A Full Week

We started the month off with a bang!  Caedmon and Whitman each attended their last day of school for the year on Thursday the 2^nd.  Then we all, along with our sponsor, traveled the hour south to the immigration office to apply for the last extension of our social-cultural visas.  After which our family traveled on to the big city to await the birth of our daughter.  We spent Friday the 3^rd relaxing and fellowshipping with friends.  That night I was checked by the doctor only to be told there were not any signs of labor approaching.  So we prepared to wait, my due date was the 10^th after all. 

About 1am the next morning I woke up with some bleeding (probably caused by the doctor visit) and very irregular contractions.  Eventually I went back to bed, only to be woken up again at 5am by my water breaking.  John, Caedmon, Whitman, and I piled into a taxi and headed to the hospital.  Contractions began again, but never became very regular.  By 8am the doctor ordered labor to be induced.  Regular contractions began at 8:15 and by 9:42 am on June 4^th Evangeline Aleta was born.  Overall giving birth overseas was a good experience with just a few noticeable cultural differences.  The most notable were, I was able to eat whatever I wanted right up until I gave birth.  When I was fully dilated, the nurses delivered Evangeline right away, they didn’t even try to have me wait until the doctor arrived.  The nurses, and doctors for that matter, were very hands off, rarely checking my vitals or the progress of my labor that morning.  Lastly, we had to tell the nurses to throw away my placenta as they were preparing to package it up for us to take home. 

Healthy and whole!

Proud Daddy

Whitman is a big brother now!

Caedmon holds his sister quite often!

We both were able to leave the hospital the following day, on Sunday.  We took it easy on Monday, then on Tuesday Evangeline took her first plane ride to a neighboring island to visit the US consulate.  The plane ride required a doctor’s note as the airlines prefer infants under a month not to fly.  At the consulate we reported her ‘birth-abroad’ which formalized her US citizenship and then applied for her passport and social security card.  By the following Saturday, the 11^th, we returned home to Barat.  Within that week, we also received notice from our agent in the capital city that the work visa is finished and ready to be picked up. 
Two weeks after applying for Evangeline's passport, we now have it in hand.  We all are now ready to travel out of the country on the 13^th of July to pick up the work visa. 

More than anything we are praising the Father that Evangeline was born whole and healthy and that I didn’t have any bleeding problems.  Now we are continuing to adjust to having an infant.  Caedmon is very interested and helpful with Evangeline.  Whitman is loving, but much less interested, and probably noticing the birth order change more.  I am trying to consistently nap and though still adjusting to nursing every three hours, my body has healed much quicker than with either Caedmon or Whitman’s births. 

Evangeline Aleta

Born June 4th, 5lb 15oz, 18-1/2"

A Month of Weddings

We have attended three weddings thus far this month.  Each wedding followed a very similar order of events.  We attended only a portion of each.  The events begin with a gathering of the family and friends at the groom’s house at about 9 in the morning.  There is usually a meal offered, then, at about 10am, all the groom’s family and friends, along with the groom and a truck full of gifts for the bride, caravan-it to the bride’s house.  At the bride’s house the actual marriage ceremony takes place between the groom and the bride’s father.  After which, the groom goes to the bride’s bedroom to retrieve his wife.  There are usually some words, prayers, or blessings that take place before they come out, all with as many guests looking on as possible.  The couple then takes their place on a large stage, set up under a tent usually in the middle of the road.  Here the couple greets all their guests until mid-afternoon, at which point they may return to the groom’s house to greet additional guests.  During the afternoon, the couple usually takes a small break, if time and guests allow.  Afterwards, they change into another outfit, just as fancy, for the night reception, which usually takes place at about 7:30pm.  This reception is similar to the earlier event in which the bride and groom sit on the stage greeting guests, the guests eat, and someone sings on another stage. 

The first wedding was of the younger brother of our neighbors whom have been very helpful with Barat language study.  I, Erin, went by myself as John and Caedmon had soccer practice, and Whitman chose to go to soccer over the wedding. 

The Bride's family bringing gifts

when they went to the groom's house to greet guests mid-afternoon. 

