More Adventure than I Wanted!

February 4 - Thursday
Left Tobey Road about 10:30 am after stopping to say hi to our neighbor Gale who is battling lung cancer; as we travelled down Tobey Road, I checked to make sure I had my passport and not Dave's and I did have my own. Check into the airport at Delta with no problems. Left Rochester 45 minutes late; arrived Atlanta just 15 minutes late; met up with Drs. John and Renee from Lafayette, Indiana as scheduled; departed Atlanta on time; arrived and departed Paris on time; arrived Libreville about 5:30 pm on time. Followed John & Renee through immigration; arrived at the police stop to discover I did not have all my paperwork! After 4-1/2 hours and a series of tears and miracles, I was granted entrance into Gabon (by merit of the miracles not the tears even though several of the Gabonese police did say "Madame, do not cry."). God is good all the time. It is only that I see Him at work some of the time. I am grateful for His mercy and His grace in allowing all the pieces to fit together for me to continue on my journey to Bongolo.

Spent the night as planned in Libreville Guest House and had a wonderful night's sleep without hearing the roosters who crow through the night; enjoyed pain au chocolate for breakfast; flew with Drs. John & Renee and a Bongolo Hospital patient at 10 am on the new Cessna with Captain Steve from Libreville directly to Lebamba airport in 1 hour and 40 minutes as opposed to a 10 hour car ride on bumpy roads. It was wonderful to be greeted at the airport by Luke, Sarah, Joanna & Keir, Afoussa & Pastor Serge (my Hero!). Luke & Sarah had made a huge "Welcome Back Grandma" sign. Very Exciting! I was so happy to be here.

Thanks to Alace I was able to bring a few carrots, a few salad greens and a couple cucumbers from a Libreville market. During the rainy season these items are not available in Lebamba and often not even during the dry season.

Lunch at Thelanders with Dr. John & Renee; headed back to the airport to say goodbye to Keir, two of the residents and Dr. Renee from Victor and Dr. Deborah as they headed to Libreville (and Kenya and Nigeria). Incidentally their flight out of Libreville was cancelled, Keir's luggage lost so they headed back to the Guest House; Keir finally arrived in Nigeria with out luggage thus with only the change of clothing in his carry-on (no suit, etc for the meetings) and the others finally arrived in Kenya.


Back on the mission station, we went to the pool to cool off from the 93 degree heat. Dinner and off to bed; Sarah has given me her bed and she sleeps on an air mattress in Joanna's room. Slept till 10 am. Home church and Sunday school; another visit to the pool and a quiet day of rest. Began work on the new John Deere 500 piece puzzle with Luke, Sarah and Joanna.




Had a 1-1/2 hour "nap" before joining many others on the mission station for the Super Bowl; most of the crowd rooted for the Colts; I was quietly rooting for Drew Brees who played for Purdue! Go Boilers! Go Saints! Perhaps the only bonus for Keir's cancelled flight was that he was able to watch the Super Bowl. Got to bed at 4:35 am; it was 86 degrees which is the high when Dave & I come in July or August.




Luke and Sarah have changed so much since August; both are taller and more inquisitive; both are reading more difficult materials; they are enjoying spending more time playing and just being with their sibling; both are speaking more French. It is great to be with them for this period in their lives.

Monday - February 8
Late brunch of bacon and eggs; Luke & Sarah were on "vacation" from school. One highlight today was picking and cooking with breadfruit. Breadfruit grows on large trees here in the Rain Forest of Bongolo; it looks like a cross between papaya and mango with a green skin. Joanna invited Nurse Lisa, Dr. Wendy, Amanda and Meladee (Carolyn was here too preparing to teach a class at the nursing school) to join in the fun of making breadfruit cake (baked in loaves and tastes like banana bread), breadfruit pie (baked in 9X13 pan and looks and tastes like scalloped potatoes) and fried breadfruit (looks and tastes like french fries). Fun time when we got to sample the "fruits" of our labor. Afoussa and Evelyn plus Bebe Christine and Bebe Blanche stopped in for a visit and a taste test.

Barack Obama Cafe has a new cook who served chicken and fish on fancy rice. We enjoyed dinner with Drs. John & Renee there. Worked more on the John Deere puzzle.

Joanna & I stayed up waaaay late chatting.

Tuesday - February 8
Breakfast after sleeping in late was a choice of 3 cold cereals and fresh bananas from the freshly chopped regime from the Thelander jungle served with milk from France and a freshly baked blueberry muffin.

Mama Jacqui gave us a tour of her and Joanna's plantation which is right here near the Thelander home. They have planted banana & plantain trees which will produce in 11 months, spinach, a large type squash, corn, aubergine (bitter eggplant) and pineapple which will bear fruit in 9 months. The plantation is on a hilly slope and is about 1/2 acre. We also collected some orange wild inedible cucumbers which Joanna brought to her newly painted kitchen for decoration.

Tuesday afternoon was another "Cooking in Joanna's Kitchen" event with Nurse Lisa, Meladee, Joanna & me. This time we tackled my friend, Adina's Almond Biscotti which were delicious and a huge hit. Lisa called her Italian mother in the States to report on our progress.

Thelander household continues to be a bustling place with people coming and going a lot of the time.

Dr. Renee, an obgyn, is busy seeing lots of patients, teaching the residents and performing surgeries as well. Dr. John, a general surgeon, seems to have a full schedule of hernias, broken bones, etc. and they are both doing C-Sections when needed.

February 10 - Wednesday
38 years ago today I became a mother when Deborah Jean Conquest was born at New York Hospital in Manhattan. I could never have imagined all "the places we'd go" since she came into our world. It is a joy and a blessing to be her mother. We were able to chat with her on the phone just before she and Paolo went out for Indian food in Pisa while Aden stayed with his first Italian babysitter whom we hear specializes in Legos.

Luke & Sarah were back to the books! Joanna facilitated the Pledge, math, spelling, Bible, English and I helped out with reading, history and science which included a seed experiment. I did need some reminders of which went first and what page we were on. Reading included each student listening to each other read as well as a time of listening to me read. Fun!

The pool was refreshing for 3 hours under the shade of the Kelly house after 95 degrees in the early afternoon. Dr. John came for a short while and came home with us to dry his clothing in Joanna's gas dryer and have a grilled cheese sandwich (made with Congolese bread made by Evelyn and Gouda cheese) and Pringles. Imagine! Pringles in the jungle. They come in the food order from the States but once they are opened they must be eaten quickly because of the humidity and the ants.

My bifoutou (no seeum) bites are multiplying at a fast pace. Cortizone and anti-itching cream don't touch the itch. Small price ...

Every night I have been able to put both Luke and Sarah down for bed - including reading their book, reading their Bible, singing (sometimes I get requests) and praying. What a blessing!

February 11 - Thursday
Up late again; slept in till 8:30 when Sarah creeps in and whispers "Grandma, time to get up, Sleep Head". What a thrill. Luke & Sarah start school at 9 am.

Our popcorn seed experiment is going well. The seeds with the water are markedly larger than the seeds with no water.

We had another big rain here this afternoon which is common during the rainy season. No thunder or lightening today.

Luke & Sarah spend time on Thursday with Uncle Eric who this week is doing a magnet project with them in one of the two air conditioned rooms on the mission station - the office. The other room is one of the operating rooms. They are there now and scheduled to return soon just as I am completing my first blog entry.