Patient screening complete, surgery week begins tomorrow

As soon as Caroline gave this little boy a toy car, he stopped crying...man was his mom happy

a life about to be changed...

Coloring became "serious business" during the long waits

During the mission, you see the same kids every day. Carlos never stops smiling

Juan Carlos is an expert technician, and a clown with 1000 tricks. Before you plug in any equipment, he has to inspect it to make sure it doesn't overload the circuits and bring everything electrical down

This is the "end of the line," and some of the best plastic surgeons you can find, along with our international coordinator Sarah taking a break

The food ladies said their goal is to make sure all of the volunteers gain 10 pounds by the end of the mission-do you like pizza, pastries, and does any one know what dulce de leche is?

Operation Smile, or Operación Sonrisa in Spanish, provides those patients and their families who traveled from afar a shelter just outside the hospital until their surgeries are complete

We were told this is Operation Smile's 17th year in Honduras. This new clinic will serve as the headquarters when the international teams aren't in town, and provide ongoing weekly surgeries and follow up for years to come

Grace & Sameera-juniors in high school & Caroline-5th grade...Op Smile makes it clear that the future of the program depends on its youth involvement

Caroline with Gigi & Gustavo (back row) whose parents are Op Smile Honduras supporters and who have a love for Op Smile kids - they ask their parents if they can miss school to come help!

Op Smile missions are hard work, but a lot of fun too. The volunteers went up to the mountains over the weekend for some R & R between screening and surgery weeks 

Caroline opened her mind to a lot of things this trip, even playing portero (goalie)

The volunteer team had a little rest over the weekend, and now it's time to get back to work. We look forward to watching some of the most talented medical professionals, with the biggest hearts, from around the world, change 124+ lives over the next 5 days. We'll be in touch...

Caroline & Mark made it to Tegucigalpa, mission begins

Hello...we made it into Tegucigalpa yesterday, and the mission began today Thursday. About 54 people are part of the mission team - doctors, nurses, psychologists, speech therapists, medical records experts...and people like Caroline & Mark who are just there to help - some interesting people from all over the world...even Iceland!

After our 6am breakfast meeting this morning, we drove up to the hospital to see about 250 young patients and their families waiting for the medical team to arrive (some had traveled for 18 hours to get there, and slept outside near the hospital until the mission began!). Hopefully you can see some of them in the pictures attached. Honduras is a very poor country overall, but you can't believe how happy the people are when you talk to them and watch the kids play with all the bubbles, crayons, balls, toys, jewelry, etc., that many of you gave to support the mission.

Today's highlight for Caroline was being invited into the screening room by some of the doctors and nurses to examine the children. They look carefully at/into each child, and take notes as to exactly how they plan to operate on each child. Wow!

Thanks for all your help to get us here, and we'll keep the pictures coming. Take care until our next post..........

Preparing for Honduras Operation Smile mission trip

Hello!  It is me, the mother and wife helping prepare everything for Caroline and Mark's first mission trip.  We are thrilled to have this opportunity as a family and are looking forward to affecting the lives of many Honduran children and for the amazing life changing experience we are going to have. As Brigette commented to me, we are in "crunch" mode.  I am trying to figure out how to pack 100 hand painted t-shirts from the fifth graders at Alanton that our dear friends Lisa, May, Kristin, Pat-Pat and Natalie have helped convert to hospital gowns....along with all of the donations of toys, hair bows, toothbrushes and toothpaste.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and appreciate your support more than words can express.