Less than 2 weeks left...NOOOOOOO!!

Well guys, I’m down to my last 2 weeks here. Yelsi had a legit sob session while I was washing dishes the other night. She cried: AHHHHHHH!!!! I’m going to miss you! AHHHHHH! I’m going to miss you with all my heart….and all my guts!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!! I’m going to be a HOT MESS!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!

Yeah, the feeling is mutual (and I’m proud to hear her say “hot mess.” Ha. That was my influence). This experience has been nothing but amazing. I have healed so much and I just want to thank everyone again who helped to push me to actually do this 3 month leave. I needed it more than I even realized. You all know me: the stubborn one who just keeps saying I’m fine and has a tendency to shove my own emotions aside to keep helping others and to ignore the fact that I’m not fine. And a huge thank you to my friends down here in Guatemala who helped me heal and have put up with me this long in this trip. You guys are awesome! You listened when I needed to vent or talk out my train wreck of emotions and told me exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you doesn’t seem like enough.

This past week has been crazy busy like all the others and just when I think it hasn’t been that long since the last post, it’s about a week…or two. So here we go. Last Monday, my first grandson and I went to clinic. It was the usual: lots of kids with fever, cough, and diarrhea. We had one kid who had a sore throat, fever, and said he had trouble swallowing. Well, his tonsils were nearly touching each other. Slight problem. Later on in the afternoon, my first grandson started taking tests for school.

On Tuesday morning, I worked on making whoopie pies while my first grandson was taking tests. I made 46 regular whoopie pies and 20 gluten free ones. That night, Kayla, Conner, Peter, Yelsi, and I went to Antigua for dinner and to walk around town. We went up to the cross on the hill overlooking Antigua. Absolutely beautiful view. We were quite the group trying to get a selfie up there. All night consisted of a lot of laughing, eating, and a great time hanging out. Conner likes to say, “Oh my wooooooooord,” and “I’m so oooooollllllld.” Both of which we all have started saying. He’s 15…seriously. Yeah, he’s ancient. We laughed so much while at the restaurant. They were probably half annoyed with us. We walked around town and saw a lot of the buildings lit up for the night, which has its own beauty to it. At one point, we joked that Peter was our tour guide. Kayla even got some footage of it, until I tripped and we all started laughing.

On Wednesday at clinic, we had a mother come in with her 2 kids and she insisted that she was going to see me and not the doctor. She just kept saying that she wanted an exam. Usually that means they want a preg test. So my first grandson and I pulled her into our room and when we started talking to her, we found out it was a bit more involved than that. She was 5 months pregnant, went to the doctor in a local town after having vaginal bleeding, and was told that her baby was too small and she should have an abortion. She refused, told them that every child that she has had is a blessing from God, and she was not going to abort her baby. She was upset since her husband didn’t care if she got an abortion and she said that most women made fun of her in the village. I asked what they did at the appointment to be able to tell that the baby was small. She said nothing. She said they just “rubbed her belly” and didn’t even listen for a heartbeat. She was concerned that the baby had died since she hadn’t felt the baby move in a while and just wanted to know if the baby was alive or not to determine if she needed further medical treatment. I explained to her that I would use the Doppler to try to find the heartbeat, but don’t be alarmed if I don’t find it right away. Well, thankfully, I put the Doppler on and found it right away. Strong and regular at 146. Relief spread across her face when I explained that that was the baby’s heartbeat. That afternoon, my grandson took his math test, which I had seriously had him prep hardcore for. When I went to grade it, the answer key was completely different than the test. So I had to read Spanish and do all the math by hand to figure out the answers, and go figure majority of the test was word problems: aka my least favorite and even better: it was in Spanish. That was a fun time.  

That night, we played soccer on the roof while Conner made this amazing chicken on the grill…on the roof…on the ground…near where we were playing soccer. The ball came flying, hit the grill, and flames burst up at Conner’s face. Praise God he was leaned back and not directly over the grill or else he would have had some serious burns to his face! Oh my wooooooord! The chicken was absolutely amazing and the potatoes Kayla made were great! It was their last night here and none of us were ready for them to leave. We all laughed the whole time they were here. We had worship night as a family on the roof. I sent audio of us singing during worship and then of some of us being ridiculously goofy at times later that night to a friend who had a crappy day. Conner was trying to figure out fundraising options and websites for everyone, while falling asleep on the roof and Yelsi and I kept telling him to just go to bed. He insisted that he was still really awake. As I was getting ready for bed, he was sending messages to Peter that didn’t make sense at all. It was a bit rough for a while until I made him get to bed. That was after he stood at the door of the bathroom and said he was super dizzy but needed a shower. I said I would not pick his naked butt up off that floor, so don’t you dare fall.