Bride & Groom

with the groom's parents

Erin and our nieghbor

The groom's mother presenting the couple with gifts. 

The bride is putting her mother-in-law's hand to her forehead in a sign of respect.

Our neighbor's daughter, the bride, and Erin

The second wedding was an employee from the immigration office whom we've made friends with due to our frequent visits.  She offered and provided traditional clothes for our family to wear to the wedding.  It was a lot of fun to "dress up," but the clothes were not at all breathable.  It made me feel sorry for the bride and groom. 

Getting dressed, with some help from friends of the bride. 

Caedmon

Erin

The shirt fit perfectly, even around my big belly, and without any pre-measuring!

Whitman making friends in the car.

The Wedding Ceremony, inside the bride's house.

Sitting on the floor. 

After the ceremony, we ate food that was under all the yellow covers.

The groom retrieving the bride from her bedroom.

Bride and Groom heading to the stage to greet other guests. 

Our family with the bride and groom.

Everyone wanted their picture taken with us.

The Bride's Hands

Her hands are drawn on, in a henna type manner, in a special ceremony the night before. 

She did have her cell phone with her the whole time as well. 

The third wedding was one of our original language helpers.  This wedding was the only one of the three which used local Barat customs in the dress and decorations.  To me, a foreigner, they all looked pretty similar.

Guests, just hanging out.

Arrival of the groom, his family, guests, and gifts.

Event tent set up in the middle of the road.

Typical formal wear for male guests:

sarong, sport jacket, and traditional hat.  

Our family with the bride and groom.

Our language helper is the bride. 

As for the head covering, I chose to wear one for many small reasons.  Mainly though, to be like the people we live among and reduce any future barriers to knowing truth.  This was the first time I wore one out in public.  I received only a few comments, which all consisted of, "You're wearing a head covering, you look so pretty."  Out of the three brides, all wore skin tight head coverings as well (this is pretty rare from our own experience attending weddings).  The first bride though, did wear one which was black on top to mimic her hair.  All great experiences for culture study and picture taking. 

Monsters inside Me - Int'l Version

Blood and guts have never really bothered me, Erin.  In college, classmates and I were fascinated by videos of athletes becoming injured.  I have watched many surgeries in person and been just as mesmerized by all that is done and never sickened by what I saw.  But when it comes to skin problems or parasites, I get quite disgusted.  One exception is wounds; I dealt with many bedsores as a nurse and though they are terrible wounds, they never bothered me much.  But when you have something crawling with bugs (yes I've cared for a patient in the hospital in the States with a maggot-full wound), or erupting on the skin, or worse yet caused by microscopic bugs, I have a real hard time.  Therefore I am not one to watch the show Monsters inside Me, though I usually like all things medical.  The show is about infections or ailments caused by parasites. 

Overseas, in the area in which we are living, we have experienced some of these parasites; amebic dysentery and giardia to be specific.  But Cutaneous Larva Migrans is a new one. 

John's Hand

The trail left by a worm.

Over a month ago now, John was bit by a red ant on his hand.  This is never a good thing for him as it leaves a red bump for at least a week and he typically swells up.  But this time we managed it well with immediate application of Benadryl.  The swelling and discomfort turned out to be minimal.  The red bump remained, continued to itch excessively, and then began to grow.  We've all had some bites that I've suspected were something other than mosquitos, but they never grew.  He continued to apply Benadryl cream.  I tried lancing it with a needle a couple times (which kind of grossed me out as I didn't entirely know what I was poking).  John tried oral Benadryl and the application of ice as well.  Nothing seemed to stop the continued growth of what was now an obvious line.  We eventually determined, thanks to the internet and the book "Where There's No Doctor," that John had a worm.  This totally grosses me out.  We figured he came in contact with the worm as he worked outside after getting the ant bite, which opened his skin, making it more susceptible to the entrance of the worm. 

We obtained a list of  multiple oral medications he could take to kill it, but unfortunately we couldn't find any pharmacy here in Barat that had even just one in stock.  One pharmacist did tell us the medication was expensive and rarely if ever used, therefore rarely stocked.  Thankfully we had success at a pharmacy in the city an hour away where we go for immigration visits.  John has taken the one time dose and we now await the resolution of his long red tunnel made by the worm....yuck!

