Happenings at the Stricklands

Hmmm just in case someone actually reads this :D

2011-01-31T19:20:00.002-06:00

Yep, I've been away for quite some time & dont think I'll be changing my ways & updating again any time soon :P I have a wedding to plan so I've been staying crazy busy! :D I'm sooo excited! The big day is May 7, 2011. Anyways, just thought I'd let yall know why I've been away from the blogging world & why I will continue to be absent... lol So long yall! & maybe, just maybe I'll update w/ a few pics of the wedding later :D

The Reason I've Been Playing Hooky :D

2010-08-16T22:03:00.004-05:00

Let me introduce you to the special guy in my life- Mr. Robert Hjuler :D

This was taken by my dad one evening as we waited for seats at Olive Garden :)

This pic was taken at the insistance of my lil sis Charity.

She wanted to get a pic w/ the two of us lol :D

I was suprised with these one day when I came home from work :)

They are so pretty :)

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

2009-12-22T01:54:00.002-06:00

No I havent dropped off the face of the earth lol. Here are some more random pics from this year

2009-11-04T00:16:00.023-06:00

Here is lil Charity w/ her kitten, Shadow.

Here is another kitten, Misty, who were were trying to tame.

Another kitty, Daeso, loved to sleep on our plants lol

Cloud was another kitty that we had. FYI, all of these kitties have either died or disappeared so now we are left w/ one cat (not pictured).

She loves books so much she even takes them to bed w/ her lol

Charity w/a new shirt :)

Daniel turned 17 this year & he got some Justin's from Mom & Dad.

A family in the church had some wild sunflowers growing in their backyard & since they knew my mom loves sunflowers, the girl's would bring some to church for my mom ever few weeks.

This summer we had another animal added to the Strickland "Ranch" lol. Our neighbor asked if he could board his horse w/ mine in exchange for feed so now we have another horse around the place. Btw, Wyoming is the one in the back.

On the 4th of July, we had many games going on & here the lil ones did not want to be left out so they're playing their own version of Phase 10.

The young men played Risk.

Well, here we are before the games started lol. Food & Fellowship is always fun :D

For our Father's & Son's outing this year, the guys all came over to shoot @ our new shooting range.

Also, this summer William, Daniel, & I were involved w/ a group called CYIA, Christian Youth In Action. Here William is telling the story at one of the 5 day clubs.

Here's Daniel singing a song w/ the lil ones.

Lastly, Daniel, Hannah, & I are all involved w/ a small band called the Stars & Stripes Band. Here is a pic of the band after performing at the Korean War Veteran Ceremony.

Well, sorry for such a hodge-podge group of pictures but I am using my brother's comp so I went thru his albums trying to find some stuff to add since a few of you have actually asked if I would update this thing. I will try to post more frequently unlike this past year, but we'll see since I'm staying pretty busy. God bless yall &, in case I dont post before then, Happy Thanksgiving!

Just for Miss Brookie :)

2009-05-11T13:54:00.016-05:00

On our way to Heritage Home Farms we had to stop @ WalMart & we got board so we took some pics :)

Here we all are :)

Here are the pics of the girls for this years Old Fashion Day @ the church

Krista, Brookie, & Deborah on the porch

Another major activity for the past year has been teaching @ Good News Clubs @ on post schools. The Lord has really opened up the door for us to work w/ the military families w/ the chaplains. The very last day of clubs alone I was able to lead 14 of my kids to the Lord & that does not count the other groups that the others were able to talk to! God is good!

Here I am w/ my group of 3rd graders

Another thing to to keep me busy has been giving music lessons. Here are some pics of my students.

Here's my lil sis Hannah w/ the piano.

Here's Brookie w/ the piano.

Becky & the piano.

Debbie & the piano.

Debbie & the violin.

Before they moved to VA, I was able to teach lil Manny his first lessons on the piano :)

Lil Josiah had to copy his big bro & play some piano lol

I'm back :)

2009-03-20T21:46:00.003-05:00

LOL Dont know if anybody even checks back here anymore. I have been sooo bad about keeping this up-to-date. I'm sorry. I will try to do better but I doubt it lol. It will probably stay pretty sporatic due to my busy schedule but I will try. We have had a whole lot going on in our lives- besides the norm we've had a death of a close friend, the travel to the funeral which was in TN, and my surgery on my neck.
Many of you may have heard of all the surgeries that I have had on my neck due to a recurring infection. Well, I was finally referred to a ENT doc who specialized even more with the neck. Praise the Lord! He seemed to have a better idea of my problem then any of the other docs. After it had gotten infected for the 4th time this past winter, he decided to try a special x-ray which was actually a CT scan with some extra features. To make it simple, some dye was injected into my neck at the exit site; then a CT scan was done. He decided to do an exploratory surgery to try to remove the abnormalities that he found. Well, I had the surgery a little over a week ago & am so glad to be back in the land of the living. I slept most of the week away due to recovery & the vicodin that the doc had me on. Well, I went to the doc yesterday & had the drain removed and he also explained what all he found during surgery. There was a whole on the side of my voice box which he cauderized in hopes that scar tissue will develope. There was also a little sac filled w/ vegetation (so like some food had accedentally gotten in there somehow lol) somewhere in a cavity in my neck. Plus the 2 tracs that they had found during the CT scan were removed and found to have "big cells" in them which didnt belong up in my neck. Not sure what all that means except that the doc found a few dif problems & is in hope that he was able to fix the problem. So now instead of one large scar I am going to have 3- one large one from the incision, one small one from another incision to get one of the tracs, and the whole from the drain. I'm just gonna be all decorated now lol.
Well, enough about me lol. My family is doing good. My parents & Hannah just got back from the funeral up in Tennessee and Hannah has been fighting either a cold, strep, or the flu ever since they got back. Little Charity is growing like crazy & copies us all the time so we have to watch what we do lol. William started his own business a lil while ago & is trying to get that up & running. Daniel is completing his junior year & of course is as smart as ever. Mom & Dad are just staying busy w/ whatever.
We still have a lot of animals around. Its like the strays find other strays & tell them that we'll feed them lol. We have 2 kittens, 2 or more cats, 2 dogs, & 1 horse now. Talk about a big food bill lol.
Well, I'll try to get some updated pics up soon. Take care ya'll!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-24T10:49:00.000-06:00

I will be making a conscious effort to wish everyone a Merry Christmas this year ... My way of saying that I am celebrating the birth Of Jesus Christ. So I am asking myl buddies, if you agree with me, to please do the same. ! And if you'll pass this on to your buddies, and so on... maybe we can prevent one more American tradition from being lost in the sea of "Political Correctness".
To one and All...

ORH Mexico Trip Part 1

2008-11-25T22:27:00.027-06:00

Missy, Carrie, & I

Me & Sarah- we were both the "nurses" for Doc Waller. She was basically my assistant bc she had never been on a trip w/ us nor had been on the health field yet.

This is a picture of the courtyard of the church where we stayed while there in Ciudad Victoria.

Here we are at the church service on Sunday.

Here we are counting pills out for pharmacy.

Sarah, Carmen, & I. Carmen was our interpreter on the 1st day of clinics.

Dr Waller in his "office"

The waiting "room"

Kelley- a fellow Texan :)- checking this lady's blood sugar.

Dr Marcos in his "office" w/ Kelley.

I was given the opportunity to assist Dr Waller in a surgery.

Our optometrist- Marco Polo & his two assistants- Sarah & Alisha.

Triage

Our pharmacist for the trip- Mrs Waller

Dr Rosa & Mary her nurse.

Couldn't resist getting a picture w/ this cute lil girl.

Me w/ the Panamanians :) (remember them from the Honduras post? :)

w/ the Evangelist's wife Mrs Alfaro

While waiting for our bus to arrive we played some games w/ the young people of the church. Here we are playing "Diggity-diggity stick"

Diggity-diggity stick again- this game was super fun!

This game was "Quemazon o Revolucion" or "Burning (as in fire) or Revolution"-
this was another really fun game.
It was alot of fun getting to interact w/ the young people of this church
& to learn games from another country.

No we haven't dropped off the face of the earth :)

2008-09-12T20:47:00.002-05:00

Just in case someone is actually coming to this blog & looking for updates, I have not forgotten. I just was released from the hospital from antibiotic therapy because of my neck infection or whatever it is. The docs still don't know what it is or what has been causing it (for those of you who don't know, I have had 7 surgeries total already related to my neck problem). The doc is trying to avoid surgery so he has kept me on antibiotics but so far it hasn't really helped much since it has actually seemed to get bigger. So I go back on Monday to have him check it & probably run more tests. Please pray with us that either the docs can figure out what is wrong/causing the problem or that God will heal my neck!

