Gripe, gastritis, y mocos

Woah… it’s already nearing the end of July and I am coming to realize that my time here in Guate is quickly coming to an end!  In fact, I leave in 2.5 weeks!!  How’d that happen?!?!  Anyways, I’m not going to dwell on that right now, but rather enjoy the rest of the time I have here and all the fun that comes with it! 

Speaking of fun… this past week I had the opportunity to translate for a team of nurses that were working in San Jose Pinula.  The team was from a ministry based out of Virginia called Vessels of Mercy (vesselsofmercy.org).  We ran 5 different clinics in 5 different parts of San Jose Pinula.  Each day we had 4 stations… registration, three diagnostic tables, one prayer area and the pharmacy.  I got to help translate for one of the diagnostic tables, which was right up my alley!  J

The first day we just worked for the afternoon, but we were in a church in SJP.  This was a good day to start to see how everything was going to work and to just get into the swing of things.  I think we saw around 50+ people in the afternoon… not bad!

The second, third and fourth days we actually traveled about 1-1.5hrs into the hills of SJP and set up clinics out there.  We were in three different schools so we saw the students and parents that came in.  This was a completely different part of the country than I had ever been in, so it was fun to be able to get out and about a little more.  It was also interesting to see the differences in the peoples that came into the clinics.  One day many of the people were light skinned, light eyed and light haired… it was actually kind of crazy!  Another day most of the men and boys were in sombreros and cowboy boots with machetes strapped around their waists.  No matter where we went though, the people were EXTREMELY open and loving, which was awesome!  J

The final day we worked in a school in SJP and saw the students and families there.  It was a pretty crazy day, but none of us got bored!  We ended up seeing 144 people… for a 6 hour work day with 3 people doing diagnosing, that’s pretty good!!  In all we ended up seeing just under 500 patients!

Overall I really enjoyed the week and the interactions that came with it.  I came home each day EXHAUSTED, but quite happy too!  J  It was nice to have something to keep me busy for the week and to have one “final” translating experience before heading stateside.  Not to mention, the group was pretty awesome and it gave me some good experience in my future career!  

View on the drive out...

4th day clinic

SO many cute kids!!

=)

Those eyes...

Final day clinic... more cute kids!!

We had an audience  :)

The CONSTANT line

I'm a puddle!!

Set up a pharmacy wherever you can!

So curious!

When? What? Where? Why??

After I posted my status the other day (One month from today I begin my next big adventure... moving to the states! I don't know whether to get all giddy or to go curl up and cry... maybe I'll do both...), I realized that many of you don’t really know what’s going on, so I figured I should probably give an update!!  So here are all the “Ws”…

When:  August 7^th- who knows exactly when?!?  I’m planning to be back in Guate over Christmas and probably summer as well though.

What:  I will be moving to the states to go to college.  I’ll be studying nursing with the potential of going on to get my Nurse Practitioners license. 

Where:  Pennsylvania.  I’ll be living with my aunt and uncle around the same area that we were living before our family moved down here.  I’ll be attending a community college REALLY close to where I’ll be living.

Why:  Although I did look into a bunch of colleges around here (Guate), I decided that now would be a good time to head stateside and be on my own a little bit.  Yes, it will mean a lot of changes, but sometimes change is needed!! 

So there you have it… a very quick update about what’s going on with my future!  I know multiple people have mentioned getting together for coffee, lunch, etc., once I get back, and just know that I would love to!!  I would kind of like to get settled in and adjusted, but I really am hoping to reconnect with a lot of people!!  J 

And, just because, here are a few pictures from life around here (from my phone) lately…  J  

Shrimp heads anyone?  :)

Simply smashing...

Just a little fruit.

Abby and Risa coloring during preschool

Fruit Loop necklaces!

Max!

:)

In our backyard

My Sunday school class

Hail!!

Yum!!

July 4th fireworks!

Marshmallow face!!

Relaxation, Infuriation, and Life

Wow, it’s the beginning of May and life seems to be flying by!  These past few weeks have been relaxingly busy for us, which has probably contributed to the flying of time… allow me to explain.

We have been looking for a way for the whole family to get away and do one final big “family vacation” before I leave for college in August, so last month we went to El Salvador.  We only went for 4 days, 3 nights, but it was a lot of fun!  The hotel we stayed on was RIGHT on the beach; we could actually see it from our hotel rooms!  So, would you like to guess what we did most of the time?  Yup, we watched movies and worked on research papers… NOT!!  We were often on the beach from the time we were done with breakfast until supper.  The place was beautiful and it was just fun to get away and be together as a family.  And believe it or not, we didn’t even burn too bad!  J

Sunset

Lots of TINY little hermit crabs!!

Hermanas!

One of the pools...  there were 4!

Not a bad view...  :)

Lots of space to walk around

Our roles at Casa Bernabe are slowly starting to take shape a little more.  My dad has the clinic fairly well set up and has seen many of the kids at some point or another.  This past week he also had a missionary eye doctor at the clinic seeing all the kids at the home and in the school, that’s over 160 kids!  They figured that about 80 of the kids got glasses, which is awesome!  We’ll see how long it is until they’re broken…  ;) 

Waiting room

Very compliant patients! 

My mom and I have also started “teaching” a group of 8 preschoolers (or younger), 3 mornings a week.  The goal is to help get them prepared for school so that they’re not being thrown into a classroom with no idea what’s going on.  This will hopefully help both them and the teachers in the long run!  The first few days have been slightly chaotic, but with each class we are seeing improvement, hooray!!! 

While life has been great, that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t had its moments of infuriation.  One specific time was meeting Melvin and Norma for the first time.  Melvin is 14 months old and he isn’t much bigger than a 6-9 month old.  Norma is 2 months old and weighs about 4.5lbs.  The two babies are siblings and arrived at the orphanage around 10:30 one night, dirty and obviously in bad shape.  These two are some of the most precious children I have ever met (ok, they’re ALL precious!!), and I will never understand how anyone could even possibly neglect them so much.  Suffice it to say that I was a little ticked at hearing their story, but SO thankful they are now safe!!

So tiny and precious...

Just look at that face!!

So life keeps plugging away, and we keep taking it as it comes.  I can’t deny it, sometimes it’s a little weird to wake up in the morning and wonder, “What in the world am I going to do today?”, but the days always seem to fill up without too much of an issue!  No two days are the same, no two days bring the same emotions, and every day is full of new opportunities to glorify God in all that we do, so that’s just what we’ll keep doing!!  J