My Birthday...chapter 2

Sorry about the sad tone to yesterday’s chapter. Okay, I must confess, though, that we started a family tradition of celebrating birthdays for whole weeks!
It all stared years ago because Oscar’s birthday is on the Paraguayan Mother’s Day, May 15th. We either celebrated Oscar’s birthday or Mother’s Day and I always seemed to lose. Then we ran into problems with celebrating for the kids if their special day fell on a church night. They were not home all day and then we go to church and don’t really have a special celebration so we would have to do it a different night. Then, family from San Lorenzo wanted to have a get together, the church family wanted to greet the birthday person, a good friend wanted to have us over, etc. So, our birthday turned into days of celebrations.
I was thinking that this year my birthday was a little messed up because of the family sickness, but I realized that we started celebrating since Monday. The kids were off school because of “immunization day” and we decided to go Chinese for my birthday. We found this neat Chinese buffet where you can mix and pick your own Chop Suey ingredients. So, Monday started my birthday week off.
Then I received a phone call from a Canadian friend (who found my birth date on Facebook!) That was special!
Wednesday was my birthday. I got several text messages from people at church and calls from some others. I got emails and Facebook messages…Thanks! You all are a wonderful crew!
Yesterday evening the “Women in Action” group at church invited me to a beautiful “tea party”. I felt blessed by sisters in the Lord who appreciate the life the Lord gave me. I appreciate their closeness, also.
Mom and Dad called when I got home from church to sing the traditional birthday song over the phone and we had some quality telephone time. Other family members called today.
Today, we were also invited to another lady’s house from church, but will cancel because of the sick guys…Yeah! That means more birthday celebrations next week!
Today, I also bought a small cake, hopefully someone will help me eat it!
So, in the end…my birthday week was a wonderful reminder that the Lord is working in me and through me, and that many people care about me. I don’t feel that much older…Ellen said to me once, “you CAN’T be old…you just had a baby!” I felt good about that! I sure hope I can have forty more birthdays…at least!

Wednesdays..."Free Day"

Today was supposed to be my “free” day…not only because it’s my birthday, but because EVERY OTHER day of the week I am busy. For example:
Monday – missionary meetings
Tuesday – full teaching day at school
Wednesday – FREE
Thursday – Chapel and meetings at school
Friday – Cleaning day
Saturday and Sunday – Church days
So, Wednesdays are the kind of days that I can sleep more after the kids and Oscar go to school, I can read, I can do computer stuff, etc. Wednesdays are the kind of days where I catch up (or get farther behind!), enjoy Edson, cook, or RELAX.
Today is Wednesday.
I have done none of the above…yet.
Last night Oscar went to bed with a 103.9º fever. I woke up at 1:30 am…Oscar was still burning with fever, throwing up and the rest. (He did manage to say Happy Birthday to me!) At 3 am he still hadn’t slept, he had a bad headache. At 4:45 our alarm goes off. At 5:15 I went to wake up the kids and…what!…slipped on vomit! (We have a problem with cats getting in opened windows at night and thought maybe a cat got in, vomited, and left…or maybe it was Oscar…roaming thru the house at night and was too sick to clean up.) I walked in the bathroom to see worse sites. What is going on?
Brandon came out and said, “mom, Gaby can’t go to school today he has been sick all night.” WAAAA! What a birthday present!
Well, Everyone…even Edson…got up to take Brandon to school and Gaby and Oscar to the doctor’s. In the meantime, Brandon and I were joking about us eating “cake and ice-cream” on our own today. The others practically puked at that idea.
We got to the doctors and both Gaby and Oscar did blood tests and it turns out to be a very bad virus. We thought it may have been something with the Yellow Fever alarm, but Oscar was immunized on Thursday and Gaby on Saturday. The doctor even suspected dengue (another disease carried by the same mosquito that carries Yellow Fever) but the blood tests proved differently.
I got home to call school and let them know why Gaby was absent and the secretary informed me that Brandon was in a half hour before with a slight fever and saying that his whole body hurts! Oh no! Not another one!
Anyway, pray for us as sickness strikes the Caballero household. We are extremely thankful to God for our health. Things like this almost NEVER happen to us. I feel so blessed that we are usually so healthy. Good health has always been our prayer and thankfully, God has been by our side. Moments like these bring us down to our knees as we face these unwanted trials and look to Him for healing.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll get some “free time” in again…

Yellow Fever...prayers please!

