We could hardly contain our excitement as the first day of our horse trek began.
Our family had been spoiled the previous evening with some amazing stories, pleasant company, a shower that we weren't expecting, and the Kyrgyz national dish for dinner, Besh Barmak - it contains meat and onions served with a broth over noodles.
After a lovely porridge breakfast with homemade jams, breads, and tea, we were driven to the site that we would get our horses, load up our gear, and start on our trek across the Tian Shan mountains of central Kyrgyzstan.
This was the home of the people that we rented horses from for the first part of our trek.
Krypto on his horse.
Sissi, so super excited as we get underway.
The whole family has been taking weekly horse riding lessons at the equestrian center in Bishkek for the past two months to get ready for this trip.
And, we're off, heading up the foothills of the mountains. It was a beautiful day, with just a slight wind to make you want a jacket.
We saw lots of horses and sheep along our route as people have moved for the summer up to the mountain pastures to graze their stock, away from the cities and villages.
Indy, looking down at the valley and the city of Kochkor beneath us. We went up in elevation rather quickly, this was just about 45 minutes from where we began our trek.
The view of Kochkor and more of the mountains below us.
About an hour into our trek, we came up over a rise and heard frantic screaming and wailing. I was toward the back of the group, but the mother of the family we were traveling with is a veterinarian and she is here in Kyrgyzstan working with some of the problems that the Kyrgyz people are seeing in their horse breeds. She and her husband both have spent their lives riding, training, and owning horses and so she was able to very quickly cover the distance and get to the family.
As the rest of us came upon the scene, my heart raced, my mind jumped to all kinds of conclusions...had one our children fallen off of a horse, who was she bending over doing CPR on, what was going on? As we heard the family screaming and started to figure out the details of the situation, we realized that their 1 year old son had wandered off as the family was preparing and slaughtering a sheep for their meal. He had fallen into the mountain creek and turned purple, stopped breathing, and had no heartbeat. The mother had no idea how long he had been in the water.
Our friend spent a very long 10-15 minutes doing CPR on the baby as we were all praying loudly and comforting children and the hysterical grandparents and pleading with our heavenly Father to save this child and work this situation to His honor and His glory!
Thank God, she got a weak heartbeat back! She and the family then decided to get him down the mountain in the family's car. Our friend went with the baby and the parents and one of our horse guides, and she spent what was probably the longest 20 minutes of her life jostling along the dirt roads continuing to do CPR on this little one. He aspirated water and milk and finally, about 2 minutes before arriving at the clinic in Kochkor, he began to breathe on his own, but very lightly, and only with help.
The doctors and nurses at the clinic stepped right in and it took a good hour to get him breathing regularly and for his color and temperature to return to a somewhat normal state. He was in and out of consciousness for a couple of days, but did seem to recognize his mother and move a bit. Our friend said his pupil movement was not normal and so we have been praying for his brain specifically. We spent time praying with and for the family. Our family stayed with the grandparents and the 3 siblings for a few hours while our friend was down at the clinic.
It is truly one of the amazing and miraculous stories that we encountered this week.
The baby was dead!
But, in a Lazarus type of story, the Lord allowed us to arrive at the exact moment that He could use us to show His grace and mercy to this family and we pray this stays with them...that the little boy will be a witness of our Father's healing power.
One of the things that really struck us was the absolute grief and hysteria that all of the family showed during the ordeal. This family had no hope, to them dead is gone -- forever. Can you picture what that really means?
The baby is in Bishkek now, with his mother, and is supposed to be undergoing brain scans this week. We will continue to pray for health and complete healing, for their hearts to be soft and open, and for an opportunity later to follow up with this family. Will you join us?!
The grandmother, still visibly shaken but calmer after receiving a phone call from the clinic that the baby was still alive. She then continued working on preparing the sheep for their meal.
Sissi and her friend using Indy's binoculars to look out over the ridge as we waited for the car to return...it was to be several hours.
Everyone got involved with helping. Here, the girls are working on cleaning some dishes. Sissi was inside the tent helping the grandmother to set the table for afternoon tea.
The kids, waiting patiently.
The older brother of the family.
The tent where they cook and eat.
The yurt that they sleep in at night.
The little sister, who was very shy and took quite some time to warm up to us.
Following what had been an emotional and exhausting experience, we chose not to continue our trek that afternoon, but instead to return to Kochkor so that our friend could be close to the clinic to check on the baby and get some rest. Over the next few days I'll continue to update you on the adventures we encountered during our week long Kyrgyz culture and language immersion!
