In the words of Nelson Mandela...

"Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Friday, February 13, 2009

Operation Smile

I had the chance to be a part of something truly beautiful today; I chaperoned a group of 20 students from my school on an Operation Smile mission. You may remember that a few months back I wrote a blog about Roger and I participating in a walk/run fundraiser for Operation Smile (if not, go back to our September 2008 blogs or visit their website at www.operationsmile.com to find out more about this wonderful non-profit organization that helps children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate).

It is hard to find the words to express just how moving this experience was. In fact, I am not even going to try because I feel like the pictures will tell a better story…and quite possible move you too.

Esteban: 5 months old (Before)

Esteban (After - the stitches will dissolve with time leaving behind only a thin scar)

Xiomara: 2 years old (Before)

Sara Maria: 5 months old (Before)

* I didn’t get “after” pictures of Xiomara and Sara because we had to leave before they came out of surgery, but I can assure you that it was a beautiful transformation.
Posted by Audra and Roger

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Audra and Roger,
You may remember that I mentioned that our Kiwanis Club had "Operation Smile" as our yearly project one year. We had cans on the tables at our meetings every week to collect donations.
Hope everything is fine with you. We had about 7 inches of snow last week.
Adam is home and has been over a couple of times. Once for cheese soup--his favorite dish.
Love you both, Grandma and Grandpa

Monday, February 16, 2009
Nathan and Dani said...

Audra, your post is so inspirational! I would love to do something like that someday. I love looking at your pictures and reading about how you are doing. I can't wait to see you when you are back in the States next!

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Brandi said...

Audra, I love this post. I am hoping to do some international work once I have some experience with my nursing degree. Trying to look in to some different christian organization. So inspirational! Glad to hear you are doing great!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

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