Update on Aidan

Please continue to pray for Aidan and his parents Melissa and Kalen. They are regularly giving updates on his progress on the Prayers for Aidan blog.

I'm including a portion of a (longer) post written by Melissa's sister yesterday, but I do encourage you to go and read the longer post!

On one final note, I just wanted to thank all of you SO much for your prayers. I have been absolutely amazed by the outpouring of love and support for Aidan, Kalen, and Melissa. As morbid as it sounds, I wish that you could all stand in the driveway of their townhome and look up to the 3rd floor window from which Aidan fell. Considering the fall that he had, he should not be alive. To look at that height and that hard cement and then to see this little boy who is breathing on his own, responding in increasing measure, smiling (!?!), and opening his eyes on command only 2 1/2 weeks after the injury is truly amazing. God is healing him! Please pray that God would continue to heal him over the weekend, so that by Monday he would be considered a candidate for rehab. Thank you all again SO much for your prayers. Sleep well... Kristin

http://prayersforaidan.blogspot.com/ is a blog site that Melissa's brother, Brian, has set up to give updates on Aidan.

If anyone would like to send a note or card of encouragement to Kalen and Melissa...stranger or no stranger... just post a reply here and I will send you the address.

Update on Aidan

Updates from his mom, Melissa, via her Facebook page:

4.23.09

6 AM: Thank you so much to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, wonderful messages, and concern. An update: Aidan is still in an induced coma & staying relatively stable. They are focusing on helping him make it through the next 48 hours or so before they begin to wake him up. If he makes it that far, we will then learn more about the extent of his injuries. Please continue to pray for our family. Thank you so much.

6 PM: Thank you again for all of your love and prayers. Aidan just came through a second (smaller) brain surgery, and he is stable right now. Just wanted people to know -- thank you so much for all of your support.

Please do pray for this family with great fervancy and hope! What an unimaginable nightmare to live through. But the Lord is strong and mighty and it's only in Him that we have hope!

Please Pray for Aidan!

Dear Readers,

I received word yesterday, April 21, that my friend Melissa's son fell out of a 3-story window. They live in Oregon.

Aidan is 21 months old. I don't know much, except that Aidan is in critical condition after initial brain surgery yesterday. He is in a medically induced coma and will be for several more days. Secondary swelling is expected in 2-4 days, at which point they might have to do surgery again to relieve pressure. Hopefully secondary swelling won't cause any more trauma. They won't know for a while what the damage is from the initial trauma. If there is a decline in his condition they will know that sooner. He is in bad shape still.

Please pray for Melissa and Kalen and for little Aidan. If you are a parent or grandparent, you know exactly what this family is probably going through. Feeling helpless, desperately worried and focused very much on the present moment, yet wondering, fearing what the next hour, day, week, month may bring. Melissa and Kalen know the Lord. Please pray that they would know the peace of the Lord, His comfort and hope as they walk through these very difficult hours. Pray that they would cling to the Lord and each other through this unimaginable trauma.

They are at Oregon Health and Science University PICU and will be for at least 2 weeks. I am working on getting the address for them there.

Trusting in Jesus,
Joy

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Lord God in Heaven, who knows every curly hair on Aidan's sweet head, please work a miracle as only You can in Aidan's brain! Protect Aidan from increased swelling and enable his body to heal. Lord we want this little boy to recover fully. We know YOU have the power to do this and we beg of you to deliver this little boy and that there would be no long-term brain damage. We pray that you would not let him die--but that he would recover and continue to bless his parents with giggles and smiles!

Give the doctors wisdom and discernment as they apply their skills to his care and treatment. Lord we know that Melissa and Kalen are so scared for their little boy. Lord protect them from the lies of the evil one. Allow only the Holy Spirit's comfort and words of hope to penetrate their hearts and minds. Protect them Lord Jesus.

Lord, I ask that you send friends and family and those who will care for them. Keep out those who would will be hurtful during this very vulnerable time. Give their friends and family stamina, endurance, your words, your arms, your hands, and your feet. Enable them to anticipate needs and emotions...allowing Kalen and Melissa to grieve and express their emotions...and then to deliver words of comfort and hope, reminding them of the hope we have in YOU.

IN JESUS' GREAT AND POWERFUL NAME, AMEN!

I have over a hundred RSS feeds (mostly blogs) that I follow. One is Afrigadget. I was tickled to see they found an innovation in Liberia and posted it. Below is just to tease you... Check it out HERE! And I totally recommend you start following Afrigadget too!





The funny thing about this, is that I didn't read the article on Afrigadget until I saw the last line of the blog post...and saw it said Liberia. All I knew was that the photo was totally reminiscent of "ovens" that I saw in Liberia. How fun.

Banking in Ganta

Here's an article about banking in Ganta. LBDI (Liberia Bank for Development and Investment) was the bank I would go to get my Western Union money transfers...I recognize a lot of the people in the pictures! I never held a bank account, but I can attest that there was definitely money going in/out of that bank!

BBC has story and photos of women in Ganta!

