HAITI POSTS

NO ORDINARY SATURDAY by Valerie Parkey

Today I had plans to go with Tina to take the boys to see a dental hygienist. God had different plans! A couple of days ago a baby was brought to the orphanage that was just born and at a whopping 1lb. Her name is Katiana. Tina knew a pediatric nurse staying at another mission close by & asked her to watch over Katiana for the night. Tina got a call this morning that the baby was struggling to breath & definitely needed to go to the hospital, so we went to pick her up. Have you ever seen a one pound baby? Me neither til today What a miracle. Fingers the size of toothpicks, but this girl has the heart of a true fighter.  As I sat in the back of the SUV, I thought to myself, “It’s not every Saturday I hop in a car with a legally blind lady driving while I’m in the backseat holding a baby the size of my hand.” God is crazy (good crazyJ). We went to the Cuban hospital about 10 minutes down the road, took Katiana inside and they basically told us they wouldn’t admit her, she was just too little, and sent us to the hospital in Jacmel. On the way, Katiana began to struggle to breathe. We’re about ten minutes from the hospital, and I’m holding a baby girl in my arms who is turning blue. I yell to Tina and she calls the house and says, “Start praying!” They were praying there, I was praying (and yes, sweating profusely) as each minute felt like 10. At one point I could not get Katiana to move.  Tina pulled the car over, we switched drivers and she began CPR. As I’m flying down the road, about to hit every Haitian I pass, I can’t stop praying and listening to Tina’s sporadic shouts from the backseat, “Turn left, go straight, Next right!” We fly into the hospital lot and Tina runs out and gets Katiana on oxygen. She’s ok…for now. That 1 pound wonder fought like crazy to stay alive. God’s plan for today was not anything we expected. His plan today for this little corner of the world was for a little girl named Katiana. Please continue to pray for her as she is in the hospital with a lung infection and that teeny tiny body. Yep, this was no ordinary Saturday, Katiana is no ordinary girl, and we have no ordinary God.