Please Pray

From the McBride family blog, today's entry entitled "Broken:"

Dear friends,

It is with broken hearts that we write to tell you that our sweet Nandinie died Saturday night. She had become ill at the orphanage and was taken to the hospital. The antibiotic that she was given caused a severe allergic reaction that quickly took her life.

We are in shock and we're devastated. We couldn't have known how much grief we'd feel for this sweet baby girl that we never got to know.

It was late last night when we got the call so we haven't told our other children yet. It breaks our hearts to think of the pain and grief that they will each feel- especially Monika. She has longed for her sister, prayed for her, and celebrated with great joy when we told her we were adopting her. Now she will experience another horrible tragedy in her young life. She and John have dealt with so much loss...

Our other children will also grieve as we all try to accept this tragedy. Please pray for us as we talk with them tonight. We don't understand, but we know God is God. He is loving us and carrying us and keeping us in His arms. We have hope in the midst of our pain because of His mercy.

This family was beginning the process to adopt their Haitian daughter's little sister, whom they have known and loved since even before she was born. Please remember this family in your prayers as they walk through this time of great sorrow! I do not know them personally but my heart breaks for them and for so many, many children lost in Haiti each day ... you need only to read Licia's blog on a regular basis to understand how desperately different their reality is from ours.

As I thought of their loss, in my mind I could see the tender faces and the tiny coffins that all too frequently appear in Licia's pictures and all I could do was try to sort some of those emotions out in this poem, such as it is ...

(Untitled)

Just another one of many -

One small body brought to lie

In a place so full of others,

Little children left to die.

Will they know this one was different?

She had family, she had love

Waiting for her across an ocean -

Now she watches from above.

As their hearts break and they question

Why so suddenly she is gone,

Wishing things could have been different -

Wondering how they can go on,

Father, wrap them in Your comfort.

Let them know they’re not alone,

That Your arms hold their sweet treasure

Safe now in her heavenly home.

Grant them peace past understanding,

And the grace to face the pain.

Heal their wounds, O Great Physician

Til they see her, once again!

-shg 10.27.08

And finally, the perspective of a nurse working in Haiti, as she experiences the reality of life and loss in this country: http://heartsongsfromhaiti.blogspot.com/2008/10/life-and-loss.html