please pray

Tony has pneumonia. Please pray. The good news, it's treatable and TB has been ruled out for now. But that scares me that they even mentioned that.

They want him back in 20 days for tests to see how he's recovered, and to see why he is getting these chronic bronchitis/lung infections.

Please pray for us all around, and feel free to share our prayer request. If someone put a plane in front of me I'd get on it. We are working on selling off some big appliances to pay for rent and food. That probably sounds bad, but God is very creative in how he has provided for us since we have been here. Tony hasn't been able to find a job yet, but we're still here. Either way, our lives and future are the hands of the One who made us.

I'll write more later. If you have any words of encouragement, bible verses, or anything you want to share, please do. It helps us so much! Thanks...

funky medicines for back pain, Argentina style

There are some funky medicines here. Every country has their own. Argentina has some pretty funky ones.

Today I threw out my back - leaning over my son's chair helping him with a math problem. Imagine that - how lame. I'm standing there, leaning over a chair - in the standing position, mind you - talking fractions and common denominators [envy me now] and bam! Ow.

How utterly lame of my body to do that to me. I've never been the same since pregnancy. Really, I haven't. I mean, pulling my back out in the standing position is what happens to old people. How utterly dumb.

So Tony came home with these azufre things to rescue me from my pain:

So I do my thankful wifey thing and say, "Oh, honey - thank you! Go ahead. Roll the strange yellow bars of sulfur chalk over my back. Maybe it'll work!" (Note: trying to be positive.)

It didn't. 


my BIL demonstrating - roll on, roll off

 

Now, maybe it works for other people of the Argentinian persuasion, but my back still hurts. And the dumb things didn't crack and split in half in some remarkable "crack! you're cured!" moment, like they're supposed to.

It's been 14 years since I first heard about this amazing native treatment for neck or back pain, and I STILL have yet to receive a good, detailed, lucid, and scientifically verifiable explanation as to how this works. No one seems to really know. The most common explanation is that, "it takes the air out of your muscles."

Um, okay. That helps. Thanks.

Anybody care to enlighten me?

Bueller? Bueller?


In the meantime, I guess it's back to things I know: Ibuprofen. Bed rest.

Taking other over-the-counter meds here I have NO idea what they are, is also status quo. Googling doesn't help all that much with that either. I still don't know what I'm putting into my person most of the time. I see the irony here. God has a sense of humor. He does. I'm a spazz, I hate meds, I have call-911 reactions to a lot of them, and here I am in a foreign country with no idea what on earth I am taking, but I'm forced to take it anyway because pain sucks. Haha. Funny, God, funny.

Fortunately I'm still alive. God is good, after all. Thank you, Jesus.

So for now: Telling my kids to hang up the laundry, and absolutely loving the husband making dinner and serving it to me rocks. Milking the being waited on thing.

Yeah, back pain's good for something!

:)

fighting back the jungle

Jim Elliot, in his Journals, wrote about how nine-tenths of his daily life in the jungles of Ecuador seemed to be taken up with simply fighting back the jungle.

He spent a great deal of his time just working so that the jungle didn't literally take back the small clearing in which he lived. It was hot, sweaty, and time-consuming work that had little to do with the evangelism or teaching he had come to Ecuador to do.

I feel much the same way. And often.

Just fighting back the jungle.

I know Tony feels this way sometimes, too. Especially at times like these. The car is broken down, we are housebound by illness, the kids are now sick, too.

Treading water, focusing on the basics like health - just maintaining.

It's boring. And frustrating. I want to do, do, do. Didn't we come here to do?

This weekend we didn't do. Tony couldn't go to Bariloche to help continue building that church as planned. He had to give his place to someone else. The exchange? A shot in the butt-ocks, lots of meds, and a weekend in, hacking and blowing his nose, and being just generally high maintenance.

Adrian, a friend and doctor from church - when he heard of our recurrent woes - stopped in unexpectedly bearing a needle.
Thanks, Adrian! Payment? In heaven. We sent them off with many thanks and a loaf of bread.

Bend over, honey. Muahahahaha

Tomorrow we look forward to getting out and calling Miami to see where our radiator is. What if it doesn't arrive? I mean, who orders radiators from 4,000 miles away across the seas? And if you do, does it actually get to you? {Our cracked radiator can not be welded - the part that broke is a thick plastic piece on the head. We were advised by many not to let them "make" us a new one here... it's not worth the risk they mess something up, and it's also literally not worth it, more expensive ($1000). So here we are doing things we've never done before: ordering car parts from overseas. New normal. And New Normal is... weird.}

I love the bars on our windows. I don't love the dust.

I wasn't lying about the dirt here. I hate dirt just as much as I hate cleaning. This is two weeks worth of desert dust on the inside of my kitchen window (imagine what covers every flat surface, every day). It's still there. I have more pressing things to do at the moment. A perfectly clean house is the sign of a perfectly wasted (missionary) life.

sickies

Tony is very sick. Same thing he had when we got here. Hard core antibiotics, various analgesics, cough meds, nebulizer treatments.

Notice the shower curtain I hung (taped) as a temporary curtain - nice, don't you think? And Tony's lovely, red, sparkly necklace placed there by a certain three year-old playing princess.

Driving to the pharmacy in the church's truck... ours is only half-fixed.

The roads on the way back...

Just another day in paradise.

Tea Break

Tony and a few other guys have been working on a farm lately, disassembling the bricks to an old barn. The bricks are being given to a family in humble circumstances, so that they may rebuild their house, which recently burned to the ground.

