finally on furlough!

Greetings to the two or three who check out this blog!

I have not had internet back on Madison Avenue and so the website is not up, but today is the beginning of the end of that phase of life. (Posting from a McD's in southern Ohio right now!) Tomorrow Randy should land in America, and our furlough really begins. He is flying into Dulles, since that is where we need to leave from in March 2011.

R & S, hopefully you will check this, we will locate you soon! Thanks for praying for safe travels, we know how important that is.

How to be happy having medical exams

A simple solution for making medical expenses less costly and much more pleasant, take your "medical vacation" in South Africa!  Come here for the excellent care, and while tests are being done and procedures scheduled, enjoy the great views and low cost foods and the fabulous hospitality that is so much a part of this culture.  REALLY!

We left Salone May 11th, were "stuck" two days in Accra Ghana, then missed all of our first week's appointments.  No worries!  When you explain to the Doctors here that you have less than two weeks to get everything done, they HELP rush you through the system!

And they take LOTS of time with you, talking about what is happening as we age, what changes to expect, ...think American Doctor visits from the 1960's or so, not rushed, not feeling like a number in their system.

I will try to post final costs if anyone out there wants to know, but to give you a hint of how much less it all costs, the lab fee for my PAPS was $35.00 US.  Our dental visits with x-rays and cleanings were under $200.00 for both of us.  Total!!  Not co-pay, those are absolute costs! Something has gone seriously wrong with the insurance and lawyers in America keeping the Doctors and their patients so far apart!  Nope, I do not believe the Government can fix it, I don't believe they have the know how to fix much of anything!

But back to my original premise, the best health care for the cheapest price is here in South Africa!  I know hardly anyone will make the visit, but we feel so fortunate to have been able to do it this year.  And we are leaving early enough to miss the World Cup crowd, but we have seen some of the mania!  So happy for South Africa in it all.  

connected again... it has been less than a year!

Connected with my Mac, not a possibility in Salone, we do not have the internet service provider who handles Macs, so I can only update this when we are out of Salone... we are in Accra Ghana as I type.

This week has been a roller coaster ride, emotionally.  I LOVE storms, thunder, lightening, lots and lots of rain, wind, all good!  The lightening strike that wiped out our freezer and electrical system in the house at Jui, not so good!  Monday morning we had a direct hit, and when we get back we will begin putting the system back together, and finding out if we can repair the freezer.  BUT Tuesday morning we split up the frozen stuff among some friends, and made the 2:00 ferry to Lungi, happy that we were on our way to South Africa.  We met a new friend at the ferry, more about that later, but the Kenya Airways flight went well, it was only AT the time of check in to SAA that we found out that "one blank page" in your passport to enter SA does not actually MEAN "ONE" it means FOUR!  The SAA staff would not let us board, so here we are, waiting in Accra for pages for Randy's passport, delayed in our plans and the medical appointments we have for this week are all a bust!

But in the midst of all of this I have had a couple of very encouraging e-mails, so the roller coaster is feeling like it is flying high right now!  My Mac is working, we have AC for the night, and running water for a bath... the next time I log in I pray we are in South Africa and I will try to convince Jesse to post photos!  Or check out our pages on facebook, we are always out there.

good-bye for now

We are leaving, Jesse has photos and a sermon of Randy's, and some updates from a while back to post... hassle him until he gets them up!

We will not have internet for a few days after we get back to Jui... we need to get a new modem and plan.

Thank you for your prayers.  We know they matter!

last night in Indiana

This is it... our last night in Indiana for a few years (two or three or so!)  We are having a good time visiting with family and friends, but we still have lots and lots to do before we fly on Tuesday.  The container that was shipped last week should arrive not too long after we do, so that will keep Randy extremely busy.

It has been a great time meeting the very young Fennig offspring... our nephews have fun kids, one is next to me right now, so this will be very short.

The container ships tomorrow

The container is packed... Mongo, Randy and Jesse took three days to do what they hoped would take only one, but the end result is we have a great deal more farm equipment on the way to Sierra Leone.  And we were able to get a few books packed and some dry food stuffs for the men who will be working there in August and September.  Thank you for praying for them.

Now we are back in Indiana sitting on Terry and Steve's porch this time.  Dorothy is reading a book I loaned her long ago, Katey is trying to reach Leah, and I am wondering when I will be this cool and comfortable again!?!  The days have been so beautiful it is like a dream.  There is a nest of baby birds chirping away just over our heads, and the evening could not be prettier.

I finally got to the store to buy small size boys things for Bakaar.  He is the 9 year old I am helping to get through school there in Jui.  I am looking forward to seeing all the people we left behind, but somehow leaving here does not get easier each time, it is harder and harder.  We would love to be in two or three places at once, and Katey certainly feels the same.  She now misses Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Indiana all at once!  It has been a very good five weeks.

time to go...

We are two weeks from leaving, I am sitting on Pam and Barry's porch as the sky grows darker and the pinks and yellows fade.  There are no malaria carrying mosquitos consuming us, just a calico cat curled up on the chair nearby.  This place is beautiful and we love it.  

We have seen many of our friends and family and visited only a few churches, and we still need to do so much before we go.  Two weeks from tonight we are back on the airplane headed for Freetown and the friends we have made there.

Tomorrow Katey and I will head south to Indianapolis for dinner with Andy and KJ and little Lucy before we meet Dorothy at the airport.  Randy, Jesse and Mongo will be heading north to pack the combine into the container in Marlette MI.  After that we head back to Xenia, and we hope to find That Guy in Springfield on Friday if he will write!