Wednesday, February 13, 2013

ouch and ahh

Jellyfish are a real danger here on Boracay, more so than sea snakes.  Yep!  The sea snakes are super duper poisonous but they can't actually open their mouth wide enough to bite a person, unless the dumb person lets the snake bite them between thumb and finger - but duh, don't do that! 

The past two weeks we have seen a variety of jellyfish float in on the tide, and as Biz now knows for sure, even when they look dead they can still sting the whatever out of ya. 


Pretty isn't it?  I love blue when it's naturally occurring, seems like a gift.  


And yellow, lovely.


Biz picked up one of these guys up above and didn't feel that they really hurt all that much.


Then ,when I was not looking, he touched this guy. 

The above jelly is a blue bottle, very venomous.  Biz thought his arm would fall right off, the pain radiated from his hand all the way into his arm pit.  This 10 year old now has a healthy respect of jellyfish resulting from learning the hard way.   

While swimming we are often stung by jellies, when very small they get into your suit and cause quite a temporary nuisance, akin to being stung by a nettle; unless you get in trouble with a blue bottle or box jelly....then you will have welts and hours of pain. 


Biz at with some of our Laguna friends.


Yo giving just one more swing.


And here is Niko.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support.  He looks amazing for it only having been about 8 days since surgery.  He still has stitches, they are self dissolving and will be gone soon, but he looks so different.   See the pics from the very last post to see the before.

 Sorry this picture is fuzzy.  It is hard to get this guy's picture taken, he is very shy.  I imagine that Niko has spent much of his life in his nipa house, hiding from stares and ridicule.  It will take time and courage to work into the normal social spin in the village.  In this pic are his two brothers, one a year younger and one a year older. 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

just a snippet

Just a quick note on Nico, the little guy with the cleft lip/palate.  I had posted that he is 3, but come to find out he will be 5 in March!  5 years of struggle that we take for granted.  I am proud of his momma, Hazel, and how hard she has worked to keep him healthy. 

Man and our pastor's wife took Nico and his mum to the hospital on Panay on Wednesday.  I had begun to get worried that we'd miss our chance and not get him in...but God is big, bigger than my worry.  Another family who had signed up for the surgery backed out, giving an opening to Nico; he is number 10 is 10 surgery spots! 

Today Man accompanied Nico and him mom to the hospital to get them signed in and settled, ready for surgery tomorrow.  A surgery that will be tough on this little guy, but will change his life.  He will be able to talk, to eat without pushing his food back in, to not be stared at.  The cost?  about $120 US. 

We will post updates as we have them.