In Between Our Days Off...

Hello!  We hope you had a great week!  We did and we're thankful!  

I'm taking a break from the "Days Off" posts to report what's been happening in between our days off--yes, when we're working!  (smile!)

Ramon has been busy since teams of medical volunteers from Sydney Adventist Hospital have been (and still are) here.  The first team, an OB/GYN team, performed 82 uterine prolapse and other female surgeries!  Prolapse is a difficult and unfortunately common problem here that many women silently suffer from--sometimes for many years.  Frequently carrying heavy loads like this contributes to the problem.

Finally having an end to their discomfort is an amazing occurrence for them.

Here are some of the visiting doctors helping the women.

The second team (here now actually) is a burn contracture reconstruction team.  They're also from Sydney Adventist Hospital and Open Heart International.  We're glad they're here since (according to the World Health Organization) burns are the second most common injury in rural Nepal.

What a blessing this team is to patients who have been very badly burned (and some even deformed) and didn't think they could ever get help.  Imagine their faces when they see the results of their surgery!  Working with the team are two plastic surgeons from Kathmandu, who will also do any follow up procedures that may be necessary.

At school, we had final exams, because the school year has ended! Then we practiced for and had the annual program which formally ended the school year of 2070!  Yes, in case you don't know, Nepal follows an ancient Hindu calendar called the Bikram Sambat calendar and New Year's Day 2071 will be on April 14.  If you missed it, the post about our first Nepali New Year is here.

Now, for some pictures of the cuteness I get to see at school every day!

These two precious sweethearts got in a little extra choir practice with my karaoke machine.

Here's a Nepali dance practice.

After practice, the older ones made New Year's cards,

and the little ones had fun coloring,  (Aren't they adorable?!)

and just playing.

(For my family and friends--let me know if you'd like to make a donation
so I can upgrade their toys!)

Finally it was the day of the program, and the rest of this post will show you that.
These handsome young men entertained themselves while waiting for the program to start.

This group just sat around being cute!

Finally the program started.

The Nursery and Kindergarten students sang a sweet song in Nepali.

As they exited the stage, some of the Playgroup students peeked under the curtain.

"Is it our turn now?"

"Yes, now we can go on stage and sing for Mommy & Daddy!"

"Good job Sweethearts!"

Next it was time for my Primary Grades Choir.  Since I was directing, I only have a picture of them during practice.  They sang "Hearts Courageous" and it was wonderful!

The older ones, with the signs of the main words (also written in Nepali underneath the English--after this picture I did trace over the letters in black) sat on the front of the stage.
 They wore whatever clothes/costumes they were going to wear in their next part.
They did such a good job and I'm so proud of them!

The older ones singing stayed on the stage and sang "Smile, Smile, Smile" next.
(You can see their nice outfits.)

Next it was prize distribution time.

"WHEN will it be my turn???"

Next we had dancing,

a play,

and more dancing.

"I LOVE this one, don't you?!"

Next we thanked our student missionaries for all they have done.
It's hard to believe, but they are leaving very soon.  We will surely miss them and wish them all the best in their future!

Then there was a beautiful culture parade and song.

As all good programs do, ours ended with food!
"Hmmm, what's in here?  Yum!"

Well, I hope you enjoyed our program!
See you next time, and...

Happy 2071!