waynesville!

my parents left this morning after a 3 day stay here in rural south georgia....it was a good time...i sorta felt like i was back in college again as they helped me hang things, buy things and feel really settled in my new home. its kind of a tradition as my dad has put my decor on the walls every place i have lived...which has been a lot! however i am hoping that this time he wont have to do it again for a long time...i'm officially committed. it was a blessing to have them here, for them to see this beautiful space and these wonderful people. i am beyond blessed to have them as family, supporting me and joining me in the things the Lord calls me to! now if only i can increase support to stay here...its a stuggle, but my plan today is to write another support letter. i know i am suppose to be here so i know God will work it out...even if our economy is in a rough spot and it seems impossible....all things are possible with Him!!!

all in all...HAITI WAS AMAZING...I AM SO BLESSED! Kansas City was a GREAT time...so good to see all those lovely people!

and its WONDERFUL to be back in Waynesville...

picture happy and some more...

so there is much more....but that is a taste for now...i must go to bed...but before i do...i wanted to post this video...because its beautiful...because i am glad this artist is back and seemly to be healthy again...and because its a really beautiful song....hope you enjoy it has much as i do!!!

(its disabled so i cant embed it here...so just check the link!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdEEwnlaF84

they keep coming

Richardson's first day of school!!!
Kervens first day at TLC school!

movie time!

my chef!

mama marie with baby sarah (mother and baby took in while dorothy was in states)

my nephew!

snapshots

ISNA

ROSA

CLAUDINE

STYLIST SR. JESULA & RICHARDSON

BEDTIME STORIES

some shots!

POUTCHINO-standing with confidence for seconds on his own and taking a few steps without help...an answered prayer

RICHARDSON-starts school...waiting for his uniform here!

MICKENSON-big and healthy...came for a visit!

Saint Sr. Lucien- devotion time with kids before bedtime!

Papa Tree-father visits one of the kiddos i took in during my stay this year!

kcmo

i left haiti tuesday morning and finally after 3 flights and lots of sitting in airports i arrived in kansas city at 11:30pm...thas the problem about states in the center of the country. its good to be home with family...so excited to see friends, but i of course miss my peoples in haiti. i called kervens this morning before he went to school to check on him. he seems really well. things are going good. Casey gets in today and dorothy gets in friday...so they will be fine.

me on the other hand...well yes i will be because i know my journey with haiti and the wonderful people there is not over...there is much ahead...and i am believing more and more that maybe i really will live there permanently one day, but not now. now i am with much ministries and God is teaching me things...mama kati believes this season is just another season...a training ground for what is ahead. i pray that the training also includes me going to haiti once a year at least....as i always miss them when i am not there.

its good to be in kansas city...at my parents right now, but will more than likely be in the city the rest of the week starting tomorrow. on the 23rd i pack up the car with most of my stuff and my parents and we start our road trip to Georgia. i'm excited for them to see my world there and all the wonderful things God is doing there in that beautiful place!!!

speaking of MM and my training ground in Georgia....does anyone know of places that might be interested in hearing me talk about MM and Haiti. i need about $800 of support a month and right now i have about $300. i need more partners...people that want to come along side me and journey with me in this season. God is doing MUCH, but MM cannot afford to pay me. i receive enough to pay for gas and things like that through working in the business, but it is not enough for the rest of my expenses and i dont want to take money out of the pot that needs to be going into the ministry parts of MM.

so if anyone knows of places i could speak or is interested themselves please please let me know.

LOVE & BLESSINGS
natasha

a little message...

A dear friend sent me this message and i wanted to share it because i really love it! hope you do too!


HAPPY MOMENTS, PRAISE GOD.
DIFFICULT MOMENTS, SEEK GOD.
QUIET MOMENTS, WORSHIP GOD.
PAINFUL MOMENTS, TRUST GOD.
EVERY MOMENT, THANK GOD.

malad

i tried to take kervens to the pool yesterday...we tried 3 places all near by, but all three were 'refilling' the pool so none had any water.

it was very sad...so we didn't go swimming and on the way home i started to feel really ill...when we got home i started vomiting and having diarrhea...no good at all. dont really know why exactly, but it wasn't fun.

chris came over to give poutchino his shot so she also gave me a shot to stop the vomiting...my arm hurts but between that and the imodium she gave me i haven't had either one since then. i slept through the night and feel much better. i'm still tired from it all and my arm is very sore from the shot, but i am MUCH better.

