Heidi's day

The start of the week was odd….and possibly disturbing if I think about it long enough. Sunday started off just like any normal day…We had finished working and were hanging out under the boys dormitory when a white truck and two mopeds drove furiously up the driveway. Some men came up to me and motionned someone was sick in the back and that I should do something. I thought :“great…what can I do?? Momo is gone…I cannot drive anyone to the hospital. They drove up in a car…why didn’t they just go to the Dr. straight away.???” So I reluctantly head over to the truck and find a lady crying holding a baby. They point to her and indicate the baby needs a doctor quick. I gingerly peel back the blanket that was covering some of it’s face to take a look. At first glance I knew that no Dr. was going to help this little one. It was too late. It stared heavenward, and I understood it’s last look was at his mom. He was only 4 months old but was the tiniest one I have ever seen. He compared to a new born in NA. No more than 7 pounds for sure. The mother walked in from Burma that morning with her three children to seek medical help and the baby died shortly before he got to us. Her husband has been missing for 5 months and presumed dead. One week after she gave birth to the 4 month boy, her oldest daughter died. And now her youngest is gone. What can I do to help? How can I possibly comprehend the agony of so many losses? The feeling of having no home in such a time of desperation. She is welcome to stay here and we will take care of her I assure the men. They knew already before bringing her that ours was the only place she would be taken such good care of. I place her on the bench outside the Kitchen and let her continue drop silent tears on her baby. Let her hold him still…she is not ready to let go yet. Our kids attempt to make her shy 4 and 3 year old more comfortable. They needed food…and after a full stomach warmed up to the hospitality of the kids wanting to play with them, bath them and give them fresh clothes from their own wardrobe to wear. It was such a beautiful sight to see such amazing service in out kids. They really do follow Cat’s example. I was still struggling with how to console the mother. I do not know custom…but I thought maybe she may not mind if I wash him. So I searched frantically through Momo’s house looking for a face cloth. Grabbed a bowl with water and some soap and through the language barrier managed to ask her if she minded if I clean her little boys face. She seemed not to mind as I slowly dabbed water on the tiny face. I then ventured to his small long fingers…a little bit of “toe jam” needed to be cleaned out…I then saw the first glance of appreciation from the mother, she took of the baby’s cap and wanted me to wash more than just the face and fingers. I cleaned his ears and hair and thought “whew…I didn’t do a cultural faux-pas…thank you Lord”. I cannot imagine her pain.
We finally put to use the little coffin under the girls dorm that was HUGE for this little baby. We held worship that night for the lady and held the funeral service the next day. Arthur got to dig his second grave here with the help of the visitors. Ohhh yeah…the Australians arrived that Sunday to some interestingly sad first few days.
I gave worship that day and recounted the events of the day. I talked about how children are a gift from God. (Psalm 127) and it is hard no matter what age they are when they pass on. Watching the lady we wonder “is there anything that I could possibly do to help?’’and it feels like anything we do is not good enough….Yet God has provided us with other gifts…the gift of service (Eph 4) and I was so proud of our kids for everything they did for this lady and her kids. I went on to list each action I saw them do, and really praised them for their service...being able to turn a really sad moment into something encouraging and uplifting for our kids was a blessing from God (Thinking about their humility brings tears to my eyes). It was a moving first worship that touched our visitors greatly…and I must say none of it was in my hands because I had no idea what I was going to talk about 3 minutes before I walked into the classroom. I did pray about it 3 times though…and let the Lord provide the words…
One visitor asked me after “so how are YOU handling all this today??” I could only let myself think about it for one second before I quickly replied “I’m OK… my friend lost a baby last year and some of the memories are resurfacing”. I had to suppress some tears after he said that though…and realized if I let myself stop and think, I would feel more than I wanted to feel.
So that is how my week started off…and it just stayed busy from there.
We have 11 Aussies visiting us and helping us teach and do work. They are a lot of fun...aged 16-23yrs.and are on their way to Africa to spend 1month on mission there. FUN!!