Mid-day, even in temperatures above 90 degrees, they insist on stopping for a mate (hot tea) break. I find the Argentine custom of drinking hot tea in the summer odd at best, but there are serious, die-hard, hot-mate-in-the-summer fans out there.

There is no electricity or way to heat their water on site, so here is how they prepared the hot water for their mate one sultry afternoon.

1. Search for high tree in which parrots make their huge meter-wide nests.

2. Gather several parrot nests that have fallen from the trees due to the blustery Patagonian winds.

3. Pile several nests and random pieces of wood in a little pyre.

4. Light fire.

5. Place plastic bottle filled with water close to fire, heating until very warm.

Lastly, show your wife the pictures so she can pray you don't get cancer from the toxins leached into the water from the plastic.

life in car purgatory & Christmas in Patagonia

Our first Christmas in Patagonia didn't look like what we thought it would, or what we (okay, I ) wanted it to look like, but life and plans and many other things have come to an unbelievable screeching halt with our moved-to-the-third-world car issues.

Since our car has been released from Customs prison paperwork, it has entered Car Purgatory. It occupies this nebulous, undefinable place between Customs and not-actually-registered yet. Apparently, registration is not so quick and simple a task here. Nothing is, really. Silly me for thinking we were home free once we got through Customs. Ah-ha, not so fast there, gringita.

It may be another month before it's actually registered here in country. No one seems to know how long it may take. For now, we drive around town, we think legally {I mean, they did give us a paper that says the ban on driving it has been lifted... so, that means we can drive it, right? Even though it's doesn't have plates or registration yet... right?}.

Since we're not sure of the actual status of our vehicle (no one else seems to be either), we keep a look out for the police. Everytime we see one, we sound the alarm, "POLICIA!", and Tony takes a sharp left or right before we get too close to them. Sometimes there's no avoiding it, though. They've been doing a lot of check point stops over the holidays. In cases like that, we just pray, Corrie Ten Boom style - "Lord, make us invisible" - and drive right through the check point with our unregistered van, no license plates, waving and smiling as if all is as it should be. Christmas Eve, as we slowed through a checkpoint, the policeman looked after us as we passed him. We not sure if he was reading the verse on the back of the van, or wondering why we didn't have plates. Or he just thought our 99 Ford Econoline was the coolest thing he's seen since sliced bread. He didn't flag us down or do anything, though.

"Welcome to Argentina" Tony and I say to each other, smiling, as we speed away.

But this car paperwork business has seriously cramped our (okay, my - I'm impatient) style. We wanted to travel to Bariloche and do a Christmas outreach, but that, and most other mission-y plans we have, have been put on the back burner until the car is actually registered here in Argentina. We are still mostly stuck in town, treading water, waiting, waiting, waiting. It's frustrating. Very frustrating. Sometimes we make plans, but God has His own timetable.

(But, there are many other things we have been doing. Remember, I'm married to Mr. Social. More on that later, I'm kind of wiped out at the moment... over-socialized. must. be. alone...)

Christmas week I had a migraine, four days of a headache. I was in bed, out of bed, back in bed. In between nursing my head, we had a lot of people over. We are really enjoying getting to know the people (finally) at church. They are wonderful and awesome and we adore them already.

Tito and his family came over for dinner. Tito told me they are waiting for me to come to practice so that they can teach me the panflute. He and Tony have become friendly already (but no surprise, Tony's friendly with everybody). As we sat at the table eating tarta de humita and pascualina, our kids playing together nearby, Gladys, his wife, told me how her baby had Scarlet Fever a few months ago. These are normal converstation here these days. After Christmas we are going to get together to talk seriously about putting their music group and our projector together to do some evangelistic mission trips. I already have plans to drag Keren the Mime along with us, too.

Jorge and Monica, who do the Hora Feliz , came over, as well. They need help and a break from their every single Saturday outreach. They have been trained in some degree by Child Evangelism Fellowship, which is one of the ministries I've always wanted to get hooked up with. Our daughters have hit it off and are great friends already. They hold hands and run and giggle and ask when they can play again.

Keren and her sweet and adorable family also came over. Keren said the first time we came to church, she took one look at Tony and said, "There! There is our new Youth Leader!" She is a trip. No one seems to want to lead up the Young Adults for some reason. I don't know why, they're an amazing and talented and warm group of kids. We talked about taking her Mime act outside of just church performances and doing more evangelism. Friday we spent the afternoon at the river with her, her mime buddy in crime, and some of the youth. What a great group of kids, we had so much fun, drinking terere and listening to Tony cracking jokes. Tony and I agree that, even though we miss the States and our family and friends and life there, if we left here, we would miss the people here, too, and a lot. They have opened up their lives to us and welcomed us with such open arms, calling us friends.

By Saturday, Christmas Eve day, my headache was finally gone, and we took off to spend Christmas with Edgardo and his family. His sister has a chacra [farm] in a town an hour away. We prayed our way through several police check points, and spent a nice afternoon and evening with their extended family. They were so kind to think of us, with no family here, and to invite us to spend Christmas with their extended family. We drank mate, the kids played in the little pool, they played soccer and badminton and volleyball, we had dinner (again, at 10pm - ack! I was out back by the grill stealing food in an attempt to avoid another four day long hunger-induced migraine. I hate that, always scrounging food before anyone else has eaten, it looks bad and maybe rude - but I can't help it!). They even gave us gifts. So sweet. We made the hour-long drive back at 1:30am, praying for safety as other cars sped past us at 80 miles and hour, no shoulder, no lighting on the two-lane highway, sharing it with big trucks speeding by the other way with no lights on. Crazy.

