Today is Thanksgiving Day, my favorite day of the year! And I am simply very grateful to be celebrating this season of thanks here with my Honduras family, to be sitting here in the hosptial clinic as I write this, watching our beautiful children come in at out the doors.

At the same time, I am giving thanks for my family who is celebrating in the US, and one in Rwanda. May I never forget how blessed I am, whatever each day brings. To God be the glory for everything we have and do!

There is a very interesting New York Times article that my friend (Pauline, doctor and wife of Dr. Jay, our medical administrator here at CURE Honduras) sent me on the benefits of being grateful... let this be a reminder for us to live out 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 on a daily basis: "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

As all of us from the US know, the day after Thanksgiving is the crazy day of shopping till you drop, and it just keeps going until Christmas is over, only to be repeated over again the next year! Well, my dear friends and all of you who love to shop and buy gifts for those you love, I want to give you some great gift ideas for this year, a gift that goes beyond just the person your buying for. Something that will help to change a person's life forever, something that will go towards helping a child hear about the purpose of Christmas and what it means for Christians who remember it as the time to celebrate the birth of Christ who came to bring redemption to a lost world.

The first place that you can check out these gifts is CURE's gift catalog, where you will find great gifts which will support a life-changing surgery for a disabled child at the same time.

Also, as I remember today how grateful I am to be a part of a loving family, I want to remember the millions of children in the world that do not have families to celebrate with this Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. You can help bring an orphan into a loving family by purchasing your Christmas gift at Show Hope's gift catalog.

One last note- TONIGHT and Sunday night, CNN will be showing a documentary, "Common Dreams" about The Restavek Freedom Foundation in Haiti. I think you don't want to miss this!

CNN's COMMON DREAMS Thursday, November 24th at 9:00 PM PST Sunday, November 27th at 8:00 PM EST

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends around the world! What's one thing you're giving thanks for today?

November Already!

Well, I have now been trying to get this update published for about, oh.... maybe three weeks now? I guess it's good that life is keeping busy- I wouldn't want it to be any other way! I just can't believe it's already November... with the hardly changing weather here, I so easily forget that time is still passing by so quickly and the new year is almost here!

-cure

I am excited to pass along the announcement that the Tim Tebow Foundation will be partnering with CURE to reach more children around the world with physical and spiritual healing! See more at cure.org.

Working with CURE continues to be a blessing. Each day I see many beautiful children who are receiving treatment that is otherwise unavailable to them, and it is completely changing their lives. I'm learning a lot about medical conditions and their causes and treatments as I translate to the patients for Dr. Jay in clinic. It's still a work in progress as my Spanish is still coming along, especially my medical vocabulary, but my co-worker Jozzeth (lab and x-ray technician) helps me a lot with Spanish.

Some days are hard when we have a patient in which there is no treatment, but it causes me to trust God more and remember that the medical experts aren't the answer to all the problems. While God uses the work of doctors to accomplish great things and save lives, doctors aren't the end all. We know that God is ultimately in control, and He the creator and healer of all. We need do our best for those He places in our path, and when something comes upon us that is beyond our control, it's a good reminder that really everything is beyond our control without God. He is the author and creator of life, the healer of all, and we are simply His instruments.

This past weekend a group of went to Danli, a city on the Nicaraguan border about 7 hours south from here, for a mobile clinic. We are starting to do more mobile clinics where the doctors from CURE travel to other cities to see patients and schedule them for surgery, that way the patient only has to come to our hospital once, as the doctors will then make rounds to the other cities again to followup with patients and get new patients. Our first mobile clinic went well; while Dr. Minueza and Dr. Vasquez gave a course to doctors and nurses in the area on how to treat children with clubfeet, Dr. Jay saw patients with Dr. Zepeda, the very caring doctor who is the orthopedic surgeon at the public hospital there in Danli. He is in fact so good that Grace, our clubfoot program coordinator, said she wishes she could clone him and have him everywhere. He is the first doctor we've had who actually organized the clinic himself and got together all medical personnel for the clubfoot course; normally we have to go through a nurse or some assistant. It is clear from being in clinic with him that he really cares about his patients and is frustrated by the Honduran system that cares more about money and less about people.

Grace, our clubfoot program coordinator

Dr. Minueza, spine surgeon and part time worker at CURE, Dr. Vasquez, orthopedic surgeon and Medical Director of CURE, and Dr. Jay, orthopedic surgeon (hand specialty) and Medical Administrator of CURE

Dr. Vasquez teaching the clubfoot course. We actually had a baby come into clinic that day with a clubfoot so it was a perfect demonstration!