The following morning, we said goodbye to Kayla and Conner. Those punks had to go back to PA. But not before Conner had 11 whoopie pies in little less than 48 hours. My first grandson continued to take tests, while the rest of us cleaned the entire house. On Friday, I went to the dump for clinic. With the help of my translator, I saw 42 patients in a little less than 4 hours for the medical clinic. We rocked it! We saw a lot of kids with cough, fever, diarrhea, whole families who needed to be dewormed, and adults with diarrhea and rash. We cleaned out their med supply. I was able to scrounge together enough to get through that day. That was all God. That evening as I was driving home, the sky was just amazing. Skies like that always remind me of Jo. I had been thinking about her a lot that day to begin with. I get into the house that afternoon and songs were playing on the radio that made me think of her and I had listened to a lot over the last year. Same thing happened on Sunday as I was thinking of her, the song that came on the radio was the one that was playing every time I would get in my car and either be thinking and praying about her and her family, or was playing every time I left their house during the last few months of her life.

On Saturday, Peter came over to help make a sawhorse for the saddle from the scrap wood that we have at the house and to work with the horse. It took us an insane amount of time to make the sawhorse. But considering we were cutting the wood by hand, apparently using some ridiculously strong wood (I bent thick nails and broke screws), and we were totally making it up as to how to make it (haven’t made one in…years. I’m so ooooolllllldddd!), it turned out really well. We went out to ride the horse later that afternoon. As Peter was tightening the saddle, I was holding her at her head. I’m used to cows…not horses. So she flipped her head up and as I got out of the way of her head since I’m used to cows just swatting at you with their heads, she decided to bite. Not something I’m used to with cows. They’ll head butt you, not bite. Well, she didn’t break skin. Just left a nice red mark that is now bruised. After that fun, we took turns riding her. Like Kayla had said before, she is a lazy horse. We had to keep getting her to walk. She would do a lap and then stop as if to say, “Ok. I’m done. Now get off.” I rode her while going down the road a bit and she did not want to go down the hill. But when we turned around, she had no problems keeping it moving. Totally reminded me of when we would lead our 4-H heifers out the lane and we had to drag them out the lane. But as soon as you turned around, they were booking it back to the barn or to the yard to eat grass.

After church on Sunday, Peter came over to help wash the horse since we ran out of sunlight the previous day to do it. Thankfully, she didn’t try to bite me this time. Guess we didn’t officially tick her off this time around. Peter was a huge help that afternoon to make 73 whoopie pies to load everyone up before I leave. It goes so much faster with 2 people going at it! (And I didn’t break the oven! Yay!) That weekend, Drew, Cindy, the boys, Yelsi, and my first grandson went to the children’s home by the lake. My grandson is now staying in a boys’ transition home out there. Yelsi was a beast and helped organize the one house. They all had a great time of worship and games with the kids.

On Monday, I went to the dump for the last time on this trip. Thankfully, we had gotten some more meds since I had cleaned them out last time I worked with them. We were able to take down vitamins to hand out to the families there. The morning didn’t start out as planned. We were to leave Antigua around 8:15. At 10:45, we piled in the van to head down. Part of our group just hung out on the sidewalk by the water jugs and talked about life and future plans. So even though it didn’t go as planned, everything worked out. The soup that they were going to make was chicken, cilantro, and rice: aka fast and easy to make. Once we got there, we set up quickly and started cutting up the food. The kids helped to make the food and we got them coloring supplies while we waited. There was a mother’s day program going on, so not many people were around in the morning. Some of the people there realized that we had the medical part set up and started coming slowly. Around lunch time, a bunch of people came. So even though we started late and slow, it picked up and we saw about 25 people and even more than that received vitamins. It was an extra hot and humid day with sweat just running off of you. I fell in love with all the kids there. Even when it’s crazy hot and they just are completely covered in dirt and who knows what else, you just let them sit on your lap, give you hugs, basically hang all over you.