Pics of lil Charity

2008-08-21T19:50:00.009-05:00

This is the sight that greeted Daniel & I when we came back from working @ the ranch.

She decided that she was going to drive the truck for me lol ;)

We kids gave our dad this exercise machine for Father's Day & his b-day combined.

Here lil Charity decided to try it out.

It's hard work!!!

Summer Pics- Fun w/ Renes

2008-08-21T18:01:00.018-05:00

Here are some of the pics of our activities w/ the Renes. Some of our activities this summer included going to Six Flags & taking them to the ranch where Daniel & I work.

Sorry these pics are not in order but here is the group getting ready to head into Six Flags!!! :)

Tabby doing her fav activity ;)- talking on her cell lol.

Mrs. Rene was the driver/chaperone of the Six Flags outing.

Priscilla & I in the van on the way down to Six Flags.

Perfect expression for what we all were feeling :). Thanks for the great pic Nate :)

Priscilla, Tabby, & I decided to be a lil goofy for these pics. In this first one, Tabby just couldnt keep a straight face :)

Here we go!

Daniel, Priscilla, & Peter in the back of a truck at the ranch.

Daniel & Peter- the hard-working boys.

Tabby, Me, Mrs Shoemaker (a general's wife), & Priscilla- at the ranch house

Tabby on one of the horses- Kasey/Foresight

Priscilla on Vesta.

Just another pic of us three girls.

Summer

2008-08-05T20:05:00.003-05:00

Well, sorry for not putting updates on here. I have been majorly busy w/ our friends the Renes, the horses, applying at two major universities, & going on another medical missions trip to Mexico.
So our missionary friends the Renes have been staying with us for the summer to get aquainted w/ their mustang and to try to get stuff for their ranch. It has been nice having them help take care of all the horses since I have been doing the majority of all the work myself but they are leaving very shortly to go back up north so I am enjoying the help while I have it :)
I applied to the nursing school of the University of Texas in Austin & Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi and was accepted into the TAMUCC :) I am soooo excited because their nursing program is available online so I can get my nursing degree w/o leaving home :)
Also, this summer I received a call asking if I was available to go on another medical missions trip to Mexico. Previously, I had not planned on going this year because of the lack of funds but the Lord provided and I was able to go to Ciudad Victoria, Mexico. Plus, next week I will be going on a mini medical missions trip to Honduras (its only a weekend trip w/ 2 docs, a nurse, & me- a student nurse). I am soo excited for this opportunity that the Lord has opened up for me!!!
I will try to post pics as I am able. Hope ya'll had a great summer!

William graduated!

2008-06-03T14:17:00.002-05:00

This past Friday evening William graduated from high school. He is going to be working during the summer & then in the fall he plans to attend basic training at the International Alert Academy which is a Christian program that is tougher than the military's basic (yes, even the Marines) because they want to teach the boys not to rely on their own strength but to rely on the Lord.

Aerial Shots

2008-05-18T00:01:00.007-05:00

Well, today was a very eventful day. Daniel & I started to put up the fence around the pasture for the horses when the lady who is now boarding her horses out here showed up w/ horses in tow, & we were not ready for them. Well, we just stuck them into the backyard of the guest house & got to work finishing up odds & ends around the yard. Still not finished w/ the fence cuz I need to order some more parts :( Well, before another storm blew through my bros had to paint the roof with some water-proofing paint to hold it until the insurance people could come by to assess the damage. So here are some shots that William took while he was up on the roof.

He decided to take a pic of me when I climbed the ladder :) But on the roof there you can see some of the damage from the storm the other day.

This is the storage shed & if you look really closely you can see part of the red corral in between the two sheds- this is where Wyoming is staying until I can get her gentled.

This is the guest house w/ the two horses munchin away @ the grass- great lawn-mowers by the way ;)

Here is a close-up of them. I'm definitely gonna need to get a better pic of them, lol :D

After the storm

2008-05-16T18:52:00.007-05:00

For the last couple of days we have been going through some very bad weather. In fact a tornado touched down right down the road from us. The Lord sure was protecting us & the animals! They all seem to have faired pretty well, and the only damages that we sustained were a cedar tree falling, a large limb from the large live oak broke & fell, and some shingles came off of our roof. Otherwise we are all doing very well. Praise the Lord!

