Happy but Sad

Tuesday was a happy but sad day.  After over a month Adam and Eve finally got to go home.  Although they are missed, I am so thankful they progressed enough to be able to go home where they belong.

 Eve weighed 5.22 kg and Adam weighed 5.35kg; just over 50% of their weight when they came to the hospital a little over a month ago.  Although most of us wouldn't be happy with a 50% weight gain in a month, this is great news for these two.  Please continue to pray for them and their family.  They were sent home with some formula and oatmeal.  They will have occasional clinic visits at the hospital and then more frequent checks by those nurses and doctors visiting the rural clinic close to where they live.  

 Eve has become quite determined to get anything here brother has.  Just like siblings:) It is so exciting to see them so alert and interacting with their environment.  They both have smiles that will melt any heart.

Although Ben and Olivia didn't get to spend much time with these precious ones, there hearts were quickly stolen, just like the rest of us.

Back to his Roots

First a little background information - For those who don't know, Loma de Luz is more than just a hospital.  It is has other ministries the have developed from the hospital.  One of those other ministries is Finca Loma de Luz, which is the farm.  According to the hospital website,  "God has given us a multifaceted vision for the farm. First,the farm’s harvests can provide significant financial resources for the operation of Hospital Loma de Luz and it’s associated ministries. Second,the farm serves as a resource to the wider community through the production of healthy foods,the opportunity for valued and respectable employment,and finally as a source of community pride. Third,the farm is a place of learning –a place where better agricultural practices can be demonstrated,leading to better food security and resource conservation for our entire region."  Just wanted you to know what I'm referring to when I talk about the farm.
Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church, Vance experienced his first OB emergency.  The catch was it wasn't on a human.  We received a call from the wife of Brad, our agricultural missionary,  saying he had gone to check on the animals and found that one of the pregnant sheep had a prolapsed vagina.  Brad had quickly read about using a sling to hold it in and gave Vance a call to see if he could lend a hand.  Vance didn't miss a beat and said he would be glad to come down and help.  After grabbing his straw hat, he hoped on his motorcycle and headed down to the farm.
They were able to push the parts back in and put the sling in place.  Everything seems to be fine and Brad thinks the lamb is due to be born in about 2 weeks.
You never know how God will uses previous experiences in the places He puts you!
Here are a few pictures.

 BEFORE

 DURING

 AFTER

Meet Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve are 11 month old twins that are at the hospital for giardia, severe malnutrition and developmental delays.  They came to the hospital last week weighing about 8 lbs. each. 

 The girls and I are going to have the opportunity over the next month to spend time "playing" with these beautiful babies.  Their mom is with them at the hospital, but they need as much stimulation as we can give them.  They are not yet rolling over, sitting , standing, crawling, or doing most of the things that babies of their age do.  At this point, their muscle are not strong enough to do these things.

 Adam

 Eve

We are blessed to have a physical therapist visiting this week who has been able to show us how to better "play" with the babies to help develop and strengthen their muscles and skills.  We look forward to watching them grow. I am sure there will be more pictures to come.

Please pray that these precious ones will grow and develop.  

Who's In Charge?

There have been times when standing in line at the DMV or trying to muddle through all the red tape usually associated with doing anything through the government systems, that I have wondered if God is really in charge here or has he allowed Satan to take over?  Well, He must have thought I needed a reminder this week that, yes, He is in charge, because God really showed off for the Pirkles this week. Before leaving the states in January, we worked hard to obtain all the documents we knew that we needed to begin the residency process once we arrived in Honduras.   We had to have all these documents apostilled by the Department of State from the which they were issued and then authenticated by the Honduras consulate.  The consulate did not authenticate the background checks, so we thought they didn't need it.  Well, we were wrong.  Thus began the scramble to get a new background check and have it brought with our visitors that are coming next week.  If we were unable to do so, it would put the entire process on hold for at least a month.  We were able to order new background checks online.  My parents knew someone that would notarize them.  Then they needed to be sent to Vance's cousin in Atlanta who would take them to the consulate to have them authenticated and send them with his children who are coming to visit.  We thought we had it all figured out. 
First email from Chris explaining the situation:

"Rec'd letter from Buford. Docs are signed by notary but the notary did not place her seal on the docs. That notwithstanding, I went to the Honduran Consulate for authentication; she sent me to the Superior Court stating they must first be apostiled. Superior Court will not issue apostile without the notary's seal on the document."

