Friday, July 18, 2014

Sibling Skypes

Forgot to add these two photos from our morning tour of  the compound (location sketchy on purpose). 

Yuuki heard Arielle's voice and pointed and began wagging her tail as she figured out where it was coming from....


Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Busy Week - both Here and Over There

This week has been a whirlwind and I'm happy it's Friday. 

We've continued with summer school. 


Rachel & Rebekah - two of the gals on our leadership team 
Monday - trip to radiology and a PWOC LiFT (Ladies in Fellowship Together). Our focus this month was the persecuted church and our responsibility to pray for it. I enjoyed the chance to visit with ladies I don't see often....and I also enjoyed the focus. 

April shares some statistics
Tuesday - I shopped. I came home and washed, chopped, arranged and bagged a LOT of fruit.  I was glad fruit was on sale. I also made double recipes of my new favorite Quinoa Avocado Salad and Lentil Mushroom Spinach Roulade.  Paulette bought a lot of veggies and was similarly busy. Her veggies and giant green salad, joined with my fare and we had lots of  vegan options for Wednesday's retirement ceremony as requested. 

Wednesday - Ch S's day of retirement. It was nice to meet all of his kids. Barbara had cooked many Greek dishes ahead of time. They got back in town Tuesday night. Their daughter got married last week and they attended a family reunion.  Cynthia, Paulette and myself had a good time as we helped Barbara with set up and serving. There was a community of Orthodox nuns who attended and I was happy we had yummy options for them (they don't eat meat on Wednesdays). The retirement began with an Orthodox worship service. I saw a bit of that. 

Wednesday afternoon Rachel (see photo above) picked me up and we went to find a screen printing shop. She found it much cheaper to order our shirts online and have them printed locally. We headed off to find the local printer and had fun imagining what we may be getting ourselves into. Turns out they run the shop out of the back of the family's auto body shop.  I was impressed listening to the discussion between them and Rachel. 

Wednesday evening is family Bible study.  I tweaked my back Wed a.m. 

Thursday - My back felt worse. Stacia had an early a.m. doctor's appointment. We discovered she is still "off the chart" and weighs exactly what she should for her height.  Some will remember Stacia's  immunization saga. She needs 3 shots. Dr. didn't want to chance all 3...but suggested we try 2  this time...so we did...and she's doing fine. Dr. did say never more than 2 shots.....BUT one more shot and this child will be caught up with shots until she is 11. Then we'll begin a-shot-a-month again for boosters. I wonder if there will be a point when they (and WE) are comfortable with her receiving shots "normally."

The doc also is treating a white spot on Stacia's back. I'm glad she DID something - the other guy just said, "Hmmm." This pediatrician said Vitiligo usually shows in the 20's and she did not think it is that - which Michael has. She thinks it's a mole of some sort...but the patch has grown considerably. We're trying a month of steroids and if it doesn't shrink will be seeing a dermatologist.

We also picked up a PWOC project and dropped off a PWOC project at Arts and Crafts on base.  We ran by Jennifer's office and dropped off a fund's request. I planned some more rally stuff.

Last night we sat in the hot tub....and I discovered that my sunless tan fades quickly in chlorine. Stacia was shocked...Michael was upset my tan was going down the filter....and I had to admit...I looked like a reverse dipped cone when I got out. BUT my back felt better.

Friday - well - my back still hurts. I decided to sit with the heating pad and not exercise today or do much of anything.

 Krista and Arielle called and gave us a
 tour of the compound. We enjoyed meeting Arturo and saying "hola" to various kids. We met Martin, Arielle's 9 year old protector.

Alex was a bit taken aback when he said, "Hola" and the boys responded in English, "Crazee."

The girls have had a full week. A youth from the church who lives across from them died this week.  They've continued to play with kids, do dishes, learn to cook new dishes, help wherever they can, teach English and crafts....they are happy. They've learned a few other new tricks which you can catch on their blog. 

Krista has printed an interview with Arturo and Lilia if you want to know more about the ministry they are serving with this summer.

The gentleman below attends church on the compound. He is a local baker. He came to teach the kids how to make Mexican yumminess, while the adults were busy with counseling and funerals.



Krista leads the group in exercises....

THIS is what happens when American hair meets Mexican lice treatment....another fun event at the orphanage this week. You'll need to go read details on A Walk in the Wild. 

I asked them WHY they didn't use the lice treatment Jamin purchased and sent back to them. They hadn't realized what everyone was doing when the episode began. Then they saw the BIG BUGS and thought they were treating for odd bed bugs or something - they didn't realize lice can get so big. ::snort::  Evidently, the Americano's new hair styles has been much discussed at church and orphanage. 

Michael's bringing home pizza - I'm going to go put more heat on my back.....

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...