How hard can it be to leave the country?

We had an uneventful departure from the hospital Monday, albeit 4 hours later than planned, as John had forgotten to clear his schedule of patients!  Kids finished their Iowa tests and rejoiced in "ending" the school year officially, tho they will continue doing their math all summer. We made it to our hotel not too far from the San Pedro Airport with time to go to the mall for everyone to enjoy their favorite at the foodcourt before bedding down in midst of a fierce rain storm that was rather lulling. After an early AM swim and breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, we left our pickup in the keeping of Hector for our 5 weeks out of Honduras, and headed for the airport with plenty of time to spare. Enjoyed visiting the large team that had been with us at the hospital, as they were headed out on the same flight as we were.  We enjoyed our last hour in the food court of the airport, playing chess and Bananagrams with the kids and visiting.  We got up to go to our gate...and discovered that we were short John's backpack, in which he carries everything but the kitchen sink, like a good Scout master.  In the ensuing delay of contacting airport security and reviewing the security camera video, we missed our flight. Marvin and Sharon Lopez had brought the large team in, and willing waited during our delay and even helped a lot with the police visiting. They graciously drove us to another motel to spend the night, as Continental was unable to get us out til the following day.  In the stress of the theft and making contingency plans, we forgot til much later to check and verify that our flight from Dallas to Spokane had also been revised to reflect the lost day....and found it had been overlooked.  Hours on the internet and phone from the hotel yielded no available flights, and then a big storm coming in took out the internet for the rest of our time. So John left for the airport on the first shuttle to try to plead for help.  Because the flight had been made by Continental but using United, they could not help us, so John was finally able to get a flight out on Saturday night...stranded in Dallas for 3 days and nights!  The July 4th holiday had all flights booked full and very costly. 
Many calls back and forth with our FWF (Foul Weather Friend) in Tulsa, much prayer by the LDL community and Tulsa Bible Church...and the Lord brought to mind fellow missionaries, the Kenworthy's, Wycliffe, who live in Dallas. With the need to close all our accounts and reopen new ones, finances are in a  bit of an upheaval as we seek to prevent any of the financial information stolen being used wrongly. Having a place to rest our heads for the 3 days we must be laid over in Dallas is a great blessing.  
So how have the Wild Things tolerated this unforeseen delay, as they have been counting down days and then hours til they again were in their mom's arms?  Amazingly well.  We are so proud of them!  They both congratulated John at supper last night and gave him an A+ on how well he'd handled the crisis. They have used the extra time to swim to their hearts content, to play games, were blessed to be bumped up to a first class seat for the flight to Houston,and are now both watching individual movies in the luxury of the USO here in the Houston Airport during a 5 hr layover. Its been an inconvenience for their mom, to be on hold in Dallas an extra night, but only a few more hours for them and they'll all be together.
John was robbed of his mini laptop, his cell phone, and all our financial paperwork. Please pray that the thief will only take out the sellable items and trash all the paperwork!  One day we'll see why the LONG delay in getting to the NW has served some unseen purpose. Thanks for your prayers and concern. 

Cheekie and Chispa, Adam and Eve

Our gardener and friend, Chilo, caught a baby squirrel (ardia) awhile ago and the kids quickly bonded to it, naming it Chispa, or Spark.  A little friend later advised them that "she" was a "he" and they needed to rename it.  It remains Chispa, and delights all of us with its bonding and chirping sounds, and its constant aerobic exercises in its large hanging cage outside our bedroom window. Later, John stopped on the highway and bought a little parrot, more parakeet, that has not  yet bonded to any of us.  Her name is Cheekie.

On a human note, last Tuesday when John was in Satal, where he holds a Women's Clinic in the mountains every 3 weeks, he saw what looked like newborn twins. He discovered that, tho they weighed 8 lbs., they were almost 11 months old. He met with the family and the LPN of the clinic and decided to bring them down the mountain for evaluation and admission. Adam and Eve, whom Eryn has named Itty and Bitty, have not yet begun a growth spurt, but their intestines have been treated, they have had ultrasound to evaluate the level of malnutrition(severe), and have been started on a feeding regime.  Eryn has become passionate about their care,  researching WHO literature on malnutrition, and participating hours daily in their loving care and physical therapy, which she is learning from a visiting PT/OT. As usual, we are blessed to have a specialist here for "such a time as this".  This is a pic of Dr. Greene ultrasounding one of the twins and Adam using the probe as a Popsicle.

We do not know how long the twins will be hospitalized, but we need to begin seeing some weight gain before we release them to stay close by for followup.  Their hospital bill will be impossible for them to pay.  For those of you with a passion for babies, please consider making a donation for that bill, designating it "Woman's Health Fund".  We want nothing to cause the mom to take the kids home prematurely. Send donations to Cornerstone International, PO Box 192, Wilmore, KY 40390, specifying Aldens, To the Least of His Brethren, Women's Health Fund. On a seperate note, specify Twins.  We'll keep you posted on their progress!