A Glorious Day! Our Cleft Lip Babies Return Home!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." - James 1:17

Praise God!  Our children returned from their surgeries yesterday!  They were all cleared by Operation Smile and they look beautiful!  What a time of thanksgiving we had when they all showed up on our doorstep yesterday afternoon!  We laughed and hugged and praised God together and then loaded up into the Landcruiser to take them home to their villages for the first time!  All three of the children we sent for surgery were able to receive cleft lip repairs!  God is good!!!! 

Here are our three babies all together!  

"Now therefore, O God, we thank you, and praise your glorious name."- 1 Chronicles 29:13

Meet Lennison!  Lennison has been on this blog many times!  He was first introduced to us back in April when we had returned from furlough.  We began feeding and providing formula to his mom because Lennison has a severe cleft palate and can not nurse from mom at all.  Because of this he was severely malnourished.  We hoped that the ConnectMed team would be able to provide surgery for him but because of his poor health he could not be considered for surgery.  So we began checking on Lennison weekly, visiting his home, meeting his family, and checking his health so that he could receive the possibility of surgery with Operation Smile when they came in August.  

This is Lennison before surgery at one of our many visits with him. 

Aida, his mom, using one of the cleft bottles we gave her to feed Lennison with.

Lennison's dad

At Lennison's home

This is the day of registration for Operation Smile.  August 2, 2014

Prayers and hopes were all around!  We were all so excited!

Praise God Operation Smile was able to perform a cleft lip repair on baby Lennison!  He received surgery on Friday, August 8th and we were able to see him on the 9th.  How beautiful he is!

Above is Lennison in the hospital immediately post-op

This is Lennison as he came home from the hospital yesterday!  He still will require a cleft palate surgery so we will continue providing formula to keep him nourished until he can eat for himself. Praise God for answered prayers!  Now we pray for the next surgery!  

Below are pictures of baby Philemena.  Philemena came to the ConnectMed registration in hopes of receiving a cleft lip repair.  Unfortunately she also was too sick for surgery.  Because hers was just a cleft lip she did not need formula and special bottles to continue eating.  She was able to nurse from mom.  We didn't see her much during the few months between the ConnectMed team and the Operation Smile team.  And we worried when she didn't show up for registration on the 2nd.  We had hoped that she was there but that we simply didn't see her.  

On Thursday, 5 days after registration Philemena's mom and two grandmothers showed up saying that there was a funeral in their village and they couldn't come last week.  We were very nervous!  They were very late and the chances of her receiving surgery at this late notice was very small.  Funerals are a BIG deal in Malawian culture and everything stops when one is going on the village.  Unfortunately funerals are held quite frequently however.  We are astonished at the fact that more focus is spent on mourning the dead than on caring for the living, in this case, Philemena.  She almost missed her chance at life changing surgery because of a 5 day funeral.  

We decided to chance it and take Philemena and her family into town at the last second.  She was put on the waiting list and by God's grace this beautiful little girl was indeed able to receive her surgery!  

This is Philemena yesterday at our home when they arrived home from the hospital.  

Isn't she beautiful?

Philemena at her house when we dropped her off for the first time post-op.

Group picture of Philemena's family

Philemena's mom

And finally, here is Lifton.  You'll remember Lifton from a previous blog post focusing on him.  I put these pictures here again for reminder of God's grace and mercy!

Lifton the day we took him for screening with Operation Smile!  We were so excited and so hopeful!

Here is Lifton as he arrived back at Rainbow yesterday!  

Isn't he beautiful!?

Lennison as we took him home yesterday for the first time post-op

Lennison's village

Praise God for his work in the lives of these beautiful children!  

"The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he made." -Psalm 145:9

Lifton's Miracle!

Meet Lifton!  If you are a follower of our blog or of our Facebook page then you already know Lifton.  Lifton is from Mkanghamila village where Lucas has planted one of the churches in our area.   When ConnectMed was here in May we met Lifton (a church elder knew that we were searching for cleft palate/cleft lip patients and he introduced us). We took him to ABC for screening with the ConnectMed team.  Unfortunately Lifton was too malnourished for surgery at that time but ConnectMed was able to fit him with a device that would aid in his eating (which can be seen in the pictures). 

Not wanting this family to give up hope or get lost in the system, our family decided that we would provide formula and care for Lifton to try to get him fat and healthy for the August Operation Smile surgery event. We had until August 2 to try to get his weight up! Every two weeks we would take or send formula to Lifton's mom and check on him to make sure he was thriving.  Lifton is a twin and at our last visit we noticed that Lifton was now actually FATTER than his twin brother!  Praise God!  

Above is Lifton in his mom's lap.  His twin brother is standing on his grandmother's lap in the back.

August 2nd Lifton and his mother arrived at Rainbow bright and early to be taken to Kamuzu Central Hospital for screening with Operation Smile! 

Lifton being screened by Peter Bartlett to check his hearing!  Peter is a good friend of ours and one of only two audiologists (the other is his wife Bec) in Malawi. 

On August 4th we got word that Lifton was selected for surgery!  Praise God!  What a wonderful blessing!  He was scheduled to have his lip repaired on the 6th.  He will require additional surgeries in the future to repair his cleft palate.   

Surgery day!  We visited with Lifton and his mom as they waited to be called back for surgery.

Lifton's last photo before surgery!

And here is Lifton today!  Isn't he gorgeous?!  

His mother is beyond happy and just beaming with joy!  Apparently the Op Smile team gave her some hats to celebrate with! ;)

May God receive all glory and honor and praise!  Lifton still has a long way to go but we pray that through God's help he will come to complete healing and will grow to thank God for His provisions!

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.- Isaiah 12:4