night watch and a prayer request

A few weeks ago, I learned of a baby girl from Haiti, named Sonia, who lives in an orphanage and is in need of a life saving heart surgery. Friends of ours were asking us and others to pray for Sonia as they did what they could to see to it that she received the needed surgery. A group of doctors, along with a local hospital board, agreed to perform the surgery and provide Sonia's care free of charge! And so began the campaign to provide our friends with the things they would need to care for this sweet girl as she will stay with them in the months following her surgery. Sonia arrived Monday afternoon and was admitted to the hospital the very next day due to an unforeseen complication. She has an infection in her foot that must heal before they can give her the heart operation she came here for. She may need to be on IV antibiotics for weeks in order to heal the infection and that would hold up her heart surgery which she desperately needs. Please pray for her!

 As of now she is in a part of the hospital that does not have a one-to-one ratio of nurse to patient so our friends asked if I wouldn't mind staying the night last night to care for her through the night. I was happy to oblige. I'd get to actually hold and care for this baby girl I'd grown to love in my many prayers for her little life these last few weeks. She is precious! It was the first time I'd been on my own, alone, and responsible for caring for an infant since my high school babysitting days. Crazy, I know. I was apprehensive, but excited about it. I wanted to serve in this way and the hard-to-explain-it-but-nevertheless-true part of me that is sentimental about the hospital ever since my stay in 2004 was happy to be back in that environment chatting it up with the hospital staff.

The night was great. Yes, I lost sleep due to the whirring machines, the snoring father to the baby in the bed next to Sonia's, the TV he left on, the constant flow of nurses and assistants checking on her and taking her vitals, feeding her, and moving to a private room down the hall at 3am. But I got to watch her sleep and pray for her, read through the passages in my Bible that had meant so much to me when I was in the hospital, sing to her, rock her back to sleep, and take in for the first time James 1:27 in a very real way. It was a beautiful night. One I would be happy to do again if needed. It was the closest I've ever been to understanding on some tiny level what mother's mean when they wake to make sure the baby is still breathing and OK, just want to watch them sleep, and the joy felt at feeding a baby in the middle of the night while a pair of eyes look deep into yours with trust and affection. The first thing I said to Andrew when I got in the car this morning was, "I want a baby of my own, like tomorrow." :)

So if you read all of that, could you do me a favor and just pray for Sonia. Pray that this infection would heal quickly and that they would be able to give her the heart surgery she needs very soon. She's had so many pray for her and love her these last few weeks. Please join us! She is a very precious and blessed baby girl.