Benjamin is 10! Jud is 5! Let's buy BEDS in Burundi!!!

Dear friends, Each year we have been so blessed as a family to be part of an amazing ministry far away in Burundi, Africa. Our friend, Dr. Alyssa Pfister, serves as both a missionary and Professor of Pediatrics at Kibuye Hope Hospital in Burundi. Even though Alyssa is far away in Africa, she is still a member of our church, Red Mountain Church (PCA), as well as a member of our small Community Group. We are privileged to pray for her and support her in her amazing work in Burundi.

Each year between our two NICU boys' birthdays: Jud (Feb. 24th) and Benjamin (March 27th) we commit time to raising awareness and money to help Alyssa in her ministry. We believe in Alyssa's ministry in Burundi and in her ability to both spiritually and professionally train up physicians to serve their own Burundian people for generations to come.

Through the past donations of friends, family and members of  Red Mountain Church we have raised money to help build a small NICU that is now named after Jud and Benjamin. We were also able to provide hand sanitizer to the entire hospital for a year and then last year we were able to provide much needed infant formula to the NICU.

This year we are excited to focus our fundraising efforts on "buying beds" in the new Pediatric Malnutrition Ward that is under construction. This 30-bed unit will care for the needs of those children who have been hungry for so long their health is failing. Burundi is a country in the poorest area of Africa with some of the highest malnutrition rates and highest rates of hunger in the world.

When they finalized construction costs for this 30-bed unit and then estimated the patients it can effectively serve in the space allowed it comes to $3,450 per bed construction cost. The reality is that these 30 beds will serve hundreds of children each year. This inpatient facility will offer a place of healing and hope for the most severely malnourished Burundian children and their families.

We started off this year's project with Benjamin's class painting watercolor artwork that we are sending to help decorate the walls of the Malnutritian Ward. I've attached some pictures below of their time painting.

Please join us in praying for this project and if you can, please consider giving financially to help us in our efforts. You can donate by clicking on the safe link below, or in the side bar on our blog, that goes directly to SERGE ministries which is the ministry that Dr. Pfister works through in Burundi. This is a tax-deductible donation and the money will go directly to the pediatric malnutrition ward project. Please email me (melanieandjerrygrant@gmail.com) if you have made a donation so we can both thank you and let Alyssa know to look for your donations in her SERGE giving records. Thank you for taking time to read about and pray for this project! Love, Melanie, Jerry, Barrett, Benjamin and Jud Grant

https://serge.org/project/id-11017/

Benjamin turns 9! Jud turns 4! Help us give Birthday gifts to the NICU in Burundi!

Benjamin after his TEF repair at a day old at Children's Hospital

Benjamin recovering at Children's

Benjamin turns 9 this year!!!

We can't believe we will be celebrating 9 years of Benjamin this March 27th! I'll never forget seeing Benjamin for the first time after he was born with that white blonde hair and great tan (i.e. high bilirubin level) and moments later having him whisked off to Children's hospital when they diagnosed his TEF. Lifechanging. Game changer. We had never imagined our story would include having a child with a major birth anomaly. Having a child without a complete esophagus was DEFINITELY not on our radar.  

Today we are so thankful for our Benjamin and that he is a NICU survivor and the God used his surgeons and other doctors and nurses at Children's to repair his Esophagus and to give him the chance at life.

Right after Jud's birthday last month I got an email from our missionary friend Dr. Alyssa Pfister. She told me they had a TEF (tracheal esophageal fistula) like Benjamin born at Kibuye Hospital the week before. As you can imagine that significant an anomaly needs very advanced surgical care and ventilation. That sweet baby in Burundi had to be sent home on Hospice care and his family was told there was nothing that could be done. Heartbreaking and humbling. The baby was not even stable enough to be transferred to a larger hospital, and even if it had been the family would have had no way to pay for the surgery. The end of Alyssa's email said "I'm so thankful your Benjamin was born where and when he was." 

