A Great Day!

Today was a fabulous day in so many ways!  To begin with, Owen had his routine semi-annual check up with his cardiologist. During these visits, he has a series of tests done and an echocardiogram to see how his heart is functioning. Even though we try to be easygoing and upbeat about these appointments, there's always the lingering fear that his condition has worsened and that he'll need additional medications or surgery. Fortunately, that was not the case today! Owen's heart function is great and as long as he continues to grow like he has been for the next couple of years, we may be able to avoid the need for future surgery. We're so thankful for this answer to prayer and for God's continued protection of Owen. Owen was excited, too! He kept exclaiming, "I have a healthy heart!" We celebrated by having a heart-healthy carrot cake after dinner.

The second reason that today was such a great day is that we received an update from Malawi! After several weeks without any updates, we were so excited to receive some news. As we mentioned in an earlier post, a team with African Steps arrived on Likoma Island on March 13th to work at St. Peter's Hospital.  Our friend, Kathryn, graciously offered to visit the baby and give her a general examination while they were there. Today, we received the e-mail and pictures below from Kathryn.  (You'll notice that the baby has been named Mary by her grandmother.) 

Wes,

We arrived home this morning after an amazing time in Malawi. As you probably have heard, things are very difficult for the people there at the moment and particularly for the people of Likoma. There was no power on the Island due to the shortage of diesel and when we arrived, the clinical officer was using the light of his mobile phone to operate - we carried some solar lamps with us and managed to get those installed in the operating theatre - just one example to give you an idea of how hard it is for the hospital to operate at present.

I saw Alexander on our first day as he was taking his child to the nursery school which was next door to where we were staying. I explained that the clinical officer was on the Island during our first week, but not the second and so asked him to come back to see us during our second week. 

We sat for some time with Mary and her grandparents. What a lovely little girl she is - she looks well and healthy and it seems that she is being looked after very well. I did some very basic tests and it seemed to me that she is a healthy baby with good sight and hearing. we were going to weigh her and took some scales with us, but it was obvious that she within the normal range for weight for a baby of her age, so didn't upset her by putting her on the scales.

Mary was a little unsure of what to make of us white people, but she soon settled and got used to us.

I asked the clinical officer about further tests and he said that he felt Mary had had everything which was necessary at this stage.

I'm attaching some photos of Mary and her grandmother. I also took some video, but it will take me a few days to edit that - need to unpack first!!

Please do email if you would like anymore information or if you have any questions.

When are you planning to travel to Likoma to take Mary back to the US?

Wishing you all the best.

Kathryn


It's so encouraging to hear and see (below) that the baby is healthy and well cared for.  At the same time, we were really struck by how sick her grandmother appears to be. The pictures really illustrate the pain, sacrifice, and hope of this situation. As a friend brought up, hopefully someone has shared the love and hope of Jesus with her. If not, perhaps there is still an opportunity to do that.  We're so thankful and humbled to be a part of what God is doing in this situation.

Thank you for walking with us.