A Walk-In Clinic Visit

As I, Erin, am about to enter my 8th month of pregnancy, it is recommended to be seen every two weeks.  Thus far, we have been making monthly trips to the big city (a 6 hour car ride away) to be seen by a doctor at a hospital where I hope to deliver.  It seemed a little extreme to increase our trips to every two weeks, especially as we intend to stay in the big city, awaiting the delivery, beginning June 3rd (my due date is the 10th). 

I mentioned to a neighbor that I desired to make a visit to the local walk-in type clinic for a pregnancy check-up.  She too is pregnant and suggested we go together.  Monday morning we ventured together to the clinic.  It is very helpful to have a local show you the ropes first time around. 

The Entrance and Check-In Desk

The clinic is about 4 blocks from our house.  It is an open air construction, with rooms and offices all opening directly out into a court yard.  We first took numbers, then when called, "checked-in," giving our name, address, and husband's name.  When our charts were ready, we waited a little longer than usual for they had to make me a new chart, we went directly across the courtyard to the "pregnancy" section.  I was then weighed and had my blood pressure measured.  Next, I went into another room to be seen by the midwife.  She asked if I had any complaints, then checked the baby's heart beat with a hand held Doppler, and lastly manually checked the baby's position.  The midwife finished by asking if I needed a prescription for vitamins.  That was it! 

It went smoothly, though a few differences did stick out.  The first was their scale, which was a very simple one.   It showed I had lost about 10 lbs. since my last visit in the big city.  When I got home I weighed myself again, on my very simple scale, which said I weighed the same as my last check-up in the big city.  The next thing that stuck out and made me laugh, at least inside, was as soon as I exposed my pregnant belly the midwife said, "Oh, what a pretty belly!"  We usually all get comments on how beautiful our 'white' skin is, which my belly certainly is, but all I could muster up was a thank you.  Lastly, the midwife said the baby is currently in a horizontal position.  This stuck out to me for a couple reasons.  At my last check-up in the big city the doctor, by means of an ultrasound, found the baby in a head down position.  I have also heard multiple stories of friends whom were checked by midwives here, told their baby's were head down, then it turned out they were not.  I'm not too concerned at the moment as there is still plenty of time for her too move and she sure does make big movements, but as with anything it could always be lifted up.  The funniest part to me about the baby's position was the midwife and my friend concluded it must be because the baby is small, though there was nothing to go by expect my physical appearance. 

It was a new experience and worth going, if only to have my blood pressure and the baby's heart beat checked.  Many people deliver their babies there, but Him willing, I still desire to deliver in the big city!

Old Wives' Tales...?

As I sat in my friends living room I smiled and listened as she told her two-year-old he couldn’t have cold water.  She then got him a cup of room-temperature water to drink.  It is easy to just smile and listen, even as my friend explained about how cold or ice water would cause coughing and a running nose.  But then when she asked my opinion, I wasn’t sure how to answer.  I tried to reference all my studies and past professors and respond with a polite, “I don’t believe cold or ice water has anything to do with it.  Usually a virus or bacteria causes a cough or runny nose.”  She continued to bring up other examples of things they are taught, such as too much time in air conditioning or not wearing a jacket out on a motorcycle at night might cause coughing or worse yet bronchitis.  I tried to explain the effect dust or allergens can have as well.  I thought maybe I could chalk it all up to old wives’ tales present in their culture, until she told me how doctors also advise their patients to not eat or drink too many cold or icy things, as it will cause cold like symptoms, influenza, or even bronchitis.  What do you say to that?  In the end I did a lot of listening and stating there may be differences in cultures, which didn’t satisfy my friend as to why doctors here would propagate that.  

In other news ...

the construction on the house addition continues.  It is even possible to visualize how we might use the space and arrange furniture!

kitchen sink and counter

Looking in from the front towards the back-alley-way door.

Additional Space

A roof has been put on and about half of the floor has been cemented, along will all walls. 

From left to right:

back door to alley-way, additional bathroom, washing and kitchen space, and entrance from existing house to the addition. 

There is definitely a lot still to be done, but it is exciting to see progress and a resemblance of what it may look like!  We just hope to be able to move in before the baby comes, though we're not holding our breath. 

A Love-Hate Relationship with Water

Water has never been something you could count on here, but ever since our return it has been even more inconsistent.  Then due to the sink hole in our kitchen breaking the one pipe carrying water to our bathroom and the construction in the back resulting in the move of our washing machine, we have become very creative to supply water to the bathroom and washing machine.  This has led to many mini floods in the house as I fill the washing machine with a hose and forget to watch it, resulting in overfilling.  Outside the house I have always thoroughly enjoyed the rain.  The clouds and rain keep the temperature a few degrees cooler, though slightly more humid.  Plus, it reminds me of the states; I find the sound very soothing and desire to just sit, listen, and watch it with a good cup of coffee.  I grew up in Portland after all. 

In the past week I have experienced some of the highest highs and lowest lows associated with water.  We now have water in the bathroom!!!  A very exciting high!  I could not imagine how water would be brought back to our bathroom as we live in a brick and concrete home.  But there is nothing like calling in a local to solve a problem.  A ‘plumber’ we knew came over the very day John called.  John showed him what we wanted.  The following day the ‘plumber’ had moved our water tank, re-worked the piping from the tank, piped water into the bathroom, added a sink, and a shower head, all by 6:30pm.  When the full pressured city water came on that night there was one leak, resulting in some big puddles in the kitchen.  But even with the leak, we enjoyed a shower for the first time in our own home since our return! 

New Sink

Now there is a place to wash hands, other than the kitchen sink, after using the bathroom!!!

Cement walls chiseled out to inlay piping.

A Shower!!!

 We spent the entire week enjoying the sink, shower, and water in the bathroom! 

Then I experienced the lowest-low yet with water.

Saturday morning, we were woken up at 3am by a neighbor knocking on our bedroom window.  It had started raining as we went to bed, which again created a soothing sound which lulled me to sleep.  We got up of course to see what in the world could our neighbor want.  I could hear it was still raining, or had began again, I’m not sure because I was sleeping really well.  As soon as John and I opened our bedroom door, we stepped into about an inch of water.  Water was flowing, I mean you could see it running in from our front door to the lowest point in our house, which happened to be the kitchen.  This turned out to be a blessing.  We had no idea what to do except get anything and everything of value off the floor.  The ‘backyard’ had recently been elevated at least 8 inches because of construction, resulting in our backdoor being unusable and absolutely no place for the water in the kitchen to exit.  After raising all we could, John went outside to see what else he could do, while I used a broom to sweep the water into the bathroom (all bathrooms here have a drain in the floor).  A contributing, if not sole cause of this flood was that our gutter in the front of the house where all our gray water and run-off from the street is supposed to go, was currently filled with sand, rocks, and dirt, again due to construction.  The heavy and continuous rain created so much water with no place to go, it ran straight into our house.  John proceeded to dig out some of the gutter and also create a channel for the water to run through into the next door banana garden.  The water in the kitchen collected to at least a depth of 2 inches before the flow slowed down.  I was able to push or sweep, most of it into the bathroom to drain out of the house.  The irony of it all draining out through the bathroom was the drain originally went out to the gutter in the front.  In addition, a hand full of tiles in our bathroom broke a couple days before, due to another sink hole type issue.  As this had not yet been repaired, at least half, if not more of the water I swept into the bathroom, exited right through the floor.  At first I considered this a blessing as the draining kept up with the flow coming in. 

But, as it turned out, all the water running under the house either from the bathroom, or the smaller amount that entered the boy’s room, caused a sink hole in the boy’s room.  Thankfully the boy’s slept through it all. 

Broken Tiles in the Bathroom

The Boy's Room

All except a row of tiles around the walls sank down. 

Broken tiles are as sharp as glass, so we taped the edges and now encourage all play to occur outside their room.

Early on I checked the water flow into the boy’s room, then an hour or two later we went in to clean and saw the floor damage. 

It was such an adventure, one I hope not to repeat.  After we got all the water out, there was so much dirt and silt to clean up that we were exhausted and aside from cleaning, spent the rest of Saturday napping and resting. 