The next day…was a day of birth at our house. We went from 3 dogs…to 10 and one of the butterflies from Moses and Isaiah’s homeschool group…hatched? I don’t know what you would call that. The last puppy was really gasping and thought breathing was optional for a while and Cheerio, the mom, was licking other puppies, rather than stimulating this one. So I moved it to her nose so she would start to stimulate the puppy. She started licking it and the puppy is doing great now. We went back inside the house and saw that the cocoon for one of the butterflies all of a sudden was empty and a butterfly was there. So Cindy put it outside for its wings to dry and then fly away. That afternoon and evening, Yelsi and I went to Peter’s house to use his unlimited internet to Skype some peeps (There you go, guys. I worked it in there) and I typed up my 100 charts (not even exaggerating) from my 3 weeks of working at the dump and emailed them to the coordinator. That night, Yelsi had introduced me to the song “In the eye of the storm.” She said when she heard that song, she thought of me and everything I had been through this past year. It is a great song to sum up my past year. Lately, we have been talking about how we don’t know how some people get through life without God. He honestly is the only thing that can pull us through all this crap. And He’s used so many friends and family to get me through everything, that’s for sure.

On Wednesday, I went to clinic and was able to take supplies that we had shipped down before I left. (Thanks for the connections, Tracy!) It was pregnancy day at the clinic, which we do once a month. But people were bringing their kids in to be seen too. So we went through the line and took the kids that legit needed to be seen and the doctor saw the pregnant women for prenatal checkups. The first kid that we saw was a 1 year old who had pneumonia and a fever. He had a ton of retractions and just looked like crap. So after getting him some neb treatments, Tylenol, and antibiotics, he should be getting better. Another kid puked all over the floor while I was writing down what meds I was prescribing for his brother. There was a group from the States visiting as well and 2 of the nurses in the group went with us to do some home visits. We visited the 2 people that we’ve been seeing frequently and also another woman who is 42 years old and just had a stillborn baby with apparently no complications during the pregnancy. That woman was obviously upset that she lost her baby and just doesn’t understand why. No one explained why it happened. All she knows is that her baby had oxygen on after she was born and that was it. We provided water for the one woman we visited and told her that we’d come back on Wednesday to change her bedsheets and take her laundry to wash them. The other man we visited is the one who had a brain tumor removed and is now blind. He continues to struggle with depression and finding purpose while living in the village. We prayed with him and he said he hadn’t been out of bed for over 15 days because of right sided weakness that has started recently. He’s already had 2 surgeries to remove the brain tumor. That night, we had worship night at the house and had a great time as usual. I had a pretty emotional past few days to begin with just with memories, reminders, and anniversaries. We sang the hymn “It is Well” and I shared about how after we got back from Belize, I had that song in my head and it was the first time I truly felt some peace after everything that had happened. Later on, someone had shared about needing to stand up for those who can’t and how we can do that in love, but standing firm in what we believe in. That reminded me of the baby about a month ago who was dying, legit about to code in my arms, and I pushed for the neb treatment to at least get him something since no oxygen was available. He is now doing great. At the end of worship night, of course we had to have some whoopie pies and chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. Yelsi and I ended up staying up til 1am working on updates (I’m considered her secretary since I type her updates) and having a heart to heart. I told her that God used her and a lot of friends to seriously save my butt and helped to get me where I am today. Obviously there are still some bad days, but I know that I can go, talk and cry it out with them, and that they will have my back and help pull me through.

And that brings me to today. Isaiah and Moses had their homeschool group closing program. Everyone did great sharing the work they did throughout the year. That afternoon, we all were taking naps. I woke up and wondered what time it was since all of a sudden it was dark. Then it started: torrential downpour. Cindy and I went running out and down the hill to get the horse and put her in the stable. We were soaked the second we stepped outside. And then it started hailing. We got the horse in the stable and ran to the house, completely drenched. I was literally ringing out my clothes and making a legit puddle. Totally reminded me of when we used to run out to get the 4-H heifers into the barn when there was a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. Straight up downpours while dodging lightning bolts. This afternoon we didn’t have power for a while. So Yelsi and I went on a walk and as we were trying to figure out what and how to make dinner, thankfully, the power came back on. We made a fire on the roof, roasted hot dogs, corn on the cob, and marshmallows.

There has been a lot of talk about bringing down medical teams and how to help out more and what ministries to be a part of. So everyone, get your vacation days saved up for these trips! And even if you can’t come on one of these trips, any way that you wish to support is greatly appreciated! There will be a need for a great amount of support in the future! If you wish to support any of these ministries that I have been working with, let me know. And I can assure you that the money will go straight towards the ministry to help others and won’t be wasted in any way. Thank you so much for the support, love, and prayers! Here are some more random pictures from the past week-ish: new puppies, photos from the dump, and the last 2 are from our night out in Antigua.