Update from Taylor

Hi,

Breaking in the New Leg

Below is an update of what we’ve all been up, written by my dad. I had a blast ice climbing, and I’m really happy that we’re making such good progress with finding a home for Wenson in the Anchorage School District, helping the Dabonne area recover, and rebuilding the Cabois school. After our adventures ice climbing, I needed another minor surgery to deal with all the extra skin I’ve got now that the swelling has gone down. (I had permission from my doctors to go climbing, and the surgery wasn’t related. So there .) It went well, but I’m not allowed to wear my prosthetic until the stitches come out and the skin is healed again, so I’m back on crutches for a few more weeks.

From Papa:
Christa got her first prosthetic leg in early March, and her indomitable spirit continues to shine. She joined in an ice-climbing event called Gimps on Ice in Ouray, Colorado on March 19-20, sponsored by Paradox Sports, an amputee climbing group. See more photos at the bottom of the page.

Our son Julian returned to Haiti in early March, with water purification kits, medications and tents. The photos are of Julian with friends, and of food distribution by Head’s Together, the literacy program where Julian and Christa were volunteering.

Julian back in Haiti

Finally, we have made great progress towards Wenson Georges to the US for school. He is the 18-year-old Haitian young man that Christa credits with “saving my life twice over.” The Anchorage School District has offered to provide a place in the ESL and secondary programs, and Terry and I are very much looking forward to hosting this compassionate, heroic young man in our home. No doubt Alaska will be a wild contrast with Wenson’s previous life experience, but he a young man of quite remarkable initiative.

Gimps on Ice 2010

Head Together Distributed 317 kits of rice, beans and oil