Granted the title insinuates that all that we did while the kids were away is eat, which is not true, but it was one of the enjoyable things we partook of while they were absent. While the kids were away spending time with their families we decided to dine on a few more traditional dishes such as, for the 4th of July we had green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet tea, and apple pie. oh and we sang the national anthem as we brought it out to the table, and abby recited the pledge of alligence in Spanish. Needless to say, Pastor and hermano Andres found it very amusing. Apparently the appetizing nature of it all encouraged us to eat plenty. I say this only because while climbing into bed the other day it decided to give way… and im on the top bunk. Abby was not below don’t worry, but the whole mattress decided to give way me included and i ended up in a heap below. No damage done though, merely checking to see if gravity is still in effect, it is. We quickly ascertained the problem, merely a loose sideboard, and Brian had it fixed in a jiffy the next day. So I headed to the hammock next door for a wonderful nights rest. Meanwhile I discovered that there is indeed a bat that lives in Brian’s wall, when it did laps around the common room at around 4 in the morning. One mystery solved. But all beds are now very secure (we checked them all) and everyone is safe and sound.

The group from South Carolina arrived yesterday and we are glad to have them. They have already begun construction. The chicos are now all back and full of energy, yesterday several of the group members and kids played a rousing game of football, (soccer) girls vs. boys. Unfortunaetly the boys won, but only in the final seconds. The girls definitly held their own, I think our best player is Ruth, who is about 4 feet tall and 9 years old, she definitely showed the rest of us up. Life goes on here at the internado, and we are excited about the work that this group will bestow upon us and the group to come.

Ciao, Katie

Our vacation too rurrenbaque was INCREDIBLE.  When we set out…we had no idea what was instore for us.  The pampas tour sent us swimming with alligators and dolphins and searching for anaconda´s (WE FOUND ONE!!!  or rather our guide found one…but we got to touch one!) and we have pictures to prove it.  We saw lots of beautiful birds…many alligators and cayman…and some big rodent thing.  We took an early morning boat ride to watch the sunrise, and it was incredible.  It was a beautiful reminder that the glory of the Lord is all around us if we will just open our eyes and recognize it. Special thanks to a member of Christ Community Church for recommending the cheesecake at julliana´s it was INCREDIBLE. 

So we finished up our vacation and headed back to Ixiamas to prepare for the arrival of the kids this weekend…However…vacation has been extended….once again. The 2 week vacation is officially a month long now. 

We are sad to not have the kids back, but another week of vacation will allow us to finish all of our projects.  Abby´s cook stove is coming along very nicely.  She and Katy have been working hard making bricks and designing a beautiful stove (just pray it works….)  We´ll test it out this week before the kids get back.

Bryan´s working hard with Maestro on the new building, and it looks like my ferro-cement tank is going to come together afterall (i will never again take for granted sewing machine´s or cement trucks).  It´s been hard, but very rewarding work. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  Seems it´s a little more difficult to upload than we anticipated.  If we get a chance we´ll send some your way. 

Back to work for the day!

Tú Hermana en Cristo -Olivia

A team from from Georgia came here from June 15-19, They  left last  weekend with  Rachel to Rurre and to LaPaz. The team had been a great blessing to us as 
well as to the townsfolk with the eyeglasses they brought. 
We had about 100 people that came for 2 days, (I dont have the exact number). There is no eyeglass shop nor eyeclinic here that I know in Ixiamas that is why the team was a great blessing. I saw beaming and smiling faces of people when they come out of intornado having their new eyeglasses on.
Rachel asked me and the interns to  learned the skill of checking the eyes for reading only and for simple correction.
After the team left,  the interns and I continue to take people
for eye check up and glasses! It´s fun. 
While Rachel is away and all the kids trying to keep the intornado well. 
We have pigs to feed and the dogs, and clean everything, same time the 
interns 
are working on their projects, the building construction´(stoves, etc.) 
_One time the pigs tried to escaped, Brian  ran to the woods 
and chased the pig back to their fence with the help of the 3 girls and Scott (the little 
dog). Again, thank God for the team that came, they had been a great blessing and encouragement to all the workers in the Intornado and to me personally.

Vicky

So, the Internado here in Ixiamas is raising three pigs they keep in a small shelter toward the back of their property.  With the kids gone on vacation, the responsibility of feeding our oinking little friends fell to me.  When I went to fill the feed trough on Saturday night, things didnt quite go as planned….

When I first opened the door, one pig who was poised to make a bid for freedom, darted between my legs and out into the night.  I turned around while hurridly shutting the door and followed it with my flashlight trying not to startle him.  Meanwhile, the two remaining pigs had managed to undo my hurried door locking and also wandered out of the pen.  At this point, I called the girls for help.  I didnt realize that the Internados more michevious dog considered himself invited as well.  When the girls showed up, I was chasing Scott, who was chasing the pigs in circles around the enclosure.  We did manage to run two back into the hut, but the third had had enough of the merry-go-round, and decided to dart off into the woods in earnest.  Picture a scared little piglet, followed by a yelping dog, followed by a lumbering gringo, all trampling through relativly dense jungle, in the dark, with only my flashlight and Scotts barking to guide the way, for about five solid minutes (you can run pretty far in five minutes).  Eventually I was able to tackle the pig and lug him back to the little hut, calling to the girls to find my way back.  Luckily I made something of a U and was pretty close to them by the end of my little jog.  So, fortunately, the Internado still has pigs. 

No other news I can relate is quite as exciting (except for maybe the bat Abby and I chased out of Katie and Abbys bedroom).  We are all well, both in health and in spirit.  Abby and Vickie are now in Rurrenabaque, for a brief vacation and to take care of some buisness.  The rest of us will go next week.  Our next blog will probably be from there!  Until then!

Bryan   

The kids winter vacation officially started this week, and most of them have gone home.  This means that our work has just begun.  While the kids are gone we each have a project that we are working on.  Hopefully they will all get done!  Eugenia, the cook, also gets vacation so the gringos have become the official Internado chefs which is a scary proposition.  We are trying to recreate some of our favorites from back home, but we have almost decided that it is better to just stick with the native cuisine. 

The team from Christ Community Church in Columbus just left yesterday.  They did a great job on construction, and we helped a lot of people by testing their eyes and selling glasses.  They were really a great group of brothers and sisters.