drsbarton

Barton Boy Update

2011-06-01T14:28:00.002-05:00

In lieu of a post per birthday boy the next few months, I'm going to summarize the goings-on with the younger Bartons in one post. We think they are all pretty Super!

Nathan celebrated his 7th birthday last month with a Star Wars party. There was great debate in the first grade class about whether the girls were interested in this theme, but they ended up agreeing to be invited. Nathan is very conscious of others' feelings and did not want anyone to be left out. Of course, he managed to stretch his birthday out over a week or more and I made at least 4 separate cakes or treats!

Paul (Master Yoda) made a great Jedi Training Course with light saber moves and a paintball slingshot from the x-wing fighter, culminating in a Death Star pinata...

...and light saber cake. Note to self: making a cake out of ice cream does not allow much time for decorating without melting. Also, the freezer needs to be big enough for the whole light saber!

Nathan reports that soccer and baseball are his favorite sports and science is his favorite subject; reading is a new passion, having recently "clicked" for him. Nathan loves being a jungle boy spends hours every afternoon with his friends building a fort in a small patch of jungle behind our house. No adults have been permitted to view this creation, but it entertains him for hours and leaves him completely muddy and happy. Nathan recently switched rooms with Isaac to have his own room and takes great pride in decorating, organizing and keeping it neat. Star Wars tops all his passions - if he's not out in the jungle, he is probably playing light sabers or playing with his x-wing fighter.

Josiah turned five this month, a long-anticipated event.

He requested a space shuttle and jungle party. We ended up putting Curious George on a space walk from the shuttle and had quite a mish-mash of decor including a Lightning McQueen pinata. (This worked out well here since there is a limited selection to choose from.) The jungle-space games were suspiciously similar to the Jedi training camp of the previous month! Josiah had a great time as did his friends.

The cake, as usual was due to the baking skills of Mom and the construction and decorating skills of Dad. One of our more impressive cakes, especially tying in the jungle with Curious George, which was all Paul! So, a close-up.

Speaking of construction, Josiah is quite the master builder. He has recently joined the lego craze in our house, but continues to spend hours building with his magnatiles - magnetic construction shapes. His creations are only limited by the number of sets that we have. Josiah tells us that he is going to be a detective (or a spy) and an artist - possibly an artist who draws things and then builds them.

Samuel's ninth birthday comes later this summer. He is already planning a solar system party which promises to tax his parents' creativity. This reflects his deep interest in all things space and his hopes of being an astronaut (or basketball player.) He recently explained to us exactly why Pluto has been demoted from planet status and one of the things I look forward to about homeschooling during our furlough next year is the things the boys will teach me, especially Sammy! He will keep us on our toes. The past 2 months he has been taking guitar lessons from a missionary high school student here in Shell. He has been quite dedicated to practicing and seems to be progressing well and enjoying it.

Sammy continues to be our bookworm and loves mysteries. He is working his way through the Hardy Boys series. His teacher has challenged his class to read the entire New Testament before school is out and he is close to finishing and earning an ice cream reward from his teacher. If he is not reading, he is playing Wii and loves the challenge of improving on his previous games. He is a sweet brother to Isaac and alternates between sweet and bossy with his other brothers. He proved to be a great help with Josiah's recent birthday party and made it possible for Paul and I to get everything done in time since doing it in advance didn't really happen. He is still out little boy, but more and more often slips into pre-teen mode.

Isaac is the last to have a birthday later this summer and is close to three. It is hard to believe how big our baby is and we would be even sadder if we weren't enjoying this stage of his so thoroughly. He is 100% boy and loves balls, planes, cars and Cars, asking to watch the latter at least once a day. He is quite the baseball player and asks us often to go out and throw the ball for him. When he connects with the ball, look out!

He is quite a talker, like his brothers and repeats things ad nauseum until he gets the answer he wants. He reminds us of the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18 and usually get the same result by wearing us down. So at least he has learned one Biblical lesson well! The older boys dote on Isaac for the most part and are fighting over who gets to share a room with him when we are in the States next year. We went to a zoo recently and Isaac asks constantly to go to the zoo and see the animals.

He also sings "Awesome God" and chants "It's the Dad life!" from a youtube video he has seen. Basically he is as cute and sweet as can be, unless he is tired. Then he gets mad easily, sends himself to his room and either falls asleep or recovers his good humor. Although he will always be our baby and Mom enjoys every baby moment left, we are thrilled to see his own personality and talents emerge.