Here are some pics of Wyoming that I took this afternoon w/ my camera phone- hence the bad quality. :) Oh, well! You get the idea;)

Here she is greeting me because she wants her food, and yes she needs to gain a little weight.

The flies keep bothering her.

Eatin' some hay.

Ok! All finished w/ the hay, now where's my food!!! ;)

Horse Update

2008-05-13T21:57:00.007-05:00

I have been staying very busy with school plus getting everything ready for the mustang. I was supposed to be training two wild mustangs but the plans got changed, actually for the better. I just didn't have quite enough room for both; & it is alot easier to train them seperately, especially since the gelding can be a bully around the mare. So only the mare was brought down. It has been only a little over a week since she has been here & I am seeing a gradual change in her. She for one thing has to gain some weight and also gain trust in humans. Because she is from the wild, she has never been around humans, so I have to work on building her trust in me before I can actually do anything else. It has been said that this part of the training can take a long time, but once they build the trust, the rest of the training is alot easier & smoother. I have been able to start petting her on her face while she is eating, but she won't let me near her if her head is not in the bucket. And if I sit on the ground she will come up to me & sniff/smell me all over as long as I don't move. I am definitely learning alot of patience, especially since all I want to do is throw a saddle on her & go for a ride ;)- soon :).
But on a bright note for me, I can soon do just that & ride all I want. Starting in a week or two, I am going to be boarding 2 more horses for a lady in my church who is in need of a place to board her horses w/out "abuse." The place where she is boarding them at the moment will not let her horses out in the pasture so they are stuck in the stalls all the time. Plus she is having problems w/ both of her shoulders so she can't do alot with them so she needs help exercising them. Yea, these guys are trained already so I get to ride anytime & really anywhere I want!!! I'm so excited:) I am definitely going to have a busy & fun summer ;)

Here are some pics of her that I took the other day.

By the way, her name is Wyoming. Isn't she pretty!

Old Fashion Day Picnic

2008-04-02T11:15:00.019-05:00

Our church has an annual Old Fashion Day w/ a different theme every year. This year's theme was the Renaissance/Medieval era. I already had a dress from a banquet that I had to play & sing in at school but my mom had to come up w/ costumes for the rest of the family. For the boys is was easy, we just went & bought armour & for my dad my mom just made him a crusader "cape" to wear over his chain-mail. So my mom just had to make the lil girl's costumes. I think they turned out really cute!

Our family minus my mom who didn't make anything for herself (because it would just get in the way while she cooks, yep nice excuse :P :)

William trying out his armour w/ dad's chain-mail.

Daniel trying to look cool while trying out his armour.

William at the picnic showing off his costume :)

Hannah & Charity- aren't their outfits soooo cute!

Hannah w/ her "Pony Pals" Krista & Brooke.

Don't mess w/ this lil girl; she's takin' on two twice her size ;)

We had some games & activities trying to keep w/ the theme. Well, I think tug-of-war counts.

HaHa, got a pic of mom anyways- for those of you who dont know she hates getting her pic taken so it is a challenge to get one. :)

Charity (w/ her buddy helpin') hittin' the terradactyl pinata.

What get together is complete w/ out a good time of fellowship among friends.

Now here is the reason why you dont see any pics of me. (Yes, I know they probably didn't have any sunglasses in the old days but the Texas sun is just too bright ;)

And of course anytime you combine boys, outside, sunshine, and a field- you get a football game :)

Charity & her Buddy- Mr Hamelund.

Just another pic of our family together to end off this post.

Note: To see more pics of our Old Fashion Day go to my church's website at http://charitybaptistkilleen.org/oldfashionedday.htm

Mustangs

2008-03-25T20:22:00.010-05:00

I will be putting up the pics from our Old Fashion Day but I did want to put up the reason for not posting this past weekend.

