Travel Junkies

Last week we had a fun family trip to Georgia to see half of my family.  It was an opportunity to see my brother, sister, and each of their families.  Living so far from the others, my kids haven't grown up knowing all their cousins.  But finally we were able to arrange some good time together!  We all stayed together at a house near the beach, and hanging out in the sand and sun was one of the highlights. 

 

 

 

We ended the trip with a marathon 20-hour travel day on our way home, which was just the thing to get us prepared for our next trip.  It's just a little over five weeks until we head to AFRICA!!!

Packing Limbs

It's a little less than 8 weeks until we head across the world!  A couple weeks ago, we began collecting things from the request lists of the McCropders as well as other missionaries in Burundi.  For our family of six, we are allotted 12 checked bags.  We are planning four of those to be suitcases for ourselves (clothes, etc), and the remaining eight to be large plastic bins of everything from duct tape to school books to cinnamon. 

Here is Hank adding the newest arrival to the growing mountain in the corner of our bedroom.  When Jason (the surgeon) asked Hank if we could bring these external fixators, he added something like this:  "If you can't, we can have them sent in the next shipping container, which will come in 6 months or something.  It would be great if you can, though, so I don't have to do so many amputations."

A Shot in the Arm*

Hepatitis A, Polio, Hepatitis B, Tetanus.  Yellow fever, Typhoid, Malaria.  The name of the game this week is "get six people up to date on routine vaccines."  The last two weeks Hank has been working on tracking down the yellow fever vaccine, which has proven to be an adventure in itself.  This coming Tuesday, the whole family will travel 100 miles to the nearest pharmacy carrying YF-Vax.  Did you know there is a national shortage of the vaccine?  Yeah, neither did we.

Thursday we spent a healthy chunk of time at our doctor's office.  Each of us needed one or two immunizations to get up to date--all except Henry, that is.  Somehow, he managed to just perfectly be in that window between having had all his early childhood shots but not yet needing any boosters.  He was crushed.  All morning he had been planning on going first, determined to bravely be an example to Eva and Jude.  I guess he also had something to prove to himself, since we have some colorful memories of multiple nurses, complicated wrestling holds, and blood-curdling screams.  Here is a photo of one of our previous trips for vaccinations:

Anyhow, this time Henry was resolute:  this trivial prick of a needle was no match for his fortitude now!
So when the disappointing news came (that he was current on all vaccinations), Henry's face fell.  What could I do?  Here I had a whimpering, worrying ten-year-old beside herself with dread over the looming punctures, a four-year-old who was suspicious and apprehensive but easily distracted, a three-year-old who had no idea what was coming and was busy opening every drawer and touching every surface in the room, and now on top of it all an eight-year-old stripped of his opportunity to prove his heroism. 
Since the doctor's office was fresh out of a supply of placebo injections, I knew I only had seconds to come up with a solution before the entire assemblage of Willises was reduced to tears!  Ah, yes! The flu shot!  We hadn't gotten those yet! 
Phew!  Disaster was narrowly averted.  Henry got his shot, proved his stoicism (he barely winced!), and gallantly paved the way for his younger siblings to receive their injections in stride. 

Stay tuned for next week's installment:  "The effects of a two and-a-half hour anticipatory drive preceding THE YELLOW FEVER VACCINE."

*Bonus points for anyone who can name that alternative country/indie rock reference.

Rooted

 For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God.

Gotta remember this.  I knew when getting into this Gordian life (marriage! kids!) that I couldn't possibly thrive, let alone survive one day, without a supply of some kind of superior fuel.  Who gave me these kids, this life?  

Gotta stay rooted in Him.