Although I can't bring myself to change the banner of this blog, I offer an updated picture here:

A Day in the Life

2011-04-28T12:16:00.002-05:00

It's hard to nail down a typical day here. There's always something strange going on. Yesterday Paul was in the O.R. for about 12 hours. That is not usual, but we have a third missionary surgeon on staff now, so it may become more common. There are several things that Wednesdays bring regularly - I visit the orphanage Casa de Fe, Paul goes to the hospital doctors' meeting in the afternoon and the fruit lady comes! This is one of the things I love about living here. Produce delivered weekly to my driveway! I am even willing to pay exorbitant prices for this convenience. (For example, apples are 4/$1 instead of 5/$1.) The truth is that produce is easily available a short walk in several directions from the house, but I am spoiled by the fruit lady and not likely to change. It's really 2 fruit ladies and a man who drives them down from Ambato, 2 hours away. Strawberries, pineapples, tomatoes and mandarin oranges are almost always in season and cost a couple dollars each for a weeks worth. This week the fruit lady made my day by bringing me basil, which is not as available around here. We'll be eating lot's of brushetta this week! You can see our friendly fruit ladies in the picture below and our wagon full of the week's produce.

The fruit lady remembers when I was pregnant with Isaac and seems to have a special fondness for him. She always gives him an extra mandarina and asks about him if he doesn't come out. All the boys love mandarinas and can eat 3 or 4 at a time, but Isaac is especially fond of them and can make a meal out of them. Here he is with Josiah showing off their snack!

Yesterday was also unusually clear and we were able to see the volcano Tungurahua spewing ash! This is about an hour away in the town of Banos. This is our back yard with the compound playground and a neighbor's house in the foreground.

From the same spot, but with the zoom.

New Year's Eve

2011-01-20T15:54:00.000-05:00

Even after 3 years here, it's hard to clearly explain the New Year's Eve traditions. Maybe the pictures will help. This is the hospital's version, although you can walk around Shell or any town on New Year's Eve and see even more elaborate examples. The old year is considered an old man. It is personified in a straw man that can take on virtually any character. Here is one from the hospital contest where each hospital department created an old man (the old year) and a widow (his wife after the new year arrives.)

Here is another example from the Maintenance Department of the hospital. The figure to the left is the old man's (or old year's) soon-to-be widow. Men dress up as the old year's widow and "beg" money from people driving and walking around. All in fun. The man on the right is reading the old year's will, leaving various things to different hospital employees.

Time for the bonfire. All the figures are added to the pile. The scrubs were saved. As Paul commented, there aren't many XL scrubs - no need to burn them!

Arahuno

2011-01-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

In early December I was able to go into the "jungle" with several other doctors to do physicals on children in the Compassion International program. The hospital doctors have been taking turns going to remote jungle communities to do these physicals. I agreed to help with this one because it was drivable, rather than requiring a flight and thus able to do with only one overnight. The most difficult part was lining up back-up for Paul with the kids since he was on call the whole time I was gone. Once that was figured out, it was a fun trip. However, it was definitely "jungle-lite!" We went to a community called Arahuno. About 7 years ago a road was built to their community and since then they have had electricity. They also have running water, although there was a problem with the pipes while we were there that had the water shut down. We saw about 160 kids. Almost all of them were healthy. The ones that had medical problems that I saw had been seen, often at our hospital in Shell. Most of these problems seem to be orthopedic injuries. We also saw a small group of children from a more remote community that the Compassion workers brought to us by truck. We did all the physicals in the elementary school for the community, named for Edward McCully, one of the five missionaries killed by the Waorani over 50 years ago.

Josiah's big debut!!!

2010-11-18T19:20:00.005-05:00

Dear friends and family (especially grandparents):

Please see the following clip featuring our budding thespian Josiah! Recently he and his preschool classmates performed in a provience-wide expose of "preschool culture" for the community here in Shell in our local "Coleseo". Enjoy!

The Littlest Brother

2010-11-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

Our Baby Isaac is already two! It's hard to believe that much time has gone by. He is a sweet boy and we all dote on him. His brothers love him and he loves them. He calls Sammy "BeMul," Nathan is "Nah-Nah" and Josiah is "Yah-Yah." He does a good job keeping up with them and they look after him. Isaac loves slides, jello, strawberries, Baby Einstein, balls, airplanes, strawberry milk, pineapple, books, pasta, and mandarinas. He does not like baths, swimming, being sticky or being left behind when Mommy or Daddy go somewhere, especially if we go in the car. On our vacation in the States, he warmed up quickly to the new people he met, especially when he saw his brothers playing with them. He also kept up with all the activities we did from sailing to the corn maze to the aquarium. He especially liked the alpine slide which he could ride with an adult. Every time he reached the bottom he said, "One more time!" He is a good natured little guy and although he likes to say "No," it seems like he says "Yes" more often than the others at two. He is very attached to both Mom and Dad and likes to be with us. His most common phrase is "Hold you me!" His second birthday was during out Stateside vacation, so we were able to celebrate with both sides of the family and Mom even made him a giant "2" cookie.

Things We Have Learned During Our Vacation in the U.S.

2010-08-27T07:17:00.002-05:00

1. Corn really does grow as high as an elephant's eye.

2. Use turn signals.

3. Blueberries take about 4 days to digest.

4. Wipes always come in handy - especially after the baby throws up on the airplane.

5. Squirrels, blueberries, water fountains (yes, you can drink the water,) trains and corn-on-the-cob produce a disproportionate level of excitement.

