The boys made a plan to raise both funds and awareness for the hospital--by biking across the United States. WOW. They started from Oregon the beginning of June. According to their latest post, they are somewhere in Wyoming. They have camped, stayed in churches and random apartments along the way. And they are telling people about Kudjip Hospital wherever they go! Things were going quite well until Kevin injured his ankle a couple of weeks ago. Bummer. Taylor and John have continued the journey without him. Please pray for these young men as they make their way across the country, for health and safety and encouragement!
For the fund raising project, they picked two pieces of equipment that we needed for D-ward. These will help us take better care of the babies, before and after they are born!
Fetal dopplers are the machines that we use to listen to the baby heart beat while mom is in labor. We currently have two of them. The one on the ward is seriously on it's last leg. The cord is loose, so every time you go to check a heart beat it comes out. I have one that I am holding in reserve in case the bad one breaks altogether. Two brand new dopplers will be on their way to PNG the end of this month!
Another item that we need for the nursery is a bilirubin light. Sometimes premature or even term babies develop a yellowing of the skin. Jaundice, as we call it, is caused by high levels of bilirubin in the blood. If these levels get too high, it can cause brain damage. Special wavelengths of light can transmit through the skin and breakdown the bilirubin, thus decreasing the levels and reducing risk of brain damage. This light can either come from the sun or a special bili light. We used to have what we called a "bili light," but it was actually the wrong kind of light. I suspect it didn't really do any good. Now I just write an order for jaundice babies to be taken out into the sun. But thanks to Taylor, John, and Kevin, we are going to have the real thing!
I wanted to end with a quote from their blog, the June 10th post...
"As we stood in the service at Tillamook Church of the Nazarene on Sunday morning singing songs, I was struck by some lyrics that said, 'such a tiny offering compared to Calvary, nevertheless, we lay it at your feet.' We've raised more than we thought we would and many people have been amazed at what we're doing. Everywhere we go, people ask us where we're going and compliment us for the attempt of such a big adventure. However, when it comes down to it, we must keep in mind that we are 3 college kids fulfilling a simple call to further the kingdom of God. It may be crazy, awesome, grand, silly, hopefully inspirational... but in the end, it is simply a tiny offering, our part, and we lay it at His feet."
If you would like to follow the ongoing adventures of Taylor and John, here is a link to their blog: pedalingforPNG
"Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
~ Ephesians 5:1-2
This is just way too cool!
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