocele. I didn't have half the papers they asked for, nor did we have Steven's visa or passport, but they went ahead and processed our papers and said all we need to bring tomorrow is copies of the visa and passport, as well as two pictures of me (as I'll be taking Steven out). We don't know for sure, but this seems like a done deal!

After the IBESR, we made the hour-long treck back to the embassy. As with Jacky, Steven's visa wasn't there when we walked in, but the same officer was willing to make a call to get it printed, and went to pick it up himself a few minutes after closing!

All in all, this week has been just amazingly blessed by God! He clearly went before us and paved the way, making the impossible happen.

Steven's mother, Janise, will be heading back to her home tomorrow morning. Overall she's held up really well throughout everything. She's seemed happy this week and was even glad when we got Steven's visa today, but tonight she's been crying a bit and taking it hard that she will have to give up her son in order to for him to have what he needs. I really can't blame her for this, I know I'd be crying if it was my child. She has every picture I ever took of Steven in an album as well as a frame to put her favorite one in. She also has a picture of the family who will be caring for Steven over the next months. We'll be communicating from time to time to let her know how Steven's doing and hopefully can send pictures. Hopefully this will help, but how do you make it easier for a mom to give up her child?

Anyway, that's the update for today. As always, thanks for your prayers!

Hey Everyone, I'm happy to be writing this with great news. We got the medical visa for Jacky, our 28 year old patient with a large facial tumor, to go to the States for surgery! He'll leave tomorrow!

It was incredible. On Monday, after we still hadn't heard about having the needed embassy appointment on Tuesday, a US Senator's office called the embassy on Jacky's behalf. By the end of the workday on Monday we still didn't know what the results of that call were. On Tuesday, not knowing if we had an appointment or if we would be kicked out, we went to the embassy and after explaining our situation, we found out that sure enough, Jacky's name was on the list and we were ushered right in! We entered the embassy gates at 8:30am and by 9:30am we had the visa secured and instructions to pick it up around 2pm.

Shortly after 2pm we returned to the embassy and were told that Jacky's passport with the visa in it was not there yet and to come back the next day when it would be ready ('if God wills'). After double-checking for me, the officer made a call and told us that they would print it out for us and bring it right then if we wanted to wait a few minutes. We got the passport and visa at 2:55pm and the embassy closed at 3pm!

Steven's visa application appointment is set for tomorrow at 11am, central time. We have one day to get the visa and one day to go through the Haitian social services before our scheduled flight out on Saturday. It'll be tight (especially because of the problems Steven's application had in the past) but we're well prepared and if God wants this to happen, nothing will stop it. Thanks for your continued prayers!

Exciting News

Once again, a lot has happened since the last posting and I've been delinquent in communication.
First of all, our last few days in Haiti went wonderfully. The kids at the orphanage really enjoyed the VBS and learned a lot. It was impressive to listen to some of the older kids answer theological questions!
On Monday, my cousin and I flew back to the States.The first leg of that journey, a flight between Cayes and Port au Prince on a tiny plane with Tortug'Air, is always exciting. There's invariably a couple times during the flight when you're sure you won't land in one piece. But it sure does have scenery.
It's wonderful to be home with my family and loved ones but I'll miss Haiti a lot, and not an hour goes by that I don't think about it. Surprisingly I haven't been experiencing a huge amount of culture shock for someone who spent over three months in a third world country - especially since nearly all of that time was spent in a mountain village four hours away from any native English speakers other than the Bustins.
Last Friday we received wonderful news from my sister, Jana. She and some others had been searching faithfully for a hospital or organization that would take on Steven's case and fund the surgery for his myelomeningocele (the outpouching of his spinal cord through his vertebrae). Through some contacts, she was put in touch with Mending Kids International, an LA based charitable organization that helps fund surgeries for children from all over the world. Mending Kids agreed to take Steven's case! This is an answer to so many prayers. We all hated leaving Steven up there in the mountain village with no medical care accessible should anything happen to him and it's important for his future health that this surgery be accomplished as soon as possible. After we found out about Mending Kids, the word was put out that we needed a family to house Steven and be his guardians through this long process of getting him the medical care he needs. At least 5 families in Orange County stepped up and were willing to host Steven. I was just humbled and amazed at this. So many people have been praying and helping him that have never even seen him. He will be staying with a wonderful Christian family that lives about 10 minutes from where I live so I'm pretty excited about the prospect of being able to see him regularly.
A few days after we found out about Mending Kids accepting Steven, we got word that another patient that the Bustins and some others have been trying to get to the States for about a year now was likely to be accepted at a hospital in North Carolina to have his surgery without cost. Jacky is 28 years old. Up until 2006, he was a school teacher at the Bustin's mission. At that time, he developed a large facial tumor. He had the tumor resected in the States, but it grew back about a year ago and is now large enough that it is squeezing his wind pipe. This picture was taken last March of Jacky with the neurologist who worked on getting him surgery both in 2006 and this time around, along with his daughter. Since then, the tumor's gotten so big that we got word it's starting to press on his eye. He's one that just breaks your heart to look at and imagine how painful it must be.
We are waiting on paperwork from both cases, but if all goes well, I'll be going back to Haiti in a couple days to work on getting their visas and returning with them to the US possibly as soon as next Saturday. There are still so many factors up in the air that could determine how soon we are able to get Jacky and Steven out, so we could use a lot of prayer still that things would be expedited.
God is good. I'll try to keep updating on our progress.