Prayers for Maria

Maria is a young Miskito girl who Cheryl has been caring for (the same home Griffin is at). Tomorrow she is having surgery to amputate her lower left leg above the ankle. She apparently broke it a couple years ago and never saw a doctor for it. Because of the lack of medical care her foot has continued to grow at a right angle off the side of her leg just above the ankle. She has neurofibromatosis a condition that has caused tumors to grow all over her body. She spent a couple of months in the States trying to receive treatment, but has recently come back to Nicaragua. She is the only child in Nicaragua living with a tracheostomy (put in because one of the tumors growing in her neck could not be safely removed, and was blocking off her airway). Although everyone was hoping she would be able to get surgery to straighten out her leg, it was decided that amputation was the best option for her.

Please keep her in your prayers as she undergoes surgery tomorrow. Pray that the doctors' hands are guided and that she has a quick and speedy recovery. Also pray that she keeps her spirit up, and is able to realize that the loss of her foot will not define who she is.

chalk time

So today we had a blast playing outside with chalk. There is not much more empty concrete to draw on tomorrow, but I'd say we used up enough chalk to last for a while.

Yelka had a blast sitting and having her picture taken then running up to see it, then running back and saying, "uno mas!" "one more!"

Luviana was trying to teach Emily braille from her new book while we were playing too.



Frankie was obsessed with the water fountain and would just stand there watching and watching. He loved it.

The only down fall of today was that I was so content sitting outside with them all that I didn't pay any attention to the sun that was beating down on me for over 2 hours. . . i'm a little pink ;)

El Chocoyero- El Brujo

This weekend we had a beautiful day trip to Ticuantepe, Nicaragua. We stopped at a beautiful pinapple farm first that had thousands of pinapples growing along the sides of the mountain.

Its hard to tell, but all the hills in the backgrounds of the pictures are full of pinapple plants. 

 

Our next stop was a natural reserves park called El Chocoyero- El Brujo.

We 'hiked' to one of the two waterfalls. It supplies water to the surrounding area including sending some to Managua. The side cliff of the waterfall is a nesting ground for hundreds of parakeets. (what everyone is looking up at)

Along the way back to the waterfalls we got to see different wildlife, medicinal plants, animals and some pretty cool trees. We saw monkeys and an owl (i would post pictures of them but the monkeys just look bundles of leaves up high in the trees and the owl looks like a shadow. . .) But back to those cool trees

I don't know if you can tell but this tree goes through the building. . .

This one has branches growing straight up off the other ones?!

This one has roots growing out of the ground down the side of the cliff

This one looked cracked! The guide said this one is only 80 or 90 years old but they can live to be thousands of years old!

happy birthday jhoselin :)

Today Jhoselin celebrated her birthday for the first time ever!

Jhoselin moved to be here living with us just a few weeks shy of a year ago so we missed celebrating it when she first came, and because time is so relative where the kids comes from, birthday's are rarely noted or celebrated. Meaning. . . never any cake, presents or cards until today!

Then Charity had to step in to help blow out the trick candles!

I'd say a pretty good begining to her 16th birthday celebration.

he's a miracle boy

God is working miracles. Every single day. I had never been so sure of it until I moved to Nicaragua. Every single day I experience something that could not have been possible without the all powerful hand of God coming in. (I mean today I survive Managua traffic, that alone is a miracle) But in all honesty, I am in a place where I can be a witness to the big miracles: the healings, the provisions, the unbelievable things. I got to see little Griffin this morning. He is a miracle. Words do not describe the changes that  have happen in this little boy in the past month. When I left to go home for Christmas, he was a sick, weak little bundle of bones and skin, but that's not him anymore. He is vibrant and full of life, full of attitude and full of love (especially for Cheryl who is taking care of him :)
We just couldn't stop exclaiming to each other the miracle God is doing in this little boy. I can show you pictures and tell you in words, but that really won't prove it. You just have to believe it. Believe me when I say there is no way this little boy could be in this condition after 4 weeks if there was no God.

All the kids intrigued with watching him play with his new car

Jhoselin and Griffin- they are siblings

I love my family and loved being home with them for the holidays. And even though they are not thrilled about my current choice of location ;) they give me tons of support and plenty of love in my attempt to follow God's guidance for my life.

On the beach in Pochomil when they came to visit in August :)

Thank you! Love you family!