i thought i was doing so well...everytime i come to haiti i get sick at some point...and i hadnt been sick at all...then 3 days before i go i get sick...seriously...i LOVE this place so much...even when i am sick. i most be one wierd girl.

the nannies were all so wonderful...sr. lucien was taking care of me and the kids...cha cha kept asking if i was going to die...he was very concerned...sr. rosemanie brought him up to see him...i told him i wasn't going to die...just sick for a little bit....what else...kevs..hes so good and being responsible when hes knows its needed. he locked up...took care of the things the night nannies needed...took care of me...just sat in the room with me, watched a movie while i slept. so sweet.

this morning i am doing much better...and hoping to feel good by the time church comes around...i want to go...say bye to people and worship...

i cant believe after today...its monday and then i leave tuesday....don't know how i feel about it all....but waiting upon the Lord...for everytime i am here i learn things....and continue to learn them even as i go.

many things

last night i kept gerdeline until 2 in the morning that i went downstairs and spent sometime with sr. lucien and then left gerdeline downstairs with all the other kids. she is taking a bottle fine now so i felt it was okay to let her go be with the other kids and nannies...but i wont lie i miss her being with me constantly...she is just so precious.

what else...a little bit of funds came in so i took johnny and tree to med lab this morning....well actually nurse mary drove with me. i wanted to take gerdeline as well, but some staff called in sick so i didnt have enough nannies to be home if one came with.

johnny did good at med lab...you can tell he's been poked and praded a bit before...knows the drill. but tree on the other hand...Oh My Goodness (as cha cha would say)....he screamed blooding murder. always breaks my heart, but we gotta do it.

i cant believe i leave in 4 days....i'm not ready. then again i never really am ready. yes i know i am not suppose to stay here now...we all know i am great at extending my ticket, but didn't feel the holy spirit's pulling to do that this time...so here i am 4 days to go...and i dont want it to end. i miss this place, these kids, this country...desperately when i am not there.... guess that is a sign that dottie's prophecy is right...i probably will be here permanently one day, but i know it isn't now...there is much for me to learn and do first...even though i have no idea what this is.

so trying to cherish every moment of the last few days here....for now. i still have so much i want to do...take kervens to the pool, sleep on the roof, see emily marie, see pastor A, work with sr. jesula with therapy for frantzo, clean the front room, stock up on things in case they are without dorothy for a few days, and much more....we'll see...somehow the day gets filled and i am busy yet not necessarily crossing things off my list of to dos.

so took the older kiddos to visit patrick and JJ today....they were so excited on the way there...and then once in the gate and out of the car at sherrie's they werent so sure anymore.

what else....poutchino started getting injections today....its a course of 7 days...chris is coming over and doing that for us. Praise God!!

what else....josie went home with his aunt yesterday...so i started with 13 went i got here...then it went up to 16 now we are down to 15 again...its always fluctuating.

well i best get in bed...my eyes are fighting me to stay open.

blessings.

gerdeline

yesterday morning i went out to the countryside to a small village with karen bultje. it was great...i really do love the countryside out here. its a much different pace & place. I think it often is that way any country you are in...city and country just different paces. the village is about an hour outside of port au prince. we picked up Gerdeline a sweet, beautiful girl...7 months old...but so tiny. she has no teeth...she was pretty dehydrated and anemic. her story is that her mama died, dads no where around and the grandma cant take care of her. her hair is not orange, but as me and kevs were saying yesterday...its 'braid, fuzz, bald...braid, fuzz, bald' shes just about 11 pounds. hope we get her weight up fast and her energy. shes been sleeping well...but wakes up every hour or so...and i try to get some gerber or pedialyte in her then.

yesterday she was vomiting and not holding things in, but i stayed with her through the night and she is doing much better. still has not figured out how to use the bottle yet, but we'll get there. she looks at me like...what is this foreign object you have put in my mouth. she needs to learn to suck again. mama has been dead over a month and i don't even know if she was breast-feeding before that. so we are working on it.

i'm quite tired this morning, but as always the day goes on and things need to be done. if possible i will hopefully get in a little nap.

blessings to you all!

tuesday...

yesterday we played in the water with the kiddos after lunch and it was so fun! they are all so precious....its an honor to be here...for God to trust me to love on them...help them and care for them.

