Happy Birthday, Eliana!

We celebrated Eliana's first birthday on Saturday with a traditional Bolivian birthday party, a saltenada (which means you serve saltenas, a Bolivian meat pastry, and cake midway through the morning). It wasn't a very big affair, but we invited the people who are important in Eliana's life - our Bolivian homestay family, members of the church, the team etc. It was a fun time of food, fellowship, and even a couple games of horseshoes (thanks again to the Chessers for bringing the equipment down, we sure have gotten good use out of it!). Here are some pictures from the day.

The birthday girl


The big sister


The birthday cake


The kids table


The guests


Horseshoes


The pregnant ladies

Beauty

- the clouds hugging the mountains
- a nap with both girls asleep to the sound of the first good rain of the season trickling outside
- a tousle-headed 2 year old upon just waking up
- baby babble and a snaggle-toothed grin
- a fresh glass of lemonade shared with Eli Arcos on a spur of the moment visit
- chocolate ice-cream and 20 minutes of uninterrupted conversation with my husband in the middle of running errands
- the joy of Swahili choruses on a tape long unlistened to
- fresh baked chocolate chip (yes, I actually found chocolate chips here!) cookies
- early morning waking to the birds singing and the movement of new life inside

As they say in Africa: "God is good, all the time!"

And the Verdict Is.....

It's another girl! We went this morning for another ultrasound - a place that was recommended to us by another ex-pat lady who had 2 kids here. The doctor was really nice, gave us a CD and everything of the ultrasound, very sure that it is a girl, and it cost us all of $12. One of the perks of living in Cochabamba. Of course, we are excited to have 3 girls so close in age! And the doctor said she looks beautiful. Josh is now officially what they call a chanclatero here (a word we'd never heard before coming to Bolivia that technically means "sandle man" but refers to a man who has all girls). We know God has special plans in store for our 3 beautiful little ladies.

Update on Eliana

Well, it's been an interesting experience getting the tests done on Eliana after her urinary tract infection. It seemed like we had several hiccups in the process.

Hiccup #1- We got back from our trip to Sucre and had Eliana's tests scheduled for the next day. Only thing was we woke up to find the whole city shut down because the transportistas (taxi and bus drivers) had the whole city blockaded in protest of road conditions. We couldn't even get to the grocery store, much less get Eliana downtown for her tests. So we rescheduled.

Hiccup #2- For some reason (although the clinic was very professional), we had to bring our own medical supplies for the tests. So Monday morning rolled around, and we went out to the pharmacy to buy 2 siringes, a bag of hydration fluid, and an infant feeding tube to use as a catheter. We stopped at several pharmacies (including the major chain pharmacy in Cochabamba) and no one had the feeding tube. So we went to the main hospital and tried both the main pharmacy there as well as the pharmacy in the pediatric section. Strike again. As a last resort, I headed to the children's hospital. On the way, I saw a pharmacy they had recommended at the hospital. So on the off chance they would have the catheter, I stopped. Wonder of wonders, they had it! I paid all of three bolivianos for the thing I had been all over the city for (that's about 50 cents).

Hiccup #3- I arrived with Eliana at the clinic and waited while they got everything set up. Right as we were being called back, they looked at me and said, "Oh, are you pregnant?" Obviously. I would not be able to accompany my child to one of the tests seeing as it was an x-ray. Nice of them to tell me this beforehand! So I had to call Josh who was at home with Michaela, and he had to wake her up and come down so we could have someone present with Eliana during the bcug test.

Hiccup #4- We went to pick up the results from the test the next day and to drop them by our pediatrician's office. Only to find out our pediatricain had been in a major car accident that afternoon and was hospitalized. Needless to say, I nearly freaked out - I've become so dependent on this man with everything that's happened with the girls the last few months. Not to mention the fact I know he has a family and I have no idea where he stands with the Lord. Come to find out, he was in stable condition and concious, but had broken his hip and so would be on bed-rest for a couple months at least. At which point, I called for back up. We went to language school with an American pediatrician who is now working for a whole health organization in the city. I called him up and asked him to read the results for us so we would know where to go from here.