6. Driving on the Interstate in New England is a pleasure.

7. There's nothing like salt and vinegar potato chips, Dr. Pepper, triscuits, Mounds, sushi, and smoked Vermont cheddar.

8. Ask for a clue in the corn maze sooner rather than later.

9. It's easy to forget you know how to speak Spanish.

10. Leaf-cutter ants don't eat the leaves - they use them to make fungus to eat!

11. Leaf-cutter ants aren't native to the U.S., but apparently don't mind native U.S. leaves.

12. Half a bushel of apples is a lot of apples!

13. Invisible ink books are priceless.

14. It's okay to take a 2-year-old on the open chair lift because it's covered by the insurance.

15. Isaac loves to slide and hates water. He can eat his weight in blueberries.

16. Josiah will do anything- even tube the diamonds at Schlitterbahn.

17. Samuel completed the magic square of numbers at the science museum faster than Kim, but Kim learned something about game theory.

18. Nathan has turned into quite a good hiker since the month in NYC 3 years ago when he often told us his legs were broken. However, 3 hours lost in a corn maze did him in.

19. The excitement of a train ride wears off pretty quickly.

20. Paul can take as many pictures of the glider above the blueberry patch as the kids picking berries.

21. The queen leaf-cutter ant is really big (1 1/2 inches) and seldom seen.

22. No matter how long the trip, the boys get punchy for the last 20 minutes.

23. We're used to seeing buses on the road, not RV's and boats.

24. Knowing where you are and where you are going isn't enough. You need the map. Equally true for corn mazes and unfamiliar highways.

25. Macs really are better.

26. Free wireless doesn't mean what you think it means.

27. Plymouth rock is just that - a rock in the sand.

28. Someone else from the Shell area (or el Oriente) has been to Plymouth, MA and visited the t-shirt store where we found going-out-of business deals.

El Mayor Turns 8!

2010-08-27T07:05:00.004-05:00

Sammy's birthday is a bit of a blur. We celebrated a few days early with his friends at a near-by pool where the boys played, ate salchipapas and returned home for homemade ice cream cake. On he day of his actual birthday we werein Quito picking up a team from our church. He had cinnamon buns with a candle at the Guesthouse in Quito and lemon cake as requested with the team after our pizza for dinner, but most of the day was spent driving. Surprisingly, he thought it was all pretty cool and enjoyed riding on the bus with the team back to Shell. Eventually he got his presents when the team's luggage arrived 2 days later. He was very excited about the Star Wars lego, science of space kit and the model airplane that he can put together with Dad.

We love seeing Sammy learn and grow and all his stages are new to us. He still loves to read and has recently been reading The Hardy Boys. He loves playing Wii and has made it through the levels in Star Wars this summer. He enjoyed the special bonus of having a friend his age on our church's mission team this summer and did VBS in Spanish every day, translating for his friend. He is a huge help with Isaac - gets him dressed and reads to him and he taught Isaac to say "Luv you, Be-Mul." He keeps up in his daily children's Bible, sometime catching up during the sermon in Spanish! He is always willing and exctied to try new things, but is also content to be a homebody as well. He is reliably an optimist and sets a tone of enthusiasm for our family adventures. We are so thankful that God answered our prayers 10 years ago with Samuel Paul Barton!

Texans in Shell

2010-07-25T19:05:00.001-05:00

We have some Texas visitors in Shell this month - the Hardin family who lived here for 4 years and are back to help out for a few weeks. They treated us to a Hoedown, Texas style. Now I don't quite claim roots in Texas, but this sure did feel like home! And 3 of the boys are born Texans and my husband might as well be. So all in all, it was great fun, from two-stepping, to sunflower seeds, to line-dancin, to spittin' watermelon seeds.

Nathan won the watermelon-seed spitting contest in the kids category! He was thrilled because in his words, "I don't usually win things!"

Isaac was very attached to Paul all night, giving him double the work-out.

Sammy square-danced with Mom and was an excellent partner.

Josiah enjoyed the deputization of the kids and the chicken dance.

Number 3 is four!

2010-07-04T16:30:00.001-05:00

Here is our big four-year-old:

Josiah is our exuberant, enthusiastic, rascally little boy. He is inquisitive and loving, but seldom gentle or quiet. He can talk for hours and when we tell stories on the nights that the power goes out, he goes on and on. He also makes up songs on just about any topic, usually something that catches his eye when he looks around the room. Last night he sang me a song about a toucan based on the letter "T" on the wall that Nathan made in kindergarten. Josiah has the role of pesty little brother down pat, but he can also play well with the older boys. He loves the chance to be a big brother to Isaac, who alternates between looking up to him and being afraid of him! He can also play for hours by himself constructing things with magnatiles and using his cars as characters to live in his creations. He loves to dig in the sand pile behind our house. He would rather play pretend games than board games, although he is recently into Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. He is the first one up in the morning and the first one in bed at night. It's hard to believe he is four already. He was only 2 months old when Paul and I visited Shell with him and he was 16 months old when we moved to Ecuador.

Josiah requested a pirate party this year, mainly becasue his other favorite toy is an Imaginext pirate ship. So his 3 friends and his 3 brothers joined us for a Treasure hunt.

The pirates made hats, walked the plank, pinned the eye patch on the pirate and ended with a treasure hunt that required some serious digging!

We love out little pirate and can't wait to see how God uses his unique gifts and personality to His glory.

Ah, Quito

2010-06-15T14:39:00.002-05:00

This week we are back in Quito. We have been in Shell almost two years now and it's nice to have a few days in a row here where we started our Ecuador tour. We love the cooler weather, city life, lack of bugs and seeing our friends here. Yesterday we drove in and went to a mall for dinner to that ubiquitous American institution that our kids think is the ultimate dining experience. The garage parking for the mall had new sensor lights installed at every parking place and electronic signs directing you to the available parking places. Very modern and pretty cool. We really did feel like hicks coming into the big city. We haven't seen anything like this even in the States, but maybe it's common there, too, now. Unfortunately we agreed to that "restaurant" for it's playground which had been torn out to be remodeled. Another unfortunate thing, with rather providential timing is that our brakes started grinding as we arrived in Quito, so today it's being fixed and we are enjoying a quiet day sticking close to the Guesthouse. Nathan and Josiah are enamoured with TV programs since all we watch in Shell are videos and Paul and Sammy are playing Stratego while I read and Isaac naps. We hope to catch up on some of the blogs that are only written in my mind while we are here. And we are trying not to think about the fact that this is our friends the Skillins last week in Quito before moving to Uraguay. Sammy and Laura were best friends in Kindergarten when we were here and they have visited us many times in Shell. Maybe their move will be our chance to do a South America tour!

Oh, by the way, any guesses on what "restaurant" we went to?

Super-Nathan is six!

2010-05-11T17:34:00.000-05:00

You know you're getting old when the years just seem to go by more and more quickly. It's hard to believe our sweet Nathan is already six! I have to write his birthday blog before I get behind because Josiah's birthday is fast approaching. Nathan has grown and matured in the past year and is a delightful six-year-old. He continues to be very active, contemplative, sensitive to others and somewhat pessimistic! He is all boy and our days of calling water pistols "squirters" are long gone. Nathan is constantly asking us for a bow and arrow, which we have resisted, but light sabers and pretend guns and bombs supply the arsenal for our boys. His birthday present from Paul was a skateboard and he is a natural with an easy grace. Paul was apparently a skate rat in his younger days, so Nathan takes after him. He also share a love of airplanes and kites with Paul. Nathan is pretty good on the remote-control airplane trainer box. He (and Sammy) have also recently been working on pinewood derby cars with Paul for the school race this week.

I imagine he would be a good gymnast. He hardly ever sits in a chair right side up - prefers to be on his head! This makes school a bit of a challenge, but he is becoming more and more comfortable with reading and I love seeing this open the world for him since I also love to read. Math is his strong suit and he is good at a new game we have called SET where you look for patterns in a set of cards. It's a game that Paul and I find challenging. He is also good at Pictionary - both the drawing and guessing parts. So that was another birthday gift. Although this is a game that I love, his artistic talent does not come from me!

Nathan has normal spats with his brothers and friends, but is a good friend. He is sensitve to the feelings of others. He loves his baby brother and it's very sweet to see them together. Isaac of course adores Nathan (Na-Na.) and Nathan dotes on him (as do we all!)

Nathan is enamored with all things superhero so his party this year was a Superman party complete with decorating capes, completely and obstacle course and various "Super-games." His cake of choice was cheesecake (another love he shares with Paul.)

Of all the things I love about Nathan, his endless questions are the most fascinating. He wonders about heaven, God, life and death. One day a couple weeks ago we were saying prayers together and Nathan prayed that he would see Granddaddy when he gets to heaven. We started talking about the fact that we don't need to worry if we are going to heaven or not if we have asked Jesus to forgive us and live in our heart. He said, "I want to do that right now." and proceeded to pray that God forgive him and be in charge of his life. It is such a privilege to see these moments of faith in our little ones and I was so thankful to share this one with Nathan. Happy birthday our precious boy. May this next year bring many blessings and joy in your life as you have done in ours!

The Rain is Back

2010-04-10T21:16:00.002-05:00

We had a rainy Saturday today. We love waking up to rain, especially because the boys tend to sleep a little later. We have had lots of rain this week. In fact, the rain caused problems on the roads. There are two roads between Shell and Quito and this past Tuesday morning, the last day of our Easter break, there were such heavy rains that one of the routes was blocked by mudslides and the other was blocked by flooding. A good bit of the Shell missionary community was stuck in Banos and Quito that day. Thankfully, everyone made it back safely the next day. Just another of many reminders not to take safety in traveling for granted.

