no more loose screws

So things continue to get better with my shoulder. My range is about at 85-90% I think, and strength about the same. Two weeks ago Friday the removed the screw that was installed during operation screw-dave on December 31. Disappointingly, the screw is smaller than I expected, measuring in at just over a measly one inch. They gave it to me after the surgery in a little bag, along with a little washer. I immediately felt my range improve. The same time they removed the screw, they also removed a little bump that we found after the surgery. It seems to have been the bent-over end of some of the string they used to fix the ligaments in place. The two incisions they made were about 1/4 inch, and each recieved 2 stitches. Since then the stitches have come out and I am impressed at how good things look. With PT, I've started more strength building movements with weights and theraband.

Here's a picture of the screw before it came out. See the washer?

From Shoulder Surgery 2

Not too bad from this angle. Click on the "Shoulder Surgery 2" link for more photos.

From Shoulder Surgery 2

The Nehemiah Center continues to be a busy place. Always new challenges in the computer realm, and things are advancing in the Media Studio as well. I'll be making a presentation very soon to those who work in Nehemiah Center called "Introducing Open Source Software, OpenOffice, and Ubuntu." This presentation is very important as it's the first in a series and the foundation for a lot of changes I've been pushing for and working on throughout the last year. It's finally time to start making it more public. I'm working on more specific presentations and training sessions for OpenOffice and Ubuntu.

In case you're not sure what I'm talking about, "open source software" describes the type of process used to make programs which allows other people to study, modify, and improve the same software, while using it for any purpose and sharing it with anyone else for free. It's a very community-oriented approach to computing and programming. Users are developing it and making it available for anyone else who can use it. To me, it seems like a self-less model on which to base software development. Examples of famous open-source projects include the Firefox web browser, Wikipedia (the web program that it runs on is open source software, and the data within can be edited, modified, or added to by anyone in the world), OpenOffice (a full-range office suite modeled after Microsoft Office). At the Nehemiah Center, by moving to OpenOffice and Ubuntu, we've been able to replace 80% of our pirated software this past year with open-source software, increasing our resistance to viruses, allowing us to have more integrity as a Christian organization, and puttin us in a better position to encourage others in Nicaragua to do the same. A far-off goal would be for us (Nicaraguans exposed to these concepts through the Nehemiah Center) to begin to participate in the development of open-source software...but as I said, that's a far off goal. During this next year, we plan to finish what we started and erradicate pirated software completely from the Center.

Yesterday I took Breyling and Mauro (my "little brothers") for the second time to the monthly men's prayer breakfast in Managua. It's organized by a missionary here with the intention of giving men a time to come together to pray, hold each other accountable, and refocus their lives on God's will. Pretty low-key, we have breakfast, hear a brief message from someone in the group, share reactions to the message anything else important in our lives, and then we pray together. I'm the only one that has brought children to the event (and have wondered why!) and have found it to be an excellent opportunity to expose these two boys to Christian men who are dedicated to serving the Lord. It also sets the tone for and creates a great time for me to pray with the guys. After the prayer breakfast we hang out for a while and do whatever. Spending time with them is quite meaningful, from the little things to the big. One great memory I have of growing up is sitting on my dad's lap steering the car (once we were safely in a residential area, of course) and so yesterday I gave these guys that same experience, which they loved. Last month as we sat at a Tip-Top restaurant (for lunch), they began singing the words to the song being played. To put it softly, it was a song about having a relations with a girl. Although these guys are young, they're exposed to graphic lyrics and television all the time, and that aside from what they're exposed to in the streets. It began an excellent discussion about sex and when and why it is appropriate. Yesterday Breyling reminded me that we had that discussion last time, which really made me happy. He also told me he talked to one of the men from the prayer breakfast when he saw him at his school. The Lord has really opened up an opportunity for me to be a part of their lives and is clearly working in them.

As, I promised, here's a video that I helped put together. CCDH is a partner of the Nememiah Center and CRWRC as well as Partners Worldwide. They are doing excellent things here in Nicaragua. Click once to watch the video in this windos. Twice will open the video in YouTube. Once there, if you want to watch a higher res version, follow the link under the lower right corner of the video.



Prayer Items

-Please pray for healing to continue without complications and that strength and range will return quickly.
-Pray that the current video project will come together and that we'll be able to finish up with it soon.
-Pray for the political situation in Nicaragua and for its leaders, that they would lead justly and fairly.