Amazing blessing.

   Since January our family has been in the legal process with Luke, our foster son once again. This time the process has been to receive permission from a family court judge to leave the country with him, to return for a brief visit to the States. This process, as with most processes here has proven to be much longer and bit more of a roller coaster than we had imagined.
     We began by submitting our paperwork and all the documents to verify our need to travel. You see, we cannot leave Peru with him just by saying that we want to go home and visit our families. No, we have to have specific reasons and documentation to support that. So, ultimately our hearts want to go home to see our family and friends, but the reasons that we are going are for a wedding and for Nathan to teach at a residency program in Texas. After the submission of letters from the medical university, contracts for wedding venue, and the wedding invitation we were able to speak with the judge. He was very cautious, as we are foreigners wanting to travel outside of Peru with a baby that is not yet legally adopted. So he requested many more documents like a verification of our residence here, documents showing that Nathan is on the board of our clinic, our house contract. All of these are to prove that we plan to return and that we are committed to being here. The most costly document of all that the judge wanted to see in march were our plane tickets (round-trip). Both Nathan and I were a bit concerned to buy tickets not knowing if we would officially receive permission or not, but decided that our process would not move forward if we did not step out in faith and buy them. So that is what we did. Bought tickets for April 17 not knowing if we would really leave Peru.
   After many bumps and turns in the process we were granted official permission with all the seals and signatures last Friday, a little less than a week before we were scheduled to leave. Talk about perfect timing. I would love to say that all along the way that we felt confident of the Lord's plan and that it would be perfect for our family, but we did not always. We have wanted to go to the states so badly, not because we just love the states, but because we want the people there who we love to meet our family. If we had not received permission we would have been disappointed, but I think this process has taught us to accept what God gives us. He could just have easily decided that our family would only send Nathan to the states this year and that the boys and I would go another year. And that would have been ok. But for now we can rejoice that He has given us the desires of our heart and is allowing us to travel as a family. It will be good for us to remember the Lord's faithfulness to us in giving us this gift when we have processes here that don't work out how we would like. He is still the same faithful God.
   So, all that said, Nathan, Noah, Luke and I will be boarding a plane tomorrow night for the US for the first time as a family. We will get to be a part of the very special wedding of Nathan's brother and his soon to be wife. We will get to see our family, many of whom have never met our kids. We will get to reunite with friends in Texas, Alabama and Georgia. And will get to enjoy some time of relaxing with our family. To God be the glory great things He has done.

A glimpse of our days here...

   If you were to happen to find yourself in a small town called Pallpancay, Peru, just a few minutes outside of Cusco, you might pass by the Josephine House. This is one of my favorite places in all of Peru! On Monday afternoons every week there is a weekly meeting with all of the workers. This meeting is to discuss how each of the children are doing and talk about the activities for the week. Occasionally there is a guest speaker, like my friend who works here as a psychologist or a local pastor to share from the Bible. This past Monday I had the chance to be the guest speaker. I learned not too long ago that the "mamas" or ladies who work as care-takers to the children did not know CPR nor what to do if a child was choking. So, last week, with my large CPR mannequin in tow, I taught the mamas CPR. It was a bit funny in Spanish as I never in my life had used many of the words to describe and teach CPR, but by God's grace we made it through and I think they were really excited to have learned this skill. Our prayer is that this skill will never have to be used.

Here are a few pictures from the CPR class.

     If you were to happen to find yourself on the eastern outskirts of Cusco in San Jeronimo, you might pass by the clinic 'La Fuente' or more specifically the eye clinic 'Luz de Vida'. If you were to happen to be there on a Tuesday you would find Nathan busy at work operating. It is still an amazing sight for me to see him sitting behind the microscope, helping to restore sight to those who are blind, and enjoying doing what God has gifted him to do.

Meet the Staff at Luz de Vida

Gladis, one of Nathan's two nurses

Jaki, Nathan's other nurse

Visitacion, who keeps the clinic cleaner than any other place in Cusco

   Thank you for all of your prayers for Nathan while he was away in the village Santo Tomas a few weeks ago. They had a very successful eye campaign, attending about 120 patients in one day. He did feel better from the altitude once he arrived back in Cusco (at only 11,000 feet!).

