Tragedy Just Keeps Hitting the Heady Family

In need of prayer...

Judy & David Heady

Our directors here in Haiti, David & Judy Heady, returned to the states September 28, 2010.  This was a scheduled trip to do much traveling, speaking, conferences, etc.  We received a call this morning that their grandson was killed this morning.  I believe he is a police officer in Louisville, KY.  Please pray for them durning this time.

Also, back in the Spring, we were told that Cindy, David & Judy's daughter, has Poly Cystic Liver Disease.  After multiple trips to see different doctors, they have come up empty handed. To sum up what they are telling Cindy is...they can't do anything for her at this time and when her liver gets bad enough, they will put her on the transplant list.  This disease is very rare from what they are telling her and therefore not much they can do.  

As if they hadn't already gone through enough, this past January/February time frame, Judy's mom fell and broke her hip.  She  has been in a nursing home since she left the hospital.  There were times when we thought she wasn't going to make it and then she would pull through. Sometimes her mind is very sharp and other times it is not.  

This information only skims the surface of the trials that have been heaped upon David & Judy and their family.  I am asking each of you to keep them in your prayers.  They need it and are counting on us to lift them up.

An Accident Waiting to Happen

This past week was a bit eventful for Kevin....

As we finished school one day, probably around 4 p.m., Josiah asked Kevin if he would go with him to the Brumley's pond (really just a large hole dug to collect rain water - I think to help with preventing flooding on the lower side of the property where our shop is). Kevin agreed even though he was pretty tired. I was proud of him for that.

The mission: Collect pond water for a Science experiment.

The objective: View microorganism under a microscope.

So, they set off. Jar in one hand and machete in the other hand (of course). Never leave home without one - this could be Josiah's motto. He loves a good knife or tool of almost any kind. They hopped on the four wheeler that has been lent to us by the mission and away they go.

Just a short while after they left, they returned. Pond water in hand along with the borrowed microscope from Josh Brumley (thanks Josh). We had a visitor when they returned home and after about a ten minute conversation, the visitor left. As soon as he left, Kevin says, "Ouch, I am in pain." Of course I ask what the problem was.

Now these are moments that you wish you didn't have to miss, but this is what Kevin and Josiah proceed to tell me...

When they were heading to the pond, a wasp (now this is just one wasp that we know of) came out of nowhere and headed for Kevin. Kevin began to swing the machete around trying to get it away from him. Wish I could have seen this dance. After fighting off the horrid wasp that seemed to be determined to rid Kevin of this area, he obtained the pond water (that by the way didn't have a single moving organism in it).

As Kevin peeled off his shirt to reveal red sting areas, we counted five stings. One to the right wrist, two on the back, one on the left front shoulder, and one on the right ear. Of course we did what we always do for stings...grab the toothpaste (how many of you have ever tried this one for a sting?). For most stings, toothpaste works well. Not for the black wasp with red wings here in Haiti. They say these are the wasps that kill tarantulas and they have a myth in Haiti that says, if you get stung by one of these you will die in 24 hours. PTL - Kevin lived to tell about it. He also lived to share how much pain he was in. I think he had pain in the sting areas for about a day, then they started itching.

I guess if you get stung by the same wasp 5 times in a day, you don't die...

Friday, September 24th...

Kevin...power washing the pool deck. As he is working hard trying to maintain the facilities here in Haiti, tragedy hits...well, not really tragedy, but trouble. Moving along, walking backwards, washing the pool deck and minding his own business. When out of the blue....BAM. One foot slips off the pool deck and into the pool.

Now we have a rule here that says "one must shower before entering the pool." One strike against Kevin right there. No shower and down he falls. His whole body, minus one leg, falls into the pool. The other leg decides to stay on the pool deck a little longer that Kevin would have liked. This proved to be painful.

He is still sore from the accident. I think he was bruised from his groin to his foot, on the leg that waited a bit before joining him in the pool.

He hops out of the water, quickly looking around to see who might have seen the comical event, shuts off the power washer and attempts to get on the four wheeler to come home for medical care.