Alyssa is a pediatrician and missionary at Hope Kibuye Hospital which is the primary teaching hospital planted by Hope Africa University. Alyssa is not only caring for Burundian children but she and her colleges are training new Burundian doctors and nurses. See pinterest link below for a great video about the work they are doing! Keep your eyes open for a short glimpse of Alyssa and the NICU with mothers sitting holding their babies. This place is needed and special and a true place that offers hope to premature and sick infants. 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/167548048615464939/

Because of the generosity of MANY of you, we were able to build a small NICU in the hospital two years ago in honor of Jud and Benjamin. Then last year many of you helped us provide a year's supply of hand sanitizer to the entire hospital, not just the NICU. The hospital does not have constant running water so the sanitizer was a great need for them.

This year for Jud's 4rd birthday and Benjamin's 9th we hope to provide the following items to the NICU:

The items needed are:

·         Folic Acid (for kids with Sickle Cell)

·         Infant multivitamin drops or chewable vitamins (not gummy as they stick together)

·         Hand Sanitizer refills (The brand Babyganics foam hand sanitizer refills could be useful to refill the bottles we donated in years past). But any brand hand sanitizer is appreciated.

·         Infant formula (make sure it has an expiration date that will allow for at least 6 months container shipping to Burundi). They need high-calorie nutrition so specialty formulas are not as helpful.

·         Small toys for toddlers to use on the peds ward, especially those that can be easily washed. These can be new or gently used.

How to give?: 

Donate money directly to Alyssa and mark the donation when giving to be used for the GRANT NICU/Peds ward project and she will order needed items from Amazon and have them shipped to the container in Indianapolis. To donate through Alyssa please use this link: (https://www.serge.org/staff/id-51375/).  She will receive an email notification when you donate. 

One day we hope each of our three boys will be able to visit the Jud and Benjamin Grant NICU! We hope this special place will always be dear to them and be a constant reminder to Jud and Benjamin of God's amazing Grace in sustaining their little lives and for Barrett a reminder of God's blessing of putting medical help there so his brother's lives would be spared. So today we are thankful for our Benjamin and for this amazing hospital our family will be always connected to! 

Jud is turning 4! Praying for babies in Burundi and thanking God for this healthy big boy!

If you would have told me four years ago today that I would have this big, healthy boy I would have found it hard to believe! Jud's birthday brings back memories of complete fear and not knowing if this little guy would make it to another day let alone grow big and strong. Our NICU story is one with a very happy ending and for that we are forever grateful.

We are also reminded as we keep up with our friend Dr. Alyssa Pfister at Kibuye Hope Hospital in Burundi that not all babies have the amazing story like our Jud and Benjamin. A patient with as drastic a lung injury as Jud would most likely not make it in Burundi. And our Benjamin, who will turn 8 on March 27th, would definitely not have been able to be saved in a tiny African hospital because of his need for immediate surgery to create an esophagus for him. But we are so thankful that many premature and sick babies at Kibuye Hope have made it and are alive today because of the great gifts of their doctors and because of this tiny NICU.

For Jud's first birthday many of you helped us make the NICU in Burundi a reality. We were able to provide oxygen and incubators for premature and sick babies. Last year many of you helped us send a year's supply of hand sanitizer to this tiny hospital that is not guaranteed running water every day. One day we hope Jud and Benjamin will be able to visit the NICU that is named after them and reflect on the immense generosity of those that love them. We hope each year to donate money and to commit to pray for this place that has become very special to our family.

This past year brought great trials for the people of Burundi as they lived in a time of political unrest and tension. We continue to pray that God will set apart the Kibuye Hope Hospital to serve the suffering people of Burundi. This year our hope is to just give...all that we can financially so that the hospital may continue its good work. There is a link on the left of this post if you feel led to give to the pediatric ward and NICU at Kibuye in honor of our boys. We are so thankful for your past generosity and love for Jud (and for Benjamin) as we remember their first chapter of life and that God used a NICU to heal and sustain them both.

