Change, change, change

  So if you are like me, I take a little while to adjust to change. It is funny that I struggle with this because we have moved and "changed" our life about a million times in the last 6 1/2 years (ok a million is a bit of an exaggeration, but it feels like that sometimes). Before I share our changes, I will preface by saying that I would not want to be anywhere different than where we are right now. We are beyond blessed, and I love where the Lord has called us to live, despite the difficult circumstances of life sometimes. Over these past few months we have found ourselves more dependent on our Lord than ever before. Why is this? Because there are so many situations that we cannot control here in Peru. The only thing we can do is pray, which is by far the most effective thing we can do. We just often don't see our need to pray for the Lord to intervene until we find ourselves in a situation that we are powerless to change without divine intervention. That is where our life has been these past few months. So, we are blessed and grateful that we have realized our need for prayer and our Lord through this time and would not trade it for anything.

  So, where to begin. The biggest situation in our life right now is a pending court case that would allow us to be the parents of a 6 month old baby boy, with the hope to someday adopt him. I cannot go into many details due to the fact that the court case is ongoing, but he is currently not living with us and is living in an orphanage run by some missionaries with our mission organization. He is growing well and we are so thankful that he is very well taken care of. We visit him daily and long for the day that he might  be a part of our family. We have been in this legal process since he was only several days old in September, so as you can imagine, some days we grow quite weary of the "process." But all I have to do is take one look at his sweet face and am reminded that the "process" is totally worth all of the difficulty in waiting. We have learned so much about ourselves from this sweet little baby and I truly believe that he is the sweetest gift that the Lord could ever have given me, even if it is just for a short time. You can keep us in your prayers as we are hopeful that this legal process will end in the coming months and that we can be a family at home. Sorry but we will not be posting pictures of this baby right now, but trust me he is SOOOOOO cute :=)

  In the midst of the hardship and joy of our finding this precious sweet little boy, we also discovered that I am pregnant. After many years of trusting the Lord's timing for the growth of our family, He has brought two babies into our life and at practically the same time. We have had several ultrasounds here in Cusco, with a local OBGYN, and it appears that everything seems to be ok so far with this pregnancy. I am now 15 weeks and we are expecting this little one in September. Our plan for now is to have this baby in Cusco, in a local hospital, as the legal case with our possible other baby is still uncertain, and it would be difficult for us to leave Peru. We are thankful for many friends who are physicians and OBGYN's in the States who are able to help us through the medical details of this process. I am so thankful to be pregnant, but can definitely say that it has not been the most fun 2 months of our life. I have unfortunately experienced much sickness from this pregnancy and many days am not able to leave our house. As I am sure many of you moms can relate, this is difficult on many levels, especially when we want to be doing so many other things, but just cannot. I have experienced many "low points" these past few months due to the sickness of this pregnancy as well as the disappointments that come along with trying to adopt a child in this country. Many days I just have to stop and remind myself that the Lord has given us 2 babies, when we don't even deserve 1. What a gift it all is, but a WHOLE lot of change.

Sweet baby Henson 

   Hopefully a good change is going to come our way soon, which would be that Nathan's clinic is Cusco will be open for business. We are thankful that during this time that he has been able to work occasionally at a mission hospital called Diospi Suyana about 2 1/2 hours from Cusco. I will attach some pictures of him working there below.

    As far as the ophthalmology clinic in Cusco, the construction is completely finished with the exception of some paint touch-ups. The internet and phone have been installed. An incredible electronic medical record system has been installed thanks to Integrity EMR. The alarm system works very well and is very loud and all cabinets/desks/shelves/lockers have been installed. Incredible really all that has been done in the almost year that we have been here. I really want to post pictures, but Nathan is putting together a video that I will post very soon so that you can see the finished product. As far as the ophthalmology equipment, it has arrived in Peru and is currently in the port city of Matarani in customs awaiting a few more inspections before it can be released. Nathan was in Matarani for the entire week last week overseeing the unpacking of the container and the inspection by the ministry of health. Despite many hardships and many "quirks" associated with the shipment, the ministry of health graciously gave the shipment a perfect recommendation. We now must wait for a few more agencies to review it and hopefully then it will be released to Cusco! That will be an amazing day.

   So like I said earlier there have been so many changes in our life in the past few months. Exciting changes, but a bit scary too. Thankfully the Lord supplies all that we need daily, according to His riches and glory. For that we are grateful that He has sustained us on the really exciting days, really discouraging days, and really fearful days, and that He will continue to do this throughout the coming months.

   Thank you again for being willing to be a part of this with us....even if it is reading this really long blog all the way to the end! We are really thankful for the the love and support

Here are a few pictures:

Before surgery

Nathan operating

After surgery

And the patient even got to take his cataract home :=)