Another week has come to an end. I woke up this morning bright and early to take Baby Jason to the hospital. Usually, when one goes to the hospital it is not a good thing; but, this time it was for a great thing. Baby Jason has a cleft pallet, and is seven months old. Previous world racers found him at one month old and wanted to do something about it. So, they contacted the president of Operation Smile (which was started in the Philippines in 1984) and told them about him. Now that he is old enough to have surgery, we were able to take him and his mother in for a consultation. We waited for about 2 hours in the sun, and finally his number was called. He saw a number of doctors including a dentist, speech therapist, anesthesiologist, etc. All of these doctors volunteer their time to do these surgeries. The chance of him getting the surgery looked very good.
We then headed back home, dropped baby Jason and his mom off at their house and headed back home. About an hour later we received a text informing us that Jacob was being admitted tomorrow, and he would have his surgery on Monday! Praise God! We are all very excited to be a part of his journey to healing, and seeing God’s grace and mercy. It is a wonderful break from seeing the sadness around us. Hopefully, we will be able to go to the hospital with him and see him through this.
Other than that, this week has been filled with more feedings and adventurous taxi rides (which only cost us about $3.00USD!) through Manila. On this taxi ride we met Mel “Gibson” who is a Christian. Out of the many taxis that I have ridden in (right..), this has been the best (second to seeing the look on a taxi driver’s face in Ann Arbor when my friends and I got into the car with Lord of the Rings garb on). We talked about God, and had a bunch of laughs. He informed us that the way to reach the Filipinos is to eat balut (an Asian delicacy that is a fertilized duck egg. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg)) And yes mom, they are high in protein. Alecia promptly replied that we would not be reaching the Filipinos then. Would I eat balut? Something that the Filipinos that I have talked to thought was disgusting? I doubt it. But I did eat pig’s brain-Mmm, good. I am hoping I don’t get prions (thank you college virology). It tasted like mushy pork (not chicken) and was served at a celebration party for the homeless soccer team and Ateneo’s championship basketball game.
P.S.S. My teammate (Tamara) and Jordon (on another team) were in a mortocycle accident yesterday. They hit some loose gravel and are banged up. Please keep them in your prayers that they heal quickly and don’t get any infections!