When we asked Alyssa this year what we could contribute to be helpful the list below was what she gave us. To make donating easy...Donate money directly to Alyssa and mark the donation when giving to be used for the GRANT NICU/Peds ward project and she will order needed items from Amazon and have them shipped to the container in Indianapolis. To donate through Alyssa please use this link: (https://www.serge.org/staff/id-51375/).  She will receive an email notification when you donate. 

The items needed are:

·         Folic Acid (for kids with Sickle Cell)

·         Infant multivitamin drops or chewable vitamins (not gummy as they stick together)

·         Hand Sanitizer refills (The brand Babyganics foam hand sanitizer refills could be useful to refill the bottles we donated in years past). But any brand hand sanitizer is appreciated.

·         Infant formula (make sure it has an expiration date that will allow for at least 6 months container shipping to Burundi). They need high-calorie nutrition so specialty formulas are not as helpful.

·         Small toys for toddlers to use on the peds ward, especially those that can be easily washed. These can be new or gently used.

Much Love, The Grants

The Green Pump Hand Sanitizer...Don't leave home without it

So what do you see in these three pictures that is the same? Well if you look hard enough you will see the green-topped pump of a Babyganics hand sanitizer. I can honestly say we have not left home without it for the past two years! It has been our go to for trying to stay as healthy as we could while Jud's lungs heal and repair themselves after his severe Merconium Aspiration at birth. So when we asked Dr. Alyssa Pfister who is serving as a physician at the hospital in Burundi what our family could do this year for the NICU she immidiately said hand sanitizer! Well we definitely knew which one we wanted to send! 

So I reached out to the Babyganics company and told them our story...and they graciously donated some product and also said we could purchase additional product for the hospital at a discounted price. So now we have been given space on the hospital's medical equipment container that will be leaving the US in July headed for Burundi for the sanitizer! Our goal is to send a years supply of hand sanitizer to set up stations not only in the small NICU but throughout the 80 bed hospital. 

The reason hand sanitizer is such a vital need is because this remote hospital is in a spot that is difficult to provide fresh running water to so they are often without the ability to use fresh wash their hands in the hospital. Currently they use water buckets outside the patients room with soap and water. They are working to raise funds to bring a water engineer on staff to help remedy this problem in the future but for now hand sanitizer would bring MUCH needed help to this tiny hospital. 

Please join us by donating any amount you can. You will see a donation link to the left of this post (NOTE IF YOU ARE READING THIS on an tablet or mobile device you will have to select the option to see full website for the link). Donating is safe, easy and tax deductible!!! Please make sure to note in the MESSAGE section "Hand Sanitizer for Kibuye Hope Hospital Project". 

Thank you for considering this wonderful spot on the earth to help. 

Happy Day baby Jud!!!

Happy 2nd birthday baby Jud!!! Today for Jud's birthday we are starting a month-long project (til we get to Benjamin's birthday on March 27th) to donate much needed supplies to the NICU in Burundi that was started in honor of Jud and Benjamin last year thanks to the AMAZING generosity of many of you! As many of you know both boys are NICU survivors and God used NICU medical teams to help our boys make it through the first few months of life. We are so humbled to be able to have the opportunity to help our friend and doctor Dr. Alyssa Pfister as she begins a great work in Africa to help babies in need!

Our church Red Mountain Church is gathering infant and preemie hats to have at the hospital for each new baby. We are also working to collect hand sanitizer that we can send to the hospital. They are currently raising funds to bring a water engineer onto their team in Burundi but until he is able to be on site there are many days that clean, running water is not available. We hope that in the gap we can provide much needed protection by sending sanitizer for the family of each NICU patient and doctors, ect.

More to come on opportunities to give, to pray and to hear about this amazing spot on the globe! Please don't miss the video from our last post that gives you a beautiful glimpse at the Kibuye Hope Hospital in Burundi Africa!

