The Menold Minutes: Update and Medical Team Visit

This past week we hosted our first team. The team was a medical team from Ohio. It was made up of a Pediatrician, PA, EMTs, and nurses. They were wonderful! They come once a year and give physicals to the students at the Makarios school, as well as their families. They also see the Dominican/Haitian staff members along with their families. Each child recieves PinX, a deworming medicine at this time, whatever treatment is applicible, as well as their physical assessment. There was even time for visits to near by villages, Pancho Mateo and Chichigua to check on these residents. The team worked very hard to see 300+ people! They were joyful to share that it is so awesome to see the kids at the school thriving since when they last came. Every year they are seeing healthier children, much due to the food, vitamins, and care from the school that Makarios provides. Many of these children were malnourished greatly before attending Makarios. The week was a blessing to all of us in many ways. Read more here www.makariosinternational.org

How are we? Well, I think we are starting to settle in more. Don't notice the heat as much, nor the billon bugs. Although, I was awoken at 4 a.m. this morning to 4 children running around in their room trying to kill the banana spider that kindly dropped her nest of 100+ baby spiders in their bathroom. In my half asleep vision, I looked, processed, and ran for "big daddy spider killer Josh"! He then filled the entire room with the can of RAID, lets pray the kids lungs are strong!

Josh has been busy settling into his role as director as well. He spends time overseeing things at the school, taking care of details for teams that come from the states, meeting with the staff, leading Wednesday night bible study, and getting to know the community. Of course, his past career has prepared him well for the leadership role. I think he is doing his role well! He has also been practicing driving his 'motor' (motorcycle)... I think he has only fallen twice!

I had fun putting together the menu for the team of 12, shopping for them, and preparing meals for them. I wasn't sure how it would really turn out... but I think it went well overall. The kids enjoyed jumping in to help too. The team leader brought his two daughters, ages 8 and 10 months so our kids really appreciated the companionship! It was cute to see Parlyn interact with a baby her same age for the first time! I am doing my best to school the kids during the day. The distractions are many, but I pray they are learning just by living here! Cooking three meals a day, pretty religiously, makes you appreciate the word "drive-through".

Tate has set his heart on writing his numbers to 3,000. He is around 1200 right now and relentless. It is neat to see him set a goal and strive for it. He, as well as Oliver, spend much of their day capturing bugs, insects, lizards, whatever. They actually put a cockroach in a baggy in which I found in my freezer today. A plus to having boys, they will kill the bugs and throw away the dead mouse on the traps!

Aribella is still shy, yet puts good effort into trying out the language. It is cute to hear her try to communicate. She does still leave notes around the apartment for us to find that say, "I wut to go bake to NC" and in her prayers she admits to missing home but also says she knows this is Gods will for our family. She is a wonderful helper for Finley and Parlyn. When we have a sitter, I can just say, "ask Belle"!

Finley. Finley. Many say she was born Dominican! She dances the same. She is blunt. She is outgoing. She loves people. She also, is picking up the language some. We were with the medical team at their pool on beach day and a local boy was speaking to her in Spanish and she responds, "NO SE!" ("i don't know"!). Then he continued to try to pick her up in the water and bounce her and she points her little finger at him and says, "NO MAS!" (NO MORE!). She not only is learning phrases, but apparently knows how to use those phrases too!

Audrey and Little P (Darren Youngs Daughter)

Little P (Parlyn) own now 4 teeth, is playful, tempermental, and stands when holding onto something. Since our home is surrounded by a cow pasture, she understands the phrase, "Donde esta las vacas?" (where are the cows?) Her eyes widen and she jerks her head to see out a window and then attempts a 'moo'. Yes, she understands Spanish! I just wish I knew it better so she would for sure be bilingual. Her big blue eyes and white skin capture much attention. They say she looks like a baby doll. When we attend the Spanish speaking church, the women just scoop her out of my arms and love her to peices.

Though things are going better, Satan is still in battle towards our team. Pray for our team out here. I have been more aware of the spiritual battles that we are against everyday. I have been teaching the kids about Ephesians 6, the armor of God. It is important for us all to recognize the enemy at work.
They have had fun making a helmet of salvation, a sword of the spirit, and the shield of faith out of... a diaper box! Hey, you do what you have to when supplies are limited in the D.R.! (Michaels and AC Moore, where are ya?).