Never a Dull Moment

They came!  They came!  They finally came!!!  That's right, my parents took the plunge...well a few plunges actually by the time their trip was over.  They came half way around the world to visit me and the beautiful people on this little island :)

Little Anthony was happy to share a smile with Grandpa Mike  :)

Mom and Dad met a few people, and then a few more, and then a few more...somedays it seems that we have a revolving door.  But my folks were good sports about it and they did their best to keep up with all the new faces and crazy names. 

The village turned out to give them a proper welcome complete with homemade flower necklaces, singing, and a little tambourine and drum action.

We had a great time :)  Thanks for all those who helped get them here!

We never know what a day will hold here.  We've learned to just surrender it to the One who knows and ask for the strength and wisdom needed to face each situation that comes.  This is Jude and his foot, which he accidentally deeply sliced open with a machete.  We asked him if he wanted us to take him to the hospital an hour down the road, but he opted to let me sew him up...so 25 stitches and 1.5 hours later  his wound was closed and I was tired.  We prayed for healing and a pain-free recovery.  I took this picture 15 days after the accident right before I took out the last of his stitches.  Praise God Jude is infection and pain free and he has full range of motion in his foot!

And now for a clinic update...it's been a while since I posted pictures, but the last pictures I posted were of a nearly finished building...and then this happened.  The village association decided that the clinic needed to be totally remodeled, so that they could still get the large sum of money that had been promised by another NGO.  I supposed the concept of tearing down to build back up doesn't only apply to muscles...

At least they are filling in the holes so that it no longer looks like a bomb hit the building :)

Every time I look at these pictures, I just have to shake my head and remind myself I'm not in my home country anymore.  Sometimes...ok often, I am confused by the methodology of projects here.  I suppose it's not wrong, just different...very, very different :)

As you can see, it's all worked out.  I took this picture just this week.  The clinic is looking great inside and out.  However, I'm not holding my breath as to whether or not the project is complete because you can see from the pictures above what happened the last time I said the clinic was nearly finished :)  Haha!
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Out With the Old and In With the New

These are some of my goofy island teammates that I got to hang out with while we were in Kenya in February!
Such fun! :)

This is William.  He is the fifth baby I've gotten to deliver :)  Pretty crazy!

These are a few of my "little" island friends, Jasmine and Joan :)

Here are some pictures of the clinic, then and now :)  This is the back of the clinic when Kirsty and I first went and made an official visit in October 2013

And here it is currently!  The village has done SO much work!  We are super excited :)

Here is the front of the clinic taken January of this year.  It looked worse back in January than it did back in October 2013.  Though in this picture, the old roof has already been pulled off.

Finally, here it is!  Doesn't it look great?!  We are now waiting for the village to tell us when we can move in :)

Village Rumblings

Here is a friend of mine :)  She is pretty goofy and quite mischievous!

He's earning his keep!  We are grateful that both of our cats seem to have the natural rat killing instinct.  Though we have to reign in our disapproval when they bring in a mouse into the house and then lose it!  Crazy cats :)

We have six lines of laundry following a trip to the river.  We wash our clothes in the river because we have to cart our water from the well.  The river has an endless supply of water :)

The ocean has been rough for the last week or so.  This complicates life here because the fishermen can't go fishing because of the waves.  Also, at least 3 boats have gone missing since last week.  One boat was carrying two teenagers from our village.  As the days go by, hope continues to dwindle that the kids are still alive.

Here is our lovely Christmas tree...haha! 

Our village is the place where people come to see the sea turtles lay their eggs.  We decided to go one night and see what we could see.  Here's a turtle digging a hole to lay up to 150 eggs in.  It's pretty cool to watch!  These turtles sure are amazingly created!

They are doing a huge water project in our village.  They dug this massive channel in a day!  The project is hopefully going to bring running water to our village!  YAY!  My house is the pink one on the right :)

Here is a recent picture of the clinic.  It's looking a little worse for wear :(   However, the vice president came the other day and brought a check for the village to begin their renovations!  We can't wait to see the transformation!

Finally, here is our temporary clinic room.  Don't blink, you might miss the mouse in the corner :)