Greetings from Gabon!
We're really sorry that it's been so long since we've made a post! Our days are just flying by. But here are some updates.... :)
First, a few pictures of our little sweetheart Esther. Our daily life....
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| Yes, I'm awake! |
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| Working out on my mat! |
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| Off on a walk! |
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| Wendy and Esther went to a baby shower for Samuel, one of the general surgery resident's children. Samuel is 6 weeks old here and Esther is 3 months old. Hello world! |
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| The whole family |
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| Esther and Mommy |
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| We still have bugs - these are about 4 inches each. |
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| We had a wonderful visit by Dr. Robert Trent and his family. They were at Bongolo for about a week and blessed us with their help at the eye clinic, bringing supplies, teaching Elisee (our ophthalmology resident, on the left), and even hosting a women's tea for all those on the station. They're like family and it was hard to see them go! |
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Who's got joy?
This is Esther at the beginning of her first plane ride, an international flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. (Well, I suppose she did fly from Oklahoma City to Chicago first.) She did great on the flights. She's two months old here. |
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| How Wendy celebrated her birthday, on the beach for a couple of hours in Libreville, the capital city of Gabon. |
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| This is a family with 5 children, no father present, and a mother who has been crippled by polio. She walks on her hands on the dirt because she has no wheel chair. We brought her some clothing and supplies for herself and the children. She lives very near to Bongolo Hospital. One of our missionary friends is going to try to repair the crude wheelchair that she was given several years before. |
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| Big announcement....The eyeglass-making equipment finally made it to Bongolo Hospital a few weeks ago, thanks to AMB (Aviation Medicale de Bongolo), a local flying organization partnering with Bongolo Hospital through Air Calvary and our fellow missionary Steve Straw! We're very excited to get this eyeglasses equipment up and running, and plan to install it in a week, after we get back from a local conference. |
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| The airplane and our local runway |
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| Strange things happen on the mission field....The airplane battery was dead and we had to jump-start the plane using two cars! (This issue has since been resolved.) |
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| The same airplane that brought the eye equipment down to Bongolo was our ride back to the capital city of Libreville to renew our resident permits. This was Esther's first ride on a small aircraft! |
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| This is Rachael Thompson, a missionary who has been helping us out tremendously by spending 2 hours every weekday caring for Esther. This has allowed both Eric and Wendy to get more work done with the bookkeeping and eye clinic tasks. (Incidentally, Rachael grew up here in Gabon as a missionary kid herself, so she can relate well to our little one.) Many folks have asked how the transition back to Gabon has been, having Esther with us now. Life will never be the same, in all sorts of ways! She's a wonderful baby and has a smile to light up this world. She has been about half-and-half in sleeping through the night or waking up once during the night. She's now 3-1/2 months old. It is difficult to care for her well and to do our work well at the same time, but both activities are good and God-given, so we're just trying to enjoy each day as it comes. |
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| Here is Esther again on her first small airplane, content in Daddy's lap. |
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| Esther and her mommy |
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