Jesus Loves the Little Children...

James 1:27

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

  In late January of 2006, a Haitian woman gave birth to twin boys in a hospital in Puerto Plata (on the North Coast). They were born two months premature. Isaak (the smallest one) was very sick and in need of additional medical care. Since the mother was poor and could not pay his medical needs, she took the boys home with her. A few days later she needed emergency medical care, as did Isaak. As she could not pay for his care he was "abandoned" at the hospital and she was interned there for the next 2-3 months. A young missionary woman from that area happened to be passing through the hospital two weeks later and noticed Isaak who had practically been left to die. Someone must have fed him during that time since he was still alive, but he only weighed 2 lbs. No one had changed his diaper during those two weeks, which had caused an infection to eat through his skin into his intestines. He also has a large scar on his head from an IV wound that had become infected. The young missionary paid a private nurse to care for him until he was healthy enough to leave the hospital. She then took him to her home to care for him.

  Sharla Megilligan (of Makarios International) was asked to find adoptive parents for Isaak and to handle the adoption process. Sharla was also asked if she knew of anyone willing to take Isaak in August since the young missionary was leaving the country. In May, while at the STV Mission Team House, Sharla talked with us about fostering Issak until adoptive parents could be found. After praying about it and discussing it as a family, we agreed to be a foster family and care for him until his adoption process would be completed.

  A few weeks later, Sharla called and told us that Isaak’s mother had "abandoned" the other twin, Jakob, leaving him with the father, to whom she is not married. The father didn’t want him and had contacted the missionary woman who found Isaak. They did not want to care for another baby, so they contacted the Makarios staff asking for help, who then called us. Our hearts went out to these babies and we agreed to care for both of them. Agape and Carrie picked-up Jakob on June 20th and Isaak mid-August . The twins are reunited and are very happy babies. They have quickly become part of our family. Agape and Carrie are the foster parents until their adoption process is complete (this could take up to a year or more). They will be heading up this part of the STV ministry. This is answer to prayer for Carrie as she was feeling a little lost, not sure what part of the ministry God wanted her to fulfil. Caring for babies has always been her passion and they are doing a GREAT job!

  As it has been many years since we have had babies in the house, we were amazed at how our lives have drastically been altered! Babies have needs, especially in the case of Isaak. Due to severe neglect in the first two weeks of his life, he has some very important medical needs that must be taken care of now. One is a medical procedure to repair a birth defect in the genital area. He also has scarring in his inner thigh area that has not healed correctly from the infection he incurred from neglect in the hospital.This will be a simple surgery performed by a plastic surgeon. This scar is causing his leg to be drawn up and impairing free movement. We are hopeful that the scar on his head from the skin infection where they inserted the IV will eventually fade and that his hair will cover most of it. We are putting special creams on it everyday and we are already seeing improvement. We have recenlty learned that Isaak is almost completely deaf in his right ear and 45-60% hearing loss in his left ear due to the length of time he was on strong antibiotics. God has spared the lives of these precious ones and He has a special plan for them!