It's been a busy week. Paul has had quite a few cases, especially at dinner time or bed time. One night he was called in for an accident victim who arrived in the back of a pick-up but the young man didn't have a heart beat and didn't make it. Please pray for his family. The newest precious Casa de Fe baby is in a hospital in Quito right now with an overwhelming infection and multi-organ failure. She was at Casa de Fe for less than 24 hours before going to Quito to get a previously undetected heart murmur evaluated. She ended up in the hospital and the next day was transferred to the ICU. Her sudden decompensation was extremely unexpected and seems unrelated to her heart murmur. Her parents are there with her now and she is still in extremely critical condition. Please pray for her family as well as Patti Sue and the folks at Casa de Fe.

An Easter Timeline

2010-04-05T10:14:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I just had to laugh. We were not at church a week ago, but were told they were celebrating Easter at a river. Since Good Friday is the bigger holiday here, culturally, I was happy to have something special on Easter and determined to go by myself with the boys since Paul was due home later that day. We were told to meet at the church at 9am, 1 1/2 hours earlier than the usual starting time. I imagined that then we would go to a NEARBY river and by finished by 11 or so.

8:20 - "Boys, everyone get dressed while I take a shower. We don't want to be late or they'll leave us!"
8:50 - After a quick call to Paul, who is already on the bus and only 2 hours from Shell and several mad dashed back inside for things, we pull out of our driveway, making us ON TIME at the church.
9:05 - Four people other than us are at the church. All are in jeans.
9:30 - Twenty or so people. Jeans. (I am wearing a skirt because it's Easter!)
9:45 - A truck full of people pull-up and a vote is taken on whether to continue as planned or cancel due to threatening rain. The Ayes have it! Nos Vamos!
10:05 - We load up in our car - the boys and the pastor's family - and about half the people load into a truck and another car. We go to buy batteries for the boombox, but no one has size C. We give up on batteries, but I got a pre-paid card for my cell phone.
10:20 - We stop at a bread store and get bread for after the service.
10:25 - I call Paul and he is about 45 minutes away. I tell him to call when he gets to the church and I will come get him. We leave the bread store and go in a direction I've never been before.
10:35 - I ask how much longer to the river. Five minutes.
10:45 - We arrive at the river. One truck is there and 2 are right behind us. The boys play with the other children by the river. My phone has no cell phone service.
11:00 - We are called to gather on some rocks.
11:07 - We sing a song and hear a Bible passage
11:15 We leave to go get Paul. Sammy watches the phone to see when we get service again. We speed along the rocky dirt road.
11:30 - We have service and call Paul who has been waiting and calling for about 15 minutes.
11:37 - Paul is walking towards us! We decide to go home since by the time we get back to the river church will be over. Isaac says, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

The Home Front

2010-04-03T16:14:00.006-05:00

The past two weeks have been long and fun and a bit crazy and tiring. We are happy for Paul to have the chance to go back to Haiti, but can't wait for him to be home. The boys have been helpful, grumpy, mischevious and loving by turns.

School days go by quickly but we fill the weekends and vacation days with puzzles, art projects, games, and Easter activities.

Of course, I have been working at the hospital and Casa de Fe as well as at home. My clinic day at the hospital ranges from coughs and colds to things like constipation and ADHD. Not too different from practicing in inner city Dallas. Finding the resources to help my patients here is sometimes a little more tricky. At Casa de Fe, there have been 3 new babies in the past few weeks. One has already been admitted for pneumonia, one has a cleft lip and palate partially repaired and one little girl turns out to have a previously undiagnosed heart murmur and seizures and is at a hospital in Quito for further evaluation.

Paul will be back tomorrow and will be able to hear Isaac's dozens of new words and see how long everyone hair has grown. I suspect haircuts will be on the agenda for next week. I have figured out the system of plugs in the mysterious zone behind the computer, driven part of the way home from Quito for the first time and tried new recipes like pita bread and caramel sauce. It will be strange and wonderful to be together as a family again. Happy Easter to all! He is risen indeed.