On Friday, we got a call from a gentleman who is donating a horse to the Renes. He had decided to get them a mustang but he needed someone to go up to Arkansas to pick them up on Saturday. My dad had to go to SanAntonio for work & couldn't go, so I had to learn how to drive the truck w/ horse trailer. I had never had to pull a trailer before but I learned how to pretty fast. Actually, I got the hang of it before I even left town :) Well, it was decided that Daniel would go w/ me & that we would leave Friday evening & stay in a hotel near the Texas/Arkansas border for the night. Well, due to some set backs we left at 8pm & got into the hotel somewhere after 1:30am. For some odd reason I could not get to sleep (hmm, maybe it was that energy drink that I drank to stay awake :) Anyways, we left there about 7ish & were at the auction by 8:30am. I got to help pick out the two mustangs- the gentleman got one for the Renes & one for himself. Driving them back to his place was fun because they are both wild & were fighting back there while I was driving through Dallas/Ft Worth traffic. Fun stuff! :)
Here are some pics that he sent me- the horses cant leave his place for at least a month so I have to be content to just see pics that he sends :)

The Rene's is the dark mare. His is the sorrel gelding.

Here they are enjoying a bite of hay :)

The mare eating.

Isn't she pretty! Yes, she is dirty :)

He sent this pic of a Texas longhorn.

Have no idea why he sent this pic to me but I thought it was a great pic.

Here is his sorrel gelding.

Right now I am looking for some fencing materials to be able to put these guys up down here. If everything works out I get to have two horses around here for a few months. :)

Fun w/ Renes 2

2008-03-20T00:36:00.018-05:00

Well, the Renes came back for a short visit this past month.

Here are some pics of our fun times together.

Board games are always a blast- especially when your good friends are over :)

Here is my mom preparing a feast for us all (by the way- it was yummy! ;)

Peter & Hannah playing RISK. They always had a blast playing on a team & wiping out the "bad guys" :P

Hmm, looks like Charity is trying to climb on the table while Peter & Hannah are setting up their game. But in the background you can see Tabby & I playing the piano & organ.

Charity insisted on helping so she was given a lil piece of dough to role.

Here she is again having a blast. She kept sticking her hands in the flour bag until we finally took the bag away, lol.

Well, while they were here my brothers & their friends decided to put together another movie. What made this one so awesome is the Renes can speak Russian so there are authentic Russian speaking parts. My brother isn't quite through editing it but when he finishes it I will try to put it up on here.

Here is a pic of one of my brothers friends named Joshy; he got to be a Russian who just responded w/ "Dah" which is Russian for yes.

Well, since my brothers had their friends over my lil sis Hannah invited her friend over. Here she is w/ Brooke playing "Connect Four."

Brooke's brothers Nathan & Josh- other actors & director of the movie.

My lil bro Daniel. Great pic of him taken before they started taking the movie.

Daniel again but this time w/ his gun. Yes, it is a real gun & yes they used it for the movie. But dont worry it was not loaded & they are very cautious.

Our terrorist, Nathan. Isn't this pic awesome! :)

Daniel & Josh on the left awaiting instructions while Tejay & William discuss the movie on the right.

Joshy, Daniel, & Josh getting ready to head on out.

We are all now eagerly awaiting the completion of the movie.

Also, looking forward to this summer when the Renes come for an extended visit.

Just some updated pics of us

2008-03-19T12:14:00.006-05:00

Our church had our annual Old Fashion Day (this years theme was medival/renaissance). Well, since we have the picnic at our house we had to get the outside cleaned up. Sorry didn't get any good pics of William or my dad.

Here is Charity trying to catch up w/ us- too cute of a pic to pass up :)

Another one, thought this one was a lil better.

Daniel mowing the yard which is over 2 acres so I know he is glad that someone invented the riding lawn mower, lol. :)

Here's Hannah walking Comet. In case you dont know Comet is part German Shepherd, Malamute, Timber Wolf, & Red Wolf.

OK, I had to take a pic w/ Comet too. ;)

Hannah, Charity, & Comet in front of our guest house.

Well, while the rest of us were outside mom was inside sewing up a storm.

The finished product. Here are the girls dresses.

Our Christmas Fun

2008-01-22T19:09:00.001-06:00

Well, I can't seem to find the pics that I promised to post of William but when I find them I will be sure to put them up (I hope :) But this past Christmas (or the week before) my family went w/ some friends of ours-the Renes missionaries to Belarus- and stayed at a "cabin" up in Athens, TX. This "cabin" was on 200 some acres & had a 12 acre pond. We had a blast w/ a cookout, fish fry, BB-gun war, scavanger hunt, and of course we rode all over on the 4-wheelers & the mule.