It wasn't the way I wanted to spend Christmas, but we were thankful for the blessings of God's kindness and goodness to us, even if it didn't look like what we had planned. I told Tony today what I wanted was to... and he finished the sentence for me, "Be with the kids at the children's home." We're tired of the same old same old. Then he reminded me this is not a game, some of these kids could pull a knife on you. Keren, who has been visiting the home for two years now, was telling us about each one when they were over for dinner. Some are jealous of little Dani, the youngest in the home. One of the 9 year old boys said he's going to kill her. He has such hate and anger inside from abuse and the life he has endured, that it comes out in hatred towards others. These kids need a lot of prayer, and so do we, she reminded us, if we want to go in there. Tony reminded me that we do have to be careful and think twice about where we take our own kids. It's okay to put the brakes on and take this slow. Without properly registered wheels, we are are in a holding pattern anyway. *sigh*

So, yes, even though we wanted to do something different perhaps, like last year, we are thankful for friends and family, near and far. But more and more, with each passing year, we think of all the people that don't have anyone to spend Christmas with, all the kids that won't even get one gift. But next year, I imagine, we'll probably be so busy, busier than we want to be, and begging for mercy and actually hoping to just sit around with nothing to do.

:)

Spiders, Chickenpox, plus other icky stuff

***DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE ICKED OUT BY SPIDERS OR FLIES OR CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES, OR ANY PICTURES THEREOF. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.***

It's been an icky week of spiders, flies, and chickenpox. It all started when Tony went to help build that bathroom for a rural church plant.

He was told a really icky, horrible story about a member of our new church who died last year. While he was sleeping, a green fly crawled into his nose and laid eggs. The eggs hatched and the um, you know, babies... ick. I can't even say it. I'll spare you. The person was dead in a few days.

So Tony comes home, drops that bomb of a story, and begins to freak out over the few flies in the house, wildly swinging a towel at any and every one he could see in an attempt to kill them all. My girlie, who overhead the fly bomb story, sat quivering and shaking in the corner crying, "I don't want to die!".

Great, thanks, Tony.

I have to admit, I was a little freaked out, too. Now, I grew up on a farm, so flies don't bother me. At all. We had fly paper hanging above our dinner table in the summer. No big deal. But I was pretty freaked out by this true, and local story.... noting that this will be a long summer, because we have no screens on our windows. No one here does.

In other news, my baby is just getting over the chickenpox. So I guess we can add that to our ever growing list of health challenges here.

Fortunately it wasn't bad, though - and I'd take chickenpox over croup or even the common cold anyday! The oldest two didn't get it (unfortunately - I actually wish they had), because they were vaccinated before I knew what "Varicella" was.

Varicella is NO. BIG. DEAL here. People still kissed her hello and touched her and sent their kids over to play, knowing we had it. Upon finding out, they would just nod understandingly and say, "Oh, it's better they get it now, when young," or, "Oh, yeah, we've had that. It's better they get it. Stronger defenses!"

After a week of quarenteening her (so as not to spread it, not because she was feeling sick or even had a fever), we eventually started going out here and there. No one stopped, wide-eyed, pointing and screaming,

"AHHHH! Disinfect!!!

Juancito, come here! Stay away from that girl, she has (gasp) chickenpox!"

You know, it really was no big deal a generation ago. Chickenpox is not fatal. We got it and lived to tell about it.

In other news, it's been a week of spiders.

After our big spider friend popping in for dinner last week, my boy got to hold a tarantula. (I earned serious Mommy brownie points with that one.)

Don't worry, it's dead. The pet shop owner, a guy from church, wouldn't let him hold the live one. He was afraid it would get scared, fall, and die. I was actually okay with him holding the live one, though. He is old enough and knows all about spiders. And the bites from these are no worse than bee stings. At least, that's what they say. Well, good thing, because they live here up in the dry cliffs surrounding the city, and all over the Patagonian Desert. Tony has remarked that we never would have come here had we visited first and found all this out.

Our friends and neighbors three blocks away found two mature adult Black Widows in their house last night! (I will not insert a photo for all you arachnaphobes. They are actually Red Back spiders, cousin to the black widow and just as deadly, having a red stripe on their back instead of a red hour-glass on their bellies.)

We actually stayed at their house for 10 days, not ever-so long ago, sleeping on mattresses on the floor, until we were able to find our house here. I was on the lookout for spiders, mostly because we are a homeschooling family and, thanks to my son, I now know way too much about all things venemous than I ever cared to know. I killed whatever ones I found huddling in corners by our mattresses just in case, but, fortunately, didn't see any black widows.

Anyway, they caught and killed one, the other got away. Now they will take it, safe in a glass jar, to the local Police Station. If you can show them proof that you found one, they will come and fumigate your house for free. Nice.

Now, excuse my while I finish cleaning my whole house, top to bottom! So far this morning I haven't found anything, and hopefully I won't!

I will sweep and sweep and pray as I sweep, and check every corner and under everything. More I can not do but trust in God.

:)

week three: the valley of the shadow of death

"For troubles without number surround me... and my heart fails within me." ~ Psalm 40:12



the view from our apartment turned hospital

 That about sums up week three for us here.

