Settling in

We are finally feeling settled in Benin back as a family of 5 (after Cora and my little journey to London).  Here's what our month has looked like:

Lunch and swimming at a local couple's house, Laurent and Ines.  He is French and she is Croatian.  He is the director of the bank that John has been working with. They have lived here in Benin for 3 years. John met them when they came on board for our partner's reception (a fancy party/tour Mercy Ships gives to the companies that help us while we are here).  They are lovely and have invited us over to their oasis whenever we want!! They have an amazing ministry to Catholic missionaries that pass through. They open up their home to many people and are able to bless many with their hospitality.

In addition to the pool, they had fun food and games for the kids and they can't wait to go back. They also sent us away with ice cream :). 

Adalynn got to be a casting guinea pig. The rehab team needed to do some teaching for the day crew on how to cast so the grade 1 class got to spend the afternoon getting casts and trying to walk like the patients.  She had so much fun!! I worry that she is going to set out trying to break her leg now so she can have a cast for real :)

Adalynn's classmates Benjamin and Emma

Trying to trick Grammie that she really broke her leg.

We took a trip to the local market to find fabric.  We are back in West Africa, the land of wild fabric!! It's so fun to look through the thousands (literally) different patterns. The kids did a great job in the heat and overwhelming market and we found some really great prints.  One of our day crew is a tailor and he took our measurements and is going to make us dresses/shirts!  I'm a bit curious how it will turn out.  Pictures to come of the outfits!

My friend Heather and I walking through the market. I didn't bring a camera so no pics of the kids but this gives you a small taste of what the streets are like.

When we got back to our car we had been boxed in.  John is trying to move the tire on the roof as it was keeping us from making the 20 point turn we needed to get out. Thankfully the owner of the vehicle finally showed up.

We were invited to attend a local church this last Sunday.  Our experiences in local West African churches in Guinea and Congo were not very kid-friendly so we had just assumed that we would not be attending local churches here. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the experience and the kids did great! The pastor has worked closely with Mercy ships and the church is wonderful. The pastor has 2 daughters and a son similar to our kids ages so it was good for our kids to play with them. We are looking forward to going back. I just wish I had a video of the conga-line worship session. Worship is definitely not boring.

Tonight was the first night we were able to get down to the hospital as a family in Benin. It was so fun to see the kids jump right back into it all.  Jack played connect 4 with a gentleman, Cora painted nails and Adalynn played Jenga.  We are excited to get back into the routine of visiting the patients. Adalynn is excited to come up with crafts to do with them in the afternoons after school.

We are really trying our best to make the very most out of these last few months. I am excited to experience more of Benin and connect more with the culture and the patients!

Bonjour Benin!

We are in Benin!! This is so exciting.  Do you remember back in 2014 when we were supposed to come here and we had to be re-routed to Madagascar due to Ebola in nearby Nigeria? Well, it was a wonderful 2 years of re-routing but we are glad to be back in West Africa. We had a fabulous low-key summer in Durban and now we are ready to start a new field service in Benin.

Adalynn and her friend Emma waving the Benin flag as we pull into our dock.

However, as many of you know, it was not an easy last few weeks.  During our sail from Cape Town, South Africa to Benin Cora got very sick.  She was diagnosed while we sailed with a condition called Henoch-Schonlein Purpura.  No one really knows why kids get it but it is thought to be a reaction to an infection with the common cold.  It is a vasculitis-meaning it causes severe inflammation of blood vessels.  Her symptoms included severe pain in her legs that then spread to pain in pretty much every joint. She also had a terrible rash all over her legs and arms.  Most kids recover completely after a few months but in rare cases kids can go on to develop serious kidney issues.  Because of this and because we didn't have the proper labs on the sail to confirm our diagnosis we (Cora and Tracey) were medically evacuated to London to receive treatment less than 24 hours after the ship arrived.  Cora was in the hospital for 3 days and then treated as an outpatient after that. We ended up being in London for 2 weeks.

A happy moment on the sail before Cora got sick.

It was a really hard couple weeks leading up to London and a tough time of separation for our family while we were in London.  It was so difficult to see Cora looking so terrible, especially while we were sailing.  It was not how we wanted to start this field service.

However, despite all those hard things I have to say that some really beautiful things came out of this terrible time.  First and foremost is the fact that Cora is doing great! She is running and laughing and playing and it is beautiful to see! We are so thankful for the prayers of so many and for God's gracious healing of her body. We are not out of the woods yet, but she is doing so great and feels fine. We just have to monitor her kidneys for any long-term damage.

Secondly, we got to see our amazing ship community in action. The way they rallied around us in this time was incredible. I had a stream of people coming into my cabin before we left offering me luggage, iphones, tablets, scarves, games, train cards, coloring books. . .all to help ease our travel and time in London. While we were there the community prayed for us constantly. There were people doing John's laundry, watching Adalynn and Jack, cleaning the cabin and sending me messages. We were able to stay in a really nice apartment thanks to a Mercy Ship friend connection.  It was so beautiful. When we returned Cora and I were given the most amazing welcome. It was so touching to see how many people really did pray and follow what was going on with us.

The third way this situation blessed us was the time that Cora and I had together to explore London once she was feeling better.  Like my mom said, "a middle child's dream!".  It was really a special time for us.  John also had some good time with Adalynn and Jack.  Adalynn got to sleep in Daddy's bed every night and Jack and Daddy had an hour of time together each morning after Adalynn went to school.  Of course we'd rather all be together but we can see how God brought little blessings through this trial.

So now we are ready to really dive into ship life and get this hospital up and running again. Our first surgery will be next Monday.  We are so excited to be here and finishing out our time with Mercy Ships back in West Africa.  For those of you who don't know, we are returning to the States after what will be a 4 1/2 year stint with Mercy Ships. The plan is to come back to Denver in December before Christmas. We will live in the Denver area at least from December-June 2017.  We don't have specific plans beyond that time. We are just now starting the "job hunting" process.  It will be difficult to say goodbye to this amazing community but we are so excited about the family and community we get to reunite with in Colorado and the States.

A line of people waiting for screening in hopes of a surgery date.