On my way....

My flight boards in one hour! A quick 15 hours over the Pacific ocean... And I'll be almost to my destination! I packed 3 large suitcases (and paid dearly for the one extra)... They are loaded with Beanie Babies and small stepped animals, books, coloring books, crayons, pencils, games, fishing games,toys and stickers for the children. A BIG thank you to all my friends, family, co-workers at Rose, and families at my office for your help and generosity! You can be assured these simple things will bring very big smiles and ease their fear a little. Sometimes the parents smile the most! I also have in tow (as carry-on!) and audiometer and tympanometer! And thank you Beth for loaning me an otoscope so we can look inside those little ears before we test their hearing! This is the first of my (soon to be) 7 mission trips where we can test their hearing and try to evaluate what's going on with their ears! For children with cleft palate, fluid in their ears and associated hearing loss is common! Once we have an idea of the "ears" of the children joining the mission- we can look at options to help them on our next trip! I'm excited to have purchased the audiometer/tympanometer for my off so we can take on future medical/cleft palate missions! Well, I should take a walk before I board the plane... I hope there is a good movie to watch! More from Manila! Salamat! Theresa