however in the middle of our playing chris nuguester called...she was looking for someone to help her take a mom and her baby to hospital espoir. its not far so i said give me 20 minutes. finished with the kids and cleaned up. went over there and off we went. Chris explained that the mom had come to her a couple days ago with the baby, wanting chris to take him in. she told her to come back with a birth certificate. well she did and showed chris that he has clubbed feet and a problem on his back.

she said that he fell on a concrete block...the bandage was so old...she could tell it was going to be bad and decided to take the baby to the hospital. she wasnt sure about the story as it could be a spina bifida case. and when you are desperate for help anyone would try anything. i cant fathom sometimes having to deal with the things these beautiful people are often face with daily.

turns out that chris was right...she had taken the baby to general hospital already and they said he needs an operation, but she did not have the money. they bandaged it up and told her to change the dressings every day to keep it clean until she could come back and get the operation. she didnt change them.

it was so bad, the bandage is practically part of him now. it is infected and it has spread to his whole body. watching them try to take the bandage off and the smell affirms why God doesnt want me to be a nurse even though it would be so handy in a place like this. it broke my heart so bad that this little one would die in a day or two if somehow the surgery doesnt happen. the doctor at hospital espoir didnt take off the bandage as it would only open the area to more bacteria and it has already infected the whole body. this little one (12 days old) needs PRAYER!

i dropped them off and chris was having her driver come back so they could get to Ti Frere...pray. it is so needed. i know not all survive...the mother has alreadty lost 3 babies. she has a 4 year old at home. pray for this mom...i cant imagine losing 3 babies and then now maybe another.

my heart was really broken after this...i was blessed to help chris and to be a person praying for this situation, but its just one of so many in this country. the mayor is building and new building that is huge and the roads are getting widened, but yet still mamas like this dont have the funds, the education or enough resources to get her through this. if so...she is often the exception.

....

so i talked with chris today...and she is still working on getting the baby in for an operation at frere ti ser. pray...chris also stopped by and took a look at poutchino. he has been running fevers almost everyday since i got here. with tylenol the fever goes down, but still with his history of phenomena and many other things...its not good to risk it. dorothy suggested giving him a course of 7 injections that could help....but he might have to get off his other meds. chris is going talk with her friend tonight to make sure if he needs to go off other meds before we start the course of injections (shots of 500 mg of ceftriaxone once a day for 7 days). hope to figure this out in the next couple of days.

pray for poutchi as well.

new baby

Karen Bultje is taking me out to a little village about an hour away from port to pick up a baby in great need of our help on Wednesday.

here are some tid bits from her blog...

"Samson Felix is an 11-month-old child who is miserable with his situation. He can not stand unassisted because he is weak. His feet are swollen and he is in the beginning stages of kwashiorkor malnutrition.

While in the village this grandmother and her 7-month-old grand-daughter came up to me. She told me that the mother died last month and that she needed some help.

Babies in villages like these really suffer when there is no mother who can breast-feed. Pray we can find someone to help this family out."

i am not sure if we are getting the 7 month old or the 11 month old, but either way pray for them. pray for the hungry in Haiti. pray for Gods glory to be seen in it all.

blessings to each of you.

LEKOL!

LEKOL LEKOL....SCHOOL SCHOOL...

kervens and richardson had their first day of school at TLC today! they had a great day...it was fun to walk them...tkae pictures and be here and be mama tasha for it all!

LOVE these kiddos...and them going to TLC is such a blessing!

pray for them and TLC!

keziah!

Keziah Furth stopped by tonight. she was the nurse that lived with dorothy from september of last year to may...she is an amazing lady with so many amazing skills. I fully believe God has ordained her with leadership and she is going to continue to do great and mighty things for the kingdom of God!!!

it was good to see her. i have known her for a years, but only really ever been in her presence for about a month. as she put it...its the bond of haiti!!! it was good to see her and good for all the kiddos too!

thanks kez! (check out her blog-link on sidebar)

heart heart heart!

follow up....

so the father of tree comes everyday almost...hes a good dad. tree is having diarrhea and vomiting, but i put him on sulfaprim and thank God no more vomiting and the diarrhea seems to be stopping. if that doesnt work we will put him on flagyl. i hope to take him to med lab sooner than later. i hope jeremie (the father) can get things together...funds for a home and job to take him back sooner than later. pray for him. when dorothy can she is thinking about buying some of his art work to help decorate the house....but that may be awhile....many things need to come first.