Results being that Eliana does not have any kind of reflux and everything looks completely normal with her urinary tract system. We can now stop the antibiotic and there's no need for a surgery of any kind. Praise God!


I couldn't resist including this picture of Eliana. I tried hard to get a picture of her 2 teeth, but couldn't seem to get it timed right. Trish gave me this one - even though it only has the 1 tooth, I think it's pretty cute.

An Independent Streak

So last month we celebrated Nathan Bull's 2nd birthday (happy birthday, Nathan!). I don't know what it was about his party - it was a nice but simple celebration with just our team. But Michaela is still talking about it! Maybe she's finally figured out what birthdays are all about - or maybe it was the Bull's new apartment - or maybe it was Nathan's new trike.

The next day, she told me she was going to Nathan's birthday. She got on her little push car and rode it around the house. Then she took it outside and asked me to carry it down the stairs. Then she asked me to open the gate. Since we live in the country, I did, thinking "What could it hurt?" and told her to turn around when she got to the end of our driveway - about 100 meters long. She took off down our gravel road riding her her car - when it got too hard on the gravel she pushed or pulled it. She got to the end of the road, turned the corner and kept going. At which point I went after her. When I got to her, she was still bound a determined to go to Nathan's birthday (their apartment is a good 20 minute drive from our house)- she threw a fit when I made her come home, got a spanking for it and cried the whole way back to the house.

And that's not the only run in we've had with Michaela's independent streak. She wants to do everything by her self - her most common saying is "Lala do it!"

I pray every day for wisdom as He helps guide me through the muddy waters of parenting.


Michaela and Nathan on his birthday trike

Sucre

Well, I've been having technological problems - which is the reason why this update is so delayed. But finally I have been able to download the pictures from our trip to Sucre. We were blessed to be able to take a long weekend to go visit Josh's sister in Sucre, Bolivia, the judicial capital of Bolivia (also known as the White City: it's a beautiful colonial city with all the buildings painted white). They arrived with a team of 2 families and 3 singles from the Quito School of Biblical Studies back in April. We were very exicted to have another work started in Bolivia, not to mention the fact that now we have family a little closer. We had a wonderful time staying with Jenny, her husband, Erik, and our precious little nephew Zion. They have a nice home right near the center of town and Jenny saved my sanity by giving us two rooms (Eliana sleeps so much better that way at this point). Zion is exactly one month older than Eliana, but is already walking, climbing stairs and getting off of furniture himself! Amazing! He and Michaela and Eliana had a lot of fun playing together. It was a blessing to be able to worship with the newly forming church body there in their contact center (which is like a little coffee shop), and to see how Jenny and Erik and their team are getting into people's lives there. We were also able to visit the dinosaur park there, and a children's park on Sunday that has rides for kids. But the highlight was definitely celebrating Zion's birthday. It's nice to be able to be a little more involved in at least one of our nieces' and nephews' lives. Travel there and back was a little challenging as it always is in Bolivia - Josh took an overnight 10 hour bus (got on the wrong bus initially, and had a cramped, uncomfortable trip), and I flew with the girls (you try flying with a 2 year old, a one year old and being 5 months pregnant!). I told Josh I don't want to travel any more until this baby is born! But we are very thankful for the time that we had in Sucre.


The 3 cousins


My beautiful family!


Zion sharing cake with Jenny and Erik


Zion's cake. Jenny made carrot cake in bread pans, and one of their teammates, Angela, decorated it like a circus train. Super cute! And only slightly ruined by the fact that their dog, Cosita, licked off some of the icing before we could enjoy it. Needless to say, Jenny was very upset!


At the dinosaur park. A mining company discovered a wall covered with hundreds of fossilized dinosaur prints. It is now a tourist attraction complete with lifesized models of the dinosaurs. Michaela loved it!


