“JESUS THANK YOU FOR LOVING US”

My husband David and the band of brothers from Columbus, Ohio have been in Port au Prince, Haiti for 10 days now. Information has come to us in brief bits and until now there has not been much to report. They have set up camp in the UN base at the Port au Prince airport and they are working with the University of Miami Mobile Hospital. It has 275+beds and they are constantly full. The team has set up 3 remote medical clinics and treated more then 300 patients just in these clinics alone. Steve (physician), Tim (EMT) and JD (nurse) have been mostly working on wound care that is beyond nasty but they said they have saved a lot of limbs. Mark and David have been running logistics for the entire project! They have been transporting patients who are getting well back to their families and brining in more patients. Praise the Lord for he is using this small group of men in mighty miraculous ways!

Today I actually got to talk to my husband. It was so good to hear his voice and I was reminded of how much I love him and how proud I am of him, the team and countless of other Americans and international volunteers who have answered the cries of the Haitian people.

It is hard to process the magnitude of this situation. We are receiving tons of information from the media. However, much of the devastation and suffering cannot be shown on TV. David said that he and the other members are well but the need is overwhelming. He said “we have lost some and we have saved some”. And then he said that he has been in awe of the grateful spirit of the patients. Almost without exception, even through the pain they smile and thank the doctors and nurses and anyone who helps them.

They are feeling the prayers of the people sustaining them through very long days of looking into the eyes of the sick and the dying. They know that they have saved lives and limbs and they ask that people continue to pray as they push through another week. Steve, Tim and JD will be returning home on this Saturday, February 6th. David and Mark will stay and help to transition the new medical team from Open Hands into the hospital.

Over the past 4 days I have heard numerous news castors ask this question: Is there really any hope for Haiti, can it ever be rebuilt? Each one faced with this question without any hesitation responded….YES!!

The truth is Haiti NEEDS more volunteers, more resources or more money. But Hope for Haiti cannot come solely from more. The source of hope for Haiti can be found in this true story shared with us today from our team.

May this be the resounding picture we have of Hope for Haiti.
Two tents holding 275+adults and children broke into spontaneous praise singing “Jesus thank you for loving us”. “Jesus thank you for loving us”!

A God Who Sees!

Have you given any thought to what it would be like to be trapped inside of a collapsed building? It is most likely pitch black, totally void of light and a very confined space. There is no food or water. There is nothing to distract you from your thoughts, discomfort or pain! There is no cell phone, iPod, TV, radio, newspaper, book, playstation, or conversation. It may be totally silent. Your breath seems loud and your heartbeat is piercing. Or maybe you can hear shuffling, knocking, digging, things crawling around you, scratching and even voices. You cry out over and over again.... "I am alive, I AM ALIVE!!" The concrete floors above you block your screams.

You have only your thoughts. What goes through your head? How do you keep your sanity? What about Fear, Loneliness, Isolation? If you know God, do you cry out to Him for help? As you lie there day after day do you wonder if God sees you? If you don't know Him, what do you do? Do you look to yourself or others for rescue or do you search for something bigger? Does your life flash before you like a moving picture reflecting on all the good and bad you have done? Do you think about your family, your friends or are you only focused on your own survival?

A patient in the teams’ mobile clinic said this week "I don't believe in hell because Haiti is already our hell." Where is God when people are suffering? Where is He?

I can't fully imagine this kind of suffering? I can't imagine what it would really be like to be trapped for days hoping that this would not be the end to my life. I can't imagine the extent of suffering and devastation this team is witnessing every day with their own eyes. I can't fully imagine what emotions are evoked as they look into the eyes of the Haitian people. But this is what I KNOW.

I know a different kind of suffering and in the midst of my darkest days I find that I am NOT alone. It is there where religion truly fades away and is replaced with a relationship with God, a benevolent FATHER that IS close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). I know a God who sees and is well acquainted with suffering and in the midst does not turn His back on people but instead makes a way to dwell with them and be intimate with them and share in their suffering.

