Thursday, December 8, 2011

What's been happening?

Hmmm, let's see...I'm not keeping up with what's been happening here.  Have I really been so busy??  YES!!  What have we been doing lately???  Well, now, let's see... 

We're not the only ones who have been busy either!  These folks always inspire me!

Ramon has been extremely busy--some days I'm lucky to see him!  One day when I mentioned this, he said, "By the way, who are you?"  :)  Besides the usual patient load, which can be heavy, and 24/7, there have been visiting medical teams here doing various surgeries and clinics. 

Centura Global Health Initiatives Gynocology Team was here (again!!--THANKS!!) for a week doing mainly prolapse surgeries.  Here they are arriving.

They also brought a team who did clinic work in a mountain village (here they are getting ready to head out)

and another team came to the school to hold a Vacation Bible School at our school.

 (Sorry it's a little blurry, but they are sooo cute, aren't they?!)

The kids had a blast and all were blessed!

Next, a cleft lip palate team from ADRA Japan came and did an excellent and much needed job.  ADRA Nepal, along with some hospital workers, goes into the mountain villages and finds patients (for all the teams) who have not be able to have specialty medical care.  It's so heartwarming to see the happy results!

They brought toys for their patients!  Thank you Team, and see you next time!

As soon as they left, Holland's Women for Women Gynecology Team came and are still here.  Ramon is enjoying working with these dedicated teams.  He tells them, "You could have gone to Aruba for your vacation, but you came here instead.  Thank you."

YES, THANK YOU!  More are coming, and I'll keep you updated.  Will try (TRY!) to get back to my weekly schedule, so come back next week to see what other happenings happened!  :)  (Probably next post will be about my mom's visit!)  Have a nice day!





Saturday, October 29, 2011

Nagarkot and MORE...

Hi!  It's been a little while since I've blogged, so you can see we've been a little busy (and tired!).  What have we been up to?  Well, you'll have to wait for the next blog post for that because I don't have time now either, but I simply MUST show you this video of Nagarkot, Nepal, where we (my mom, niece, and our friend) went this past week (Ramon couldn't get away).  What did we see?  This:



(I'm not going to quit my day job to start a video business--don't worry!)

More pics and stories coming soon; HOWEVER, I must include this.  Look at this map.  Where we were in Nagarkot is the middle section of the map.

Notice the "flattish" place in the middle and then the high peak of Gauri Shankar.  Keep looking to the right and down the slope past Melungtse.  Count three mountains to Lindartsubugo.  Look at the next mountain:  MT. EVEREST!!!!!

Now, look at this picture I took early on Thursday morning, October 27, 2011:

Let's crop and enlarge:

Double click and enlarge if you want.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but according to the map, 
MOTHER AND I SAW MT. EVEREST!!!
We didn't know it until later (when we saw the sign), but we kept hearing some of the Japanese tourists talking excitedly about, "Everest, Everest, Everest!"  I just thought that they were wishing they could see it!  Then I saw the map and I realized we must have seen it but we didn't know it at the time!
We had read that on clear days you could see the tip, but we didn't know it was clear enough that day!
HOW EXCITING!
By the time we realized it, the sun was coming up and that part of the sky was hazy.

Anyway, right before the sun came up, a German tourist took our picture and if you look closely...

Well, it surely was a day to remember!  Look for more pics soon!  Have a nice day!!!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Home again, home again...

Hi from Nepal!  Yes, we are back home in Nepal again! As we flew in, we saw something peeking out above the clouds:
Beautiful!!!
Previously when we've flown in and out of Nepal, it has been too cloudy to have this amazing view so this was a nice treat!

We're so happy to be back home again, and "Vacation 2011" is now a happy memory.  Here are a few highlights:

Shopping in Ohio--

(Anyone surprised that my mom wanted to visit this store?!?!?!)
  
 (No, he didn't buy this Ohio State hat!)

Shopping in Paraguay--



Driving through Cumberland Gap, Maryland on our way to Ohio--

(No, while driving I never accidentally drove on the left side like they do here in Nepal.  However, while a passenger, I often had a moment of quiet panic when the car turned into the right lane!)

At this rest stop, 

Ramon followed me right into the Ladies' Room!  He said he'd been following me from continent to continent and it was just a habit!  :)

Playing with my sister's dogs--

and friends' dogs in Paraguay--

and my mother-in-law's cat--

Ramon preaching--

Relaxing...

Finding this picture that I love of my dad (fourth--from the left) and his high school friends--
(The one on the far left is my uncle who married my aunt!)

and this one of my grandmother when she was in high school--

Ramon loved finding this one of me when I was in elementary school--

Flying (a LOT--11 flights in all!)


Waking up mid-flight (yes, I actually slept now and then on some flights)
  to notice we were flying over Haiti--

Miami--

Love these vintage photos that are in the airport!

Delhi--

And finally--back home to Nepal! 
We've got some visitors with us who met up with us in Delhi--my mom, niece, and a friend--

We're so thankful for all of the most wonderful visits with our most wonderful family and friends!  Now we're refreshed and ready to get back to work!  Ramon has started right in and has been very busy, but I'm able to relax and acclimate since it's a holiday time.  I'm happy to report that we do not have much jet lag (unlike last year for me!) so that's a relief.  Well, until next time--have a most wonderful day!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Vacation Happenings

Hello from Paraguay!  Our vacation is winding down and we're here now



in Asuncion, Paraguay, Ramon's home town.  It's so nice to be here again!  We're doing the same things we did in the States:  visiting, eating, shopping, visiting, eating, shopping, visiting, eating, shopping!  :)  This is our vacation in a nutshell!  Of course the best part is all the wonderful visits we've had!  We feel grounded again after seeing everyone "in real life!"  Happily we were able to convince more of our loved ones to join Skype.  What a blessing that is!  Anyway, what have we noticed?  That commercials are wayyyy to long!   

Here are the places we have been:

(This is in Maryland.)

 (Hagerstown, Maryland)

(Buckeye Lake, Ohio)

(Cleveland, Ohio)

(Hershey, Pennsylvania--see previous post)

and now Paraguay.  We traveled through

where we saw this sign:
If you have traveled through Miami and lost something, I don't think you'll ever find it now!

Next stop--

--Sao Paulo at sunrise!

Just a short flight later, we were happy to find ourselves here in Paraguay, enjoying the company of family and friends and a beautiful Paraguayan Spring!


Now we're down to our last days and before we know it we'll be traveling HOME to Nepal!  Take care and enjoy your week as much as we will!