Everyday is different

I've been realizing lately how diverse my life is and all the wonderful different things I get to do each and every day. I know that there are many sacrifices that Tristan and I have made, choosing to live as missionaries in a 3^rd world country definitely isn't taking the easy route (that sometimes I wish for). But really, I'm living the good life – I'm working my dream job – can't really think of a better job description than what I have and I'm passionate about what I”m doing. I'm happy. Life is mostly good and boy is it full! 

Somedays I work on the computer far too many hours – answering emails, planning teams, working on paperwork and procedures and trying to learn how to administrate a medical clinic in a 3^rd world country.  Then I take some hours to play play dough and teach a neighbor how to make an American dish (banana bread is a real hit here). Sometimes I feel bored and overwhelmed at the same time – I have too much to do and yet can't do any of it because one or both or all of my children need me at the same time.

A few weeks ago, I decided to go along with Tristan up a mountain side where we had only 4 houses left to install filters in – with the girls (Sigel was in school). It's up the mountain about 30 minutes and I assumed (first problem!) that all the houses would be in the main community cluster... boy was I wrong! The first house was only a 5 minute walk down a little trail and that went well – Maddy loves to go along and play with the kids in the houses and Ali is usually passed around and oohed and awed at. **sidenote – the language of motherhood certainly crosses cultures and opens up so many doors of conversation – this women had 12 children and we talked about childbirth -mine in a hospital and hers unassisted in her dirt floor house with only her daughter helping her and then about all the natural leaves and plants they use as medicine...amazingly strong and intelligent women! ** Then we went to find the next house – we parked the truck at the school and then all the older kids at the school came with us down a trail to the next house (which they said was really close)! It was a beautiful footpath on the side of a mountain with pine trees all around us! 15 minutes of winding up and around the mountain, we got to our next house. By now it was lunch time and the plan had been to be home by then (oops! - I left the bag of baby supplies (diapers and Maddy food) in the car because they said it was close). We decided to do the 3^rd one anyways because it was an 80 year old man that was left and he had helped a lot of past installations and was now the last to be done. So another 20 minutes through the woods (being led by a bunch of little boys) we arrive at this old man's house. We were carrying the girls and the installation supplies – and the man carried the 100lb bag of sand for a while! After this, Tristan took off hiking up the hill to get the truck, while me and the girls along with our guides, went continued downwards another 20 minutes because it was shorter to meet up with him at the road below. The going down was steep and very slippery so it was difficult to do with the girls. At each home we were given bananas and oranges – Maddy ate 4 banana's for her lunch that day! :)

Then the next week, my friend Jessica came out to El Ayudante to do free ultrasound reports for any of the pregnant ladies in our area. 8 ladies showed up for ultrasounds and Jessica spent so much time with them checking out everything and loving on them. It was so much fun to be around watching and listening in and learning some! An ultrasound here costs 500L (=$25) so often it isn't done because the mom can't afford it. They all learned the sex of the baby and one of them was pre-previa (a pregnancy condition that requires a c-section delivery) and the mom didn't know that – so this ultrasound was extremely important for her!

Last week we had a team from First Baptist Barstow church and we so we stayed out at the little house in El Ayudante so we could be with them. It was a super busy week that flew by! Because the team was only here for a few days we had tried to pack as much into the week as we could – so we installed water filters, visited a school and did a big painting project with 90+ kids along with a program of a skit and songs etc, movie night at a church, and showed them around the area. The movie night was very neat this time – we did it at a mountain church in the village where we went to the school – this is an area that I would safely bet 90% of them have never been to the movie theatre or seen a movie on a big screen. So the church was packed with people – kids on the floor up front, people brought their own chair from their homes and men watched from the open windows as we showed the movie Fireproof and talked about having a strong marriage. We had a great time with the team – albeit was rushed – and feel like we made some really great new friends.

 A picture of the valley where El Ayudante is from up on the mountain / below: Tristan had a bunch of TV and newspaper interviews when we had the ministry of Health to El Ayudante to see the clinic.

 Ultrasounds given out for the pregnant moms around El Ayudante! / below: 97 prescription eye glasses given away by Vero Beach First United Methodist clinic week.

Padrinos. This word is like 'godparent's in English. And when a child graduates from school they bring with them to stand up at the graduation with them their parents and then their Padrinos. November is graduation month – remember schools go from February to November here – and we were asked by 3 sweet kids to be their padrinos. This is a big honor for us to be asked. Unfortunately we're going to miss all 3 graduations as we will be in the States. Vanessa – an friend from Valle we have loved on for 4 years now is graduating high school with an emphasis in tourisn (she has worked so hard to make it through high school, just barely scrapping by to pay for her living and also school fees), Diana – a neighbor of El Ayudante, and also Fidel – graduating kindergarten he is the youngest son of the people we built the house for this summer.  My mom and I made Vanessa a quilt – my mom pieced it together while here this summer and then I've been quilting it since. I finally finished it this week and gave it to her before we left for the States – she was very happy and felt loved I hope.