The four wheeler is a kick start, so with wet flip-flops, his foot slips off the thingie that you kick start the four wheeler with and cuts his ankle open.

Did I mention that before all of these events took place, Kevin hit his other ankle with the power washer wheel and scraped it.

I think we need a bubble to keep him in for a bit.

Pray for Kevin's safety...he needs an extra portion of protection right now.

Creole Training

We began language training again today. It has been since the 1st of July since I have had any classes in Creole. I will be honest...I was dreading it. My thoughts were, "one more thing on my plate...don't know if I can handle that!"

Pastor Etienne, our language instructor, was wonderful. He backed up his lessons so I could learn what he had taught while I was in the states recovering from my cholecystectomy.

Although it was hard to get my brain in gear for learning Creole, overall it went well. What does this mean for us now...HOMEWORK and learning to talk to one another so that we (Kevin, the children, and myself) can learn to hear the language as well as formulate a sentence properly.

Man, it sure sounds easy when you type it that way. Pray please.

Summer Months Have Passed

Today is a blessed day. We have had a busy summer. We returned to Haiti at the end of May after a six week trip to the U.S. We were blessed to visit with so many, although there were many friends and churches we still wanted to spend time with on our brief stateside stay.

We were busy in June, July, and August helping to facilitate teams here in Haiti. We normally try to have a team every other week during this time, but due to the vast amount of teams, we had to decrease the amount of "regrouping time" between teams. This proved to be exhausting.

I, Susan, returned to Kentucky from July 7 - August 4th for a semi-urgent gallbladder removal. Our girls, Skyla, Kali, and Jessica, decided that they would be fine in Haiti, so

Kevin and Josiah joined Susan in Kentucky for her surgery for four days then returned to Haiti

to continue serving there. This trip was not scheduled, but necessary due to the increase in p

roblems her gallbladder was causing. PTL - all went wonderfully.

When I, Susan, returned to Haiti in August, I was quickly reminded of

the toll ministry can take on you. This year we decided to use a different curriculum for schooling the children and we decided to start on August 9th. Big mistake! I am not sure what I was thinking - but apparently I didn't think it all through well enough.

The Brumley Family left for their 5 weeks in the states August 5th (the day after I returned to Haiti). Clinic was slow for about a half a day. Starting about 11 a.m. on August 5th we started getting new burns in to treat. The amount of patients we have at the clinic usually runs in a cycle. We will have a ton (okay maybe 20) of burn/wound patients than, as they heal, it will slow down to about 5 patients at a time. We started August off slow, so it seemed like each day we would get a new burn or wound patient in.

By the end of the month, it seemed like it was taking all morning to see patients at the clinic. I could feel that clinic was becoming more of a "job" to me than "ministry." I really struggled with this for a few days. It seemed as though the weight of clinic, home schooling, teams, family, and other aspects of ministry just took over. My joy was not being displayed in the everyday areas of my life. For this...I am sorry.

I feel like, by the grace of God, I am being restored. It is a process. I am the type of person that needs order in her life. Well, I say order, but if you ask my mom - she might disagree with me when I compare my order with her order...

Things are coming together. Home schooling is starting to level out where we all understand our role and the curriculum. Clinic - well, Sheryl is back (PTL) and almost everyone is in a good healing stage right now. Well, except for Dina. Pray for Dina...she is about 4 years old and just started coming to clinic less than a week ago. She has a third degree burn on her bottom and 2nd degree burns up one side of her back. She is in need of healing and comfort during this time.

I say all that to say...thank you. Thank you for your prayers. They have been felt as we have been stretched.

We were blessed to meet many new people this summer. There were teams from Colorado, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, New York, and either Illinois or Ohio as well as the World Race Team (they were from all over the US). I always count it a blessing to meet new people and see what God has in store for the relationship.

SO...we are hip deep (most say knee deep) in the activities of ministry and daily life. Please keep us in your prayers. I will try to post a list of specific prayer concerns at a later time. Gotta run 4 now. God bless.