The Ship Buzz . . .

Can you hear the buzzing?   The container has arrived!  The container has arrived!  Funny thing about being on a ship in a third world country - you can't run to the grocery store when you run out of something - you must wait for the container to arrive!  And it arrived on the dock this afternoon creating quite a buzz - do you think it has chocolate (oh, are we out of that!)?  Do you think it has cheese?  Is this the one with the Academy supplies?  Stay tuned - we'll know more tomorrow!  (:

Cancelled!

I'm sure you'll be as disappointed as we were to discover tomorrow night's medical health lecture entitled "Worms" has been cancelled!  Pretty sure they did NOT mean the kind you find in the ground!  (:

Happy 4th of July!

We certainly celebrated today - just not the 4th of July during Summer Program hours!  We started out celebrating around the world.  Check out the English pancake race . . .

 

After visiting China, Bolivia, Spain and Cuba (and having lunch!), we turned to celebrating birthdays!  Every birthday needs balloons and a good balloon stomp!

From the ship to you . . . Happy 4th of July!  Zups (:

Family Day at the Beach!

Patricia planned a day at the beach for all of the families yesterday - she even got Jesse to grill hot dogs, hamburgers and brats for us while we all brought something to share!  (We knew exactly how many different flavors of Pringles the ship shop had - because every family brought a different kind!)  Patricia also assigned cars and we were with our next door neighbor Diver Dan, and his family.  Dan's day job is a Pediatric ICU nurse down on Deck 3 and well as diving to clear the ship intake valves.  But back in the States he was an AMBULANCE DRIVER!  His exact quote as we hit our first bit of traffic was, "Fortune favors the bold!"  And he was off and creating spaces where none existed - he was a definite advocate of "Honk and go!".  Praise God we're still alive and we had a great day at the beach!  Margo :)

Worship on the Ward

We decided to worship down at the ward this morning.  We were tired and it was a no brainer!  We could go to a one hour service three floors down verses a two to three hour service coupled with a minimum two hour land rover ride.  Let me tell you - it was one hopping service!  We sang to "Papa God" to the beat of a drum - crew, patients, and interpreters together - and we rocked the ship.  A Togoese crew member opened the service, a Liberian crew member shared the message while a Sierra Leonese interpreted and a Ghanian pastor closed.  Afterward, we were able to give hugs and talk to the patients we had met earlier in the week.  It was a blessed morning!  Margo (:      

Wii've Had a Great Week!

Our theme this week was "Here's mii!" based on the Wii sports system.  Wii made our own mini-mii's, had a Wii sports rally yesterday and wii went to the ward today!  All in all, a grand week!  Here's mii team:  

Jamie, mii green friend, does preschool in the morning and joins us in the afternoon.  "Mii"lissa in pink spends the day with mii and mii's the one in yellow!  If mii hair looks blonder, it's because mii bought conditioner to the ship - not the "two in one" mii really wanted, so Jamie's given us John Frieda's Sheer Blonde Shampoo!  Wii'll be the blonde family soon!  And now, mii's officially done with mii!  Margo (:

This morning's run . . .

Tiffany and I were up and off the gangway when Loc (one of the gurka's) showed up to take us for a run at 6:15 this morning!  We went fast and we went far - and we're praising God that we're still alive!  (No one is in better shape on the ship than our Nepalese gurkas who stand at the entrance.)  Margo (: