coming home- well, almost.

well, it's been over 10 years with out knee issues. i thought it was over. Well, i was wrong. i have torn my MCL in my left knee on April 7. I really don't know how. Amber (my roommate in honduras) and i had taken one of the boy who lives with us bowling (his first time) for a special treat during holy week since he did not go to his grandparents' house like the other two boys who live at the house. I stood up and pop! oh, well. I had an MRI done at Honduras Medical Center- the nicest hospital in the country and the only ones who will put your results on a CD (which you have to bring your own- i found out the hard way!). it was a different experience. This past few months have been so busy with groups, holy week, VCOM students, belize trip for visa renewal,etc... I will put headings to make it easier.

1. March Spring Break Groups

This year we had four groups here for spring break, along with the two med students. There were groups from Hillsboro/ Lipscomb, Harpeth Hills/ Steve Davidson Group, Oklahoma Christian University/ Dudley’s group, and Park Plaza from Tulsa, OK. It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone again and a little frustrating not to be able to spend much time with loved ones while they were here. My roommate Amber had visitors all month staying with us. It was a fun house-full, along with our three orphans who live with us permanently. We held medical/ dental/ eye brigades on all week at the clinic, with the exception being on Monday where we all headed to a small village called Mirador de Oriente with Steve Davidson’s group. The Tulsa group had 6 nurses with them who were so very encouraging. I wished I had known in advance that they were coming and I could have planned activities for them. I had let it be known that in the afternoons, I wanted to work with the Hillsboro group. Well, that didn’t work out so well. I felt that I needed to stay with the visitors at the clinic and my poor truck can’t make it up even a small hill right now without smoking. That was a little disappointing, but I still was able to spend time with them other days- like at church and the airport. Oh, the airport- my second home. The poor Hillsboro group’s luggage did not arrive with them. In fact, one bag never arrived. The others arrived throughout the week. I have made very good friends with all the airport workers now.

2. VCOM

VCOM (Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine at Virginia Tech) Students – JAN: Margaret and Lucy, Feb: Melissa and Katie, March: Melissa and Kristin, April: Kristy and Chris and 4 more in May…
When I arrived, I met the two VCOM 4th year med students who had been at the clinic for most of the month. They were Margaret and Lucy, as different as different come. I think Margaret was a little homesick or husband-longing for- ness and Lucy was hilarious. Lucy plans to come back in May. Lucy had a great impact on me without her even knowing. She is the first Muslim I have ever really known. I pray I influenced her as much as she did me. God is really awesome like that. At the end of Feb, two more 4th year students came- Katie and Melissa. They were so easy- very independent. I did not have to lead them around the weekends. It was a nice break. They were very confident. On March 1, 2007, the next two students came and it all started again (grocery store trips during lunch break, movies, going to the local places, etc.)I pretty much play “mom.” Kristin and Melissa, in March were great to have with the groups that came down for spring break. Baxter and the clinic all together had around 250 visitors (please see below for more info on that). Melissa left on March 29 and Kristin on April 2. At the end of Kristin's time, the two of us headed to Copan Ruinas (again, see below). Kristy arrived on April 1 and headed out to Santa Ana to work with an orphanage before heading to the clinic for the rest of the month. Chris arrived on Easter day. It was awesome to have a Tennessee guy here who actually went to Freed Hardeman. Last week with the tragedy at VT was extremely difficult for the VCOM students being away from all their loved ones. Please keep everyone in your prayers in Blacksburg as healing begins.

3. Clinic Needs

IF anyone is interested, i am going to post a list of current wishes/ needs at the clinic. There is also one on the website, www.associationamicus.com.

Meds:
Ibuprofen
Antacids
Vitamins- adult, child, prenatal, liquid, pills
Anitbiotics, esp. Amox., Cipro, Bactrim
Cough meds- esp. pediatric
Allergy- Benadryl,etc.
Cholesterol meds
Hypertensive meds
Creams: flugal, bacterial, etc.
Antiviral- Valtrex
anything over the counter. Literally, one tube of Neosporin can say a life here.