Michaela playing at the dinosaur park


Worship with the church in Sucre

Eliana

It seems this has been the year of unexpected health concerns for our family. Poor Eliana came down with a fever last Thursday afternoon. At first, I thought it was teething, but after a day of the fever been fairly high, I called the doctor and he graciously agreed to see her Saturday morning. He checked her all out, and said it was probably a virus - some kind of cold or flu. The fever continued - it seemed to come down when we gave her pain medicine, but every 4 hours, it would spike - high - and we would do rounds with cold rags or in the tub. After another couple days, I was really concerned. I called the doctor again and he said he wanted to take some stool and urine samples. So I spent the next day sitting next to Eliana for several hours as she sat on our little portapotty. No luck. And her poopy diapers were at night - no lab here is open at night. The next day I called the doctor in tears - Eliana had stopped eating and drinking that morning. He immediately agreed to see us, and we took her down to the children's hospital. He put her on an IV to hydrate her (a horrible 15 minute process of trying to find her vein), and to help us get the samples we needed. I spent the afternoon and evening holding her in the hospital. We finally got the urine sample (thank goodness for pediatric urine collecting bags!) and they discovered she had a severe urinary tract infection.

Our pediatrician, Dr. Monroy, had left us in the care of another doctor there as he does his personal office hours in the afternoon. This doctor came in and began to explain to me in Spanish what we were going to do (as if I was 2, which on one hand, I really appreciate as understanding medical jargon is one of the most difficult things for me in Spanish; but on the other hand, it really annoyed me!) She told me that we were going to take 2 more urine samples for culture purposes, and then give Eliana an antibiotic intraveneously (as the infection was really strong and she had been throwing up some in the last few days). She told me I had to go down and pay for the urine samples and antibiotic before we could go upstairs to the emergency lab and get Eliana treated. At this point, it's 6:00, and everything on our level (general consultation) is basically shut down. The nurse who had been monitoring the IVs has left to go home. So I leave Eliana crying in her crib and walk down the hall to information to pay. I get there and tell the man I need to pay for the urine samples. He looks at the form and asks if I have the urine. No.... We're supposed to go upstairs and take the samples. Well, you have to have the urine before you can pay for it. I don't know, but the doctor told me I have to pay now. So he calls another dr. This dr. comes and says the same thing. He says the only way you can pay in advance is if it's urgent. I tell him the doctor who wrote the prescription told me it's urgent. He asks where it's written on the form. I tell him it's not! But this is what the first doctor told me!

By this point, I'm extremely frustrated and beginning to cry - and I can hear Eliana screaming down the hall. They finally get ahold of the doctor who wrote the perscription. She tells them exactly what I told them - that it's urgent, that I need to pay, that we'll go upstairs and take the samples now - but in the meantime makes a comment to them both that I don't understand her Spanish very well. At which point - I positively loose it! I call Josh and tell him that he better get down here right away (he had left to go pick up Michaela). I think he thought I was having a nervous breakdown! Then I tell the doctor that yes, I don't understand Spanish sometimes, but that I did understand what she told me, that I was explaining it to the information desk - and that they were refusing to listen to me and take my measly 25 bolivianos so my very sick child could get the treatment she needed.

We finally got it all worked out; Eliana got her treatment; our pediatrician, Dr. Monroy, came by to check on us and explained everything to me in English (have I mentioned how much I like this man???). He is going to run further tests due to the severity of the infection, as he is afraid there may be some kind of reflux in her bladder (after talking to my mom, she said I had 3 urinary tract infections in my first year, and continued getting them consistently till I was about 6; so I guess it's possible that it is something genetic. It's amazing the things you find out about your childhood after you become a parent!). In the meantime, we have had to take her every 12 hours to the hospital to receive her dosage of intraveneous antibiotic (this is for 3 days, and then we'll switch her to an oral one).

As we left, I told Josh, I know they think I'm the emotional, high-strung, gringa lady. But I wish they could see it from my point of view - running off of 6 days of fever/fussy/clingy baby, worried that she'll have a febrile seizure (as the doctor did tell us sometimes they run in families), little sleep, communicating in a second language, trying to work with a medical system that's unfamiliar to me.

