Ti---red

John hinted at how crazy the last couple of weeks have been. Yeah, no kidding. He forgot to mention that Kristin was here most of last week (was that really just last week? Not a month ago?). We spent the week hammering out some ideas on organizational direction/ vision and basically trying to define and prioritize what we should all be doing at this point for the ministry. The good news: we're more organized. Bad news: lots of work to do, not a lot of people to do it.

On the other hand, I have to give a little shout out to my good friend Catherine who's week was even harder: her dad's been hospitalized and on Sunday night had a heart transplant. Woah. All of you who were looking for more prayer requests you can add "get well soon, Charlie" to your list. Hang in there, Cat!

Anyway, I knew this week was off to a great start when I came home Tuesday and said, "Man, I gotta make sure I get into the office tomorrow before the week is over!" Translation: my mind said it was Thursday, not just one-day-after Monday. Yikes. That's always a bad sign.
To my credit, Tuesday was a very long day. I had to be at the hospital at 7 a.m. to here the doctor's report on Juan Carlos' progress. Then it was back home for a bit to work. I went to the office around 2 to fill Pato in on a variety of crises and conflicts that we need to deal with and we spent some time coming up with plans to put out the fires. At 5 I took John home and saw Baby Ethan for a few minutes while I inhaled some bacon and an apple for lunch. (Good combo, huh?) I had to be back at the hospital at 5:30, because they were finally letting Juan Carlos come back home. I got the doctor's orders, picked him up, and we jetted to the home, where he received a warm reception from his friends. From there, I raced over to my own doctor's appointment for a check-up at 6 p.m. That took about an hour. I swung by my taekwondo class to explain to my instructor that I wouldn't be able to come to class most of this week, but would be back Monday. Then it was back to my house to pick up some meds, and down to the home (thankfully only 5 minutes away) to drop the meds off and explain Juan Carlos' treatment plan to the educators. Finally, at about 8:30, I was back home and done for the day... oh, maybe not. John and I had to look through the schedule for the next five days and make some plans for visitors arriving the next day. But, once that was done, it was finally time for some R & R. Yeah!

So, this week we have George and Deb and their two lovely kids in town. They are members of the Board for BSCP, and we're looking forward to showing them around the ministry and having some one-on-one time with them. We had them over last night for supper and John and Lola prepared some very yummy majadito, a traditional dish from the Beni region of Bolivia. They are up at the permanent homes this morning, and then going off to see another ministry this afternoon. Meanwhile, I've got some urine and spit samples to drop off at the national lab to see if Juan Carlos really does have tuberculosis, then I'm thinking about maybe heading up to El Alto with my friend Lisa to get us a new kitty..... But before I do all that, I HAVE to read my mom's final paper! Yes, I'm going to read it! (She's almost done with her college degree everyone... you go Mom!)

Until next time,
M