Going Back to Nassau Hall

2010-04-02T22:22:00.003-05:00

Well, it was more like Nassau Hall came to me! Three weeks ago Josiah and I went to Quito to welcome the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship Ecuador Spring Break Mission Trip 2010! Their flight arrived late Saturday night and our friend Kevin Skillin went with me to pick them up from the airport in his P '96 sweatshirt. For the first time I regretted leaving my P '92 sweatshirt in Houston away from Shell's mold and humidity. On a side note, we became friends with the Skillins through our son Samuel and their daughter Laura who were best buddies in Kindergarten during out 9 months of language training in Quito and later figured out our Princeton and PEF connection. Anyway, the bus driver that I hired for the PEF team (who talked to me by phone several times that night) did not actually show up at the airport, so Kevin ended up shuttling the team to the Guesthouse in his mini-van. Glitches like this are par for the course here in Ecuador, but what a crazy welcome to the team! The next day we headed to Shell. The 10 students and 4 leaders spent their week doing construction at Casa de Fe, the orphanage in Shell. They also taught PE, art and reading to the orphanage kids as well as led chapel, art and PE at the missionary school. Five pre-med students spent a day at the hospital and to top it all, they painted our church building in a near-by town inside and out in one day! For a great slide-show of the trip see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVwAxCWocfI

It's hard to express how much this PEF visit meant to me. PEF played a significant role in maturing my faith while I was in college and it was incredible to be able to play a small role in the faith of students 20 years behind me. It also caused me to reflect on my years at Princeton and since graduation in a way that I seldom think about. Until planning this trip, Princeton occupied little of my life except for several close friends, a few connections made on Facebook and Reunions every 5 years. I remember sitting in PEF Freshman Bible Study listening to someone tell us possible reasons God may have brought us to Princeton. Maybe it would open doors in our future careers that would bring God glory. This reason appealed to me, but as far as I know, it didn't work that way in my life. Maybe because I didn't tell people where I went to college unless pressured! Anyway, this week with PEF made me think of the verse in Esther, "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Maybe part of the reason for Princeton then as well as for Shell now is this mission trip and this generation of Christian students from my alma mater. Missions wasn't on my radar at Princeton and I was not sure I wanted to be a doctor. But twenty years later I am able to testify to the clear hand of God's leading in my life, demonstrate the incredible diversity of missions in a small jungle town, and share the great privelege of God's call for all Christians to go, send or facilitate the world-wide spread of the Gospel.

Paul's second trip to Haiti (cont.)

2010-03-29T22:27:00.003-05:00

This is Wadlene whom I remember well from our first visit to Haiti. She arrived at Baptist Haiti Mission nine days after the earthquake. During this time she was at another facility with little or no care. As things began to slow a bit here after the first week, we sent word out that we could accept other earthquake victims from outlying facilities. She arrived, like many others, in the back of a truck that bumped up the hill to the hospital. When I first met Wadlene, she was one of many who had been filing through the O.R. where we were racing too care for as many people as possible. I immediately started in with the usual pre-anesthesia interview questions in a mechanical, tired-after-all-this-work type way. Her answers were difficult to sort out and not linear or direct. A simple question like, "do you have any medicine allergies," for example, was just not registering. My medical student translator interjected that he had seen AIDS patients in his (limited) experience act this way and he was sure she was infected with HIV.

Looking back now I see that it was the Lord who, at that moment, helped me to do something a bit uncharacteristic for me and especially in this setting. I slowed down and considered where and from what she had just come. All I knew at this point was that, indeed, nine days had past and this woman who lay before me was still untreated and had been waiting all this time for any type of help. So, through my interpreter, I asked her what her experience had been up to this point. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind and I could see it clearly in her face. She recounted that she been in her kitchen cooking when her building crumbled around her. Her children where in another room and perished in the quake. Incredible! It all made since at this moment. Here she was, suffering for over a week with limited or no care like pain medicine or basic hygiene with a broken arm and leg caring for herself in utter despair at the loss of all of her family!

I started again with the doctor stuff emphasizing that she was important and that we wanted to help her feel better and begin the healing process. Still terrified, physically hurting, and emotionally spent we moved to the O.R. where she underwent the first stages of repair for her injuries. Shortly after this our team left and, though her memory remained, I didn't expect to see her again. Well, upon our arrival, one of the first people I saw was Wadlene! She had remained nameless to me up to this point. We again met in the O.R. again to further care for her left femur fracture. I have since learned that, during her time at the hospital, she has put her trust in Christ as her Savior and Lord and continues to heal from her injuries. Several days ago she went outside for the first time since the earthquake and enjoyed some rays. We even gave her one of the "sonset" radios to encourage her to get out of bed and outside to charge the thing with its solar cells while listening! Please pray for continued healing both physically and emotionally for Wadlene. Further, we have heard rumors that one of her daughters may still be alive. Pray for their reunion!

Here is another picture of Tilisier today. He is the young man who suffered a fracture of the front of his skull then underwent a surgical closure. He continues to heal and you can see that some of the swelling has left his eye. We hope to get him out of bed tomorrow and outside where we will also give him a radio. Please pray for his continued healing.

Paul's second trip to Haiti (cont.)

2010-03-28T20:28:00.002-05:00

Today we did some disaster tourism. You may recognize these photos of the presidential palace in Port au Prince. How different seeing it live and in person! The destruction was much more striking! Many buildings crumbled starting with the failure of second story as you see in the palace. The second floor failed then those above pancaked down upon it. Some buildings look almost unbroken but are one story less!

Some were reduced to rubble juxtaposed with others which were untouched.

Haiti still suffers from lack of replacement construction to house the thousands of homeless. Construction has begun on many fronts but it will be quite some time before it really makes a bit of a dent in the need.

Paul's second trip to Haiti

2010-03-21T16:59:00.012-05:00

What an interesting turn of events! When we were here the first time we all spoke of how we wanted to come back several weeks or months later to follow up on our patients. This follow up trip was originally planned for earlier this month conflicting with our plans of hosting a group from the States. With that I forgot about it. At the last minute they changed the dates to the day after our work team left so...here I am, back in Haiti working at Baptist Haiti Mission approximately 2 months later. Now that I have a computer with me and this cool blog I will try to keep a running update of my daily experiences.

We arrived in Port au Price at about 2pm on Saturday, March 20, this time flying Copa Airlines, a commercial flight. We were greeted by the banjo band you see below plucking out a spirited little tune that was short and continually repeating. What a big difference from the first time!

We were taken to a warehouse that served as customs, baggage claim, and immigration. Thankfully all of our bags arrived with us and we made the trek to the top of the mountain arriving at Baptist Haiti Mission later that afternoon. It feels strangely home-like and almost as if I hadn't left. We have several surgeries planned for tomorrow. One of which is to remove the hardware from Yonel's right arm. You will remember him as the 12 year old shepherd boy who, while tending his sheep, suffered a crush injury of his right arm and leg. He is healing great! His wonderful, bright spirit demonstrates the joy of the Lord Jesus! He has won the hearts of all those here at the mission compound where he has been since the earthquake. Unfortunately his mother, also pictured below with Yonel and me, is suffering from terminal breast cancer that has spread to her lungs and she is not expected to survive much longer. Pray for her, Yonel and his siblings who also lost their father in the earthquake.

Today we started a regular schedule and did 4 surgeries. Yonel's surgery went well and he now has a cast where his pins were along with a leg cast to help improve his overall mobility. Below is today's picture of us caring for another young man with a broken leg. The surgeons are finishing the fitting of the cast while he is under some light sedation.

Tuesday, March 23 Dr. Wolff broke the slowing afternoon schedule when he announced that he needed my help urgently to examine and close a head wound in an 11 year old child. The boy had fallen from something earlier in the morning and fractured the front of his skull above his nose and had brain leaking out of the wound (I'll spare you by not including the gory picture.) A quick exam revealed a somnolent child in urgent need of care. Below we are pictured doing "brain surgery" which in this case consisted of examining the fracture site, reapproximating the bones and closing the thick lining over the brain with some surgical mesh. He woke up easily, praise the Lord, and we moved him to our make shift ICU which is the pre and post op area just outside the OR. He continued to improve over night and moved him to a regular bed the following day. I'll keep you posted on his progress.

Here he is today, Wednesday, March 24 resting comfortably. Please pray for him as he continues to recover and that he will not contract an infection from his brain wound or develop a cerebrospinal fluid leak.

Farah is one of the sweet ladies we helped in January by putting on an external "fixator" that is holding the bones of her leg together and aligned while they heal. You can see it on her left leg as black rods on each side. It continues all the way to her left hip. This morning we encouraged her and several other women up and out of bed to walk for some physical therapy. We even joked with them that they were racing against one another from one end of the room to the other as we cheered them on. You can see her competition behind her right shoulder...an elderly women with a healing left femur fracture.

Daniela was injured in the earthquake when a wall fell on her right leg. We got to know her early on and managed to resist doing an amputation of her badly mangled extremity with much exposed bone. We are grateful to the Lord for leading us with His wisdom in not proceeding with an amputation! After much wound care by the various teams over the last two months that included a skin graft, you can see that her skin is now healed and she is walking!

Here is Madam Kafa again still hard at work in the OR! At this moment she is ooo-ing and ahhhh-ing as she has just received a "SonSet". These are solar powered radios pre-programed to receive up to 5 local FM Christian radio stations. This is one of the many ministries of HCJB. One of our team members brought 100 of them to give out to those we meet who are interested in learning more about the Gospel and growing in their faith in Christ by listening to radio broadcasts.

PEF Team - Monday

2010-03-15T17:52:00.002-05:00

The team had a busy first day here in Shell. They started bright and early by leading chapel at the Nate Saint school at 8:15! Margaret led songs and the whole group did a skit about Zacheas which Bill and Aime explained. The chapel pictures didn't come out very well, but here is a picture of the students of the Nate Saint school.

After chapel the team headed to the Casa de Fe work site to do construction.

The afternoon was taken up by more construction and PE classes at both the Casa de Fe school and the Nate Saint school.

Today (Tuesday) promises to be a busy day, but we will post pictures when we can. Thanks for your prayers.

Paul's Haiti Photos

2010-03-04T13:44:00.130-05:00

Here are some photos that will give you a better idea about my time in Haiti. We left Ecuador Thursday morning January 14 arriving in Florida that afternoon when we met with a Samaritan's Purse team. Here we are waiting to leave that evening.