   Nathan saw many patients who had never seen a doctor before. One couple in particular he will never forget. This married couple was around 65 years old and they were brought to the clinic by their daughter because they were both completely blind. They had to be lead in by both hands. Nathan examined both of them and informed the daughter that they both had bilateral dense cataracts, and for this reason that were unable to see. He explained to her that he would be happy to remove their cataracts so that they would have restored sight. The daughter was shocked that there was a cure and communicated this to her parents in Quechua. She then began to cry and told Nathan that her parents had felt so hopeless and depressed that they had planned the week before to jump off of a very high bridge outside of town to end their life and take away the burden on their family. Nathan was able to share with them that there is hope, not only in physical sight but in Jesus and the spiritual sight that he gives as well. He is hoping to do their surgery in a few weeks and to have the opportunity to share more with them. Nathan was so grateful to have the chance to encourage this family.

   And lastly, if you were roaming the streets of Cusco, you might just see this cute sight! I am so thankful for the gift of this stroller from all of our dear missionary friends here.

 

It's the small things

     I don't know if you are like me, but sometimes it is just a challenge to get up and get going in the morning. Well Thursday was just one of those days that I don't think I ever fully woke up. Our kids were fussy and the house was a wreck. I just wanted to go back to bed all day. So in the afternoon when our kids were sleeping, I went back to bed too.

    I had not been asleep very long when our doorbell started to ring. That is a very common thing to happen here. The doorbell just rings all the time. It could be the local gardener wanting to cut the grass for some extra money. Or a neighbor wanting to visit to talk about their eye problem. Or the security guard who watches our neighborhood just wanting to check in. Or the kind market lady with her cart selling fruits or vegetables. So, I just decided yesterday to ignore the doorbell in hopes that I could sleep a bit longer before the busyness started again with the boys. But, the doorbell ringing did not stop.

     Finally after 5 or 10 minutes, and for fear that the bell would wake up my kids, I went to answer it. At the door was a very sweet lady who was asking for me. I was wondering how in the world she knew my first and last name. She said that her mother is my patient and that she had been sent by her to find me. I invited her in and she told me that she had been looking for our house for hours, but knew that she could not return to her mother without having seen us. She then pulled out a loaf of homemade corn bread (corn is in season right now) and gave to me as a gift from her mother.  It was so important to them that I have this gift of appreciation for her mother's care at the clinic. After visiting for some time with our new friend and hearing about the Lord's faithfulness in their lives, she left.

     Even as I write this today I am still overwhelmed that this sweet lady would have spent the entire afternoon on Thursday to find my house and bring me a loaf of homemade corn bread. This kind gesture made my somewhat hard day be easily forgotten. Oh, how I have much to learn about serving and loving others the way that Jesus did and this lady did for me.

      On a another note, please be praying for Nathan as he is in a town about 8 hours from here called Santo Tomas. After finishing with his clinic in Cusco yesterday, he and his nurses left and arrived about 11 pm last night. Nathan is experiencing problems with the altitude as Santo Tomas is located at around 16,000 feet. Pray for them today as they are planing to try to see 100 patients and encourage the local church that is there. This church is a plant of our church here in Cusco. He will hopefully be back tomorrow night. 

   At least I have a few boys in my house to keep me company. 

The reasons we love Christmas in Cusco

    Like last year, we had the pleasure of spending some time at the Josephine House around Christmas. A very common thing to do in December is to have a "chocolotada." What is this you might ask? Many church groups or even businesses in town will buy christmas toys for kids in children's homes or even in remote villages and take hot chocolate and panteton (like a fruit cake) to celebrate Christmas with the children. This past Christmas the Josephine House had the pleasure of having an insurance company named Pacifico have a chocolotada for the kids. We had a blast. The kids were so excited to open their presents. The great thing about this Christmas is that Luke went with us and then went home with us! He did have a blast while we were there.

Here are some pictures of our precious Josephine House kids receiving their gifts! 

Luke playing with all the other kids toys!

My dear friend Paola and I cutting the "paneton"

     Every year we have a dinner for all of the employees at the Josephine House. Last year we went out to eat at a restaurant, which was fun, but proved to be difficult with childcare for the children at the house. So, this past Christmas we decided to decorate the Josephine House with tables. Ruth, Meghan and I made Christmas dinner and we ate at the house.  It was so much fun. Prior to the dinner everyone drew names and then we got gifts for the person that we drew. Needless to say, I think that I got the most interesting gift (see below). 

Beautiful! This is how our  friends here carry their babies! 

The nursing Noah got to attend all the Christmas events 

Christmas table decorations...I was very proud of them! 

My Christmas gift....the nursing quechua doll! That would be appropriate for me this year! 

All the sweet ladies who care for the precious children at the Josephine House. We are so thankful for them!

