February 1, 2008
Jeevit is a precious little girl. She arrived some time at the
beginning of December. She was about eight months old. She stole our hearts with her big black eyes and her malnourished belly. Maybe it's because she's the first little girl we've had in awhile, but we fell in love
with this little orphan. Her mom had just died of aids and the current
thinking is she probably has aids as well. She's a fighter though.
Shortly after she arrived several of the babies got sick. They were really sick for a long time. When we came back from our Christmas break, we
discovered these two were still sick. They were so much smaller and weaker than before. They could not even hold their heads up. They got taken into the hospital and medicines began, but they were too sick for IVs. After two weeks Jeevit got taken out of the hospital, but she was not
really better yet. The little boy had gone back with his birth-mom and
Jeevit went back to the orphanage. By the next day she was fading
again. God completely opened the doors for her to get taken to a
hospital in Phnom Penh that specializes in treating babies and
children with aids. She'll get the best care available in the hospital
and she'll be at a different orphanage later where she will continue
to get check-ups by the doctor.
She's still fighting, but she's out of critical right now and she's
going to win. She's gained some strength back and with an adorable
attitude she's just living up to her name. Jeevit means life in Khmer.
--
"so do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised."
Hebrews 10:35-36
January 5, 2008
Our time at the orphanage is growing. We have two soccer teams and
three English classes and we see the babies almost every day. We are
living in God's favor. My buddy, Sambo got adopted and is now
somewhere in Italy. His birth mother came to visit him and his brother
a few days ago. I did not get to meet her, but the mom said she was
very happy they were able to be adopted. There is a little girl at
the baby house now for the first time in a very long time and two new
boys. We named the little girl Jeevit- it means life. Four of them
have tested positive for AIDS. They cannot know clearly because they
are still young. They've been on a bit of a rollercoaster with
sickness lately and bad reactions to the medicine. Two of them are
still very sick and need Jesus to heal them or take them home.
English class this quarter has been great. We've broken into two
classes. The older group is learning colors, numbers and whatever
other random things we create. The younger group is working on the
alphabet. We're up to the letter "L" at this point and we have a song
with motions that goes along with learning the alphabet, so it's very
entertaining. On Fridays we stay together and play games or they have
hundreds of these little wooden blocks that you can build really cool
towers with and they like to make them taller than themselves. Jess
and I have been rotating between the two classes so we have the chance
to spend time with all of the kids. Having them in smaller groups has
really helped create better friendships with them.
My small English class with Saluot, Sakuit and Popsey has continued.
They have already asked me who is going to take over teaching them
when I go back to America. I love having these girls as my friends.
Saluot is such a good mom for her kids and the kids she has living in
her house are precious. Saluot and five of the kids came to the
Christmas program at church. And later in the week Jess and I watched
the Grinch with them one night. We've been invited to come back
anytime. I'm going. See, this house was made to love Jesus and we just
need to keep showing them who he is. It's a joy.
Our Christmas party at the orphanage was this amazingly perfect day.
It was very sunny and warm- most days here are, all of our staff came
and we did tons of relay races with ten different teams. I have
absolutely no idea who won, but no one seemed to care. They were so
excited about playing the games that we sent them to their houses for
water and they all came back. After we played games they watched the
Christmas play the kids from the church did and Phally talked to them
about how Jesus was God's gift to us because we all need a Savior.
U of N Battambang is a ministry of YWAM International