The BBC has a story with twelve photos from Ganta (my home in Liberia!). It's a story on the group of Liberian women in Nimba County that formed a group called Concerned Women and their efforts to help women and children (cassava farm, education etc...). I was SO THRILLED to recognize women shown in photos no 10 and 11 from Tonglewein--a small community that I worked in (we had several malnourished kids there). I loved Tonglewein so much that my Betta fish is named after this community!

This is not my first time hearing about Concerned Women. When I was in Liberia, Shelby introduced me via email to Beth Iden (who I still need to meet!). Beth works with the Liberia Orphan Education Project that had connected somehow to a Concerned Women group in another part of Nimba County. That Concerned Women group was helping to distribute the Kindergarten-in-a-Box packages that LOEP had sent. So it's been fun for both Beth and me to see these photos of the Concerned Women IN ACTION in Ganta! I didn't realize there was a group in Ganta...so this is fun!



Above is an aerial shot of Tonglewein which I took from my first UNMIL helicopter ride! You can't see the school building here...it would be on the opposite side of the road, about 1/10 of a mile to the left of this photo. When I first arrived in Liberia, UNICEF was rebuilding their school building which I believe had been heavily damaged by a storm...but it was fully restored (along with new bench desks) for the 2007-2008 school year. Before I left I gave the school a new Liberian flag, which they were very happy to receive.

You might be interested to know why the roofs are red or white. It's not red...it's either rusted alumnium roofing OR either reddish-colored asbestos roofing (which ends up dry-rotting). The white roofs are actually newer sheets of aluminum roofing--which just reflects the sky and appears white. Most Liberians aspire to have aluminum roofs, even though the asbestos roofing is still available for sale. Aluminum roofs are definitely more expensive, but there are various degrees of quality available.

Here are some comments my dad made after reading my info on the roofs:

One point of information: Aluminum does not rust - it does oxidize but aluminum oxide protects the under lying metal. Rust is iron oxide, a reddish color substance which does not further protect the metal.

Liberian roofs must be "zinc" plated iron sheeting often called "tin" as in tin roof or tin cans (cans are protected some way but not sure just what). Zinc does not rust either and is supposed to protect the iron sheeting from rusting. A poor quality zinc job will in time rust - probably not too good a grade of zinc plated "tin" roof sheeting is available in Liberia or is too expensive.

Yep, the Liberians call it Zinc roofing...so likely roofs are zinc plated iron. They come in sheets about 3' x 8' that overlap. Then they use special umbrella looking nails which then protect the hole from leaking (right!) Thanks Dad for the info.

OT: Black Baby Dolls on Clearance at Kmart

I found these baby dolls on clearance at Kmart today for $4.80 each! If you look closely the clearance stickers say $6 and $10, but don't be fooled--use the in-store scanners and double check!



I bought five of them (think I left one behind) figuring I'd give them away to some Liberian sisters that I just met and to Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries "Christmas Store". The Christmas Store is the culmination of the fall semester of tutoring. Kids spend "Blue Bucks" earned from good behavior on presents for family, friends, and themselves. Members of our church (and others I think) donate new items (scarves, balls, skateboards, CD players, dolls...) so that CALM can then turn and bless the children and their families with gift options. The kids work hard during the fall semester in the tutoring program so that they can in turn be generous gift givers at Christmas! Awesome. Kids want to give and sometimes need to be taught to give...they just don't aways have the resources to do so. I love CALM's program.

ANYWAYS... I know a lot of readers of my blog have adopted Liberian children....so I thought I'd just pass along this tip as I know black baby dolls are not always available or for a price like this.

So I was glad to pay the $25 or so for 5 dolls that I can share later. And I have a few lappas leftover from my year in Liberia...that I'll probably share with the Liberian sisters to carry their babies around in.

Not sure if available in your Kmart...but worth looking if you've got little girls in your family or neighborhood or church that would love a black baby doll.

Flag Day in Liberia!

Happy Flag Day, Liberia!



I hope you enjoy this little video I made in Gbuyee (pronounced Boo-eeee :)I took the video using my digital camera, so the resolution is not the best, but it was all I had with me.

Here are the lyrics to the Liberian National Anthem:

All Hail, Liberia Hail
All Hail, Liberia Hail
This glorious land of liberty shall long be ours
Though new her name green be her fame
And mighty be her power
In joy and gladness with our hearts united
We'll shout the freedom of a race benighted
A home of glorious liberty by God's command

All Hail, Liberia Hail
All Hail, Liberia Hail
In union strong, success is sure
We cannot fail
With God above our rights to prove
We will over all prevail
With hearts and hands, our country's cause defending
We'll meet the foe with valor unpretending

And Liberia's Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of Liberia and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.



















I gave the Gbuyee school a new flag and soccer balls that day --as my thank you gift as I departed. I worked with malnourished kids and their mums in this community. I was also good friends with many of the teachers at this school because Equip had a school health club.

Also my club-foot patient that had surgery on Mercy Ships was from this same community!