On June 20 we traveled 2 days for some training and renewal. It was great to reconnect with old friends! The first week was designed for those of us working overseas for 1 year or less. We receive some of the best training available for our work, counseling, debriefing, and heard testimonies from around the region . The second week was filled with worship, renewal, and the stomach virus. It all started in the daycare and continued to look something like this:

Aleah threw up every 15 minutes for over 3 hours Tuesday night. She was a trooper though. Never got really upset and in the mean time enjoyed watching late night TV. The next day she had a fever and some diarrhea. Friday morning I gave her some milk but it only stayed down for about 1 hour and she ate a few french fries for lunch and that showed back up later on too. 4 days later and she still throws up milk. She did have some rice porridge for breakfast and she wakes up during the night for a couple of crackers. Other than that it's just clear liquids. Poor baby!

Blake got sick with a fever Wednesday, felt better Thursday, and got hit with the virus big time on Thursday night He made a little bed in the bathroom and stayed in there most the night puking his brains out. He was in a bad way. So, he was completely drained on Friday.

I got sick Thursday after lunch, but only lost my lunch and then one more time Thursday night (but I had to time it just right so that I didn't have to fight Blake for the toilet). Then I ran a fever the rest of the night and Friday with some diarrhea. So Friday afternoon I was feeling hungry and was craving a hot dog. But the few bites I took of it showed back up 30 minutes later. I know, I should have known better : )

Week 3 was designed for intensive training is specialized areas. We made it through the best we could. Blake and I would swap back and forth in keeping Aleah so we could at least get the highlights of our classes. Aleah remained sickly and didn't eat much. Blake was eating light too. Then I got bronchitis and started having these crazy dizzy spells.

We made a 12 hour road trip to CM for a prenatal visit and have been camping out here ever since trying to recover. . .

Paula has adapted to her new place at home, different from the hospital, and now the challenge is therapy - which has proven to be extremely painful. An excellent therapist meets with her three times a week and he really pushes Paula to bend her knees and ankles to restore their flexibility. Paula has committed to do more bending of the knees at home, in order to make the every other day therapy easier. She is a determined lady and will push herself to have the best result possible. It is exciting to see the everyday progress she is making to return to full recovery. We are all so proud of her.

Mike says, "God continues to strengthen us for each day and we continue to learn from all that is going on. Thank you again for all your support, encouragement and prayers during these challenging days. It has kept us going strong and looking forward to finishing the course."

Here's a photo of what is left of the truck:


and Paula wearing the latest in neck gear technology: