100 Stitches+Staples = A Miracle

Jireh Before Surgery

Over the past year we have had a series of small miracles happen, and one of my favorite stories is of a boy, who we will call Jireh.  Jireh came into the Children's home a little over a year ago with his big brother.  He had been living with his grandma, who is one of the sweetest old woman you have ever met, but she is very old and was getting weaker by the day, so she was unable to provide for the boys.  They were living in pretty extreme conditions, but luckily they were well loved in their home, which is more than alot of our kids can say.   When they came into the Children's Home they were able to begin their new lives, but Jireh had a physical deformity that was isolating him from the other children and effecting his quality of life.  He had a large growth on this head that was steadily growing and beginning to impede his vision, and also looked a bit strange so the other children were scared of him at first.  Needless to say the first few months on The Hill were a little hard for Jireh.  He became aggressive and would pick fights with other kids to get out his frustration about his isolation.  Obviously, this situation needed to change and as quickly as possible for his physical and emotional well-being.  

Jireh with the expander

Now, fixing Jireh's condition was not going to be easy, but with the growth now slowing down a solution needed to be found fast.  By the grace of God, Ann Smith was able to find a surgeon near Nairobi who said he would take on Jireh's case and help to remove the growth before it took Jireh's sight away from one eye.  The first answer to prayer was that the growth was not cancerous, so they could move on to the next step.  The process was going to be long because the growth was too large to just graft skin from another place on his body, so the next solution was to grow new skin that could replace the skin from the growth once removed.  Seriously, he could just grow new skin!  Pretty amazing medicine for a under-developed country.  The doctor implanted a small tissue expander under the skin on the other side of his head and over the course of about 10 weeks  the expander was filled with liquid to expand and grow the new skin.  During this time Jireh had to be careful not to play too hard and he got a cool Bob Marley looking hat to cover the "bubble" which seemed to help him feel better.  We were so worried the other kids would make fun of him or really isolate themselves from him, but never underestimate the kindness of children.  The kids were the warmest and kindest I have ever seen them during Jireh's surgery and after.  He was covered with encouragement and prayer from his friends and after 10 weeks and a series of near-disasters with the "bubble" it was time for the surgery.  In the surgery, they cut out the growth, then opened up the bubble and stretched is over to cover where the growth once was.

Jireh had a very gifted surgeon and the surgery was a total success, and when Jireh was clear of any infection and began to heal, he returned to his family on The Hill.  He also has an amazing sponsor family that was able to help pay for his surgery, which was a huge blessing.  The best part was when speaking with his sponsor they said, "Well after all of the medical bills we have racked up this year it would be only sweet justice that he is part of our family."  Their commitment to their Kenyan son was inspiring.   So now Jireh, other than a pretty huge scar and one smaller eye brow, looks like a completely healthy child and he is out of the woods.  If Jireh had never come to The Children's Home or we were unable to find the right surgeon, he may have lost his eye and never been able to live a normal, healthy life.  However, through answered prayers, the  the amazingly kind hearts of those around him, and grace of God, a small miracle occurred and Jireh will be able to live the kind of life every child should have the chance to live.

Jireh Post-Surgery and Happy

New Year, New Resolutions

How cool is this thing?!?!?!

It is officially 2012!  It has been a few weeks since the new year and I am finally getting over my disappointment that we don't have flying skateboards or clothing that can grow or shrink to the right size at the press of a button (thank you Back to the Future 2 for getting our hopes up), and can move onto to actual goals and hopes for the new year.  This does not mean that I am giving up on the flying skateboard by the way, and if it could have the ninja turtles on it like the one I had when I was seven that would be ideal.

One thing that I have completely slacked on the past couple of years is recording my adventures over in Kenya on paper.  There are some pictures and random stories, but there have been some pretty incredible moments and stories I've been able to witness or be a part of that I have not shared about The Hill or these beautiful kids.  So one of my 2012 commitments (this sounds more permanent than resolution and does not include a gym membership), is to record these stories and share them as much as I can.  2012 is the year of storytelling and I am going to work on being a better story teller.  I have some friends who are great storytellers and I love a good book or movie that tells a great story.  Shawshank Redemption, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Help.... the list goes on and on.  Great stories stick with you forever, run you through a gambit of emotions before reaching their resolution (that is always better with a John Williams soundtrack), feel more like an experience than a narrative, and you never regret opening yourself up to a great story.  Anyone who knows me could tell you I am not so great at telling stories (either they get a "little" exaggerated OR a little boring), and I want to get better at this because I believe we are made to live a great story.  So I want to tell stories this year.  These stories will be about the kids, the staff, life in Kenya, life in America, or just stories about people who I think are telling pretty great stories with their lives and have inspired me in some way.

The girls in these pictures each have their own unique story and they are inspiring.  Tapapul, Brenda, Nanyu, Nancy, and Karen are strong girls and have gone through more trying times than most of us see in a lifetime.  The saddest part is if you asked them to tell their story or even talk about themselves a little bit they would get embarrassed because they do not believe anyone would really care to know their story.  That might be the most tragic part about their lives.  It is not that they have gone through some rough things, or seen atrocities that children should never have to see, but that after all of that they don't believe they are worth being loved or that people will be inspired by them.  There are few things more inspiring than the 7 year old girl that has lived in extreme poverty and endured physical abuse, and can still open herself up again to being hugged and feeling safe just months after living in those conditions.  These stories are not to be bottled up and kept on a shelf somewhere, but they are to be shared and inspire change.  My hope and prayer is to have the right words to tell these stories the way they deserve to be told.