The main mode of transportation on the acrage was this "Mule" & the 4-wheelers.

Here I am the "Grizzly." I had a blast riding this thing all over the place.

Here I am on the lil "Beast"

William & Tejay on the "Grizzly"

Daniel & Peter on the "Beast"

Dad trying out the "Grizzly" w/ Hannah in tow :)

Hannah's first time fishing & she caught those three w/in the 1st 15min.

Here they are cleaning all the fish that we caught for our fish fry.

Me, Priscilla, & Tabby at the cookout. See the band-aide on my face? That is my battle wound from the BB-gun war that we had between all the kids & 4-wheelers.

Hannah, Me, Priscilla, & Tabby at the cookout. (You can really see the band-aide on my face in this picture:)

Sometimes we had to cram on the vehicles in order to get places.

Me, my lil sis Charity, & Tabby on the "Grizzly"

Team 1 for our scavanger hunt: Peter & Priscilla on the "Grizzly" and

William & Daniel on the "Beast"

Team 2: Me & Tabby on the "Mule" & Hannah & Tejay on the "Ranger" (We won the hunt, of course ;)

Sorry

2008-01-08T21:06:00.001-06:00

Wow! This past semester has been sooooo hectic with school, home schooling, & work. So I apologize for not posting sooner. I promise to get William's pictures up soon (I gotta find the CD w/ the pics:) Then I will put up an update of my family. Take care all!

Random Shots

2007-08-10T22:01:00.002-05:00

In case you were wondering, I have not forgotten William's post but that will be another day.

A picture of most of the team on Friday afternoon before everybody started leaving :(

Some of the group in the Miami Airport waiting for our flight to Honduras.

Colonel Hawker teaching little Timmy Waller how to march military style.

Clinical Day 4- Choluteca

2007-08-10T21:21:00.002-05:00

Well, this was the last clinical day. We were all a little tired but thankfully this was our easiest day. This time we had the clinic at the church there in Choluteca.

Just couldn't quit taking pictures with the little kids. :)

Doctor Suh's "office"

Doctor Kenya's "office"

Doctor Waller's "office"

People waiting to register with one of our ladies making sure that no one goes where they are not supposed to go.

Tired triage- or what was left of it.

Missionary Mrs Ritchie cooking some yummy soup for lunch.

The pharmacy interpreter- Immanuel posing for the camera.

The missionary's daughter Sasha doing a silly pose for the camera.

Missy after a long day of triage.

Me and Mr Henry Abbott- my favorite man. He loved my hair and loved to play with it.

Me with 2 of the Panamanian ladies and a dentist from Honduras.

Me with Doctor Kenya.

Our lunch crew for the day. William and Joseph/Joe/Joey- he wouldn't tell me which name he preferred to be called by ;)

Look at those sandwiches. Working away & trying to get them all done in time for lunch (that is if I would just leave them alone ;)

William making a few more. It seems they didn't realize how hungry everybody gets when they have been working hard all day with not much of a breakfast. :)

Me with another cute girl who just wouldn't leave me alone :)

Mrs Alfaro and Karen- the youngest girl from the Children's Lighthouse which is basically an orphanage that the missionaries have started.

Mrs Waller and Jenny- one of the girls from the Children's Lighthouse.

Doc Waller, Mrs Alfaro (the interpreter), and Julie- another child from the Children's Lighthouse.

Getting a picture taken with cute little Eric- the youngest from the Children's Lighthouse.

The nursing highlight of the trip (JK:)- getting to clean this little guy's ears.

A picture of me actually cleaning this little guys ear.

We even had the police come out and help us here.

Well, we got on TV again. Here is our director and interpreter doing an interview. For those of you who don't know, I have been on 2 different countries TVs- Mexican and now Honduran. Exciting! :);)

Clinical Day 3- Whensawe

2007-08-10T20:59:00.001-05:00

Yay, I actually got to see my bro. He looks just a little warm & worn out from all the hard work.

Triage. Ya, that's me in the white and green with my sleeves tucked in. It was soooo hot that day. We were in a walled compound with no breeze and no clouds.

