August Heart Surgeries!

As is usually necessary, we must begin this post with an apology that it has been so long since our last post. The summer in Haiti has consisted of tons of teams and friends joining us to serve, and hopefully in the sorta near future we will share more about that. Today, we wanted to let you know that we have another round of heart surgeries taking place in the Dominican Republic this week! Sara and Kessy, 2 of the fabulous Chadasha staff, have taken 5 children and 5 guardians to our heart apartment in Santiago, DR to be evaluated by the ICHF staff and then potentially receive life saving surgeries to fix congenital heart defects that are or will severely limit their quality of life. And now, we want to introduce you to these precious kids and following each picture will be an update on the surgery status.

This is Djoudly. He is 6 years old and had surgery today! Please be in prayer for him as he recovers and his aunt who traveled as his guardian.

Ciara is 5 years old and is our sickest child (you can see the blue discoloration of her lips in this picture from a lack of oxygen). She traveled all the way to the DR and upon arrival and initial examination, the doctors decided they don't have the equipment or skill necessary to do her complicated surgery this time. She will be put on the list to hopefully have surgery in November. Please please pray that she holds on until then. God is able! She and her mother will be headed back to Haiti tomorrow to wait. Prayers!!

This is Rachama.. she is actually 4 years old (I think in the picture she was trying for a peace sign haha). She has the opposite story of Ciara in that upon examination, the doctors decided her congenital heart defect will cure itself as she grows. Praise the Lord! She and her mother are already back in Haiti!

This spunky little fellas name is Christman. He is 2 years old and had surgery today! Please pray for a quick and speedy recovery, and for stamina for his mom as she cares for him.

And last but not least, meet baby Todd. He is 6 months old and has Downsyndrome as well as a heart defect (which is often a package deal). Isn't he precious?!

Okay, so now that you know them, we want to show you pictures from after surgery today:

Djoudly after surgery... he'll be spending the night in the ICU recovery room tonight. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon they will have pulled all his tubes and such and will have him in the step down unit. The doctors say he did great and should recover beautifully.

And this is Christman after surgery. Obviously disoriented, hurting, and scared... not so spunky as earlier, but awake and doing great! Doctors gave the same report on him and said he should be out of there in no time.

Please pray for comfort and rest for these sweet kids as they recover, and for the guardians, who sleep in very uncomfortable chairs or patient beds, eat packed lunches and dinner, and shower rarely over the course of their hospital stays because they don't want to leave their babies. Oh, and none of them speak Spanish which makes it increasingly frustrating and uncomfortable for them. Pray for strength and comfort!

As of now, we do not know the surgery schedule for next week. But we will be updating here as often as we can with new information and pictures. As we did last time around, let us know where you're praying from so we can encourage the patients and families and let them know they are loved. Obviously, we would love to see these kids physically healed for the rest of their lives. But more than that, the reason we do anything we do, we want to see them and their families come to know Jesus if they don't already. Please pray for that above all!

Bottom line of this part of the ministry, every other part, and every part of life really is that even if people have full bellies and know English and if kids have fixed hearts but none of them know Jesus, it's all in vain. Be reminded of this truth today!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. It means the world to us!