"Little Samuel Armas Holding Dr. Joseph Bruner's Finger During 2002 Surgery"

"Little Samuel"

A picture began circulating in November. It should be "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the Decade." The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by a surgeon named Joseph Bruner in Nashville. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. During the surgery on little Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed, hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity.

The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope." The text explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of 21-week-old foetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life. "Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us my pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person. "Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible. And hey, pass it on. The world needs to see this one!

"Psalm 139"

"O Lord, You have searched me and You know me.
(2)You know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
(3)You discern my going out and my lying down;
You are familiar with me in ALL my ways.
(4)Before a word is on my tongue
You know it completely, O Lord.
(5)You hem me in, behind and before;
You have laid Your Hand upon me.
(6)Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
Too lofty for me to attain.

(7)"Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your Presence?
(8)If I go up into the Heavens, You are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, You are there;
(9)If I rise on the wings of dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
(10)Even there Your Hand will guide me,
Your right Hand will hold me fast.

(11) "If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me
And the light becomenight around me,'
(12)Even the darkness will not be dark to You;
The night will shine like the day,
For darkness is as light to You.

(13) "For You created my innermost being;
You knit me together in my Mother's womb.
(14) I praise You because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made;
You works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
(15) My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the
Depths of the earth,
(16) Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
Were written in Your Book
Before one of them came to be.

(17)"How precious to me are Your
thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
(18)Were I to count them,
They would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with You.

(23) .... "Search me, O God,
And know my heart I pray;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts.
(24)See if there be any offensive way
in me(my heart, soul, and mind),
And lead me in Your Way Everlasting."

Watch:
http://www.youtube.come/watch?v=Fg1FLJzs-h4