Our lunch crew for the day, Dave & Jason.

The pharmacy interpreter, I believe his name is Immanuel.

Waiting in the shade by the only tree in the area.

Dentistry- not every little kid's favorite place.

Doctor Kenya- she came up from Panama to help us.

The eye tent.

Mrs Waller with a new supply of our most treasured item- cool water.

Clinical Day2- Agua Calientes

2007-08-10T20:15:00.001-05:00

By far my most exciting day of the trip. I didn't think the ride was so bad. We had to ride in the back of the pickups again. It was about an hours ride to the top of the mountain on a very bumpy road with pits & big rocks. I thought it was fun riding in the back where we were being bounced a couple of inches into the air. Oh ya, and on our way up we rode 5 across that tiny pickup. Talk about fun! Well, we had another large crowd waiting for us when we drove up. So we got right to work. I could go on and on about all that went on but for lack of time, here is the highlight of that day.
After triage I stayed to help with crowd control. Wow! there was almost a riot because people were cutting in line and were afraid that they wouldn't be able to see the docs. That is until one of the eye docs came out and told them that they were all going to be seen and to listen to me- Isabel- otherwise they would be kicked out. Needless to say they settled down. But imagine having over 100 people looking at you and trying to give you the most pitiful expression. Ya, I had to decide who went next and everything. Yuck! But I did have fun trying out my Spanish and they sure enjoyed listening to me fumble around. Especially when one of the ladies asked me if I was married or had a boyfriend. When I told her no, she was so shocked and couldn't understand why not. I didn't really want to explain in too much detail so I told her- "porque el necesita ser muy muy guapo." For those of you who don't know Spanish that is a very bad translation for "because he needs to be very, very handsome." Well, that had the whole crowd rolling for quite a while- even the guys that had been hanging around all day thought that that was pretty hilarious. Talk about crazy! They all thought it really neat that these Americanos were trying to speak Spanish. Anyway, back to the crowd control, we had the whole group singing songs with us in Spanish and even in English. They loved to try. When I get the videos of it I will put them up on our family website. I definitely had a blast!

The view on our way up the mountain. Another masterpiece created by our LORD & Savior.

This is the line of people that were already there when we drove in that morning.

Waiting in the shade.

Preaching service before they saw the docs.

It seems like Christy was never seen without some cute baby around. :)

As you may know, my nickname is Issy. Well, this little girl came in and we found out that her name is Issy as well. After she found out that we shared the same name, lets just say that I had a little shadow for the rest of the day.

Isabel and Osmin. He literally hung around all day until his mother was seen by the docs. He was soooo cute. He told everybody that he wished that he was 24 after he found out that I was 21. Talk about a schoolboy crush. :)

Clinical Day 1- Los Tererros

2007-07-31T20:23:00.001-05:00

The view on the ride up to the village. Isn't it pretty?

On the ride up to the village, we had to ride in these trucks.

Me, Missy, and Sasha (the missionary's daughter)

Me, Isabel, working in triage.

Missy triaging a little boy.

Line of people waiting to see the docs.

Doc Waller and wife, nurse Linda Waller

Doc Suh, Nurse Beth, and interpreter Carlos

Our pharmacy crew- John, Melissa, and Jamie

Our eye docs.

Our Panamanian doctor

Honduras Church Service

2007-07-31T18:48:00.001-05:00

Well, here we are in Choluteca, Honduras at the church

getting ready for the Sunday morning service.

Here a friend, Missy, is giving piggy back rides to some little kids before the service started.

(Dont you just love the little girl's shoes;)

The director of ORH hitting the doctor pinata that the church made for us (to hit; the candy was for the kids of course:)

Honduras Missions Trip

2007-07-30T21:32:00.001-05:00

Howdy ya'll! Well, William & I (Isabel/Issy) got back from Honduras yesterday afternoon. For those of you who didn't know, we went on a medical missions trip with ORH, Operation Renewed Hope. We left last Saturday the 21st @ 0540 and came back this past Sunday afternoon at 1230. It was a fun and fulfilling trip. Overall, I believe almost 1000 patients were seen in the clinics and over 750 made professions of salvation. Amen!!! I will write again tomorrow and add pictures of our trip there. I will be putting up a separate post for William because we were hardly ever together since he was part of the tent team and I was on the medical team.