The American Ambassador

Life has sort of found its groove and we're tickin' along.  Things are going well with life here so far and we're enjoying ourselves.

Last week a sweet girl came from Iraq--really from Kurdistan which is in the north-- to have clubfoot surgery. Just her and her dad. Her mom stayed home with her siblings.  Her situation was pretty severe but the surgeons did a great job last Saturday. We were able to come over in the morning and talk with her a little bit. When we walked into pre-op she was crying but everyone managed to keep her mind off of things.  T (Fondly known as Terry here, too!) prayed with her and then the surgeons came to examine her one last time before surgery. When she woke up from the surgery, she asked her dad why they didn't do it! Isn't anesthesia a nice thing....Trey said he did the same thing when he had his wisdom teeth out. 

It's pretty amazing that things that we take for granted that can be fixed rather easily if caught in time and due to the fact that we have good medical many at home don't have to worry about these things.  A guy here was explaining that if clubfoot is treated in the first 2 years, most likely it won't even need surgery.  They can cast it and gradually help it along over a 6 month period.

Anyway, this little girl is 13 and the surgeon asked why she never had surgery back home. The dad said that he didn't trust anyone there to do it.  So ....they did it here last week. I'm glad she was able to have it done!  I'm excited to see her with her cast off before she goes home and to see her walk and run. Maybe she won't be able to run by the time she leaves......I don't know the usual timing for all of that.

Each day we go to check on her (she is just down the hall from my office) and she seems to be doing better each day.  We bought her Connect 4. I think I like that game more than she does!  I forgot how fun that was. I figured that was a pretty universal game and even if visitors come who don't speak arabic, than they can still play with her. No words necessary!  Just fun.  The little girl speaks Kurdish but can also speak Arabic which is nice for us communicating together.

If I get a picture, I'll post one.