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 :) 

New Beginnings

So, Kirsty and I finished our month long internship at the rural clinic about 30 minutes from our new village.  Here is most of the clinic staff that we got to know quite well during our time there.

After leaving the rural health clinic, we moved to our new village, "Turtle Beach."  Here is what our back courtyard looks like.  The first blue door to the left is Kirsty's room and the second one is mine.  To the right is our outdoor bathroom...it has no roof...we can't wait for the rainy season...haha! :)

Here is our living room as viewed from our front door.  If you continue through the curtained doorway ahead, you will find our kitchen.

And here it is!  Nearly all of our neighbors have outdoor kitchens, but as you can see from the photo of our courtyard above, we have no place for a kitchen outside.  So, we turned this second living room into our kitchen.  We are blessed to have been provided such a place!

To end the house tour, here is my room.  Compared to my old mud hut room, I am living in the lap of luxury!   Blessed beyond words!

We are making friends in our new village.  One friend in particular is committed to making us feel like we belong.   Not long after we arrived in the village, she took us with her to see her fields.  We weren't allowed to return empty handed.  We brought back a homemade sack of coconuts, several bunches of green cooking bananas, and some cassava root, which is starch staple here.

Here I am using a coconut grater on one of our recently acquired coconuts...I never walk away unscathed...the graters teeth are quite vicious!  Thankfully my tetnus shot is up to date :)

Lastly, here are our two ferocious rat killers :)  Because we live in a village known for it's turtles, it was only right that we name our cats in honor of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: meet Michelangelo and Donatello :)

The Winds of Change

We're back!!!  Me and Kirsty arrived back on our little island the first week of May.   Our arrival was shortly followed by Sonia, our Australian teammate :)

A LOT has happened since we've been gone...for starters look at Daisy and Haley, the two little ones who were my ever present next door neighbors.  They're not so little anymore!  It was SO fun to come back to my old neighborhood and see the kiddos come running for a hug :)

Our role here on the island has changed.  The government agreed to give us a health contract as nurses....so, here we are hair nets and all!  Haha!

Our first order of business was to step up an internship at the main hospital on the island.  Thankfully, we were able to move into one of the houses in the hospital compound.  We could see the Emergency Room from our front door...which enabled us to be hollered for if need be...haha!

The bathroom needed a little work...I tackled the shower...before I started scrubbing, I actually thought that the tiles were a brownish/yellow color.  You can imagine my horror as I scrubbed away the nasty color!  Let's just say, the previous tenants had been men...haha!

Much better, wouldn't you say!  Haha!  It's amazing how much more pleasant it is to shower in a clean shower!  Aww, the simple pleasures! :)

So, our house had a flaw and it wasn't the grubby bathroom.  We discovered that we had rats!!!  There was no time to lose...we got a cat to catch the rat...or rats...  :)  And it worked!  She was a fine cat...a little odd, but we kept her anyway :)

So, my old housemate, Corinna, went home and got married!!!  Here she is on  her special day with her husband!  They are currently living in Australia.

I didn't miss everything while I was gone.  Not long after I returned I found out that one of my island sisters was getting married...in my old house!!!  Haha!  My camera's attendance was requested...haha!  Here is the bride, with her husband on the left and her sister, Nita on the right :)

I was also able to attend an engagement party for my best friend's daughter Hannah.  She is in the middle.  My other island sister, Naomi, is on the left.  Those are breadfruits hanging from the tree behind us.  Breadfruit is a starch that when cooked tastes like baked bread...hence the name :)  I enjoyed eating lots of breadfruit over my first two years!

So, we finished our internship at the main hospital and we've just begun another internship at a rural clinic.  Welcome to our new accommodation...

Well now that you've seen the house...I mean the room...here's the door :)  We are living in the room that up until a week and a half ago housed the overnight nurse.  Consequently, we often have frantic knocks on our door at all hours.  Thankfully, as you can see we don't have far to go to reach the clinic...haha :)

Lastly, with your help we bought a car!  Thank you!  It has already been a great blessing to us!  We've made sure that we can transport a full size person laying down in the back in case of emergencies once we open the new clinic in our final destination village :)

What Do You Do When...

What do you do when a teammate needs to practice henna for a friend's upcoming wedding?  By all means you let her practice...on every limb...haha!

What do you do when one of your English students is having a Grand Marriage?  You put on your fanciest African dress to make a good impression on the village next door...oh life in Africa, it never gets old :)

What do you do when one of your good friends gets married?  You go to her house and take nearly a hundred photos of her and her many new outfits...haha!

What do you do when you have a bunch of bananas...pun intended :)  You have a backyard banana and chicken fry with your neighbors!

What do you do when you have a pile of old, broken flip flops?  You use them to plug a hole in your fence :)

What do you do when you need to pacify a whinny child...you give them a whole soda and a pack of cookies...just for clarification, her mom did this, not me...haha!

What do you do when it's chilly in the mornings?  You find a friend to cuddle with...if your a cat, that is :)  I prefer to put on long pants, socks, and a jacket and make a cup of Nescafe coffee...however, to each his own...haha!