Things that are happening today in Paraguay...

Warden Message from the American Embassy Regarding Yellow Fever

American citizens traveling to or living in Paraguay are advised that the Paraguayan Ministry of Health declared a national epidemiological alert on February 8, 2008 and President Duarte Frutos formally declared a national emergency on February 15 due to the outbreak of yellow fever.

As of February 19, there are 66 suspected cases of yellow fever of which seven have been confirmed. Due to the limited stock of vaccine available at this time, the government of Paraguay is prioritizing vaccinations in those communities and populations judged to be at the highest risk which are the Department of San Pedro and the town of San Lorenzo, near Asuncion.

A note the kids brought home from school today...

To the entire ACA Family:
School will be cancelled on Monday, February 25, 2008 to provide all of our family members, including faculty and staff, an opportunity to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever. Classes will resume on Tuesday, February 26, 2008.

Below is a list of locations where vaccinations may be obtained free of charge in Asuncion and the Central Department (Departamento Central). As with any vaccine, there may be adverse and serious side effects and it is recommended that you check with your personal physician before being vaccinated. Please check with the institution directly for their hours of operation.
· Hospital Distrital de Limpio
· Hospital Distrital de Lambare
· Hospital Materno Infantil de San Pablo
· Club Fomento de Barrio Obrero
· Hospital de Loma Pyta
· Hospital Materno Infantil de Fernando de la Mora
· Hospital Distrital de Capiata
· Hospital Distrital de Mariano Roque Alonso
· Hospital Regional de San Lorenzo
· Mutual Cooperativa de Luque
· Hospital Nacional de Itaugua

With the hot, humid weather and daily thunderstorms, the mosquitoes are quite numerous. Say a little prayer for us, our missionaries, our church and school ministries and the people we work with.

Storms!!!

It’s very hot and humid here in Paraguay. It usually causes afternoon thunderstorms. All day today it was beautiful, but very sticky, and yes, it rained this afternoon...well, just a little.
Yesterday, though, we had such a bad storm at school that the classrooms flooded. The street was overflowing and backing the water up into our drain system so all the street water was coming in also just pouring into the classrooms. It was raining so hard that it looked like white sheets outside. It was about 2:30 pm. Some of the kids were scared and we said prayers with them. I was teaching 4th grade English in the upper level and didn’t let the kids down until recess. I didn't realize things were SOOOOO WET!
When we went down the slippery, wet steps we ALL almost fell. Down on the ground floor, I couldn’t believe what I saw! All the teachers and secretaries were trying to shove the water down the drain system. They all had their pants rolled up and they were completely soaked.
We quickly started moving all the students into the sanctuary with their back packs and all. While we were preparing to show a movie, Juan (a secretary), slipped and fell splitting his finger open. Everything was so crazy. Vivi decided that whoever came to pick up their kids should just take them home.
At 4pm the rain was slowing down a bit. The boys and I took a different route home because of the flooded streets everywhere. It seemed like we were rowing up a river. There were rocks, fallen branches and trash totally polluting the street.
We got home safely to find Oscar and Edson oblivious to the storm, sleeping soundly.

1st day of classes...morning session.

New uniform - gray "Adonai" shirts and jeans!

