Richard’s Heart Surgery

February 28, 2016, we came Stateside for the first time as a family of five with our adopted daughter for what we thought would be a three month stay for our daughter’s citizenship interview and to spend some time with friends and family before returning to the Amazon and the ministry God has given us there. God ended up having other plans and long story short we moved permanently back to the US. While we know without a doubt it was His plan, we didn’t fully understand “why” at the time. It was a step of faith and the hardest decision we’ve ever made. Throughout the last three years, we have seen little glimpses of answers to that question. But ten months ago, we realized the answer was a lot bigger than we had anticipated. Richard was born with a congenital heart defect. We have known he would eventually need open heart surgery to replace his aortic valve (thinking 50s or 60s). But we didn’t know his valve had quickly progressed to needing replacement now, instead of later. On February 25, he will undergo heart valve surgery in Plano, TX (7 hours from Laredo).We have prepared as much as one can, but financially it is difficult to prepare for such a surgery. So we are trying to raise $10,000 to help us cover the out of pocket expenses related to the surgery including transportation, deductibles, and copays associated with the surgery. Thanks in advance for your prayers and thoughts! As much as no one wants to face surgery, we are grateful to be in the US where a surgery of this nature is available! God is good.