FAMILY VISITS!

Last Saturday night my brother, Derek (aka Uncle Deeker) arrived in Lome.  Anna, Dr. Kelly and I went down to Lome to pick him up.  He told me that he'd be the white guy in the black shirt carrying a fishing pole -- in case I didn't recognize him! 

So here we are, in the airport parking lot.  Do you see how happy I am??  

We stayed overnight in Lome and on Sunday morning hit a couple of grocery stores and then headed back to Tsiko.  Nate and the kids were waiting for his arrival - what a joyous reunion it was!

He came with his four pieces of luggage: 2 rubbermaids of loot for us, his own backpack (which was his carry-on), and his "personal item" which was the precious fishing rod.

When he arrived and we got through the hugs and greetings, he cracked open those rubbermaids and handed out the loot:

Teddy got some little tractors!

Kylie and Jack playing with a toy that Nana & Papa sent.

High fives for peanut butter, protein powder and drink crystals!!

Nate checking out the rod that they hope to use once we return to Mango.

Ethan receiving a knife he had ordered online.  He was pretty excited.

And Kylie with a watch that Auntie Marshy sent her.  She
was thrilled and surprised!

We settled into our place and put away all our fun loot - maple syrup (thank you Robson family), candy (thank you Prevetts!), cards (thank you Sandra, Mrs. Farrow, Kendra, Marshy, Nana) and FOOD (thanks Mom& Dad for canned soups, Dream Whip, instant mashed potatoes and more!)

On Monday, we took him on a tour of the compound and then went off to market.  If you want to read his version of our market experience (and all his Africa experiences) check out my bro's blog at :

www.deekersonemorething@blogspot.com

 After market and lunch, the guys took the kids for a swim.  I was at home and got a call that a green mamba had been discovered and needed to be "dispatched", so I ran to the pool and got the guys.  They were super pumped about seeing/killing a snake.

When we got there, Dr. Miller (now known as Dr. Killer) had taken a shovel to the green mamba and dispatched it into many pieces.  It was still writhing when Nate, Nolan and Derek got there.  Thankfully, I brought my camera.  

Here it is:

Green mambas are skinny and long.  This one was about 4 ft. That's
a pretty good size.  You can see his head almost hacked off.

Dr. Killer holding his prize with a coup-coup.

Now he's really dead.  Yuck.

After that excitement, we went home for dinner and had a birthday party for Dr. Kelly. On Tuesday we went to Kpalime and showed Derek around.  In the afternoon, he, Nate, Nolan and Dr. John Gall went for a hike up the mountain.  Incredibly, they got caught in a torrential rain storm.  It rained like crazy which is totally unheard of this time of year.  They hid in a little hut while it rained, realized it wasn't going to let up, so they hiked down and got soaked.  

News on the kids:

Kylie and Ethan are doing quite well these days.  For those of you who are medical, Kylie's SED rate has not come down like we hoped it would.  She was a 120, then a 93 and on Monday when we tested her, she was still 83.  Normal is 40.  For those of  you who are non-medical, a SED rate measures inflammation in your body.  After 4-plus weeks of antibiotics, we had hoped her numbers would be more normal, so now the doctors are wondering if perhaps she had a septic joint as well as some "osteo-militus" (read: bone infection, sorry if my spelling is wrong!),  Sadly the only way to tell that is by MRI and that's not available here.  So, we have decided to change meds again and do another 2-4 weeks of another antibiotic.  The good news is she can take it orally so we can GO HOME TO MANGO!!

Here's Kylie's feet - one of these things is not like the other.

Ethan is also doing really well.  He's up and about on crutches and is having less and less pain.  We are so thankful for all the help here - both medical and spiritual!!

Dr. Kueler and our kids he treated.  Thank you, Lord, for this man!!

This picture is for Tammy and Karla.  These are real Norfolk Island Pine trees.
I think I have bought and killed several of these back home in Canada,
but look what they can be like if you have the right climate! Sadly,
the tops are being eaten by bats so they won't live here
forever, but I thought it was cool to see them in their natural environment.
The needles are just as soft as they are at home!

Here's De, Coku and Nate.  Coku is the resident handy-man, delivery boy,
hard-worker, killer of bees, bats, snakes etc. and generally awesome
guy to have around!

 So that's us!  We're having a great time with Derek here.  He and Nate have been working on Nate's motorcycle to repair where it was scraped and cracked in the accident.  Right now, if all goes well (and let's be honest, NOTHING has gone as planned so far, but whatever.) we will get Kylie's new meds from Ghana tomorrow and head north to Mango early Saturday morning!  

We'll see if that actually comes to pass.