At this point I began to try and figure out ways to get documents overnighted, etc. to see if we could still make this happen, knowing that typically documents have to be apostilled in the state they were issued so they would need to first go to Columbia, then back to Atlanta.  But it seemed impossible.  Had I known at that point that Chris was boarding a plane in just a couple of hours, I would have known it was impossible. As I was getting ready to send an email back to Chris to tell him we would just have to send the document back to my dad and we would try to get it sent with the visitors coming in a month, I received another email saying he was still working on it.  Later he sent this detailed email detailing his morning.  As you read, note all the small details that God coordinated.  In my mind there is no other explanation.

"Quite eventful morning - not sure I explained it all (and now, while I am on a 4 hour flight, I will).  When the Court rejected the document, I immediately began composing an email to you with options (mail back to Buford; try to get another copy and have Yvonne's office notarize, other???) all knowing that my flight to LA was leaving at 1:30 - and I do not return until Friday (with the kids flying first thing Sat AM).  Suddenly, as if I was on the Damascus road, the idea of running to the office to have a new form notarized hit me.  No traffic; one of the few parking spots right in front of the building was open, my notary was free, no traffic on the way back, no line at the Superior Court, the clerk finished in less than five minutes, no traffic on the way to the Consulate.  At the Consulate, there were people outside the building and probably 100 in the lobby, but as I approached the lower level office a man greeted me, escorted me to the 2nd floor where I waited about three minutes, was received by the guy who processed the paperwork, learned he was charging $80 total, waited 10 minutes, paid, and took a liesurely ride to ATL where I had a five person line in security, was the last person allowed in my secruity lane (closing for lunch), took a relaxed lunch, and boarded the flight."

Remember that all of this took place in Atlanta.  I'm not sure I have ever experienced being in Atlanta without traffic.  Also, we were dealing with government offices, where things typically never happen quickly.  In my human way of thinking, none of these steps should have happened, much less all of them within a few hours. 

BUT GOD! He is is in control  of traffic in Atlanta. He is in control of parking spots.  He is in control of notaries.  He is in control of superior courts. He is in control Honduran consulates. He is in control of all and will cause His plans to succeed!
Isaiah 14:24 "The Lord almight has sworn, 'Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.'"
Please continue to pray for continued favor as we hope to send all the paperwork to the lawyer to begin our residency process next week.  Having this process go quickly and smoothly could mean saving us thousands of dollars in travel expenses.  

Where is the Easter candy?

Not long after we arrived in January I began seeing displays in the store with candy for Valentine's Day.  So, I thought if they have Valentine's candy surely I won't have problems finding candy for  Easter baskets. After all, what is Easter without Robins Eggs and Peeps?  For weeks I have been looking.  I haven't seen one chocolate bunny, one colored egg, or one overflowing basket.  However, what I have heard is this week called Santa Semana or Holy Week.  All the schools are closed for Santa Semana.  I've heard a non-christian say that Friday is about the death of Jesus and Sunday is about His resurrection.  So, although I will miss making a basket for my kids, I have had to stop and think, "Do these people around me, many of whom are entrenched in a religion without a relationship, have a better understanding of Who this day is about?"

Familiar Sights

Saturday afternoon we took off on a new adventure.  We had been told that there was a mall not too far.  Vance looked it up on the map and decided it was close enough to walk, so off we went.  Finally, after a few hills (nothing in Cuernavaca is flat), and a few wrong turns we made it to Plaza Cuernavaca.  It wasn't an inside mall like we think of, but it was still very nice. It was a nice place to walk around for a bit. Here are a few things we found:

 There wasn't a "hot now" sign flashing, but they still looked pretty good.  Didn't get to try any though because they were fairly expensive.

 Couldn't believe there was a Sears! We didn't buy anything, but we did go in and look around.

This is where we choose to eat.  They also had a McDonald's, but the Pizza Hut was cooler.  

Our Meat Lover's pizza with a cheese poppers crust.  We weren't big fans of Pizza Hut in the states, so I don't know if they have this type of crust, but it was yummy! 

After walking around a bit more we found the Icees.  They had cereza(cherry) and manana y uva(apple/grape) flavors.  They kids decided to go with the cherry.  They were all smiles with red lips, teeth and tongues.

                                      

"APPLES TO APPLES"

At the last store we went in we found this game and had to take a picture.  This is a game we have and like to play.

After a few hours at the mall we were all ready to head home. This time we took a taxi!

Learning Some Spanish Now

A couple of our teachers have Spanish games that they have let me use for the kids.  I have been wanting to find some of our own.  On Saturday morning we hit the jackpot!  We went to  a store where one of the teachers said she had gotten some games and this is what we found:

In case you can't tell it is 4 Bingo games or Loteria in Spanish and 5 Memory games or Memorama.  We have body parts, colors, nouns, places, foods. verbs, and animals.  Since we are speaking at a preschool level, we thought preschool level games might help.  Can't wait to learn some Spanish this week!