Famous Victor

Famous Victor is one of the kids at La Senda. He is 8 years old and has an amazing story. He was born with hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is disease where water surrounds the brain and causes the head to swell. Victor's head was only 3cm smaller when he was born than it is now at the age of 8. To find out more you can go to: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/hydrocephalus/detail_hydrocephalus.htm#104253125.
Victor was abandoned at the hospital by his biological mother; and then when the people who were going adopt him got to the hospital and saw how sick he was they abandoned him too. The hospital then called Steve and Pam, the missionaries who run La Senda, to come get him. When they got to the hospital they saw how sick he was and said they could not take him. Steve and Pam decided not to take in children that sick b/c it would hinder their relationship with the other 20+ children. Steve and Pam went home and the next morning woke up and talked about it and after much prayer and God speaking to both of them individually went back to the hospital and after Victor's surgery to drain the water out of his head Steve and Pam took him home. The surgery was to put a pump that went down to his stomach to flush the fluids out of his head and into him stomach. (Oh yeah by the way Pam is 7 months pregnant at the time they took home Victor!)
When Victor got to La Senda he was very sick and took lots of Steve and Pam's time. He didn't walk until he was almost 2 years old and even when he did he had to literally hold his head up with both hands. They were raising 2 toddlers at the same time and still had 20 other children. They were busy parents.
Well a little after Victor's 2nd birthday they took him to the doctor b/c the pump had begun to form a large tumor like bump around it. When Pam got him to the doctor they did a lot of scans and other tests. It turned out that the pump had to be taken out b/c there was not anymore water to be pumped and so the body was rejecting it. It just didn't make any sense, but Victor was fine. He still had the mark on His brain that is there when a child has the disease, there just wasn't any water. They took Victor home and told the children that the doctors and Steve and Pam had no idea what had happened but Victor was fine. Then one of the children, Yaqueline, said "We know what happened. We prayed for 2 years and God healed him."
God healed Victor. He still had the scar on his brain to remind the world of what Victor's disease, but God had healed Victor.
Victor made it into some big medical magazines and has been named Famous Victor. The other day they were at the doctor, says Pam, and another visiting doctor was in and said he was so glad to finally meet Famous Victor b/c he had heard and read so much about the miracle.
God is so good and spared this child. Now Victor can go on to do great things for the Lord!

Guatemala

We returned from Guatemala this past Saturday. It was a wonderful experience and full of fun! We spent the week at La Senda Children's home and School. La Senda means "The way home". Here are a few pictures so you can share in our experience.

This is a picture of the whole group.

We spent Wednesday in Antigua. It is a beautiful city full of history. That is a volcano in the background.

This is the playground! Look at the background. I don't remember anything like that in the background of our elementary playgrounds!
















Happily painting! And the finished product!










During the week we did a lot of projects. Some of the girls taught English classes and the rest of us cleaned, made Christmas decorations for the kids to send to their sponsors next Christmas, and I put information into the computer. I spent 2 days in front of the computer. The guys built 3 doors, planted flowers, and fixed sinks. We all spent the last 2 days of the trip painting. As you can see in the pictures above Matt and the guys (with the help of some of the girls) painted with black paint that resembled tar. Needless to say we are still removing black paint from our bodies. Also Matt is very proud of the door he and our friend James built. It took them all day but now 2 teenage Guatemalan boys now have some privacy in a house of 20 children!

















































































These are just some pictures of the children. To the left is Steven in his overalls. He is just so cute I had to include this one. Steven has lived at La Senda his whole life, it is the only home he has ever known. Above right is Samy playing soccer. All the children love soccer and play all the time. Two Above right is Matt playing with Carlos. Above left is Matt and I with the 3 brothers from the coast. The boys have a family but there family sends them to La Senda so they can get a better education. Two above left is Matt playing on the slide with the children. He look like he is having so much fun...or could be in much pain. You decide! Below right is Lupita with me and Below left is Matt with famous Victor. Maybe I will write about Victor next time I blog. His story is amazing. It is truly a miracle!
















































Here we are, the happy married couple, leading our first mission trip together. We feel it was successful and God was glorified. What more could we ask for?