I am taking a new route with this blogging...shorter but more frequent! I hope you will enjoy it.
On Wednesday, Papito and I had a scheduled meeting with a Haitian therapist in Northeast, Haiti. It was one of those meetings that has been in the works for quite awhile, but kept getting postponed. It finally happened though, and it was perfect timing for both his foundation (Fonhare) and Footprints of the Son.
We started our meeting with a prayer, shared visions, mission statements, our gifts and hearts, etc. Papito and I had our priority (getting Ange-Derlie into therapy) and Dr. Ivens had his priority (getting our extra TLC for five of his more severe and economically poor patients.) We had our notebooks, pencils, phones, etc but didn't use them all that much. Instead, we sat and talked. We went through everything we could think of, and at the end of about a hour and a half this is what we came up with...
1) Ange-Derlie would go for her therapy evaluation the following day so Dr. Ivens could assess her and her needs. (the evaluation happened, he knew just what occupational therapy she needed, she spit on him a few times and he handled it perfectly with a smile on his face, her mom was pleased that her little girl could get some structure and help, we paid for the evaluation, and she is scheduled to go three times a week from here on out!)
2) We agreed "on the spot" to take three of his patients into outreach, and agreed to meet and pray about the other two. (We met 7 year old Kendy and his Mom on Thursday, and are scheduling meetings with the other four this coming week.)
3) Dr. Ivens will be coming to Terrier Rouge to evaluate all of our outreach children here, and he will let us know everything we need to have at our home to start therapy sessions here. This will require a lot of preparation and planning, but will be best for these outreach families and children, The parents will be trained during therapy sessions, so they can continue the work at home on the non-therapy days.
4) We shared ideas on inclusion community events, inclusion school, etc! That will be long-term planning, but we opened the box at least!
I will be coming to the states at the end of July for two weeks, and will be working a lot on sponsorship for all the outreach children! It will take a lot, but we are trusting in God and know that it can and will happen according to His purpose and timing...slow and steady wins the race :)