My first days back to school

After a year of “REST”, I got back into the school schedule…just two days out of the week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday I came home totally wiped out! I thought Edson was a little demanding, but I forgot how demanding students, schedules, and clocks are.
Tuesday, I got home dragging myself. Our Canadian visitors left that morning. We said our “Good byes” the night before since I was off by 6:30 am. Things went well the first half of the day, then, after lunch I was feeling desperate for a pillow…a bed…or whatever. I ended up having the most difficult class of all, Special Ed. There were four in the class, but it seemed like 20. Every 5 seconds I had to think of another activity. My eyes were glued on the clock and I kept praying that minutes would go by faster. I walked out of that class drained! One teacher said, "Profe, you look so tired." Oh…I tried so hard, but couldn’t hide it any longer. My first day back was very rough! At 4 pm, my last class ended, without even saying Goodbye, I took off for home with more challenges waiting for me there.
Thursday was much better. I played the guitar for chapel and lead the worship for kids…something I LOVE to do. I love to praise God with this huge kids' choir all singing praises to the Father. The kids are excited, the church echoes our voices and it sounds wonderful. Who could get tired of that! We have a morning chapel and an afternoon chapel. It was beautiful.
Tomorrow is Tuesday. Thanks to my sister, Liz, I have a year full of music planned…The Great Adventure. I better rest up enough today…I have a full schedule tomorrow!

Work Team

Pictures of the work team....more coming later.
(Oscar needs the phone and we are on dial up!)

Canadian Work Team

The first week our schedules were relaxed. It was the last week of summer break. We got to the job site by 8:00 am and stayed until around 5 pm. The subtropical sun was warm enough for some tanning. The mosquitoes were a little bit annoying, but one could deal with the bites. The Paraguay trip was an adventure. Friday’s trip to the Iguazu Falls was also a bit of a treat.
Monday’s back-to-school schedule was rough. For Oscar and me it was the beginning of a 4:45am routine that wouldn’t end till December…something I was dreading! We thought that the Canadians could handle the early hours but after knocking...then banging on bedroom doors, we could only get them stirring at 6 am. So, with Oscar and the kids on the road at 6, the company staggered out of bed for the smell of Starbucks.
After a full day’s work (with temperatures registering 47º C in the sun.) we all trooped home…just to find…NO WATER! Hot, dirty, sweaty guys and no water. They handled it well. No one complained. Some got in the small canvas pool we have set up…at least it was water. After day 1 of no water, the pool still looked amazingly clean. Well, by day 2 the water was not looking good, but at least it was wet and cool…I was so hot even I JUMPED IN! At about 9 pm, Oscar took our guests over to a neighbor’s house on a different water line and they all came back smelling like perfume.
I don’t know too much about the job site. (I had my own job site…in the kitchen!) I do know that they worked very hard and our locals were amazed at their physical stamina…even the girls worked hard in the hot sun. The bricks and the iron rods were moved, dirt and gravel was hauled to new areas, bricks were laid and the wall was painted.
The locals were wearing long-sleeved shirts and white shirts tied around their heads so the sun wouldn’t burn their arms and neck making them darker. The Canadians worked a couple of days without sunscreen to take nice tans (or sunburns) home with them. The locals thought that the Canadians were crazy to want so much sun exposure and the Canadians thought that the Paraguayans had too many layers of clothes on. The dark-eyed, dark skinned Paraguayans tried to avoid working in the sun and the Canadians chose to sit in the sun and lay out after work trying to get a little color.
I have many days to keep writing so…more about the work team tomorrow.

Canadians!

Okay, so we had the Canadians over for two weeks. Our house is already full of guys…but this was just 5 more! Yes…there were 9 men…and, I was the ONLY lady! Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who helps out with EVERYTHING at home…from washing dishes, to cleaning the floor, to cooking, to cleaning up after Edson…diapers, baths, food and all. Also, we thank God that our kids do amazingly with company. They LOVE having people over. It was a great two weeks of fellowship, laughter, sarcasm…(uh hum), mosquitoes, heat, and shoes - everywhere…(These were guys and there was every style and size of shoe available…could you imagine if it were girls?)
Edson was being dragged around back and forth to the job site, church and school, to Sajonia, and downtown Asuncion all with little or no complaints. He was spoiled, held, and cuddled by these happy men. Marci held him as much as a grandpa would. Randy treated him as a little brother. Walter and Martin played with him as uncles would, and Tony sometimes held him in the car…no room for car seats. All the while, Edson LOVED the attention.
The last night (Monday) I was too tired to even think of what to cook and we ordered pizza. Brandon and Gaby couldn’t believe it since we have NEVER ordered pizza in our lives (here in Paraguay)! To them this was the all time neatest treat…ordering pizza.
Okay, so today is a clean up day. We are changing sheets, mopping floors, settling back into the routine of things…all the while remembering “good times”. Canadians are wonderful people after all…eh?