Since we arrived in Patagonia on Saturday we've been to the hospital four times, four days in a row. We would have gone two more times, only we were blessed to have two different doctors come for home visits - a little light in the midst of all our hardship. Thank you for your prayers - I'm convinced those home doctor visits were God's provision when I just couldn't take any more midnight emergency runs to the hospital with three sick, unhappy children.

Saturday's hospital visit was for Tony's accute sinusitis and baby's conjunctivitis.

Sunday's visit to the hospital was for baby, again. Shortly after going to sleep she got another fever. Called our missionary friend Lee to see if he could pick up us, dragged the two older, very tired and cranky kids out of bed to rush baby back to the hospital. I was just sick. You know when you're just sick to your stomach from nerves and fear? It was like wham, wham, wham. The trials just weren't letting up. We were about to crumble.

Verdict? Ear infection. Probably caused by the same virus that caused Tony's laryngitis, ensuing sinusitis, baby's croup, and conjuctivitis. Our body's are so run down that we keep getting sick.

More meds, antibiotics, and back "home" (although I'd hardly call the bare, dinky apt. we were in a home, but whatever). We've been nursing all five of us round the clock since then. I have a sheet for everyone, what meds they are taking, what time, and how much. Otherwise I'd poison someone, we are on so many meds.

That night, as the kids were finally settling in bed at 2am, I asked my boy how he was doing and what he thought about us going back to the United States. He covered his eyes and said he was upset. Oh, no. I went over and asked him about what. He said he was upset because we came here to do missions and we hadn't done anything yet.

(Wow, did he really just say that? Couldn't he have said, "Yeah, let's go home! I miss playing the Wii." or something a bit easier for me?).

He said we were failures.

My girl chimed in and said, "Yeah, we're losers."

My heart despaired. I cried and felt like I just wanted to die at that moment. I explained that we weren't failures and we aren't losers, we're trying - we just never expected to get this sick. I said we've done more than some people would ever attempt to do - that doesn't make us failures, it makes us brave. It's not our fault if it's not working out.

My son just said, "What will people say if we go back? What will they think of us? So many people helped us and we haven't done anything yet. We can't go back. Just think of Jim Elliot and those other missionaries in Ecuador - they gave their lives. They sacrificed everything. We haven't done anything yet."

Monday Tony and I just fell into a pit. I told him what our boy said and he just broke down and cried. He sobbed. And sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, saying, "Lord, why did you ask us to come here? Why??"

We were depressed, tired, sick, worried, and feeling major doubt and regret over our decision to come here. Did we miss God? Had this all been our idea? Does God exist or is this just an invention of my mind?

Yeah, it was bad.

My chest was tight with anxiety and I felt like I was going to go over the edge at any moment. I had been telling Tony for a week that I was feeling horribly anxious, and that prayer and chamomile and valerian tea were not helping. I needed something more to get me through this. I was trying to be honest and just admit that I'm not superwoman, and was most certainly feeling like the worst and most unqualified missionary ever. I knew that Tony couldn't handle one more thing, and neither could I, so for the health of everyone it was time for mommy to take care of mommy or we'd surely crumble totally.

a rather small portion of the medicines we have been taking

So we called Lee (for the millionth time, what a great guy, he always comes to help with a smile), and he came and picked me up to take me this time to the hospital. Poor Tony had to stay behind with all 4 of them sick. On the way to the hospital when he asked how we were doing I just cried and told him all our troubles - that we are just not handling things very well and were talking about possibly throwing the towel in and going home. We felt like failures, complete and utter failures.

At the hospital the line to be seen was very long. I waited for two hours. I sat there talking to Lee, also a missionary, pouring out my heart about how miserable everything was, and cried some more. The girl sitting next to me turned to look at me. I was in such a state, I didn't really care, and figured she didn't understand what I was saying anyway. And if she did, well, she just heard our entire sob story.

No one seemed to be calling anyone in to be seen, so I knocked on the doctor's office door to see how much longer it would be. The doctor who answered asked why I was knocking and informed me that it would be "a while". How long is that? Just "a while". We left.

It was raining and miserable outside. Later at the apartment Edgardo, our pastor friend, stopped in with a friend to see how we were fairing. He said, "Wow, it hasn't rained here in nine months, and now it's raining like crazy."

It hasn't rained here in nine months?

In nine months.

Not a drop?

Not a drop.

Great, even the depressing rain was for us. Yay.

Edgardo's very nice friend, a believer from the church, said he knew a young doctor he could call for us. So he did, right then and there. Within an hour the doctor was there in our apartment looking at the kids, and asking me what was going on with me. He reassured us that the kids seemed fine, that 90% of the city was not doing well because of the ash, and that the baby is on the right track with her treatment. He didn't want to give me any anti-anxiety pills, which I understood, but then he had pity on me and our sorry state and said he had a few at home and if I could wait til later he would bring them back for me. Good thing, since I still had enough dignity left not to beg, which I was seriously considering doing.

He showed up at 1am, and our cell phone beeped that he was downstairs. I went down in my robe and he handed me two little pills. I don't know what they are and I don't care. I'm just glad I have them. I haven't taken them, I'm just glad that they are there if I start teetering too close to the edge. For now, trying to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

But, if that doesn't work, as my chiropractor said once: there is better living through chemistry.

Tuesday Lee came back to see how we were doing (we have been SO BLESSED by Lee and Dori and Edgardo and his family. I don't know where we would be without them!). They invited us to stay at their house [a nice, big, comfy (albeit empty) one, they had just rented] so we wouldn't have to be alone. They didn't seem to worried over our sickness, although the last thing we wanted to do was pass it on the their two small children.

