Today's Update

Here is today's Guildy update. After a couple days (Sunday and Monday) of teetering around in a drug-induced haze, she is doing much better. If you didn't know what all had happened, you would never guess. However, you would wonder why she's wearing a bike helmet all the time. Since it's impossible to watch her every second, and becuase a normal day in the life of a two year old includes several spills, she is wearing a helmet until we're sure she's all healed up. She will be on the anti-seizure drugs for another week or two.



As we have been processing through all this, we have been thinking about the ways God prepared us for it. Our two years in Honduras have been rich with the message that everything God plans and allows is for our good and His glory. It seems like every sermon or message I heard for the first year and a half we were hear focused on that very message. Every week or so, Dan Nagel, the pastor of our church in Bozeman, sends out a little note to the small group of people from Alliance Fellowship who are missionaries with the subject line "Prayed for you." His notes contain a verse that the Lord has brought to his attention and he has prayed for or over us. The day before Guildy's accident, the "Prayed for you" email said this:


"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25,26

I meet with a group of young men (Zach Johaneson, Tanner Claridge, Erik Smith and Jason Harwood) on Thursday mornings at a restaurant where we have coffee and rolls. This morning Tanner took us to Psalm 73, where we were encouraged to make God our treasure instead of prosperity, prestige or physical comfort. May God be your treasure today."



On Friday, as we prayed for Guildy, waiting to hear what was going on inside the trauma room, we had that fresh in our minds and were able to pray that our treasure would lie not in our health or our children, but in the Great Almight God, and confess that whatever His will may be, it was for the best. The truth is, as much as we love Guildy, it pales in comparison to His love for her.

A couple pictures from the hospital. Guildy was super excited about the cool "band-aids" on her chest...but pretty tired from the drugs.

And Hadley with her newly discovered toes.

Dr. Don's Synopsis

Our friend and fellow missionary, Don Rumbaugh, sent this out to his supporters and contacts after Guildy's accident on Friday. Thought we would share it.

YET ANOTHER FRIDAY MORNING: WHAT A FOREVER GOD, WHAT AN INCREDIBLE 2008 TEAM

Nothing chills the bones quite like hearing Dr. Rene CQ prayer request on the local ham radio that a beloved child has been rushed to the hospital and isn't doing well...

Unless it's seeing Mike and Peggy, Liz and Iain, Nelson and Margo bowed in prayer, surrounding a tearful Josh and Lindsey in the hallway outside a closed trauma doorway...

Or unless it's seeing a beautiful but almost lifeless-looking three year old blonde lady lying on a stretcher...motionless after her seizure, connected to monitors, tubes and ambu resuscitation bags.

Nothing warms the heart quite like hearing from La Ceiba that Guildy's CT scan was negative for a bleed, that her condition was excellent, that she was recovering well, that the Nehemian approach* had received the approval and intervention of Great God Almighty...

Unless it's seeing loving teamwork in action:
The McKenney's deftly putting lines and ET tubes into tiny veins and slammed-shut vocal cords where only an act of God could have placed them.
The Younts directing dexamethasone and phenobarbital doses and checking lung sounds and oxigenation status.
Rene and Norma calmly pumping in life-giving oxygen, diligently recording and gently reminding us of when the last intervention was performed.
Ted and Jeff lifting a little body onto and off of the Xray table.
And the rest that I'm sure I'm just not remembering.

But this I don't ever want to forget....

That we have a Great God Almighty here. A God that blesses us, everyone here, with everyone here. What a faithful forever God; what an incredible team. Thanks for the opportunity to see faith and works coupled in action.

*Nehemiah prayed and posted a guard. We prayed and continued the resuscitation.

The Trek to Las Valles

Last weekend, we make the 8-mile round trip hike to the mountain village of Las Valles. Josh works with a guy named Donald who has a friend there, so he acted as our guide. His wife Lydia came along, which was a little surprising. Usually coastal Honduran women aren't much for athletic adventures. However, the Indio (native Indian) mountain dwellers exhibit amazing hiking feats on a regular basis.