        One thing that is not uncommon is to have many Christmas visitors. These were some of our favorite visitors. Gladis, the nurse who works for Nathan, and her family came to visit us in the evening. They are from the jungle. We are always blessed by their gifts of many bananas, pineapples, sugar cane, green eggs, and even fresh hens to eat! Gladis gave us a picture with preserved butterflies, which now hangs in our living room. Luke loves to look at them. 

Noah with some of his favorite visitors. They were teaching him quechua!

Luke and Gladis looking at the butterfly picture

    For Nathan and I, the sweetest thing this past Christmas was having both of our boys in our home, safe and healthy. As many of you know, the year 2012 was a year mixed with hardship in waiting and great blessing. After waiting 9 long months, we welcomed Luke into our family and then in September, after a bit of a scare with Noah not growing well in-utero in the altitude, we welcomed him as well. So what a Christmas to celebrate these two sweet smiles under the tree. Nathan and I had all that we could have ever asked for! 

Sweet Noah

Our "Lukey"

Happy new year. We are thankful for a new year that the Lord has given us! 

Eye clinic inauguration!

      I have realized that I have a bit of catching up to do on the blog...about 6 months worth of catching up! Over the next week or so I am going to try to post pictures and update about what has been going on with us these past months.

     I will start with a few cute pictures of the busiest, but most fun people in our house! Luke is now 18 months old and Noah 6 months old. Most of my work these days is full of these two!

   







   The big news in our life lately is that the new eye clinic has opened. Nathan started officially seeing patients and operating the first week of January. Before that he was operating and seeing patients about three hours outside of Cusco. Since the clinic here has opened, it has been bustling with lots of patients to see every day. Most patients seem to be very satisfied with their care and amazed that Nathan would spend so much time talking with them and explaining their diagnosis. Nathan has done several operations with great outcomes so far. 

      A very typical way to celebrate or announce the opening of a clinic, church, business, etc is to have a formal inauguration. So, that is what we did. On the 2nd of March, the small grassy area in front of the clinic was transformed into what looked like a wedding reception. There were about 100 people invited to the event. These invitees included; other ophthalmologists from Cusco, Lima, and Arequipa, the mayor, vice-president of the region, numerous members of the ministry of health in Cusco, the deans of the two medical schools in Cusco, and all of the employees and missionaries who work for the clinic. It was also great to have Sam and Julie VanVoorhis with us from the United States. Thanks in large part to their generous support we were able to build and equip the clinic. So, Sam and Julie were the "padrinos" of the celebration. This means that they were the guests of honor. They were also in charge of the ribbon cutting, which we learn not only means that you have to cut a ribbon, but also break a bottle of champagne prior to the ribbon cutting. 

Tent and tables that looked as beautiful as a wedding reception

Yes, there was even a head table. I felt like a bride! 

Ribbon cutting and bottle breaking by Julie Van Voorhis

    There were many people who shared kind words during the ceremony. Nathan was able to share about how 3-4 years ago our dream of an eye clinic was one room, a slit lamp, and an eye chart. And now look at what the Lord has provided! A huge clinic with a waiting room, optical shop, three exam rooms, a treatment room and an operating room! Amazing! Several other ophthalmologists shared kind words and wishes for the work to be done here. One of these opthalmologist began the national eye institute in Peru and has been very instrumental in the advancement of ophthalmology here in Peru. We were very honored to have him here as well. 

Nathan Wilson, president of LaFuente Clinic sharing about the history of the clinic

Sam Van Voorhis, donor and good friend 

Nathan sharing about the goodness of our Lord and thanking everyone who has been apart of making the clinic possible

Dr. Contreras, pioneer in ophthalmology in Peru, giving his blessing

Dra. Mendoza, friend and ophthalmologist from Arequipa giving her blessing

Vice-president of the region of Cusco giving his remarks

   After the ceremony, the tours of the clinic and ribbon cutting, we all enjoyed lunch together and watched typical peruvian dances. There was even a band who played traditional quechua music! 

Dr. Contreras, and his family from Lima

 And even little Noah made it to his daddy's inauguration. He was very popular!

    Overall it was an amazing day and such a great way to reflect on the Lord's faithfulness over the years. There have been many days over the past two years that we thought that we would never see the day that the clinic would be operational. And here we are! The Lord is good indeed.  

A few pictures of the inside of the clinic

Waiting room and optical shop area. The flowers are from different drug rep companies in the Cusco area

Check-in area

Operating room

Examination room