Now we await a construction worker to come to fix the floors and hope we can sleep through the night if it rains again.

 

Water IN the House

Visa Progress!!!

I am always excited and encouraged by movement forward; especially in the area of our visas.  When we do see progress though, it often seems to come as two steps forward followed shortly by a step back. 

Last Tuesday, the 29^th of March, John and Caedmon, who was invited to go along, took a rather full van ride to the provincial capital.  Caedmon had to sit on John’s lap the entire 3-hour ride!  The following day they had great success as they received the letter we have been waiting for since our arrival in January.  John and Caedmon were then blessed by a ride from a complete stranger to a local hotel.  The man joined them for lunch and then connected them with his travel agent so they could book a flight straight to the country’s capital.  Thursday morning, John and Caedmon arrived in the capital city to hand deliver the letter from the provincial capital to our agent working on our work visa in the country’s capital.  John said it all went very smoothly, was good to meet with the agent face to face, Caedmon was a great travel companion, and they were provided for at every turn!  John and Caedmon returned home early Saturday morning, to Whitman’s and my great delight; it had been rather quiet at home. 

Caedmon at the National Monument and Museum

John and Caedmon

Model depicting a battle in the Museum

Model depicting people voting in the first election.

At the top of the monument

Presidential Complex

Tuesday, the 5^th of April, the four of us made the trip to the local immigration office to finalize our current visa extension.  They took our pictures and finger prints, then gave us our passports back stamped with visas valid through the 14^th of April, which whether you are ready to admit it or not is right around the corner.  Then this past Friday we traveled back to the immigration office, this time with our sponsor, to turn in our passports once again to apply for the next extension, as each is good for only a month at a time!

We also received news from the agent in the capital city informing us our application has passed through the first step at the Social Work Office.  The Social Work Office is to make an official recommendation to the Work Force Office, which then in turn grants us, or rather John, permission to work.  Then that official approval is sent to the Immigration Office, which then issues our actual visas.  Thus far we are very encouraged by the forward progress and must enjoy it!  Hopefully no more steps back!

First Shower in a Month, and other things

One week ago we traveled to the big city.  We enjoyed fellowship with other workers, shopping, eating at Pizza Hut, McDonalds and a couple other western restaurants.  We stayed the weekend at a friend’s house with co-workers from Barat who recently returned to the country.  I, Erin, also had a doctor visit.  All looks well with my pregnancy and baby inside, who now weighs about 2.5 lbs.  While in the big city we also enjoyed our first shower in over a month.  Don’t worry, we still bathe daily, twice a day for John and I!  But our water situation at our house still has not returned to a “showerable” situation.  What I mean is we still don’t have water piped into our bathroom.  So we use the cultural method of bathing: using a scoop to wet and rinse ourselves from water filled buckets.  Needless to say, it was a real treat to bathe under an actual shower head.

We returned home to Barat last Monday, after a short stop at the immigration office.  It was then we heard our current social-cultural visa extension has been granted.  We made plans to return on Tuesday for the required pictures and finger printing.  Thankfully an employee at the office called Tuesday morning to notify us the power was out, so the pictures and finger printing would have to be postponed.  We arranged to make the hour trip on Wednesday instead, only to find out, once we were there, the internet was down and they couldn’t access the necessary programs needed for the pictures and finger printing.  Now we wait for a call from the office telling us all is up and running.  Our visa extension has been granted, but due to delays in processing they have still not been stamped into our passports.  The funniest part is if we wait until next week for finger printing and pictures, we will be able to fill out the paperwork for the next month’s extension at the same time. 

In other news life continues as normal; schooling for the boys, language study for John and I, and a few home improvements.  Construction on the addition unfortunately has stopped; the construction workers have not come for over a week now.  We have not had any information from the owner as to why, except that a week ago they were waiting for a specific tool.  Thankfully though we did get the wattage of our breaker box increased for the addition of a second air conditioner.  This has made the boys more comfortable at night and homeschooling during the heat of the day much more enjoyable for all!

A new backdoor for the addition.

Walls are up.

A new water tank to the left. 

It will eventually move to a platform on the roof.