Hope for Haiti- Just Say YES!

The team arrived safely in the Dominican Republic last night with 20+ duffle bags full of medical supplies. They spent the night on the floor in a very nice air conditioned air port in front of the United Nations counter. Their hope was to get on a UN flight to port of prince with all of their supplies this morning. We have not heard from them yet. If they had to take a bus, they may still be on the road.

God’s Provision! In just five days this unique band of relief warriors was assembled. Two days before departure not a single medical supply had materialized. The next day it took 12 hours and a team of volunteers to pack all of the supplies. The medical supplies and equipment poured in from everywhere. Praise the Lord for US Airlines! They flew the bags for the team for free and ALL of the bags arrived! When does that happen?

Vineyard Columbus and many other family and friends made it possible for this team to have the means and resources to move quickly.

There was a connection to two orphanages that were in need of real help and a third connection to Thirst Relief, clean water NGO. The guys will be staying at one of the orphanages that has running water. Gratefully all the children survived. The orphanage itself suffered minimal damage in the earthquake but the aftershock has left it uninhabitable. The children and staff are all sleeping outside.

The Hess’s run this orphanage and since the quake they have been running a medical clinic down the street from the orphanage. April Hess is a nurse and she has been providing emergency medical care for the Haitians day and night. Her husband turned their van into an ambulance and goes into the city day after day and long into the night finding help for the injured and dying. Our team will provide much needed relief for them.

It was a difficult goodbye at the airport. We were functioning on very little sleep. Adrenaline and a passion for the cause kept us going so, there was little time to think about the personal cost. It seemed so small of an offering compared to the Hess’s and thousands of others. I tried really hard not to think about the kind of suffering they would be exposed to. I tried not to think about the danger, the after shocks, the orphaned children, the smell and the constant sight of death. I did think about my husband’s heart and love for people and especially children. I did think about the box of child sized crutches on its way to wounded and hurting, innocent children. I did think about the hundreds maybe thousands of others on their way to relieve those who have been tirelessly saying yes! Yes to digging with your bare hands for hours in the rubble because they heard that someone might still be alive in the crumbled building. Yes to staying up all night for days loading injured people into a van and carting them off to a clinic where your wife can hopefully save them. Yes to no sleep, no water, no food, no comforts of home all for the sake of rescuing someone. Yes to do that day after day after day until somone comes to relieve you. How can I not say YES!

Hope For Haiti!

We need your immediate help and on-going support! In the next 24 hours, my husband David will be representing our non-profit, Eyes Wide Open International (EWOI), and joining a disaster relief medical team with Open Hands International. This team is comprised of trained disaster relief leader, Mark Batcheck (founder of Open Hands International), emergency physician Dr. Steve Mohler, registered nurse Jon-David Hawks, emergency medical technician Tim Morris and interpreter David Bompart.


From our contacts in Haiti, we are hearing that the two greatest needs are for medical supplies and medical professionals. We have a strong medical team, but are having real problems getting medical equipment and supplies for tomorrow’s journey. Some of the items needed may be in your medicine cabinet (For complete supply list email us at www.eyeswideopenint@yahoo.com).

Time is short - they leave from Columbus tomorrow morning. If you can make a financial gift for us to purchase needed medical supplies, please go to http://www.intothefield.org, and click donate on the front page. If you would rather write a check, please make the check out to Into the Field, and write “EWOI – Haiti” in the memo section. The check and/or medical supplies may be dropped off at our office or mailed to Eyes Wide Open International, 1161 Bethel Road, Suite 101, Columbus, Ohio 43220.

100% OF ALL DONATIONS FOR HAITI WILL BE USED FOR THE RESCUE, RELIEF, RECOVERY AND REBUILDING OF HAITI.

