A gift

The past two days have by far been the best and most rewarding. I took care of a Vietnamese woman and her newborn son, the miracle baby. He had a transverse fetal lie and a nuchal chord x4....meaning, laying sideways in momma and the chord wrapped around his throat 4 times. (Rare and crazy!) He was so cute, and every time I touched him he would get fussy--even if I was only taking his temp! His face would get all scrunched up and red...still adorable.

Anyway, there was a man in the room during everything, even the things that the husband usually leaves for. However, he wasn't the husband or father. He was her boss. After hearing the nurses talking about the woman's history--being a prostitute to support her family, becoming pregnant and then moving to the states to work for this guy--immediately I started assuming things.

These people were *so* sweet. The man spoke broken English, and the woman close to none. But every time I left they room they would smile and say thank you. As I was leaving tonight, I went in to tell them goodbye and thank you for letting me take care of them. He thanked me for helping and then said, "You'll make lot of money. You lucky." All of a sudden he began to talk.

He told me of how he grew up in Vietnam during communism, had ten brothers and sisters, escaped by boat and after three days and nights ended up in Malaysia, where he was put in a refugee camp--for seven years. Now he works 7 days a week, 12 hours a day to make money. He goes back to Vietnam once a year and gives his family money and also money to the church or temple.
There are tons of pregnant girls there that get abortions because their partner leaves them. The churches and/or temples try to aide these girls so that they have another option. He said he makes more money than he needs personally, but not enough to help all of these girls, so he gives what he can and then goes to schools to educate and talk to people. The government doesn't help at all, and if people see the bad and try to change things, they are shut down and they get in trouble.

He said, you only live once. You can't take anything with you when you go see God. We don't know what tomorrow will bring--if we will live or die. Right now we must live, love, laugh and help. He told me to take a vacation to another country. That when I came back to the U.S. I would love my country and realize how lucky I was...and how needy others are.

His passion for helping others was so encouraging. After listening to him speak I then understood why he was there, with this girl. He has grasped the fragility of life. And I couldn't help but reminded that, "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

What a blessing.