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Tarza's Heart Surgery
Tuesday,
May 19, 2009
Reunion With Tarza In Iraq
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by
Tarza's case was one of the fastest healing processes we've had among
our Iraqi patients, so we expected to find her full of energy and were
not disappointed. She  was
a polite hostess, bringing refreshments with her sister's help while we
all sat together. She practiced her English for us as evidence of her
excellent progress in school, and is really doing well with her ability
to read. It presented a perfect opportunity to give her one of our
favorite story books about Jesus which is written in both Kurdish and
English. She began to pore through it immediately with great
interest.
Tarza's mother was full of thanks for everything done for her daughter
and invited us to stay for dinner with the family. Having made a prior
commitment, we declined after a pleasant visit. We were able to tell
Tarza's mom and her daughters before we left that it is the love of God
which brought this opportunity for Tarza, and to Him goes all the
thanks.
 Tuesday,
December 3, 2008
Tarza Leaves Israel
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This
was Tarza and Rezhin's last
week in Israel. These two girls are just precious and full of life.
Every day they've talked about when they would get to go home to see
their families. You could see the anticipation growing in them each day
and never would have imagined that these two girls running around
playing, recently had had heart surgery. It's exciting to think who
they will become as they return home with new hearts.
They are deeply appreciative for the nurturing care they've received
from the staff at Shevet and truly love the women here. They made thank
you notes in their Sorani dialect for Donna, Keleigh, and
Mary thanking them and making sure they knew they would be missed. Last
night they even invited Donna to share one last meal with them before
preparing to leave.
Everyone woke up this morning freshly cleaned and with their best
clothes on. Packing must have begun last night, leaving things only to
be tidied up today. After waiting several hours, we all loaded up in
the van mid-afternoon to head to the border crossing. It was a
beautiful day, providing for a nice drive and great views of the
country. Once at passport control things went fairly smoothly and they
were able to make a couple of quick purchases from the Duty Free Shop
before going outside to wait for the bus.
Sadly they faced a long wait on the other side of the border crossing,
making what was already a long day that much longer. After a
quick nap, they'll awake early in the morning to head to the airport to
return home.
What a privilege it has been to meet these two beautiful girls. How
grateful we are that they have many more years of health and life ahead
of them!
Click
to
send an e-mail
message to Tarza and her mother.
Notify
me when Tarza's page is updated
at this
email:
 Monday,
November 24, 2008
Excellent Echo Report, Fun
With Beads
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We
set out early this morning for Tel Aviv so that Tarza and Rezhin
could visit the Save A Child's Heart house near Wolfson Medical Center
in order for some media and some supporters of the doctors'
organization to meet the Iraqi children who are being helped. Since the
Iraqi families stay with us in Jerusalem before and after surgery now
instead of at the Save A Child's Heart house, this was their first
visit there, and they were not quite sure what to make of it at
first. But the girls enjoyed being at the house after they
were
offered bead-making materials to pass the time. We were also relieved
to be able to move their echocardiograms up one day rather than make
another trip tomorrow.
Tarza
got an excellent report after her echo, and although her mother was
hoping to
be able to leave after today, Dr. Tamir said Tarza should come back in
one week for the final echocardiogram. We are thankful for this good
report, and expect Tarza will be on schedule to go home early next
week. Keep praying for her recovery to be complete and quick.
Click
to
send an e-mail
message to Tarza and her mother.
Notify
me when Tarza's page is updated
at this
email:
 Monday
November 17, 2008
A Very Good Report
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We
made our way to the hospital this morning for Tarza and Rezhin's follow-up echos.
After waiting nearly an hour, each girl was taken in for her
echo. Afterwards, the report was that they are doing really
well. Neither of the girls has any sign of water in her
lungs, nor are they on any medications, only vitamins.
After they left the echo they met up with Ali
and his father as they were walking outside. Both mothers and
daughters sat outside with Ali and rejoiced with Ali's father.
We left Wolfson and made our way to Schneider Children's hospital about
20 minutes away. Here we were able to visit Lawk's mother a few hours after Lawk
came out of surgery. The girls passed the time by watching
the fish in the fish tank just outside of Lawk's room.
By the end of the day the mothers were ready to get back to
Jerusalem. Both Tarza and Rezhin
will have another echo next Monday.
Click
to
send an e-mail
message to Tarza and her mother.
Notify
me when Tarza's page is updated
at this
email:
 Sunday
November 16, 2008
Tarza Recovering in
Jerusalem
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I
went to Wolfson Hospital yesterday to bring Tarza and Rezhin back
to the Shevet house. They were ready to leave when I got there. First I
went in to see Ali
and Abu-Ali. Ali was having physical theraphy and Abu-Ali was with him.
He came out for a short time and walked down the hall with us and told
everyone good-bye. We got a taxi and then a subsequent sherut (group
taxi) back. The trip went well, the taxi driver was very pleasant, he
couldn't speak english and he called another taxi driver over to
translate to him what I was saying, they also told us to have a good
journey. We were the first on the sherut so the moms got to choose
where to sit. What even made it better was that Donna was waiting for
us when we got off the sherut. Tarza had asked for her after her
surgery. The girls are doing great and were glad to get back to the
house. Lawk and his mom were also glad to see them. The hospital will
let us know when they go for their echocardiogram. Thank you all for
your prayers, the Bible says, "the steps of the righteous are guided by
the Lord." I believe He was our guide and that is why our
trip was so pleasant.
Click
to
send an e-mail
message to Tarza and her mother.
Notify
me when Tarza's page is updated
at this
email:
 Wednesday
November 11, 2008
Out Of ICU, Munching Doritos
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Yesterday Lawk's mother asked
to go to the hospital and visit Tarza and Rezhin.
I was a little reluctant to take Lawk to the hospital for the day
because he is such an energetic boy, but it turned out to be a great
afternoon.
Lawk's mother, along with the mothers of
Tarza and Rezhin, and Ali's
father, had a room to themselves. I was asked to leave the
ICU
because they were performing a procedure on a patient, so I sat in the
room with them and listened as they each shared with the others their
story. It was a great time of encouragement for each one of
these
families as they deal with the cultural differences here in
Israel.
Today, I found both Tarza and Rezhin out of the ICU and in the
ward. I think Tarza will be released to go to Jerusalem
within
the next couple of days. While I was visiting this afternoon
the
girls were munching on Doritos and peanut M&M's. It
seems as
if they are on their way to a full recovery.
Click
to
send an e-mail
message to Tarza and her mother.
Notify
me when Tarza's page is updated
at this
email:
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