weekly update april 16

April 16, 2005
Hi.
We thank the Lord that we are safely through another week and are resting on another Sabbath.
Bethany and Brandel have been very busy this week. Bethany is walking all over the place. She refuses to crawl and will stand up to walk even a couple of steps to get what she wants. She has also started climbing. She climbs into Brandel's bed, which she thinks is great fun. Especially when Brandel is in there, then they play together. However, it usually ends up with one of them crying, most of the time Bethany. She also likes steps. This week she figured out how to go down the steps. She holds on to the railing and goes down the side. We are trying to teach her to turn around and go down them backwards, which is much safer. She likes to spend a lot of time going up and down the stairs. We don't let her on the stairs inside the house because we have a cement floor on the bottom and they are long stairs (for a baby).
Brandel is talking more and more. This morning he said "Morning" when we greeted him. He is trying to say bodega. He says "broke" which is a favorite word since many things get broke. He is also trying to put words together to convey ideas. For instance, "Ri book laalaa" meant that Rilla came to get her song book. Rilla has also been teaching him Spanish so now he is learning all of his body parts in Spanish. He now says "boca" for mouth, but he can also say "mouth" but prefers to say "boca".
It has been very hot so the children have been playing a lot in the water. Brandel sometimes is in up to 3-4 times a day. We haven't been bothering to get them dressed since their clothes are coming off by about 9-10 am because of the heat.
This week on Monday, Clint was planning to go to Port to get our monthly supplies and money. On Sunday afternoon we found out a boy had gotten in a bike wreck and broke his foot, and the bone was coming out. We drove on the 4-wheeler (the truck wouldn't make it) to get him and transported him directly to Port that evening since Clint was already planning a trip to Port. He is recovering there in the hospital and will not loose his foot.
We had been able to confirm that the mission money was in the account before we went, which was very nice. However, the bank was bought out last month by a larger bank. They have to switch all of the accounts, trimmings, names and other misc. items. Since we do not have new checks yet we were not sure what would happen. Well the old checks did not work and so we were not able to get mission or personal money. This is why we try to keep an emergency fund at the mission. It will be put into use this month. Clint was not able to get many supplies but he got some necessary items. He will have return to Port and maybe Managua in a few weeks when the checks are ready.
Upon Clint's return on Tuesday afternoon from his unsuccessful trip from Port, he had to leave immediately to carry a 16 year old girl in the middle of a miscarriage with her first baby. She had been bleeding for 15 days. It was a long day, but that is what we are here to do. It is the first time that Clint has been to Port and to Waspam in the same day in the truck. He returned home about 8 pm that night.
The rest of the week has been swallowed up in work. We started replacing the outhouse this week. We only have a couple of months before the next group comes and other visitors are coming this week. The outhouse was in sad shape, so much of the floor and supporting structure was rotten, we have been afraid that people will fall in. We pulled off the top and are building a cement floor with block walls about 3 feet high. Then we will use the wood from the old building to put up the rest of the building. Hopefully that will be done this next week before our next visitors get here.
I have had the clinic open a lot this week. Two days it was open all day, along with the normal amount. It was hard on Brandel and Bethany, especially since Clint was gone at the beginning of the week. They both got real clingy when I got home. MINSA (the government health clinic) has sent in a doctor to Francia. It has been nice to work with her. On Wednesday we had almost 10 people come from Santa Clara (a 1 � hour walk) and then about 20 people came from Tasba Pain (a 2 hour walk). They kept both clinics swamped all day. The construction work on the clinic has slowed down a little since the main worker has to do some personal work for a few weeks. The back room got the plastering finished. We have to build a room for the doctor/nurse to sleep in and finish plastering all the other walls. There are two windows that still need replaced in the back. Then we will be ready to paint and put beds in.
Rigaberto's house is almost done. We have made the decorative blocks for the windows which now need to be placed. Then a cement band on top and our part will be finished.
Our lab is starting to prove useful. This week we had a little baby with diarrhea. I was just telling them that we should try and get a sample to test, when the baby had diarrhea all over everything. There was plenty for a sample. The lab report said that the baby had amoebas and ascarasis (an intestinal worm). It sure was nice to be able to give her the right medicine.
Mike and Diane Halverson are coming to visit starting this next week. We are happy to be getting a visit from America. They are going to be building a house/store in Francia for a young man they have taken under their wing. Clint has spent a lot of time getting supplies ready for their visit this week. They will be here until May 3.
Last night it rained and today the wind is blowing. Thanks so much for all your prayers.
Lots of love
Marilyn, Clint, Brandel and Bethany