I'm back

Yeah! I’m back on the computer, back into Facebook, back into blogging, back to answering emails. This is great! It seems like free time!
We had visitors for the past two weeks and the computer was being used by everyone. I was usually cooking or driving around. I’ll fill you in more as the days go by.
Don’t give up hope on me, I’ll post soon!

Work team at Adonai

I didn't actually ASK Randy if I could do this, but since I found it posted online anyway I thought I would add it to my blog to let you know a little about our visitors...the Canadian work team.

I am staying home today with the boys. Oscar and Ben are driving the two cars to and from the Iguazu Falls in one day and that is too much stress for me in one day. It's a five hour drive there and another five hour drive back. It is 4:45 am and they will probably get back by about 9 pm. I am going to try to write some more today in my free time!

(By the way the pictures are from Renee Koch)

(This is from Randy)

Hello friends and family,

Greetings from Paraguay!

We're thankful to return the news of a safe and smooth
trip here. We received all of our luggage with the
exception initially of Marci's suitcase which was
returned to him yesterday. Everyone is in good health
and good spirits, and we've had a lot of laughter
together.

We put in full days of work yesterday and today on the
school addition - hard labour actually! Yesterday we
moved thousands of bricks - 6-8 per person, per trip -
from the stock pile in the yard to the individual
rooms being added, in preparation for the second floor
being put up. So far most of the walls of the main
floor are complete. We then poured two vertical
concrete columns that act as structural supports for
the brick walls. We also partially demolished a shed
that is being eliminated from the school yard (and
while moving a lumber pile the girls discovered rats
enjoy those shaded areas) and moved a lot of small
stones used for the concrete mix in order to prepare
for school children returning and not having building
supplies in their recreational area.

Today we finished moving the last of the once
monstrous brick pile in the morning (the girls made
another discovery, this time a 4" diameter tarantula),
then moved cement bags and the mortar sand pile out of
the children's rec area. It's funny how the same
materials get moved from place to place half a dozen
times.something I'm trying to encourage efficiency in,
without offending the crew leader! Before lunch we
tore down the roof and beams of the shed we started
demolishing yesterday. It's always an adventure when
the roof rafters are bowing under the weight of your
feet and the structure swaying side to side. We're
quickly adopting the Paraguay way! In the afternoon
they 'let' me lay bricks; at first they were hesitant
in my capabilities, but a few courses were laid and
they left me on my own. The remainder of the team had
the privilege of digging out a stump from a full grown
tree in the volleyball court, and then filled it in
with concrete. It's quite a pleasure working with the
locals here; even with a language barrier we've had
good laughs with them.

The weather has "cooled off" since last week according
to the locals, and was just in the low 90's today! The
humidity is quite high also so it wears out physical
labourers quickly. We're all sporting a nice shade of
pink - maybe beet red in the case of some - in exposed
areas. Lunch break is an hour or more and provides
opportunity for a little siesta to accompany the
recovery time.

Unfortunately there was a car accident we were
involved in yesterday. Oscar was taking Marci, Martin
and Walter back home at the end of the day (us others
were with Karen) and a tanker truck hit the rear
drivers side of the car at an intersection.
Fortunately nobody was hurt in the incident, but
perhaps a little shaken. Oscar's mechanic shop will
attempt to repair the body damage today without
replacing body panels (I've yet to see how that is
accomplished), but normally in North America that
accident would cost a couple thousand dollars in parts
and repairs. We have a trip scheduled to Iguacu Falls
Friday for sightseeing as long as the car is finished.
Saturday is a part day of work then some laundry and
housekeeping and hopefully some relaxation. In the
evening the guys will go with Oscar to the prison
ministry.

All in all we're so thankful for the health, safety
and great fellowship we've already experienced.
Thanks to all of you who pray for us; may God bless
you for it and may you continue to do so for the next
two weeks.

In Him,

Randy on behalf of the Paraguay team 2008