MANITAS
{ little hands }

Today on Thanksgiving Day I cannot help but think about my friends down in Guatemala who do not have even the necessities much less all the extras like we do. I am grateful to  God for all the things He has blessed us with...family to make good memories with, plenty of food, a nice warm house to spend the day in, and many other things.But apparently happiness does not come from these things alone because Emeragilda is one of the sweetest ,most thankful person I have ever met and she has none of these. She is a sweet lady down in Guatemala with 3 children  who melt your heart as soon as you meet them. When I met them they were living in a small house with open doors and open widows,huge cracks in the walls and holes in the roof, and they were sleeping on boards with only 2 blankets for the whole family.They all had colds from sleeping in the cold,especially the oldest girl Wendi,had a heavy cough that would shake her whole tiny body. Emeragilda's abusive husband left her a few years ago and since then she has been living in fear of her mother-in-law who flies into a rage and beats her for no reason and trying to find enough work to feed her 3 growing children.
                                                                           

  
  One evening while we were down there we took her and her children to get some warmer clothes,but after we took them home we decided to run into town to see if we could find some mattresses to improve their sleeping arrangements. We did find some mattresses and headed back out to her house thinking we would find them happy with their warm clothes and looking forward to their warm mattress but when we drove up to the dark house we saw them huddled out by the road sobbing. Come to find out the mother-in-law had come in threatening her and the children and they all ran into the dark to hide but were afraid to go back into their house.This has been life for Emeragilda and her children for the last 10 years but she has never had enough money to even consider renting a different house. She has worked hard and built up her business so we knew that if we could help her get another house she could then support herself and her children but they would no longer have to live in fear all the time.We did not have much time before we had to catch our flight back home but God blessed our efforts and we were able to get them moved just a few hours before we had to leave. Thank-you God that Emeragilda no longer has to live in fear!!

Our little Ingrid was not able to get the surgery that we were hoping for... Nehemias did take her in to Guatemala City to the clinic and they found that she had an infection in her mouth and was running a fever so they would not do the surgery until that was cleared up. They put her on antibiotics for 10 days but Operation Smile is leaving before the 10 days is up so at this point she will be monitored until we can either find another doctor that will perform the operation or wait until March when Operation Smile is hoping to return to Guatemala. It was very disappointing but we are praying that she will continue gaining weight and that she will be in good health for next time. Please continue to lift Ingrid and her family in prayer!

Ingrid is an adorable little girl we were introduced to down in Patzutzun who has a cleft palate. She is two years old but only weighs 16 pounds because at this point with her condition she can only have liquids and since her family is very poor they could not afford to buy her formula. Her mother broke down and cried as she told us how they took her to the doctor but were given the sad news that she has to be up to 18 pounds before the surgery can be done.  It is very hard for little Ingrid to gain weight so 2 pounds seems like a lot! Also the mother told us that she touches her every morning just to make sure she is still alive because it would be very easy for her to drown in her own saliva while she is sleeping. It broke our hearts to see the hopelessness of the mother- she did not have enough money to feed her baby much less pay for the much needed surgery!

 So...while we were there we took her a big bag of formula and we were going to buy her a special bottle but while we were looking for this we found out about  the organization OPERATION SMILE. We were very excited to find out that they are planning to go to Guatemala November 7th to do free surgeries and we are  making arrangements for Ingrid to be evaluated and hopefully have the surgery done .Thank-you Operation Smile!! By next week our little girl should have her surgery done and be well on the way to recovery.