Silvino, another of Josh's co-workers came along, too. This guy and his son were heading up the trail to a town near Las Valles at the same time we were, so they accompanied us as well. The other guy is Lydia's brother. The little boy was 6 and only a couple inches taller than Guildy. But man, could he hike like a trooper! Guildy, on the other hand, does not hike like a trooper. But she does a good job riding on Josh's shoulders. I think Josh actually deserved the Trooper Award for packing 35 pounds of wiggly two year old up and down steep trails and answering her never-ending string of "why" questions.Hadley rode in the backpack, and aside from a little sunburn on her oh-so-pink skin, she did good, too.

We had heard it takes 2 hours to walk to Las Valles, but that is Indio speed. Gringo speed was about 3 hours each way. When we got there, we visited with Donald's friend's family.......And arranged some alternative transportation for the way back. Our friend Carrie was pretty worn out, and Josh was tired of carrying Guildy. So they rode a rented horse for the steepest part of the trip back. Honduran horses are amazing creatures. They are usually small framed, parasite ridden, pin boned specimens that look like they shouldn't be able to carry their own weight. But, like the Hondurans who use them, they are able to pack huge loads over incredibly steep terrain. Below is Josh next to the horse, just for size comparison.And here are Guildy and Carrie enjoying the leisurely ride.Hondurans are always on the lookout to upgrade their flocks, so Donald bought a couple good laying hens to take home.
Part way up the trail we came across the biggest lemon known to man. Yeah, that's a lemon, not a grapefruit! We packed it home and made lemonade.And, for the first time since Hadley has been born, we all happened to be in the same place at the same time with a camera, so we have a family photo!We got home at about supper time, dangerously tired and thirsty. But it was a great trip and well worth the sore feet!

The Kids This Week

I looked out the living room window onto the porch to see Guildy scaling the bars on the windows. I am actually surprised it took her so long to figure out she could climb them! Today Guildy was reading the Bunny Book to Hadley. Check out Guildy's sweet outfit. Dress up is the best when you're two!
Guildy loves doing anything in the kitchen...in this case cutting up canned peaches with a butter knife.
Hadley has decided sucking her thumb is the thing to do. Note the rejected pacifier next to her ear.
And the walker is a great way to motate, even if she can only go backward.
Yason, pictured below, and Alexander, another boy at the Children's Centre next door, caught this iguana yesterday. They shot him with the homemade sling shot that Yason is holding in his other hand. It stunned it enough so they could catch it. The poor critter was hit in the eye, but aside from partial blindness (and probably a heck of a headache), he is doing fine. He is currently tied up outside their apartment. Not sure what the boys have in mind for his ultimate fate.

The Grocery Store

Going to the grocery store is never boring. Like every other public place in Honduras, the Paiz store is chaotic, crowded, and has loud music blaring. Hondurans love kids of all shapes and sizes, and because Guildy and Hadley are so blonde and have blue eyes, they get lots of attention. Since Hadley has been born it takes us much longer to get through the store because we have to stop and talk to a dozen different baby admirers, all of whom coo and babble at her. A couple weeks ago, an employee in the produce section was oogling over Hadley, who was contentedly sucking her fingers sitting in the sling. The lady was talking baby talk to her saying something to the effect that she should be sucking the "chi-chis," which is slang for breasts, and not her fingers. She repeated this phrase about four times, and each time, apparently to emphasiz the point, she would poke my "chi-chi." With each emphatic poke into my personal space bubble, I would step back a bit, but she just kept moving in closer. Not alot of personal space in this culture:o)

And you never know what food items the store will have and what condition they might be in. Josh went to town yesterday, and apparently it was Huge Veggie Day. Below are a few of the huge veggies with Hadley for a size comparison. I was particularly impressed with the carrots.

Rio Coco

About 7 miles east of where we live, the road that goes along the north coast of the country ends. Literally. You drive through the tidy little village of Rio Coco and onto the beach, and that's the end of the road. We went to the Rio Coco beach yesterday, and it was beautiful, as always.The last town before Rio Coco is called Bambu, and it has a great waterfall with a swimming hole below it. We went to the waterfall first, but we didn't stay long....the water was too cold. Being the thin blooded folk that we now are, we had to head to the warmer beach! Here is the waterfall from the top looking down.

And a bird's eye view of the swimming hole below...
We tried to climb up above the waterfall to explore some fun little pools, but we were impeded by a swarm of wasps. Note the displeased look on Josh's face. So we had to settle for a couple pictures and head back down.

Aside from the wasps and the frigid water temps, it was another glorious outing in the jungle!

So Cute!

Nothing cuter than a smiley 3 1/2 month old!