A great work...The Kibuye Hope Project

As we get ready to celebrate Jud turning 2 (Feb. 24th) and Benjamin to turn 7 (March 27) we are gearing up to bring supplies to this amazing spot in the world where doctors are attempting to care for some of the world's poorest people. The doctors at Kibuye Hope in Burundi are also training up a new generation of doctors at one of the only teaching hospitals in the region. The NICU began in honor of Jud and Benjamin and you will see a glimpse of it in this video and will see our friend Dr. Alyssa Pfister caring for one of her tiny patients.

Happy 6th Birthday Benjamin! Read his NICU/TEF story

Benjamin after his repair for his Esophageal Atresia and Tracheoesophageal Fistula.
His esophogus stopped 14 cm down from his mouth and the fistula was between his
stomach and lung. He had emergancy surgery to repair the anomaly when he was a day old
at Children's of Alabama. He recovered at Children's for 14 days before he was released. 

This morning I could hear Jerry retelling Benjamin his birthday story while he was getting ready for work...it is quite a story and though Benjamin has heard it a million times he always chimes in at some spot. This morning he said..."and where did my esophogus stop?" and "yeah, I remember that surgery...it tickled:)" If you know Benjamin you know that he has amazing comedic timing and is never lacking for a punch line. He really is one of the kindest, most sincere individuals I've ever met. Today is his sixth birthday and we could not be more humbled or thankful to be his parents. Since the day Benjamin was born I have had to fight the natural tendancy to fear. Even today as he is eating cupcakes with his precious kindergarten class to celebrate his birthday I told him "don't laugh and eat your cupcake...you might choke." When Benjamin was born was our first time to blog...here is the link to that blog and if you look back to the March 2008 entries you will see the journey we went on (many of you were on that journey with us and we are forever grateful!)..

Benjamin Blog first days

Burundi Kibuye Hospital NICU/Pediatric Ward is a special place and ministry opportunity for the Grant family for many reasons. But one way God has knit us to this place is because of a friend who is a physician there, Alyssa Pfister. One of our memories of our friend living and being a part of our church community in Birmingham is when Benjamin was born and was recovering from his TEF repair at Children’s. As you can imagine each day felt very overwhelming, especially with a child with a major anomaly. Often these children have other anomalies that have to be addressed and in that first few weeks it felt like we were waiting for the other shoe to drop as we waited to hear back about tests, ultrasounds, ect. We came to the NICU early one morning when visitation began (this was before you could bed in with your NICU child like you can now at Children’s…yay new Children’s of Alabama NICU!) and there was a small index card on Benjamin’s incubator. It read…

About Benjamin he said: "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." Deut. 33:12

God’s word is living and there are many moments in life as a Christian that you tangibly feel his word…this was one of them. Dear Alyssa had written this on his bed when she was there earlier during her rotations. We will be forever indebted to her for her friendship during those difficult few weeks.

Now we are working to help Alyssa in Burundi where she is on the ground working daily to care for babies and children. Here is the link to donate to adding oxygen to the pediatric wing of the hospital that will be underway soon! We have raise over $3,000 so far...we started on Jud's birthday, February 24th and today we are still working on Benjamin's birthday to raise more donations! Please consider contributing and if you are giving in Benjamin's honor thank you!!! Friends of Hope Africa University - Burundi NICU/Peds ward

Make sure to designate that your donation is for the Burundi NICU/Peds Ward at Kibuye Hope Hospital.

Benjamin with a central line in his head so he can receive antibiotics and
pain medication. This is after his repair but they are still feeding him down an OG tube
til they know the repair didn't have any leaks. The mittens are to keep him from pulling
his tubes and lines out. A NICU trick...we learned a lot while we were there.



 

Cherishing some "normal" at home infant time after a very "abnormal" NICU beginning. I know
many of you have had similar stories.

Sweet baby Benjamin, three weeks old.

This is from the top beam at the new Children's Hospital of Alabama. Jerry and I have served on
the Committee for the Future since Benjamin was there. Jerry signed Benjamin's name on the beam right before they finished topping the building off. Thankful for this place and the physicians that worked on Benjamin during his stay and since then. See if you can spot his name:)!

Our amazing 6 year old! Thankful for you Benjamin!