Updates–2004

January 10, 2004 - Could you please pray for baby Malvina who I met yesterday in the hospital? Yesterday was the first day at the hospital for the Canadian lady
(Helina Van Zeggelen) who has just arrived to help there and stay with me, and it was pretty hard of course. She can't believe what she sees. She's been given charge of a baby who is violently starving to death. Her problem is that she vomits up everything she eats. Seems Malvina didn't want to die though, and with careful feeding of her, keeping her upright often instead of the 24 hours on her back, and loving her, she's fighting to stay alive. No one knows how old she is, no birth date, but she's like a premie, smaller than a new-born. My friend thinks she heard something about 1 year old.
Malvina cried violently. The day we met her, we got there just before her bottle arrived, and I've never seen anything so horrifying in my life. She's worse than skin and bones, she's literally a skeleton, and her eyes are so big and absolutely full of suffering. Her eyes were those of a dying adult, not a baby. She's worse than Andrea was. So Helina fed her the bottle which she kept some of down, and stayed with her the whole morning. When lunch came it was something she could eat with a spoon, and she kept it all down. But the throwing up problem again with the late afternoon bottle which was thin slop. My friend and the American couple were pushing for tests, and she had some. Now they're saying that she may need surgery, but want to give her a medication first. Of course the problem is who is going to buy it, seems it's going to be about $10 a week. Small price to keep a child alive who doesn't want to die. Anyway, the fact that she kept down a thicker meal is hopefull. Maybe we can get some cereal into the slop they give her. And give her vitamin drops. Andrea really did well with the drops the month we took care of her in hospital, and I have a good supply.

February 5, 2004 - Sylvia's free! Tuesday went ok and now she's open to possibilities! [Sylvia's court case was on February 2 for the judge to make a deicision about signing her abandonment papers so that she could be adopted in the future. Praise the Lord!]

March 9, 2004 - Emilia, and 3 of the kids - Persida, Onesim and Darius, came into town yesterday, and we had a nice visit. She was telling me they have a serious rat problem out there. The house walls are not made with cement blocks, but clay or something and the rats are eating their way into the house. They find rat holes in the walls, and the rats are eating their shoes and getting into the drawers and ripping up their sweaters. Glue that traps them dries out too fast, and they eat the food out of the rat-traps. Anyway the rats keep coming back. Emilia said that what needs to be done is cement all around the base of the house and up some, so that the rats can't dig their way in. I said we just had to do something! We have to get this done, and hopefully this summer when the kids will be off school and can work at this. The other idea is a dog who will eat rats, they have a small dog who is no good whatsoever. She's probably scared of them! The rats are as big as small cats. But Emilia said a dog like a German shepherd who has the attack instinct to catch the rats would be a possibility. Both ideas would probably be the best.

April 26, 2004 - A very sad situation out at Viorel's. Estera phoned last evening saying that they had had a fire, and could we go out. So I went out with Ghitsa and Mia, and all the back sheds which they were using for their animals, and the "kitchen", were burned. It was all attached to the house, as you remember. The yard is a heap of burned wood and stuff. It is just so awful, and so ugly. So I gave them some money because they'll have to start repairing now. They were so thankful. They had bedding and clothes burned which they kept above the place used as a kitchen. It's a pretty devastating sight, and they were pretty discouraged. They have worked so hard. And now there will be a lot of expense and more hard work. Good thing that the firemen stopped it before it burned the house down. Please pray for them.

September 2004 - Andrea has had successful eye surgery. The doctor says she has new eyes. The doctor was delighted.

October 2004 - Sylvia is now placed in her new adoptive family.