Our team from HCJB consisted of (from left to right): me (the anesthesiologist from Shell), Sheila Leach (nurse and head of HCJB's disaster response team from Quito), Leonardo Febres (orthopedic surgeon from Quito) and...

(still left to right): Eckehart Wolff (orthopedic and general surgeon from Shell), Steve Nelson (family physican from Quito), Mark Nelson (family physician from Quito), and Martin Harrison (water engineer and head of HCJB's community development office in Quito.)

The following morning, Friday, January 15 we were cleared to leave and then arrived in Haiti at about 10am. Here are all in our seats ready for "blast off".

We unloaded the plane in just 9 minutes so its spot could be used for another plane bringing relief teams.

Early that afternoon we arrived at Baptist Haiti Mission, our home base for the stay in Haiti. Pictured is their church and to the right the edge of the hosptial can be seen.

We met first with the hospital staff and had a brief tour of the facilities. Dr. Bernard is pictured in the middle holding a piece of paper. He, along with Claud, a senior level medical student (not pictured) had individually admitted and cared for all of the wounded until we arrived. At this point, we were told, many of the hospital's physicians were unaccounted for.

We then set about triaging and cataloging the approximately 300 patients at this 100 bed facility. The wards, hallways and meeting rooms were packed with patients on hospital beds and matresses on the floor.

The women's ward.

Most patients, we found, had injuries to their arms and legs. Significant about any disaster is that all injuries occur at the same moment. So, they all had been waiting for at least 3 days, many of whom had open and now grossly infected fractures and wounds. Pictured is a patient with a "cast" to immobalize a fractured limb made of cardboard and string. We saw many of these which are remarkably effective.

Here is one of the two operating rooms at Baptist Haiti Mission. I mostly used this one. Notice the two monitors sitting side-by-side on the top of the anesthesia machine. These are the two which were donated to the hospital director and miraculously discovered when the previous one gave out.

We set to work in the OR later that Friday night when we began our first operation. Here I am hard at work anesthetizing one of the many patients with fractures.

A common scene early in our time there before the flood of supplies flowed. Eckehart Wolff (left) and Leo Febres (right) worked with sterile gloves only stabalizing open fractures with the "pin and plaster" technique.

Sheila Leech (left) served as the operating room circulating nurse. Dr. Leo Febres is examining a wound while I'm starting an IV and being watched by the translation team of Haitian medical students.

One of my little patients who has a fractured femur has just received an injection of anesthesia medicine and we are waiting for it to take effect and then wheel her into the OR. On the left is Stefano, the grandson of Madam Kafa, a medical student who helped us translate.

Pre- and postoperative wound care was a massive, endless job that the family physicians from our team with the aid of many other volunteers attended to daily.

Benjamin, pictured with his fiancée, is on staff at Baptist Haiti Mission and served as an excellent translator.

Madam Kafa is an 83 year old grandmother who has been working at Baptist Haiti Mission. She tirelessly wrapped and steralized surgical packs for us as she has done for the hospital for decades!

Nicole usually works for several NGOs that serve Haiti but served diligently as our operating room coordinator and translator. She kept the flow of patients in and out of the OR going.

Chaplain Jack of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn. spent countless hours with patients and their families while in the hospital. Pictured here is the shepherd boy who was injured by falling rocks during the earthquake. He trusted Christ as Savior while in the hospital and is receiving a children's Bible from Jack.

This is Vanessa whom I mentioned in our update. When she came to the operating room the first time for care on her left arm, we were told that the lemon around her neck was a symbol of voodoo. However, upon a subsequent visit someone else mentioned that it was nothing more than a remedy to dry up a mother's milk. Along these lines we questioned her and found out that her 11 month old nursing child had perished in the earthquake. This is why she wore the lemon. Wow! Heartbreaking! In later days, through the chaplains' ministry, she trusted Christ as her Savior. Gracias a Dios!

One of the hospital chaplains leads the patients in a song of worship. This room shares a wall with the OR area and we could hear them singing as we worked in surgery.

Knowing that many of our disaster relief colleagues were living in a much more spartan manner, our team was grateful for our accommodations in a guest house on the mission grounds.

Martin Harrison served as the water engineer for our team and is posing in front of the portable water treatment plant which he installed on the mission compound. Fish pond water was amazingly transformed into drinking water by the gallons per hour!

And here it is! The green pond that Martin used as his water source to make the clean drinking water. His comment on this was, "The fish will just have to share a bit and learn to swim a little closer to each other."

Upon our return to the airport, its grounds were now covered by tent villages of aid workers of many nationalities. The one in the foreground is Turkey.

The airport terminal was considered unsafe to use so ticket counters and check-in stations were relocated outside.

Evidence of severe structual damage to the airport terminal.

Our ride home courtesy of the generous donations through Samaritan's Purse.