We are committed to providing on-going support for the Haitian people, especially the orphans and widows. A second trip is already being planned. If you are interested in going to Haiti to help during our second phase, please leave a comment on our blog, or email us at www.eyeswideopenint@yahoo.com

NEEDED SUPPLY INFORMATION

We are very concerned about the children. There were thousands of orphans in Haiti before the earthquake, and now there will be many more. The trauma of disaster and death will have the greatest physical and emotional toll on the littlest of souls. In addition to immediate medical needs, we will be collecting beanie babies and small new or like-new stuffed toys in an effort to bring a little bit of comfort and joy to these little ones. If you would like to start collecting at your school, youth group, club/troop, office, church or university, just email us at www.eyeswideopenint@yahoo.com.

A Dream Come True!

If it is true that a picture says a thousand words, then what would these pictures say to you?  More importantly, what would your response be?  We have had to ask ourselves that question many times throughout our travels.  What did we have to offer them?  Some candy, a small toy, a hug and a smile?  There needs are so great and our individual resources so limited.  Our hearts break everytime we look into their eyes - our hope strengthened only by the knowledge of a God who sees them, knows them by name, loves them completely and died for them. 

After years of asking ourselves these questions, we are now excited to announce our response - the beginning of a dream is now a reality.  Two weeks before Christmas we launched Eyes Wide Open International, a non-profit that activates, mobilizes, and encourages people to join us and work alongside local and global partners in providing relief to those in the midst of crisis and human suffering.  This ministry will focus on several areas: disaster relief, medical intervention, educational development and basic human needs (ie: food, water, shelter).  Our specific thrust will be toward those in greatest need - widows and orphans! 

What do you see through the eyes of these children?  What will your response be? 

Just Breathe!

Those of you who are following this blog have not heard from me since my arrival on good old American soil.  I have been struggling with breathing issues since the beginning of September.  After two trips to the hospital emergency wing and a visit to the doc I am now on the mend.  The first week back I was a jet-lagged version of myself but still felt confident about the progress we made in setting up the non-profit organization for widows and orphans.  The end of that first week it was like a semi truck parked itself on my lungs and I simply could not breathe!  For more than a week my sole existance was to breathe.  Other than becoming too familiar with my remote I did little else.  During those days I was extremely frustrated that no progress was being made on the non-profit.  After seeing with my own eyes the tremendous suffering, I feel a hightened sense of urgency to move forward as quickly as possible so that we can be in a position to meet needs.  I had alot of time to think and I was reminded of who gave me breath in the first place.  Job who was well aquainted with suffering was very aware that God breathes life into us.  Job 33:4 states "The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life."  Here is a man who truly understood that God himself had breathed into him the breath of life.  He knew the source of life and the source of strength to make it though tremendous suffering.  For that week or two I was acutely aware of my total dependency on my Heavenly Father for each breath.   I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and felt like someone had been covering my face with a pillow I inwardly cried out to God for air.  I was desperate to breathe.  While lying in the hospital bed that morning my mind reflected on the faces of the children, widows and widowers that are equally desperate for the breath of life.  Job who lost all of his children, his home, his livestock, his wealth and his health and was criticized by his wife and his friends, perfectly articulates what I saw in the eyes of many in suffering.  Job's questions to God were recorded in Job 10:18 "So why did you have me born? I wish no one had ever laid eyes on me! I wish I'd never lived—a stillborn, buried without ever having breathed. Isn't it time to call it quits on my life? Can't you let up, and let me smile just once before I die and am buried, before I'm nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground and banished for good to the land of the dead, blind in the final dark?"  These are the very real questions of those who wake up every morning wondering if they will eat that day, struggling with a life threatening condition with no money for treatment or simply trying to survive till their next breath.  If God sent His Son so that we can have life and life abundantly (John 10:10), then it is not enough to simply breathe in and breathe out.  He made us for more and His Son died for more.  So, as you read this and you breathe in and breathe out the breath of life, remember that you were made for more...and so were they. 

The Hands and Feet of Jesus