PRAY PRAY PRAY! she still needs a new car...a generator and invertor...constant sponsors to get funds for water, gas, medicine, doctor appointments for the kids, paying staff, etc.

the mother and baby that are staying here are doing well. i was informed on several things referring after birth and breast-feeding that helped tremendously. i tell you...chris nugester is still such a life savor to me when dorothy is not here and i am in charge. marie (the mother) has all her milk now...it just took a few days to come in with a good supply. her baby is very healthy, but a couple nights ago there was drama surrounding here umbilical cord. in haiti they usually tie a string around it after its been cut and then bandage it which often causes tetanus. chris helped me with this and now we are cleaning it...blessings. dorothy thinks that maybe we can help the young mother get into a sewing school so that she will have a trade, be able to get a job and get back on her feet. pray for this as well.

what else...i was able to get Kervens into school! he is going to TLC the same school that gertie had gone to and richardson will go to! its very exciting!! he will be the first child to come into TLC at his age...so its a lot of responsibilty and honor to have the opportunity. they are letting him in because his english is so fluent and its an english speaking school. its great because it gets him out of the house for about 7 hours a day, he'll be able to walk cha cha home, he'll learn french and he'll get to meet more kids his own age. i am very excited for him and glad to have been a part of making the connections! THANK YOU DOTTIE & TLC!!!!

so i think that is about it other than the fact that ours funds are farely low and i will not be able to take johnny or tree to med lab for tests...like i had planned for tomorrow. we didnt have funds to pay the staff this month so we gave them what we could and then with sr. claudias money missing we have helped her with school fees and then the triplets mom we always help. so its been a bit rough, but this is where you have faith...God will provide and where you can you do with out...but overall...at the end of the day we have a roof over our heads...and SO SO SO much more.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR DOROTHYS FUNDRAISING. it looks like she will not be back before i leave, which is hard for my heart...i am so used to changing my ticket when i am here (wink) and would be more than willing to if it would work out. i dont like them to not have someone here that can drive to all the doctor appointments...etc. God will make a way.

thanks to all of you for reading, for praying, for taking time out of your day to be a part of my journey...this journey...its full of blessings and each one of you are....Gods, grace, mercy and love fall upon you...

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

long day...but....

Okay...so today was a long day, but God is good. we went to AIDS clinic with myson for about 6 or 7 hours. when we finally got home the gentleman i was telling you about didnt make it to the house before we left, but he waited until i came back which was around 1pm. we took the baby in...he is not terribly sick, but i hope to take him to med lab to get test done. in the morning he will come at 8am. madame severe and i will go with them to social services and visit his home and perhaps try to also get his little boy a birth certificate. so it will be another long day. however i feel so good about this man. his name is jerry and his sons name is woodjay, but everyone calls him tree (how cute is that). my spirit feels really good about him, he wants his son back, he wants to get a job, he wants to do better than he is doing right now....he used to work with the UN...he knows some english. we'll see how it goes, but tree is so precious...can tell he is a bit malnourished as he was just in a hospital downtown, he is beautiful, i'm falling in love!

then right after talking with him a mother came in with her newborn. the baby is healthy...was born just yesterday. however the mother has no job and no place to live and i can tell she is having trouble breastfeeding, she even showed me that she doesnt have milk for very long....her supply is low. i told her all the things about the more she does it the more she i will have. i think it hurts her a lot and she needs to get used to it. she is still bleeding from the birth. i think this is not a good thing,so in a few days if this is still going on i think we might need to take her somewhere. i am asking dorothy about this and chris because i'm not so sure. ...i decided to let her live out back in the room you have made for situations like this.

also after we talked to her for a bit....mickenson and his mom showed up for a visit! it was great to see him...he is getting so big. for those of you who need a reminder he was a little one that was here while i was here last year....he had to get 14 shots and if that didnt work a surgery to make his boy parts drop. he is doing GREAT! it was good to see them!

what else poutchino was having fevers everyday, but hasnt had fevers the last 2 days, praise God.

madame severe is hopefully going to talk to the staff soon about the money sr. Claudia has missing. pray for this situation.

its been a long day, but its all good. Gods grace is abundant!