Hosanna

First night in the Government Hospital

As most of you know, our little guy, Hosanna got Dengue Fever last week.  The first night Hosanna was checked into a government hospital near Mederametla, his CCH home.  We sent one of our staff members, Ravi Teja, to visit him and ask some questions of the doctors and to give him a stuffed animal to keep him company.  Hosanna's fever spiked again so we decided to take him to a private hospital the larger city of Guntur. 

We moved him to a Private Hospital the next day

Because Dengue Fever is viral, there is not cure.  We can only treat the symptoms.  Treatment is replacing lost platelets, keeping the fever down, and keeping white blood cell count up.  

The blood bank

We sent ICM staff, students from our different programs, and church members from Mederametla church, his church home, up to Guntur to give blood.  There have been nearly 20 people who have donated blood for Hosanna.  We need good, strong the blood for the platelets.  Hosanna's platelet count was not going up using platelets from people with different blood types.  So, we needed to find people with the same blood type.

Danny

This is called a single blood donor and it is a very expensive procedure.  We had to do this procedure with three different donors.  It is a 2 hour process where the donors blood is taken out, the platelets are separated, and then the blood is put back into the donors body.  Danny was one of the three who donated his blood as a single blood donor!  Thank you, Danny!

My visit

I got to visit Hosanna in the hospital yesterday.  And there was a very positive blood report.  His platelet count was up to 85,000 and his white blood cell count was up to 4,100 from 1,800!  The doctor called me into his office and said that the first 9 days, they were trying to help him survive.  But he said that this day was the first day of recovery!

Reading together

The hospital can be boring...so I brought colored pencils, markers, paper, and a little book that teaches you how to draw animals.  He drew a dog, a turtle, a ladybug, and a horse!  He had such a good time!  I left the supplies with him.  I also brought a couple story books with me to read with him, but he ended up reading to me!  It was great to hear him read and see him understand the story!

It was a special time with Hosanna.  Today his platelet count is up to 91,000.  They will discharge him once he is up to 150,000!  Praise the Lord for this little guy!  Thank all of you for praying!  There were so many people contending for Hosanna and he is so thankful.  He said thank you so many times when we were together!  Thank you, Jesus, for the miracle in this little ones life!

Santhi and Camp

This is Santhi.  CCH staff talked with a few pastors and asked some testimonies from them.  The Narsimgolu pastor shared Santhi's story with us.

"Both of her parents have died and she used to live with her sisters.They are from a Hindu background.  Santhi's sisters used to make food for her sometimes and then she would just watch TV.  She didn’t really do anything else.  She never went to school.  Then she came to CCH.  She didn’t want to study at first.  Most people in the village thought that she was crazy.  My wife and I decided that through love we wanted to change her.  Two years later she is ranked 1^st in her class and she loves Jesus."
- Pastor Nathaniel

Narsimgolu Girls

This summer Santhi and her CCH sisters get to go to camp.  Last Saturday, CCH had their 2nd Saturday Celebration and we talked more about camp!  Each home will have a room to stay in at camp and so each home made a sign for their door.  All the signs have the home name, all the children's names, and their Pastor's family names.  This sign will be welcoming them into their room at camp!

CV Palem Boys

At Summer Camp 2012 these children will be studying the Fruit of the Spirit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 
gentleness and self-control."  

SN Padu Girls

They will have 9 workshops to go to - 3 per day - including:

Painting - mixing paint, different brushes

Dance - an expression of worship

Photography - zoom, flash, framing a shot

Drums - symbols, tamborines, bells

Tanguturu Boys

Keyboard - the scale, learn a simple song

Voice - English songs, singing lessons

Volleyball - outside fun

Badminton - a game for all ages

Races - working off some energy

We hope this camp draws the children into a deeper relationship with Jesus and helps them better understand His love for them.  Camp is something these children have never experienced before and so our goal is to make them feel comfortable and have so much fun with the staff and with each other!
We have 6 of our 20 homes sponsored!  That is 60 kids!  YEAH!!!  We need 140 more kids to be sponsored for Summer Camp!  Each child is $55.  This includes transportation, food, lodging, supplies, and all the fun that comes along with camp!  

There is another way you could give!  We're all on to our second or third digital point and shoot camera by now, right?  What about your older one(s)?  Does it still work?  Well, send it to India and help us teach our children about photography at summer camp next month.  We will be teaching the basics of photography from focus to zoom to proper selection of subjects, but we need useful equipment.  We're on the hunt for eight old, but still working digital cameras.  If you're interested, we have a Stateside address to which you can send your camera.  Thanks for your help!