Day 13 & 14

Yesterday was yet another “lazy” day.  We woke up for breakfast at 7:00 but did not leave the house until noon.  We were picked up by Suzy, and taken to yet another location within the ministry…Casa Lamb.  This is a beautiful house in a very nice neighborhood with breathtaking views from the windows and an overall peaceful environment.  The reason for our visit was to capture on video some of the happenings of the “Alonso Project”, for which a meeting was being conducted throughout the day.  We interviewed several of the people in leadership positions, and got several pictures of the meeting.

After lunch with the group, we headed back to Mision Caribe.  We were ready for a light afternoon of packing, napping, and fusebal – we needed rest before our long day of travel.  It was not long though, before we decided that we NEEDED ice cream.  Kathi joined us, and off we went in the pick-up truck to find chocolate.  The best part about this adventure was the great quality time we had to talk and just live life with each other.

That night we helped Dr. Ken and Dr. Pat with inventory of the trunks.  Dr. Ken had Mandie and I both help him with his special trunk.  Haha – we had specific instructions NOT to touch anything we were not instructed to and to count everything…including the bandaids.  It was fun.

We went to sleep late, hoping that we would get some much needed rest before our long day of travel.

This morning we woke, ate breakfast, and zipped up our finally packed bags.  It was important for us to be ready at 8 because Dr. Ken had a special patient in which he needed nurses Mandie and Courtney to assist.  We were really excited.  The patient arrived on time, so it was a good thing we were ready.  She is a beautiful little girl with wonderful English speaking parents…which made the visit much more enjoyable for me!  Haha… J Dr. Ken has amazed me beyond words.  In a baby with no visible veins, he was able, in one stick, to get three tubes of blood.  Mandie and I were astonished.  I have come to the conclusion that he has to have magical powers…it was the best stick ever.  After lots of exciting learning opportunities and a satisfied doctor and patient, we had one more thing on our agenda before it was time to leave.  We also set up a bathroom urine lab that would have made the OSHA people sick, but it worked for us!

In order for Kathi not to miss us too terribly now that her roommates are gone, we left behind little memories of ourselves.  This included short sheeting her bed (for the second time), putting hot chili on her toothbrush, covering the toilet seat in Vaseline, and replacing the soap in the bathroom with orange juice.  How will she ever forget us!  We love you Kathi… :)

We were dropped off at the airport at 9:45 am.  Since the Delta line did not open until 10:30, we sat on Mandie’s trunk and played cards.  I am pretty sure everyone in line believed we were crazy.  We were slapping cards, laughing, and of course, being unusually loud.  Eventually, the gate opened, we checked our luggage, and then were informed that our flight was an hour and a half delayed. 

We made the best of it though.  Our first distraction was Suzy.  She was incredibly sweet and stopped by the airport to say goodbye.  We had coffee and enjoyed conversation with her for quite some time.  Our next surprise was Jenny, Fanny, and Alejandra.  They came by as well to send us off.  We sat on the floor, as there were no tables, and ate tootsie roll suckers and talked.  They are some of the sweetest people I have ever met.  When it was time for them to go, Mandie and I grabbed a bite to eat and then went through security.  The flight was smooth and we are now in Atlanta waiting on our final connecting flight.  As we were waiting on our luggage after going through customs, we received our comment of the day.  It came from a nice gentleman who had been in the first class section of our plane and had been behind us in line during our card slapping, laughing, loud adventure previously this morning.   He said, “I have to ask…Are you two really nurses or are you in high school?”  Haha – we replied that we are in fact nurses but all three laughed at the question.

One fun note of the day is that I have officially broken Mandie of several of her “travel no-no’s.”  (Or at least some of them) We are in fact in matching t-shirts and for a portion of the trip have carried a camera around our neck.  The matching t-shirts have just increased the amount of times we are daily asked if we are sisters.  However, just to reassure you…we do not have our passports, travel documents, and boarding passes hanging around our necks…NOR do we wear white socks pulled up to our knees with shorts…and sandals.  :)

Courtney and Luis Fernando the night of Kathi's party... 

A great little Spanish house in Valle de Angeles...

One of the sweet children that we would have liked to bring home...

Cindy, who lived with me before she went to live at the children's home. I can't believe how big and beautiful she is!