Updates and Preparations

Much to update on...

I'll start with flight options. John sent me an email from the travel agency we will be purchasing tickets through with 3 different flight options (which are different dates, though all mid-April, and different locations for flight changes, different times, and different prices). The most important deciding factor is coordinating with Blu and Darbi at New Day Orphanage for when we can stay there. Jason and I, being the practical people we are, went through the email making mental pro-con lists and sent back an email to John with our 1st-3rd choice on options. He'll take our opinion into consideration and keep us in the loop on what flight we'll actually end up with. Whichever option we go with, it takes two days to get there! It will be overnight from DFW and then layovers and another night with traveling. Since my max time in an airplane has been from DFW to New York, this should be very interesting. Two nights with no sleep in a bed and the whole jet lag thing....and I need to be ready to work-work-work when we get to New Day. My annoyingly delicate sleep cycle is going to make this hard. I need to start researching airplane pillow options. :)

We got more used parts donations! The Hanger Clinic in Dallas donated two boxes with feet, a liner or two, and other parts. A big THANK YOU to Angie at Hanger Clinic Dallas for donating these parts to Prosthetic Promises. I was able to pass these along to Chris yesterday when she came up the office I work at in Denton.

Chris is so amazing!...she drove over 2 hours to Denton to teach Cindy (my boss) and I the socket design I will need to know for the trip to Zambia. We have a patient that needs a different socket design and this seemed like the perfect solution for her. The patient came in the office for casting. Then Chris taught us all the aspects of making the socket. I'm so excited to know this design now so I have several months (and hopefully several patients) here in Denton to practice before we leave. I fully intended to take pictures yesterday to post of the fabrication process of the socket but got so wrapped up in making sure I understood all the steps, I completely forgot. 

Things we'll be doing in the near future in preparation....

Chris has already started going through donated supplies and boxing it up for shipping. She anticipates shipping everything out in December. It takes several months for the things to get to New Day. We still have some supplies to get...I plan to contact some manufacturers and companies to see if they would be willing to donate the things we need. Chris will order the remaining supplies needed with monetary donations that have been made to Prosthetic Promises before she ships everything over to Zambia. 

Picking one of the flight options and purchasing tickets will be in the next few months. It will be nice to have definite dates set for the trip. 

And on my personal to-do list is to find a comfy pillow for the flights. I'll get one for Jason too. 

FUMC Clifton

This past Sunday, Chris and John met me in Clifton at my home church, First United Methodist, to share with the congregation about Prosthetic Promises. I've been so excited to introduce my church family to Chris and John, share with them about what we do in prosthetics and the mission to Zambia. My church family at FUMC have been such a wonderful influence in my life as I've grown up, always encouraging and supporting me. It was exciting to be able to show everyone a glimpse of what I do in prosthetics---what exactly did she end up doing with that college degree? :)  A big THANK YOU to Pastor Reed for letting us talk to the congregation during the Sunday service. Chris and John gave a wonderful presentation with pictures and stories from their trip last September. 

I took only a few pictures (in which everyone seemed to have an odd expression on their face). Oops :)

We were able to talk more with some people after the service. And Traci (my sister) seems to have taken more pictures then.

It was so awesome to see my church family, get tons of hugs!, and tell them about Prosthetic Promises. Several people also made generous donations to Prosthetic Promises for costs and supplies for our trip in April. THANK YOU FUMC CLIFTON!!!

**Fun side note: I was able to give Chris and John all the used parts donations when we met in Clifton. It took at least five tries to arrange them all in the back of my Fiat and get the door to close. See tetris picture below.