summer

well, despite the fact that the weather here never changes, there still seem to be different things that mark the changing seasons... here, summer always brings with it many new and familiar faces...

last week, two doctors from the states, brad and lisa broyles, came and helped out where needed, including regular clinics and a trip to the zona reina along with heather sutton and leann denlinger, two medical students also down from the states. we saw about 30 pregnant women, over 100 general consultas, and a lot of sick children. leaving with prayers for those that were sick, we finished in enough time to safely get two plane trips in and out before the rains hit, and realizing that we never would have been able to finish so quickly without the extra help. a huge thanks to brad and lisa, heather, and leann for all their help!!

adrienne orris also came down last week as rachel returned after a couple weeks in the states. we look forward to a couple more weeks with adrienne, heather and leann before ryan and katie's friend scott comes down for a visit, shortly followed by a team from real life church in washington state.

and then five days after they leave, we will be heading up to the states for hannah's wedding and then a month with friends and family! it is going to be quite the summer :)

with many returners and some new faces, we are enjoying the present fellowship, encouragement and help and looking forward to more to come!

anna just passed up five months july 11th, continuing to amaze me at how quickly the days pass with her in our lives now. she continues to give life all she's got, sitting up by herself for the first time a couple weeks before her five month birthday. she's still working on staying sitting up for long periods of time before she wants to head for her belly, reminding me that soon she will be crawling and i will have lost all ability to place her in one spot and expect her to still be there five minutes later! she loves to be outside, smelling (and of course eating) flowers and getting her feet in the grass and sandbox. she has just started to notice more the many animals this month, content to sit and watch the dogs and cat for longer periods of time each day. although she is still too small for her johnny jump up, we have found it a great place for her to "hang out" outside in the shade and look around at everything, but still be within watching distance for us.