Post-op photos!

It's been a busy week! Lots of "beginning of the year" preparations, orientation for our new missionaries, working on 2006 financial reports and tax report, strategy meetings, etc. All great stuff but time consuming! John heads to El Salvador on Saturday after he opens our new school year at ILIO. He will go with Dr. Jaime Garcia from Antigua and they will be visiting a mega-church of over 100,000 members, all built around cell groups! He returns on Monday evening or early Tuesday and then takes off for a trip to Mexico on Tuesday at noon. Several will be going with him to keep working on the formation of a good foundation there in Chiapis with Pastor Daniel.

In the therapy department, we had the pleasure of celebrating Sonia's 15th birthday. She is the young teen that we mentioned in an earlier blog who had been suffering with kidney problems and was recommended here for therapy. She appears to have had polio when she was about 3. She is doing very well, working hard at her exercises and building up her upper body strength. She will soon be fitted for braces and then we will see how mobile she can become. She is a precious young woman. In the Latin culture, a girl's 15th birthday is as important as her wedding day! Parties and cakes, pretty dresses, dances, all go into the celebration. Virginia, who was instrumental in getting her into our therapy program, planned a special party at ASELSI, complete with decorations, cake, and gifts. I've included a photo of the party. Please pray for Sonia that her kidneys will continue to function and that we will be able to help her be more mobile and independent.

Dr. Heidi and Matt returned from their Christmas holiday trip and we were sure glad to have them back in the clinic. They have been such a blessing! The great news is that they are expecting a baby in July!! More and more women are coming in for prenatal care because they are here 3 Thursdays each month.

They stayed with the cleft lip and palate babies in Antigua for the surgeries and then had them come in today to clinic for their postop visit. Matt took some photos for us of the wonderful results. Now remember these babies are only 7 - 9 days postop. They are completely transformed by these surgeries. I am including photos of some of the younger ones.
Thanks for your prayers on their behalf!