-languages.

My co-worker Jozzeth (mentioned above) is learning English and always has a daily word in English that he wants me to explain the definition of or the pronunciation of. One day last week he asked me what the word "stuff" meant. I couldn't think of an equivalent word in Spanish, and he confirmed that when he translated it, there was no word that correctly fit. I told him that it is really a general term and can be used for a lot of things, when talking about a bunch of objects in general. He took that answer for a while, but then came back later and said that he still couldn't figure out the meaning, that he couldn't use the word "stuff" in a sentence. I tried to think about it more and finally said that when we are lazy and don't use a specific word for something, we just say "stuff." I told him this word means everything, depending on what you are talking about at a given moment. When I told him that it can me anything, whatever objects you are talking about, the lightbulb went off and he said "Yes!" He always snaps his fingers or claps really loud and puts his fist in the air- I love those moments.

The more I teach English, the more thankful I am that it's my first language, because it's so difficult to learn. Not only are words so often not spelled phonetically and pronunciation has to be memorized, but there are many words with multiple meanings, and a lot of times when I'm asked a question about grammar or something, I can't even explain the answer because there isn't one, it's just the way it is. With it being my first language, all of the oddities seem normal to me until I try to teach it and have to think about the reason behind it, I realize that there is no reason. I realize that every language has its difficulties (Spanish is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn, and it seems like it has endless verb tenses and conjugations). I think the reason why English seems so difficult to me at the moment is because I was just never aware of it, and now that I'm trying to explain it, I realize some things are just the way they are and practice is the only thing that will make it perfect, because languages simply don't like to follow rules.

-clouds.

The Honduran sky never ceases to amaze me. I've been trying to think of an adjective that accurately describes the beautiful cloud displays here, but I just can't think of one that does it justice. There really are no words to describe the ever changing color and display of the magnificent clouds here. San Pedro is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so most days there are big clouds sitting low around them, with the mountain peaks standing tall above. One morning I opened my eyes around 5:30 when the sun was just starting to come up, and out the window from my bed I saw this view. Not wanting to miss it, I stumbled out of bed and grabbed my camera, and snapped this shot with eyes half open. Turned out pretty well... but I must say it wasn't because of the photographer, it was all because of the creator of the scene.

-cookies.

I made chocolate oatmeal cookies last Friday and brought them to work for those of us in the clinic (and those of us who pass through :). In the afternoon when the patients were gone and surgeries were completed, Roberto, the chief of the O.R., and Dr. Garcia, our anesthesiologist, came into the clinic for some reason. I saw them eyeing up the cookies, so I offered them some. After Dr. Garcia ate one, he came over to me and holding up the cookie, said, "ya se puede casar!" meaning "now you can get married!" It took me a second to connect getting married with him eating the cookie, but then I realized, oh. He approves of my cookie baking skills :)

-becoming Honduran.

Sandra, one of the ladies that works at the hospital asked me something and I responded with "si, pero no" meaning "yes, but no." I forget what the question was, but she laughed and in Spanish said, "you are becoming Honduran now! That's a Honduran phrase!" And she went on to tell the others around us "now Ana is becoming Honduran!"

-skype

For about the first two months that I was here, I only talked with my two older sisters on skype, but now that my sister Abby got an account at home, it has opened the door for me to talk with all four of my younger sibs, plus my nieces and nephs! It makes a world of difference seeing their faces and talking with them, but I still miss them just the same.

Chatting with Livi and Tristan a couple weeks ago while they were at my house. This made my day.

-20

Today I turn twenty and will officially never again be a teenager. Many days recently I've wanted to cry over this, but I've been trying to convince myself that this is a good thing, and I think I've almost got myself to believe it. Grace brought me the most amazing coffee cupcakes to work this morning, so it's all good :)

-Thursday

In two days my mom is coming to visit me for the weekend! I really cant' believe it's actually happening. I get a visitor!

Aldo: Smiling Through The Suffering

Aldo lives near Tegucigalpa, about 5 hours from our hospital. He lives with his three brothers and five hundred other children in an orphanage called Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters). Aldo has a congenital disease called Neurofibromatosis, as well as limb length discrepancy (his left leg is shorter than his right leg), a dislocated hip, and scoliosis. Needless to say, he’s had a difficult journey and although it's looking brighter ahead, it's a long road. He had his first operation approximately one year ago, in which the surgeons put an external fixator on his leg, which over time lengthens his shorter leg. To make a long story short, the fixator did not work as it was intended to, and Aldo now has more complex problems.

He came to the hospital yesterday with Carol, a physical therapist (originally from Austria) who works at his orphanage, to see what the next step in his treatment will be.

We are blessed to have Dr. Tim Mead here this week with his wife Jana, before they move to the Middle East where Dr. Mead will be the new medical director at CURE in the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Mead was the medical director at CURE Kenya from 1998-2011. He and Dr. Bridgeman discussed what would be the best option for Aldo, and decided that it will be to remove the fixator and then place a rod in his left femur bone, because it has become so thin that it will break if he stands on it without the fixator. Aldo is basically wheelchair-bound right now, although he uses a walker in physical therapy. After this next operation he will be on his way to being more mobile. As of right now he sleeps laying his chest on his lap because his hips have become very stiff from being in a seated position for so long that he cannot lay down.

The beauty in all of this, for one, is that we have Dr. Mead and Dr. Bridgeman here to make sure that he gets the best care possible, and that Dr. Bridgeman will be here to see his treatment through till the end. What's even more beautiful in this, is Aldo's shining smile through all of this suffering. He has a smile that lights up the room and an attitude that's ready to have fun. He's excited for life despite his circumstances, and we know that this can be attributed to the fact that he accepted Jesus the last time he was here one year ago, and since then his life has changed- he has hope in the midst of all of this.

When Dr. Mead was explaining on the phone to one of the directors at the orphanage what the procedure is going to be, he said, "This kid has the world's best smile, with some of the world's worst problems." This is true, and Aldo, despite his physical circumstances and being 14 years old and only in second grade, knows the secret of being content in all circumstances and keep smiling through all of it.

When asked over the phone by one of the orphanage directors how long the recovery process will be, Dr. Mead replied, "Since we are going to bathe him in prayers, he'll hopefully heal within six to eight weeks." So please join us in praying for that!

If you would like to support Aldo's surgery, please visit him here.

This Episode Includes: Apple's Leader, A Lesson in Redemption, & Eating Fish At The Lake

I feel very out of loop with current news, especially in the US as I am obviously not there, and as I don't have television or read news on the internet (need to work on that), I get most of my news through friends here, and what I don't get from them, I get on facebook [when it lets me log in], which isn't a lot of news unless it's something big. Well, today my brother Andrew posted the following quote from Steve Jobs: "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me ... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me." I proceeded to read other news posted about him, and was shocked to learn that he passed away. Mr. Jobs has made a pretty much direct impact on my life, seeing that from the time I typed my first words I've been on a Mac, and pretty much all my other valued possessions are from Apple as well. The company has been a big part of my life, perhaps bigger than I realize, and for his great work, for going against the odds, and being a great example of a generous man, I will always be thankful.

I admire this quote which he spoke to John Scully (who was at the time president of PepsiCo) when persuading him to become Apple's CEO in 1983: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?"

____________________________

Last weekend I went with the Bridgemans to the 10th annual missionary conference that is held in Siguatepeque, a city about two hours south of us, half way to Tegucigalpa. Siguatepeque is a beautiful place that is much more "fresco" than here. It was breezy and cool, and man was I wishing I could bring that weather back to our 90+ degree, humid San Pedro. Anyhow, besides the cool weather, I met a lot of other missionaries, some new ones, some who have been here for a very long time, and some in between. It was a great time of connecting with these families and learning about their ministries. The Bridgemans and I were able to share with some people about CURE, so now people from other parts of Honduras know that we are in San Pedro and are available to them should they know of any kids in need of orthopedic treatment.

The speaker for the weekend was Dave Howard, brother of Elizabeth Elliot and was best friends with her late husband, the well-known missionary Jim Elliot. Mr. Howard has been in ministry for well over fifty years. He lived in Costa Rica and in Columbia, South America for most of those years, and has more recently traveled to many countries around the world with his home base in the US where he lives with his wife.

At the conference he taught on the life of Peter as a parallel to teaching about the life of being a missionary, and really any follower of Christ- being where we are only out of obedience to God, of continually growing in our relationship with God, and this means when we fail (not if, but when), how to recognize what caused this, and to realize that no matter what, God is there to restore us, He uses us despite our failures, that by His strength we have triumph over our sin, and He is continually bringing us closer to Him as we bring our flawed selves to Him.

Peter was called by Jesus to follow Him and make disciples. Peter obeyed this call and was a close friend and faithful follower of Jesus. He grew in his relationship and ministry with Christ, yet there came a point when Peter failed greatly. Mr. Howard mentioned many other great men of faith who fell into great sin, yet who God restored and used for His glory- Abraham had a child with Hagar. Solomon, the wisest man on earth, had 300 wives and 700 concubines. Moses murdered an Egyptian. Job lost his patience. David, a man after God's own heart, committed adultery with Basheba. Peter denied he knew Jesus three times.

All of these men who accomplished great things for God, who had a very real relationship with Him and who experienced His miracles, fell. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matt. 26:41). It's in all of us, since the fall of man at the beginning of time it's been in all of us equally, but we have to choose to live by the Spirit's strength and know that our strength comes from God alone. We all know from experience that it's hard as flawed humans to choose rightly.

After Peter's denial of Jesus, we see in the end of Matthew 26 that he "wept bitterly." Peter had great remorse for his sin, and only with his recognition of his sin and sincere repentance, was God able to heal him and use him in mighty ways. We read in Acts chapters 1-10 of the powerful ways that God used Peter for the work of His kingdom after Peter's repentance and healing.

I continually have to bring my flawed self to God and ask for His grace and forgiveness to restore me. Such a big part of life is recognizing my sin so that I can give it to Him and be freed from it and keep living in the light.... how much easier said than done! The is a continuous process... my pride gets in the way and I start forgetting who's glory I'm living for, where my strength comes from. The only good in me is His work through me. And the only way He can work through me is if I don't pretend like I can do everything perfectly- only when I continually bring the weeds in my heart to God, can He take them and plant something beautiful, and once again use me.

We mustn't forget the weeds keep growing, yet there are less and less as we grow deeper into God.

"...He takes a world corrupted by evil and begins a long, long process of redemption. We reduce it to a handful of times, but we must not, it is the story we are living."

-Eugene Peterson

"A thousand times I've failed, yet Your mercy remains, and should I stumble again, still I'm caught in Your grace..."



_____________________________

On our way home from the conference, we passed by Lake Yajoa, Honduras' largest natural lake. It is a popular lake for fishing, and there are many restaurants along the lake where you can stop and have fresh fish, so we had a nice break from the curvy roads down the mountain and enjoyed fried fish, Honduran style.

View of the lake from the outdoor seating

Abigail, Charlotte, and Lillian swinging on the porch, waiting for the fish to cook

Pick your fish out of the freezer,

watch them fry it,

and enjoy!

Seeing the Beauty

--A couple days ago a friend of mine emailed me and told me that I need to give an update and shouldn't become a lazy blogger (he added "like your sister Emily" but I won't mention that part :). I responded to him by saying that I will give an update, but that "nothing too exciting" is going on. In reality, a lot has been going on, in fact it's only been about two weeks since I wrote but I feel like it's been forever because it's quite busy! I think because I'm getting into the routine of life and things are becoming more "normal" to me and I don't see the beauty and excitement of life as I did when it was all new. When I told him that nothing too exciting was happening, he told me I was nuts. He reminded me of the job that I have, that I get to be a part of connecting the doctors and nurses who have the skills to heal these children with those who have the resources and want to make their work a reality. Of course I was aware of this as I am a witness to these kids everyday and get to share their beautiful faces and stories. But because I started getting into the routine, it took someone to tell me to open up my eyes and see beauty for what it is and not become blind to it. Thinking about this, I realized how blind I become to so much of the beauty of life altogether. I get accustomed to waking up everyday with the mountains surrounding me, the beautiful sunrises and the ever-changing breathtaking cloud displays. In the simplicity of being able to to run, to walk, to talk with a friend, to share a hug with someone. God is showing His power and love through His creation everywhere, and so often I forget the very miracle that each day is.

So that is the latest that I've been learning.... Eugene Peterson spoke at a conference I attended the weekend before last. He spoke into this when he said, "Everyday we wake up to a world we did not make. And we marvel at its intricacies. After a while we quite noticing. The world contracts and we are reduced to a life of routine.... Wonder is the only launching pad for exploring creation.... ordinary time is not what biblical people just live through. It's a gift lived with fullness." As he talked about the sheer beauty and awe of creation and living a part of the grand story of God, it made me want to open my eyes everyday with the perspective of a curious child finding joy in everything. I don't want to become one who continually tries to fill my life with new things of no real value because I've grown tired of the most beautiful thing I'll ever have: to enjoy the creation that God has placed around me, the people and the earth and the stars in the sky and to make the best of life wherever I may find myself.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Ps. 19:1).

So, in effort show some of His beautiful creation, here are two of our precious clubfeet patients that came to the hospital today:

Anderson, one of the cutest babies ever, has graduated from casts to bar shoes!

Jorge, a new patient of CURE as of today!

