Love

How busy I have been in the last few weeks!!!  I have said goodbye to countless friends (or so it feels) and sent them on their way home with a hug and the hope of keeping up to date with their lives via Facebook or email.

The ward I have been mostly working in lately is plastic surgery.  We are now down to just 13 patients, all waiting for their wounds to heal enough to leave the hospital and come back to outpatients every couple of days for dressing changes.  The patients who are in the ward currently are mostly children.  I looked around the ward the other day and saw about 10 boys all between 1-12 years old.  It is the noisiest place in the hospital as you could imagine.  These boys have a special place in my heart, each coming with special needs and the desperate want to be loved.

At handover the other day, the group of nurses were all sitting around in a circle, listening to announcements and hearing happenings in the hospital.  Almost every nurse had a patient sitting on her lap.  When it came time to pray, one nurse asked one of the boys if he’d like to pray.  He said yes!  So we bowed our heads and heard the beautiful words flow out of his mouth thanking Papa God for the nurses and Drs and everyone in the hospital.  After this prayer another little boy prayed, offering his thanks to Papa God.  And again, a 12 year old girl in a nearby bed also prayed for us all.  Those whispered words from the hearts of the children lifted my heart so high I could fly!  What a sweet, sweet feeling.

Each patient knows every nurses name.  They want to sit on your lap, to be carried around, to be hugged, squeezed, loved.  And we give it to them with all of our hearts, and feel the same in return.