another new experience... cooking!

don't ask me how... but somehow in the past few months i took over the kitchen. that means i make menus, cook most lunches, and oversee the cooks for the other meals. naturally the one thing i DON'T want to do... i ended up doing! but i have really enjoyed it, and i am learning that even though i am not a natural chef... i can learn, slowly.

this was one of my first homemade pizzas... dough is very tricky sometimes!


michelle and trisha were very kind and helped in the kitchen a lot when they were here


a finished product!!! it's not as good as the chicago-style i love and miss, but it works.

 

helene estrellas

this is the jv version of the estrellas... helene's own futbol team. we try to make it to as many games as possible as i am the "trainer" aka "doctora" "enfermera" or "that girl" when people get hurt.

futbol in central america is bigger thanthe NFL in the States. it is an obsession... and so fun! all the way down to the small leagues like this one, they are amazing at this sport.

 

my fam... in Helene!

my family was able to visit after Christmas... and they even made it out to Helene for a night! i wanted them to have an adventure so Ewings took us caving.


don't we look GREAT? we look tired and exhausted, but it was a lot of fun


and this is a shot from our hotel in West Bay (NOT Helene!) where we had a little vaca

 

team helene 2007

meet our team for the year (left to right and top to bottom, does that make sense?!): camas, larry, joe, sheila, paul, deirdre, me, and emily

not shown: marjie... we miss you!

 

the new and improved medical clinic!

this is camas "mudding" as the carpentry-minded would call it, at least i think that's what they call it


Terry doing the same


our new wall! this may not seem that exciting... but the new clinic will have a triage room and TWO private patient rooms. we are so excited because this has been a need for a long time. now we can have private patient conversations, private exams, and larger work areas.

 

Medical Clinic Demolition

thank you team westminster from Seattle for coming and working so hard to tear down the clinic!

this is a view of our pharmacy... now torn down! and the team all hard at work


the floor ended up being quite a source of frustration as it refused to come off.

you may not recognize it but this is a view from the 2nd room of the clinic to the 1st, now without a dividing wall.


they were able to save that entire pile of wood! this is barry holding a sink we will also re-use. we are trying to keep the budget down by re-using as much as possible.


ty working in the hot and stuffy pharmacy

 

Project Procedure Room

michelle caulking...


the girls working hard as usual


ew ew and paul showing off their work. these 2 slaved over this room day and night for 2 weeks so we could move in by January and remodel the Medical Clinic.


as you can see...it's night.... and Paul is STILL working! Although I must admit half the work was cleaning up after his and Ewings' mess... but we can't complain, it got done!

 

2nd baby "catch"

meet Katie and brand-new baby boy Devon (pronounced De-won)...and even though she just had him... she's SMILING! This is Katie's 3rd child and she is 19 years old. She called me as I was on my way to Bible Study in her community, Bentley Bay, and said she thought she was in labor. By the time I arrived she was having contractions every 2 minutes and the head was RIGHT there!

So... for the second time here on Helene... as the islanders say it, I caught another baby! They are starting to think I am trained for this or something, which I am working hard to correct. But praise GOD... she was super strong and delivered him perfectly!

Katie never yelled out in pain, and she pushed him out in 15 minutes. He was wide-eyed and ready to nurse right away... my work was minimal!

look at the little angel! he is so cute. however you may notice it looks like i just ran a marathon...

that's bc the women here believe babies need to be born in dark rooms with all the windows shut. well let me tell you... in 90 degree heat, that is VERY hot.

More Holiday Fun

the first tree... so sad. charlie brown christmas come true.


we loved our christmas lights so much they stayed up until mid-January! ;)


michelle and i cooking the usual weekend morning breakfast... PANCAKES! yes!

Paul and Joe like to make fun and say that the dog has to lick her butt to get the taste out after eating my pancakes... but I've caught them eating them... and liking them. So there.


This is actually post-Christmas cookie decorating when Paul went a little overboard with the red frosting.

 

i'm dreaming of a wet Christmas... ;)

for our annual candy-followed-by-water ballon-pelting tradition on Christmas day, we were aimed and ready. this is paul "paulito cinco", deirdre "tracker unit", ewings "p-u", and me "chile con kearney" standing preparing for battle


we can't say they were unsuspecting... but they still got wet!


tag-teaming 'em


we learned quickly that if we threw the candy close to us we had a better chance of soaking them... and showed no mercy! ;)

 

Christmas in Helene

so it wasn't cold, it wasn't snowy, but we had a tree with presents under it! our first tree stood about 2.5 feet tall and fell over with the topper on it... so Paul bought us a real tree.


Santa came! Who says Santa needs a hat and beard?! Can he be bald and clean-shaven?!


Cleo getting festive opening presents... we actually had our dog, Sheba wear the antlers so she wasn't left out.

 

northside church roof repair

in this pic: teddy, marian, heather, zanoli, saroli, keari, and teddy's son johaida (sp?)

this post is much awaited i'm sure, and very late, but a HUGE thank you to Sunset Pres Church for donating the funds for Teddy to finish the roof on the Northside church!!! Teddy was very thankful and was excited that you all would be able to see how it looks now.


Teddy and several workers put in many hours to not only repair the roof but also finish and repaint the interior.


They even had "help" from some cute kids hammin it up for the camera.


This is the church from behind... roof and all... praise God!

Teddy and church are currently working to finish his house as well now. He and his wife just had their third child and will soon be living in their first house. They had a beautiful baby boy who is currently named Zachary... but they are looking for a "J" name to change it to.

 

caving!

after way too long... i am blogging again! i have no excuse... just forgetfulness and laziness and hating all things that have to do with computers. :) so here ya go.

i was a little hesitant as this was the entrance to the cave... but had to be brave for michelle ;) jk. the cave is one of many on our tiny island, and they are used during hurricanes for shelter. so imagine THIS being the safer option than high winds and seas...

the crew... the stains still aren't out of my clothes!

michelle happy on the way out ;)

after hiking through the jungle we cooled off with coconuts right off the tree