--In other news, life in general has been keeping quite a fast pace... the weekend before last as I mentioned above, I flew to the states for a conference in Florida where I got to see my whole family (!!!) except for my sister Emily who is currently living in Rwanda. Everyone else was there, and it was so good to see them all. My younger siblings are growing so fast, I can't believe that the girls are almost as tall as me. The things you don't notice on a daily basis you sure will notice after a month! My nieces and nephs who are just as cute as ever are growing up so fast; it's hard to miss this stage of their lives! But it makes seeing them all that much better.

I got to see some friends that I see only once a year at the conference, so it was great to catch up.

with all my siblings except for Emily, and nieces and nephs except Tristan who decided to no cooperate for this pic, and the twins who were sleeping. What a great bunch I'm blessed to be a part of.

CURE had a presentation on evening, and they brought a girl from the Dominican Republic who was a patient at their hospital there. She doesn't speak English, so they asked me to translate for her. She has a very cool story: Dale is one of the senior staff at CURE, and back about four years ago he went with his son, Jordan (who has recently become my friend), to the hospital in the D.R. Jordan met this girl named Heidy who was born with only half of her legs, so she struggled in daily life as she walked around on her knees. Her hands were also not formed properly, so she had surgery on one of them an can now use it normally. After Jordan left, he told his dad that it felt that he was supposed to buy Heidy her legs. He was only fifteen at the time, and his dad warned him about the commitment he was making, about two thousand dollars to buy prosthetic legs. Jordan felt that he was supposed to get them for her, so when he went home he worked and worked and worked to get enough money for them. Long story short, he got Heidy her legs. When he told the doctor in the D.R. that he finally could buy her legs, the doctor told Jordan that he had faith that Jordan would keep his word, so he went ahead and bought Heidy's legs, so she had been walking for months already.

Fast forward four years to the dinner last weekend. Jordan shared this story, and at the end, Heidy came in. She didn't know that she would meet the man who bought her her legs until she met him at that moment. You can imagine what a powerful time it was!

With Heidy and Jordan

Heidy with Dr. Harrison, founder of CURE

--So that was a beautiful weekend, then it was back home to Honduras. It was much harder leaving my family than I anticipated, but once I was back and made it through the dreaded airports and customs and immigration, the Bridgemans welcomed me home and it was good to be back.

We've been attending a missionary church, and after just two Sundays of attending, the worship leader asked me if I wanted to be a part of the worship team. I was really excited because I've missed doing that so much, so I sang this past Sunday for the first time. I'm really grateful for this fun opportunity!

Other weekend activities usually include some activities outside. I went with Pauline and the girls to hike to the Coco-Cola sign on the mountain again. And once again we didn't make it to the top- we were told it takes about an hour and a half to the top, but after about an hour with the girls in this heat, it's time to turn around and head back down. We then went to Hotel Copantl where Jay was at a doctors' conference, and we swam in their pool.

On Sunday afternoon I went to the Bridgeman's neighborhood to run. I've only gone running a few times here so far, because the only place I can go is around and around my very small neighborhood, and after about 20 minutes of running in circles, I'm hot and bored. I was looking forward to running in a new place, a big place where I could get "lost" in the trails, and explore new places. I didn't realize how much I've missed running; I took off excited to run through all the roads and see new faces, houses, and scenery. I came back nearly an hour later, only because it was starting to get very dark. I'm vert happy about my new place to run!

There is a trampoline in their neighborhood as well, and if you know me you know I LOVE to jump! So it's likely that many weekend nights you'll find us taking a walk to the community trampoline :)

The latest news is that Pauline and I are going with the girls tomorrow to an annual Honduras missionary conference until Saturday in a city about two hours away. Jay has surgeries to do tomorrow and Friday, so he will meet up with us Friday night and we'll all come back Saturday. We are looking forward to meeting other missionaries and being encouraged there.

Tonight before a big group of us went out to dinner with two visiting CURE staff from Guatemala and the US, I had talked with my sis Emily for two and a half hours on Skype. Needless to say, it was a good afternoon.

Rory and Bri's First Birthday!

One year ago today, I was in California on my way to a conference with my family, and we got the news that my brother Andrew and his wife Jennifer had two new baby girls! My twin nieces Aurora and Brielle were born, and today I am flying out to the same conference where I will get to see my whole family (except for my sister Emily who is Rwanda) and I will get to see the girls for their first birthday!!! I am so blessed by these sweet girls that bring so my JOY to our family!

Anj and Jen, congrats on completing one year of parenting. Keep up the good work!

31 Years!!!

Today I'm wishing my parents a very happy 31st anniversary! Having 11 children together, plus fostering others, and now six grandkids later, they are still going strong.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. -1 Corinthians 13:4-8