A couple prayers sent up to protect them from what we got, and we accepted. We packed all our belongings up and left that little, depressing apartment where we had been alone and sick. We have been here for for days now and it's been a huge blessing, HUGE. Lee and Dori are experienced missionaries and are very laid back. They are doing great here, they are so positive and happy (and healthy, I don't get it),  and are a great source of encouragement and help to us in every way.

Wednesday morning, the first morning we were here at Lee & Dori's house a couple from the church (the one we haven't had time to visit) showed up and said they had come by our apartment to take us out to breakfast. They didn't find us, so came looking for us here. Marta is a really nice, sweet, sincere Christian from near Buenos Aires. She met her husband Adrian at the university. They got married and moved 16 hours away back to Patagonia where he is from. As I told her my woes, she said, "I understand. I've been there. I left my home and family, too. You can do it. Nothing is impossible with God. If I can do it, you can do it. We came here for a secular job, you guys have a calling."

As we talked, her husband started asking about the kids. Our boy had deteriorated by then and was hacking a horrible, deep, resonating cough. He couldn't stop coughing. Adrian asked what the kids' symptoms were, what they were taking, and then asked my boy to come over and cough for him.

Turns out Adrian is a doctor (!!!). He took one listen and said yep, that's bad. He has tracheobronchitis. Do you hear how deep that cough is? He needs antibiotics. He said he would come back after lunch with stronger ones for him and Tony, who was also not really recovering well after 5 days on antibiotics.

After lunch he did just that. He came back and handed us some heavy duty antibiotics that he said would knock the infections right out. He also gave us some others meds for this and that if we happen to encounter allergies or bug bites. When I asked how much we owed him for the meds, he said, "Nothing, it's free." Praise the Lord, because we have spent a small fortune on meds since we've been here. Thank God the medical attention itself has been free, or we don't know what we'd do.

Ah... I was beginning to feel a little bit better... like maybe we can do this. If the kids get better, we get our health back, and we find our own home to live in instead of these suitcases, wandering around like nomads, then maybe I can do this, I thought.

Thursday Tony was able to squeeze an interview in at a local TV station. Hoping it goes somewhere.

It is now Friday and all five of us just came back from the doctor and pediatrician. We all have various forms of the same thing: laryngitis, pharyngitis, tonsilitis, and bronchitis. We are all on antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, pain meds, and cough meds. The docs reassured us that it's nothing uncommon in these here parts and that we will be fine in 5 days. I hope so.

Thank you, prayers, for praying for us. I am convinced your prayerss have sustained us through some of the hardest weeks of our lives. God knows I was ready to get on a plane. There were a few days there that I even wondered if God really existed or if it was all a fantasy. That is how much despair we were in. And for us to get this far and seriously consider throwing in the towel, things had to be really, really bad. And they have been. The only thing worse would have been death. And it felt like we were one step away from it at any minute.


Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
For Thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. ~ Psalm 23:4

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him." ~ Lamentations 3:22-25


Pressed on all sides, but not crushed.

week two

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Week two here in Argentina can basically be summed up as hellish, inferno-like, from the pit of hell. The worst weeks of my life quite possibly. Oh, where to begin?

It is now Sunday, the end of our second week here.

Tony got sick last Saturday. We thought it was only a cold.

The next day, Sunday, we were visiting Tony's sister and my ever-active 2 year-old was bothering one of the dogs. Everyone has dogs here. One minimum, sometimes up to three. The dog got mad at being bothered and snapped at my baby. She didn't puncture the skin, but grazed her forearm with her teeth, breaking the skin.

By Tuesday, my baby started getting a fever. When I checked on her at 11pm she had a high fever and I heard the all too familiar seal-like cough. Croup!

After that it's a blur of nerves and thinking either she would die or I would. As I grabbed a few things to take to the hospital (not that I even knew where a hospital was, let alone how we were going to get there), Tony and his sister tried calling the ambulance. Since 911 is for police emergencies only, his sister tried calling the number for medical emergencies and it was busy. BUSY?!

I was waiting outside when the baby started to gasp and heave. I thought she was arresting or unable to breath. Then she vomited all over and began crying even more. I was so scared I could have thrown up.

I called back into the house for Tony, he finally came outside and said to get in the car. We had to leave the kids sleeping at their aunt's house.

My BIL was passed out and couldn't drive (too much vino), so Tony said he'd drive. My SIL doesn't know how, so couldn't. Most cars here are stick shift, only Tony doesn't know how to drive stick shift. Earlier that day his BIL, providentially, gave him a 15 minute TOPS quickie driving lesson, and that was it. I wanted to drive, but Tony insisted he would. So I jumped in the back with the baby on my lap praying like a crazy woman while Tony attempted to get the car out of the garage. I was sure he would stall out 10 times. He did surprisingly well.

As we were pulling out, still not sure where a hospital was, as his SIL is yelling which one to go to and quick directions, the neighbor who had heard the commotion, came out and told us no, go to La UPA. It is closer and they wouldn't make us wait there. She gave quick directions, and off we sped.

I can't describe the pain in my gut and the nerves I experienced as we drove down the highway towards this hospital, gasping baby in my lap, praying for her to be able to just breath until we get there, whispering "JesusJesusJesus" over and over and over again, and telling Tony, "You're doing great honey" so he would be able to calm down enough to not stall out.

