Update on Jonathan

We took Jonathan to the doctor today and he has an infection in his throat. Since we were hearing everything in Spanish I am not sure if it is strep throat or not but it is certainly an infection. The doctor also pointed out a tooth that was cracked which is infected. We knew it was cracked before we left Oregon but since it is a baby tooth, we chose to let it fall out on its own. Well, it is being stubborn and it seems that in the process it has become infected. That infection seems to have worn down his immune system which is most likely why he got strep. So, we left with a prescription for two shots which we picked up from the pharmacy. Boy are things done differently down here. Fortunately, one of our missionary friends here is a nurse and so she gave Jonathan the first shot today and he will get the second one tomorrow. Ouch! Tonight, Jonathan still had a fever even with Ibuprofen and Tylenol. I felt so bad for him when he asked me to bring a bowl up to him in bed so he could spit in it instead of swallowing. We are praying that he is much better in the morning. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. Please also keep the rest of us in your prayers that we would remain healthy.

There is a lot of sickness going on down here. Several missionaries are sick as well as several kids in the home. Don't worry, it's not the swine flu. But please keep the whole ministry in your prayers. We also have a sixteen member team here from Wisconsin. So far, they are all remaining healthy.

Jonathan is Sick Again

Please keep Jonathan in your prayers. He is sick again and running 101.6 tonight. He has a sore throat also. It is hard on him and the family. It means he can't go over to the home and we won't leave him at home for long periods of time either. So, it is trying on all of us.

On another note, I ventured out today by myself and went to Costco and to Superama to do the grocery shopping. It is the first time I have gone out only by myself. It was nice and the kids enjoyed not having to go.

After that, we rode our bikes to the home. That's when Jonathan started not feeling well. After being there just a short time, we rode our bikes back home. Then I went with Jim to the orientation of the group that arrived today. If you would like to see what other groups are like here, you can follow their blog at www.esperanzavivagroups.blogspot.com. This particular group is the River of God church and they are the home church for two missionary families here. Having the groups here is really neat and we enjoy them so much. We are looking forward to our own church's team coming in September.

Erin discovered today that bunnies like yogurt. She kept putting little bits on her nose and Cheddar would like it off. It was pretty cute!


That's all for tonight.

A New Addition to Our Family

Erin has been saving her money to buy a bunny. The adoption place where we bought our dog, Nacho, had two bunnies. The one she bought is an Albino Rabbit and she is a baby. Our friend's, the Madsens, let Erin borrow a cage until she gets one of her own which should be pretty soon. She has also been reading up on what they eat and how to take care of them.

Jonathan Gets A New Look (and other stuff I want to share)

Jonathan has needed a hair cut for while but we haven't gotten him into the barber. The other night, when we were at a friend's house, they offered to loan us their hair clippers and I gave Jonathan a hair cut. Here are the before, during and after pictures.

Before

During

After

Isn't he handsome? He got many compliments today at church. Of course, since I gave him the haircut it made me feel good.

After giving Jonathan his haircut, we went downtown to look for bikes. We had been talking about getting them for a while. So after going into almost every bike shop we saw, and then having lunch, we bought four bikes and four helmets. Today, we went for a ride on them over to a friend's house. We had a great ride and if the clouds had not been so dark, we may have ridden for longer.


The following pictures are what happens when it rains here. Unlike in Oregon where it rains all day long, they like to consolidate a whole days worth of rain into about an hour. When it rains that hard, the following pictures are what you see.

There was a man on the other side of this bus walking when it made a splash like this. The poor guy was drenched.

Here's a car helping a taxi loaded down with people that stalled from the water.
This is just down the street from our house. There are speed bumps where the cars are but you can't see them because the water is covering them.
This is the third rain like this since Friday. It is quite amazing. I hope we won't be riding our bikes in this.

That's about it. I'll try to write more later.
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there.

Mangos, Ants, Rain and Groups

One of the big helps for the ministry here are the donations of fruits, vegetables, and bread that they get from the market. We always know when they have come back with donations because we see kids walking around eating mangoes. They bite the tip of the mango and then peal them with their teeth. Other donations are things like the onions, pineapples, peas, and tomatoes seen in the pictures below.





One of the boys was showing off his pet that he found in the garden. This is an ant, believe it or not. It was huge!! We're not sure if it was still alive. We tried to get it to move and we couldn't but the kids said it was sleeping.
We had quite the rain storm tonight. It rained so hard that the rain was leaking into the inside track of our window. This is in our laundry room where half of it would be outside except for the corrugated awning that is covering it. The awning has no caulking between it and the wall so you can see the water just flowing down the window. I wish I had my camera with me when I picked Jim up because the street right outside the orphanage looked more like a river.
This is a picture of our back yard. I don't think we need to water the grass today. The big stream of water is the overflow for our water tank. When we fill the tank we know it is full when the water flows from the roof. It is also helpful in rain like this though since then the roof doesn't have standing water on it for too long.
We had another group from the US arrive last night. They are called the Special Forces. They are prepared for hard mission work. Next week they will be going up into the mountain villages of Oaxaca (Wa-ha-ca). They will be ministering in places that most people will not go into. They will be ministering to some of the churches that Jerry and Susie ministered to when they were in Oaxaca. It is great to have teams prepared to do this kind of work.
Update: The woman who hurt her foot last night did not break her foot but instead tore a ligament and something else. Please keep her and the team in prayer as they will be leaving for home on Saturday.