Clinic: ear specs- esp. pediatric, i can't seem to recall the name seeing that it is 4:45 am (Honduras time) but the ear wax specs to retreive the wax- long skinny plastic, oh, well. also, 25 5/8, 30 1/2, & 21 1 or 1 1/2 needles, ace/ elastic bandages, Medium size gloves, albuterol treaments- med, mask, and tubing, hydrogen perioxide, blades- 10 or 15, blade holders, 4 x 4s, silk tape,

Nutrition Program: Sponsors... Extra cash for activities throughout the year like graduation, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Children's day celebrations

Sewing class: material- especially in large peices

Haircutting class: hair dryers, small scissors, razors, clippers, money to buy shampoo, conditioner, gel, nailpolish, nailpolish remover, lotion, etc. There are many things that we can buy here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras if we had the cash. I do want I can but i need help.

General: money to buy: pens, paper, markers, folders, cleaning supplies, soap, etc.

I am not sure of the needs in the dental clinic since i spend the majority of my time on the medical clinic side. I know that they are always in need of something.

Please pray about these requests.

3. Holy Week and Traveling
I am so blessed. I have traveled more in the last month than basically in the 4 years i have been working in honduras. Kristin, a med student, and i went to the Copan Ruins. It is absolutely amazing. you can literally walk on and touch the ruins. It is mind-bogling to think how far we have came as humans seeing what ancient life was like. It was a difficult journey getting there. Kristin wasn't sure until the morning we left to go if she would be able due to her flight. It happened to be holy week (Easter week) when everything is shut down and full!(which also caused our travel difficulities)! The buses were full and hotels were booked. normally, you can go anywhere in the country at any time and never have problems with transporation and hotels, but holy week is a different story. Most all Latin countries take holy week off. It would be like everyone in the states having the same spring break and most traveling. It's a hectic week. The cities are dead- everyone flees to the beaches or "vacation spots"- like COPAN. Even the majority of taxi drivers take the week off. However, it is my favorite week in honduras. it is when you truly see the culture- esp, the closer to the weekend. We were in Copan March 30- April 2. The rest of holy week I did not due much except tear my MCL bowling with Darwin and Amber. The week after on April 10, Amber and I began our visa renewal trip to Belize. WELL, it was a little difficult getting there! There is now a union between Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua that implies that foreigns (yours truly) most leave the union to renew one's visa every 90 days. Meaning, that in order to stay in the country legally, we needed to go to either Belize, Mexico, or Costa Rica. Belize is closest. We went the week after holy week because there are less people traveling and safer. We went to San Pedro Sula on Tues and spent the night with a dear family, the Murcias. Wednesday morning, we took a bus to Puerto Cortes, Omoa, to the Guatemalan border where we had to walk across the border. Now normally, not a big deal, but again, I had a torn MCL. It was a rather painful day. From the border we headed in yet another bus to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala and there in boat to Punta Gorda (PG as the locals say). We missed the bus that day to go up north to the beach so we found a hotel ans stayed the night. One of Amber's friends Mark from knoxville flew down and met up with us in PG. The next morning, we took a bus to Independcia and then a boat to Placencia where the beach was beautiful. Well, the law is you must spend 72 hours outside the union. We stayed just about that! We were in Placencia until the 6am bus left on saturday morning. We took a bus to Dangringa and a boat ($50pp) to Puerto Cortes, honduras. From there, we took a bus to San Pedro Sula and then another bus to Tegucigalpa. We arrived at 10:30pm that night. Belize was a beautiful and expensive place. The beach was everything I had pictured and was very relaxing. I love the boys at the house, but it was nice to have a break from all that teenage boy noise. And really, it's nice to have an excuse to renew your visa by going to Belize!

well, i apologize for not writing more often. honestly, i haven't really felt like walking up the stairs in order to get the wireless. I will try. Please pray for me as i travel today and hopefull make it home to nashville.
Dios les bendiga!