We made it, walked quickly in, and thankfully were attended pretty quickly. Laryngitis, they said [in the States, our doctor called it croup]. Classic case. A shot of steroids in her bum, a megadose of Ibuprofen, two nebulizer treatments, and some steroids to pick up at the pharmacy. We drove down the deserted streets at 2am towards the 24hr pharmacy and were able to get to sleep finally by 4 or so.

The next day, after she started responding a bit to the meds, I remembered the dog bit/graze. We were too late to go to the Anti-Rabies Center here (there are tons of stray dogs in Argentina, and rabies exists). So we had to wait til the next day to take her there. The guy (I don't even know who he was, a doctor, a nurse, a completely unqualified person off the street, who knows?) said she would need 3 preventative Rabies shots. He scolded us for not covering her scratch, squirted something that looked like Iodine on a gauze, taped it to her arm.

Ugh, sinking stomach feeling again. Because she was being treated for croup, she couldn't get the shot. So we scrambled to get a copy of the rabies vaccine my SIL said she had.

When we got home she was crying that "ow, my arm burn, hurting me, hurting me, owy, owy". I took the gauze off and her arm was burned where the Iodine was. I almost lost it!

I gave her Ibuprofen for all her discomforts and told Tony that's it, I need some meds myself. Do they sell Valium over the counter here? I need some. Now. Or I'm going to lose my mind.

All I wanted to do was leave Buenos Aires. Convinced in Patagonia could get some relief. [Update: Ha ha, that was wishful thinking]

We got a copy of the rabies vaccination for the dog (I literally kissed it when I saw it!), Tony's paperwork arrived in the mail, paperwork we had been waiting for before we could leave BA, and baby seemed to be improving, so we decided to blow the crazy town.

The bus ride that night was about 14 hours long. Everyone was coughing the whole trip. I felt bad, like we were getting others sick, but we needed to leave.

We got to Neuquen, and fortunately our friends, Lee and Edgardo, were waiting for us. We had lunch, but Tony's head was killing him. His cold had gotten much worse. The baby's eyes also started getting red, swollen, and goopy. Oh, God, I thought, WHAT NOW???

Edgardo was so kind - they fed us, let us shower there, then took us all to the hospital. We are thankful for the free hospitals here, at least we didn't have to worry about a huge bill. As we were driving there and walking in, it was very dusty and very windy. Edgardo said it was ash. From the volcano. It was blowing everywhere, making our throats feel scratchy, skin gritty, and eyes irritated, on top of the . Plus just regular dust from the desert landscape.

The doctor attending saw both the baby and Tony. Conjunctivitis and sinusitis, respectively. Tony was really sick by this point with a splitting headache, and baby was noticibly deteriorating.

Tony was sent home with antibiotics, and the baby with a prescription for antibiotic eye drops. Which she screams bloody murder over because they sting. It's a nightmare and I can't help but think at those moments, Oh God, why did we come here??? To see our kids suffer like this? One night she looked at me and said, "Mommy you hate me." Ugh, knife to my heart. I said, "No, Mommy loves you! That's why I'm giving you your medication." She just looked at me with sad little eyes and said "No, you hate me, you hate me."

I wanted to get on a plane right then and there and go home.

Our other two got sick as well. Hopefully it's just a bad cold. But I am so sensitive and traumatized that I am just sure they will be next to the hospital.

Our first night in Patagonia, we were invited to a dinner at church for all the moms. Today, Sunday, is Mother's Day here in Argentina. Tony was sick in bed, the baby had fallen asleep, but he encouraged me to go with the kids. It was just around the corner.

My throat started hurting as soon as we got there. I found it hurt and I had trouble speaking. I felt rude, but as soon as we ate, I had to excuse us to go home to our little, tiny, one bedroom temporary apartment three blocks away. I came back to Tony hacking up a lung, spitting out green stuff, and with a migraine type headache. All I could do was pray for him. I put my hand on his forehead and just prayed desperate prayers. And cried. After we prayed he said he felt better, his headache was almost gone. At least for a bit. It came back in the middle of the night.

So here we are, our second day in Patagonia and it's impossibly hard. So hard that we have even thought of returning. Going back. We had such a good life, what on earth were we thinking?

Even Tony said back in Buenos Aires when everything started hitting the fan that if God gave him a plane to get on, he'd get on it in a second and go back to the United States.

Feeling like complete failures at the moment. But, honestly, all I care about are my kids. I'm okay with admitting maybe we made a mistake, maybe we didn't hear God? Maybe we were wrong to come here. It's certainly not worth losing one of our children over. Does that make us lesser Christians? Weaker? I don't know, maybe. But my first ministry is my kids. If they are not okay, neither are we.

Tony really surprised me when he mentioned going back. We never thought our trials would come in this way, regarding the health of our family.

I have had stomach issues since we got here. I've been to the bathroom at least half a dozen times today. I never have diarhhea. Never. It's hard to be sick and see your kids sick and see your husband lying flat on the bed sick as a dog and being in a foreign country. It makes you just want to cry, really.

So, that's what it's been like here. Please pray for us. I have no problem asking, begging at this point. We are desparate for prayers and direction.

UPDATE: It's Tuesday now, things are getting worse, if that were possible. Will write about it as soon as we come out of this hole. Our little one-room apartment has turned into a hospital. I'll get to writing about it when I get a spare moment between nursing my family and trying to care for myself in the process. Thanks for all the prayers - we miss you all. Lots of love.

Romans 8:18 "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."


2 Corinthians 1:5 "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." 


2 Corinthians 1:6 "And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation."

Shots versus no shots

Our two oldest kids are completely vaccinated. Somewhere between baby #2 and baby #3 I started getting more into healthy living and herbs and all that crunchy stuff. Now I'm a total freak about shots. Pendulum swung totally the other way! So much so that Peace Baby (who is now 2) has not had any shots.

They just scare me to death.

But (and this is my dilemma) I'm too much of a scaredy-cat to live in Argentina again - especially in the rough places we know we're called to - to take unnecessary risks with my kids by not vaccinating them! Argentina's dangerous enough without having to deal with a good case of spinal meningitis. I can handle colds and vomiting and diarrhea, but I don't do well with strange diseases and high fevers. I really don't.

I am not brave, just so you know. Some people think I am, but let's just dispel all the myth right now. Tony says I'm the biggest (well, I can't translate the word he uses!) scaredy-cat he knows. It's true. I discovered that while riding the hot air balloon at the Zoo several years ago. Scared. To. Death. I almost went in my pants (fortunately I made it to the bathroom in time). Yeah. Brave. That's me!

So, I've decided to go ahead and get my little schmoopie some shots. The ones that prevent the really scary, serious, can-be-fatal diseases. Reading this post scared some sense into me. Like, seriously.

So please pray for my baby! We'll be starting TOMORROW with her shots (and no, we won't be getting all of them - they over-vaccinate kids these days, if you ask me). Hopefully spreading them out over the course of this year will enable her little body to handle them better!
:)

Life After Caffeine

Oh, coffee, how I love loved you

I am here to proclaim (and before I do, no booing or tomato-throwing, please) - THERE IS LIFE AFTER CAFFEINE.

I, former happy and willing addict, am living proof.

I was willing to try anything to get rid of, or to at least reduce, this curse of migraines which has befallen me these past five years. So, when the doctor recommended the Migraine Diet, I was desperate enough to try it (because giving up caffeine is desperate). I've been on it now for over three months.

I am still alive.

"No caffeine consumption whatsoever" was at the top of the list - a near death sentence for someone who used to say, "Coffee is my best friend - second to Jesus, of course." I just LOVE coffee. Loved it, I should say. It is now officially part of my past.

I thought weaning myself of my happiness-in-a-cup would be hard. I was wrong. It wasn't hard at all. I am serious. It took 5 days.

By slowly reducing the size of the mug...

...then the strength of the coffee...

 it wasn't bad.

No withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. I mostly just missed the taste.

Here are some of the amazing benefits I have experienced from no-octane living:

• more energy. How can this be, you say? I don't know. You have to experience it to believe it.
• I look better. The dark circles under my eyes are gone; my skin looks younger, cleaner, clearer; and I look brighter somehow. Tony keeps saying, "Es impresionante!" [impressive, incredible, amazing].
• Less [regular] headaches overall
• Gone are the permanent knots in my shoulders, which often led to tension headaches. My shoulders are now soft like buttah.
• I sleep FANTASTIC. I fall asleep quickly, stay asleep, and wake up very well-rested.
• ...therefore, no need for Sleepytime Teas, or sleep aides of any kind
• Calmer nerves
• Increased emotional stability
• Little to no anxiety (mine was apparently caffeine-induced, or immensely aggravated by caffeine)
• No more highs and lows in energy level over the course of the day - just steady energy all day

I like life post-caffeine. And it HAS significantly helped my migraines. Not at first, but now I see a difference. Because I can handle stress better, and there is no caffeine in my system to contract then dialate my blood vessels (thought to be a cause of migraines), I just don't get them as much.

Tony was so impressed by the overall change in me that he gave up coffee, too!

So, there you have it. God answers prayers in strange, unexpected, and sometimes normal ways that don't always involve huge healing miracles. Just a small change in diet, and wham-o. Answered prayer. Imagine.

And, you know, there's still decaf.

:)

The Migraine Diet Part II

I know a lot of people don't get migraines, but according to what I've read - 1 in 5 Americans do.

And almost everyone has had at least one headache at one time or another.

Therefore, I have to share THIS: The Comprehensive Guide to Avoiding Headaches Through Diet.

This list is not just for migraineurs, but for anyone that suffers frequent headaches. You might be surprised at some of the common foods associated with headaches. The link also touches on the chemistry behind headaches, which I find very helpful.

I never realized I had such a high sensitivity to so many foods until recently - almost five years into my migraine episodes. And now that I'm paying more attention - it's astounding how almost every single food in the "Avoid" column causes headaches for me. Truly amazing.

It's worth perusing the list and tips at the bottom. Pass it around if you know someone who suffers from migraines - they may just find some relief through diet.

The only good migraine is the one that can be avoided!


:)

How to decaffeinate your own tea

It's been a little over two weeks now that I've been on the Migraine Diet and off caffeine. I'm surprised how truly good I feel.

Several years ago I went to a Tea Party. The only formal tea I've ever gone to in my life. The tea shop owner gave us a little class on tea and tea preparation before serving us delightful (and sugary) English finger foods on tiered platters accompanied by a variety of gourmet, naturally decaffeinated teas. One thing I never forgot is how she explained to us how easy it is to decaffeinate your own tea!

A quick internet search informed me that:

• Approximately 80% of the water soluble caffeine in tea is released during the first 30 seconds of brewing.

What's more, according to the tea shop lady, a whopping 94% of caffeine can be removed naturally in the first minute of brewing.


