Nothing Like Ice Cream

Liver

Caleb had an enlarged liver. Dr. Mas increased his dose of Lasik.

Fontan Heart Surgery Scar After 2 Months

First Day of School!

Big Day Tomorrow!

Caleb starts Pre-K4 tomorrow at Florida Christian School. Should be fun.....

Caleb at the Doctor

Today is Caleb's Birthday!!

Birthday Pic

Honorary Fireman

Caleb's B-day party at the firehouse!

Update

Caleb just left the cardiologist office. His post-fontan check-up was
perfect. Dr. Mas is thrilled at his progress and recovery. Caleb will
still be on LASIK to avoid plural effusions and his physical activity
still needs to be limited.

Thank you Lord for all You are doing.

Sent from my iPhone

Angela is resting in the arms of her Maker

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Claudia Arango" <arangoc@globaloutreach.org>
Date: July 5, 2009 4:53:17 PM EDT
To: "Claudia Arango" <arangoc@globaloutreach.org>
Subject: Angela is resting in the arms of her Maker

Dear Friends,  It is with a heart  filled with lots of emotions I shared that our precious Angela has passed away this Sunday morning.  I will miss this sweet little girl but I rejoice that she is well and resting in the arms of Jesus.  The suffering, neglect and deprivation she went through here on earth by those who instead should have treasured, cared and loved her has come to an end.  I knew that only Jesus had the power to heal her and keep her with us and I  knew that I needed to leave that up to Him, knowing that His ways are greater than our ways.  My responsability was to be His hands to her and show her our Father's love for her as I had the opportunity to care for her.  Oh Lord Jesus how greatful I am for that oportunity you gave me for that short period of time.  I am greatful for every chance I had to feed her, to hug her, to comfort her  and to love on her.  I am greatful for the times I saw my girls seating by her side either reading her a book or simply holding her hand,  The day before she went into the hospital I danced with her in my arms to the worship music my daughter Hope played with her guitar for us.  Thank you Jesus for those sweet times with Angela!  She touched my life and the life of my girls and also the lives of many as they felt drawn with love to pray for her.  The many emails I received after sending news on Angela were a displayed of God's love among His people.  E mails filled with encouragement, concerns and offers to help,  and love.  Thank you to all of you for your prayers during this time and we all know that this is not the end as we have the hope one day we will see Angela again in our heavenly home.

 

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

 

In His Service,

 

Claudia

A Crazy Combination: Caleb and Fireworks!

Please pray for Angela

I received this email from a missionary that we know that works at an orphanage in Africa. Please pray for this situation.

Dear Friends,  I just want to warn you about the picture.  This is Angela the 6 year old girl whom I have been caring for for the last 3 or 4 days(I lost track)  It has been extremely heart breaking.  She weights 20 pounds.  As you can see in the picture she is just bones like the kids we sometimes see on tv from Africa.  Her story is so sad and I will share it later.  I've been pouring myself into this little girl because she has touched my heart in a special way.  I have been having to feed her formula every two hours.  She is extremely weak.  Tuesday Night I ended up at the hospital with her to give her a blood transfusion because she was completely out of blood.  Her eye lid was white as a paper so were her hands.  She improved a bit  until this afternoon when she began to not look good at all.  We have a team here now and there is a pediatrician.  After calling her to come and checked Angela she confirmed that she was not doing good and that she was about to have a heart failure.  So I grabbed her as quick as i could and we rushed her to the hospital.  After 10 intents of getting her vein to put her on an IV and not only give her fluids but give her more blood doctors opted for a more difficult procedure which is to get the needle in the bone and give the fluids and blood through it.  Doctors even asked me to stepped out because it was going to be extremelly difficult to see her go through the procedure.  Little Angela is now at the hospital batteling for her life.  Doctors were able to get the procedure done and she is getting blood and fluids and is as well on oxigen.  One of the doctors told me that her condition is very delicate and really only a miracle can save her life.  Please pray for her.  I know God's will is perfect and whatever He chooses is good and well.  But my heart truly wishes for Him to spare her life so that she may have another chance to be loved and cared how she should have been so for these 6 years fo her life.

 

Please feel free to pass this on to others to pray for her.  We, children, staff and missionaries at GSF appreciate your prayers on behalf of little Angela. 

 

Love,

Claudia

All Great!

Caleb had a great appointment at the cardiologist today. Next
appointment is in three weeks.

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Chest Tube Hole Bleeding

Caleb showed me some blood stains on his pajamas a little while ago.
It turns out that his chest tube opening is bleeding. Actually we've
noticed that it as been bleeding on and off for awhile. Perhaps they
took out the stitches too soon. We're in the phone with a cardiac
nurse friend as we speak.

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Happy to be Home!

Done

We got the thumbs up from the doctor to leave Philly! Now we work on
changing our travel arrangements...

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Dog Tricks

Caleb watching dog tricks at the Ronald McDonald House the day he was
released from the hospital.

Tears of Both Kinds

We vividly remember Caleb's first surgery and the long recovery. He was only eight days old. We made friends with several families of babies and kids that had surgery the same week he did. After a week or two they were all discharged and went home. We did not. It was hard to stay and see them go. It was lonelier without them and we often wondered through the ups and downs when it would be our turn to go home.

Today we got discharged. Probably long before before our new friends.

In having to say good-bye, we remembered being the last ones to leave. We didn't want to say good-bye, but what if we never see them again. Some of our new friends are Alexandra, Elliot and Lauren. Alex is a little girl who had the same surgery as Caleb and has been at CHOP for almost a month. Elliot had surgery the day before Caleb. He just got out of the ICU. Lauren played with Caleb in the playroom. She is waiting for a heart. Please pray for them. These are just three of the faces we saw as we walked up and down the halls of the cardiac unit. Although we are crying tears of joy and thanksgiving to God for His plan and for you and all the people who prayed and comforted us during this time, we are deeply sad that these kids are still in the hospital. We were almost embarrassed to tell any of them that we were leaving. We were promised a long stay. God had other plans.

Since the chest drainage tube came out on Monday, they want us to return on Friday for a follow-up visit and some testing. It takes about four or more days for the plural effusion (water around heart and lungs) to really show up. If his x-ray looks good and his lungs sound good on Friday, we will be cleared to fly home. Otherwise we will be re-admitted for IV diuretics and another one or two chest tubes will be inserted for the liquid to drain out. This is a common complication of this surgery, but so far there are no signs of this starting.

Thank you much for praying for us! God heard and answered in such a miraculous way!