Eyes and babies

I just got off the phone with Valerie...I had to share with someone. She was sharing some personal prayer requests (after a huge day for the clinic yesterday...over 50 patients in general medicine alone...we are working our way to not just needing one full time and one part time doctor but two full time if we keep this up...keeps Valerie hopping as well.)

Then she asked for prayer for a patient she just saw. An 11 year old who had one eye turned in (and an extremely high prescription as well, and internal problems.) She will only have the one eye for the rest of her life. Prayers for her, and for her family...as she lives with her grandma (in her 60s), who is raising nine small children. Notice I did not say "grandchildren" even though most of them are in fact her grandchildren.

One of the children, a three year old, is not her grandchild. A young woman whom she did not know came to her door three years ago, asking for water...not looking well. She obliged, and asked..."Are you pregnant?" Answer: no. The young woman drank the water...and then proceeded to immediately give birth. Grandma went to find someone in the neighborhood that could cut the cord. Long story short...the girl left, leaving the baby in the toilet, never to be seen again. What to do...already taking care of that many children? Somehow, grandma was able to register the child as hers with the government, raising now her ninth child in her 60s.

Join us in prayer for that family, and a family that is about to expand...I heard from our FAME scholarship recipient Darwin Pineda that his wife Sandra is six weeks pregnant! They lost a baby to miscarriage a little over a year ago, so this is exciting news, but definitely going to be one for prayer, and not just for the previous miscarriage, but because Darwin is serving this entire year in Intibuca...several hours from where Sandra is living (she is working as a pediatrician in Siquatepeque where she is from living with her parents...no call for a pediatrician where Darwin is...it is very rural...over seven hours from Tegucigalpa) and they only get to see each other usually once a month (he is working...a ton.)   He won’t finish his year of social service until January 16th...after the baby is likely to be born (late December/early January.)  Hopefully he can at least get a few days off for the birth...that remains to be seen.