How To Decaffeinate Your Own Tea

• Simply pour a little boiling water over the tea leaves in your teapot (or teabag in your cup), allow the tea to steep for 30 seconds to 1 minute, and then discard the liquid. Use the same tea leaves with fresh hot water to brew a close to fully decaffeinated cup of tea for drinking.

You will find this process highly effective, allowing you to enjoy the originally caffeinated teas you love without major concern over caffeine content. Test it for yourself and you will see that it works.

I can attest to the fact that is DOES work. I've been drinking my own decaffeinated English Breakfast tea for weeks. It tastes great with a little milk and sugar, but with a clean, no-caffeine feeling (if that, indeed, is what you're after).


Try it. You might be surprised.

:)

Temptation

This is what it looks like for me these days, thanks to the Migraine Diet.

homemade Brownies, Donuts, and Coffee

But I controlled myself. I did.

"for the fruit of the Spirit is...

self-control..."

It also helps to have a strong motivator like migraine pain and the avoidance thereof.

:)



The Migraine Diet

For years I've prayed, "LORD, I'll only go to the mission field if you heal me of these migraines. I can't go with these headaches. Please."

Well, time tempers a person.

The LORD hasn't healed me yet. I keep praying. We keep praying, keep asking. But, after four and a half years of suffering and no healing in sight, it's something I am just. learning. to live with.

So, the latest is my new Dr. suggesting the "Migraine Diet".

I'm desperate enough to actually give it a try.

All foods on this list are known, common triggers for migraines - half of them were already known to me, half were a complete surprise.

MIGRAINE DIET

NO caffeine of any kind (kill me now)

NO chocolate

NO ripened/aged cheeses (only cream cheese, farmer's cheese, and cottage allowed)

NO vinegar (except white)

NO nuts (including peanut butter, almond butter)

NO sour cream 

NO yogurt

NO fermented, pickled, or marinated anything (ie, wine, beer, pickles, soy sauce, marinated meats, etc.)

NO fermented sausage meats (salami, bologna, pepperoni, summer, hot dogs)

NO hot fresh breads, raised coffecakes, and doughnuts

NO pizza

NO MSG*

NO herring

NO pork

NO onions

NO pods of broad beans (lima, navy, pea pods)

NO citrus (or no more than 1 orange per day)

NO bananas (or no more than 1/2 per day)

NO canned figs

NO avocado

NO nutrasweet

NO red dye

*MSG (monosodium glutamate) is in most prepared foods. It is often disguised as Spice, Natural Flavor, Seasonings, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, among others. See full list here.

I would add sugar to this list, as well. Sugar headaches are bad.

Herring, pork, and bananas were a big surprise to me. That would explain why my Cranberry Pork Crockpot gave me a day long headache both times I made it.
 
So, what can I eat? Rice, pasta, veggies, eggs? (I foresee weight loss in my immediate future.)
 
I'm also weaning myself off of my beloved coffee. I am that desperate (wow, I've said desperate several times so far) that I am even willing to give up my second best friend: coffee. Sniff. I'm down to one very weak cup in the morning. Gag. It's almost not worth drinking.

I have to confess I do feel better. A little. My nerves are calmer, that's for sure. I am still getting headaches. Like the one I have right now. But, desperate times call for desperate measures. Especially if it means avoiding medications. Which I fully want to do. BUT, if this spartan diet doesn't work...

Give me drugs.

More from my new, coffee-free, semi-catatonic state later....

:)


The Migraine Diet (comprehensive version) = THE guide to preventing migraines through diet
relieve-migraine-headache.com  = a helpful link

Natural Skin Lotion

Believe it or not, olive oil makes a GREAT natural skin lotion/moisturizer. It's inexpensive, easy, and healthy. All of which I love and appreciate. :)

A couple of years ago I was sitting in the hall at church talking to a friend about dry skin. I have no idea why, I usually am not into talking about beauty, fashion, and other vanities, it seems like such a waste of time, good conversation, and good brain space. Maybe it was winter? Anyway, she has very dark skin (I would be PC here and say "African American", but she's not American - she's from England. So, is it okay say "black" then? African-English? I don't know... I'm so confused with this whole don't offend everyone thing. By the way, call me German-American from now on, please, lest I be offended).

Anyway, she told me how she uses olive oil on her skin. I couldn't believe it! Olive oil? Really?? Isn't that greasy? No, she assured me. A few drops, just a few drops, smoothed onto her skin after a shower and before toweling off, and voila! She said she keeps a little bottle in her bathroom. So I tried it. Next time I shaved my legs, I grabbed that oil despenser thing I had but wasn't using (you know, the kind they give you in restaurants when you ask for oil and vinegar on your salad?) and filled it up with some olive oil, which I always have in the kitchen. I did what she said and then let my skin air-dry. I couldn't believe it! Soft, smooth, NOT greasy, and the most well-moisturized legs I've ever had lol!

This past winter my baby's skin began drying out, so I tried it on her. Instead of soap in the bath, I put a few drops on a wash cloth and washed her down with that (making sure I washed her hair first). If it was especially dry, I also put some in the bathwater. Amazingly silky smooth baby!

You can also use coconut oil. This works fanastic, and is actually what I prefer, but I never seem to be able to keep it stocked in my house. And, of course, organic of either is even better, since your skin absorbs everything.

Try it! You'll never want to buy that mostly-water, chemical-filled, almost useless and waste of money stuff they sell as lotion ever again.

:)