HAving a little fun with my Mac's Photo Booth application.... the kids absolutely love this!!!  The adults too.....

Liv gave me highlights this week.... her first time....she's thinking of switching careers.....

Fresh pineapples in town are hard to beat!

There are so many tailors all over the place here in town.  And the materials are so colorful and have crazy patterns.... buying material has become a little addictive for some

One of my favorite people- Brandon- great guy from Texas who left last weekend. We all miss him harassing us on a daily basis.  The ship is really in a transition phase right now- many people coming and going. Its hard to say good-bye always, but it gets easier all the time because we have to do it so often.  Hard to believe I'll be saying it to everyone in 4 weeks! 

Another interesting transportation pic
Little Maelys... one of our cutest patients yet.... all the kids are so precious here, you just want to take them all home.  The kids ride on mom's back for at least the first two years.  When they are this small, their hands are kept down at their sides, but after about 6 months, the arms are free....  
This little guy was too tiny to fit on the type of scale we had in the post-op room, so the nurse stuck him in this sack....

The  pictures below demonstate the variety of things we find in casts. We almost always find interesting things in little boy's casts, ages 2-5 or so.  We've found many coins, a plastic bag, a piece of a ruler, dirt, sticks, a sprite bottle cap, chalk, 

Lots of sand!!  

And last week.... worms!!!!  YUCK!!!!  

VICTOIRE

This is one of my favorite patient stories since arriving here in Benin.  This little girl, Victoire (VEETWA) , arrived at the initial screen having never walked.  The doctors were concerned about doing a surgery to lengthen her achilles tendons, mainly because she has hydrocephalus (water on the brain), a condition that often will limit the patient's motor abilities when not treated properly,and because the deformity was so severe.  They were concerned she'd go through the pain of surgery and rehab and would be no better off than she was before surgery.  But.... God told them otherwise.... the surgery was done and she was in casts for about 8 weeks. 

Victoire and her father in their matching outfits

Victoire with her ankle foot orthoses about 12 weeks after surgery

It was awesome to send this video to the doctor who did her surgery.  Why wouldn't you want to come back here year after year knowing that God gave you the ability to be able to fix problems like this little angels??  Click on the arrow to watch the video...... THIS is why I came back and why I feel so fortunate to be here!!!