I'm just thankful we know what's wrong and can finally do something about it - as difficult as the last few days have been taking Eliana for her IV every 12 hours. She is feeling better now, the fever is gone, and we've actually gotten her to smile today!

Thanks for the prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf.

Note: Many, many thanks to Liz and Dave Chalenburg who sent us a package several weeks back containing infant Tylenol and Ibu-profen. It has been invaluable the last week!

The Difference between Moms and Dads

The difference in parenting styles was never more apparant last night at our house. I was putting Michaela to bed - a routine which consists of reading, singing, praying - you know, those things that generally have a calming effect on children and prepare them for sleep. Josh came into the room with his hands behind his back and said, "I have a little friend who wants to say goodnight to you." He then proceeded to pull out a huge toad (I was expecting the cat!) and stick it in front of our faces (after a lengthy discussion of the matter, he says he held it in front of us; I still say he stuck it in our faces). Michaela's reaction was not helped by the fact that mommy reacted adversely ("Ahh! Get it out!")! But I was totally surprised. After 2 minutes of terrified crying, I finally got Michaela to calm down by telling her daddy had taken the frog outside. We then proceeded to go to bed - although this time Michaela got up 3 times to talk about the frog and make sure it really was outside. Josh said, "Usually she likes frogs." And I proceeded to explain that the presentation of the frog was unusually disturbing. He might have gone about it in a slightly different way. As I said - the difference between moms and dads!

August

It's been a full month in the Marcum house. We hosted several events out at our house; God has blessed us with a big yard and big kitchen which makes it feasible to have large groups of people out from the church. We had a team day before the Forbesses left for furlough, and then invited all the school age kids and their families out for a hot dog roast and games, and then hosted our small group for a grill out the following week as well.



The following week, we left for a few days of much needed vacation. We drove about 3 hours over the mountains (a spectacular drive!) to a tropical area of Bolivia called the Chapare, and stayed in a nice hotel in a town called Villa Tunari. Michaela really enjoyed the playground (the park as she calls it) and the water slide. Mom enjoyed reading the last Harry Potter book (thank you, Katie!), and the restaurant open all day. Dad enjoyed swimming with Michaela, relaxing and reading as well. And Eliana just enjoyed hanging out.




We also visited a wildlife refuge in the area called Parque Machia. They have lots of parrots and monkeys (which just run free) and a few other smaller animals as well (an otter looking thing - I'm not sure what the name is). Michaela really enjoyed being in close proximity to the monkeys - although I was a little nervous. The day before a little girl had returned to our hotel with her finger bit! We escaped with no monkey bites, although one did try to climb up the sling I had Eliana in and stole a roll of my film!



I also took the opportunity of some free time to take some pictures of the girls (thanks again for the dresses, Jauna)! Enjoy! And click on our flickr badge to see more pictures of the girls and from the last couple months as well!





We were ready to get home, though. Apparantly, Eliana doesn't like sharing a room with the rest of us - we had several restless nights (but she sleeps all night at home!). We're getting ready to gear up for a round of fall events - a new study for our small group, Josh teaching a new class at the contact center, a ladies day once a month, a family encampment in November. We continue to be excited about the way God is working and feel very blessed to be here serving Him!

More Pictures!

Here's some of the latest pictures of our beautiful girls! They are so much fun. Eliana is living up to her middle name "Joy". She laughs all the time. Michaela is a wonderful big sister, playing and loving on Eliana, and is talking so much. We are so blessed to be their parents!

Musings and Goodbyes

Goodbyes are a part of life. And for a missionary kid/now missionary, they have become almost second nature. Not to say that I handle goodbyes in the best way. I've developed some coping strategies to transitions and goodbyes that might or might not be the healthiest. I think I deal with goodbyes in the same way I deal with past friendships. My mom always said that friendship is a blessing from God, given in certain seasons of life. We won't always have a "bosom" friend - in Anne of Green Gables language - but when we do, we should live it up and be thankful for the time we have with that particular person. All that to say, I see friendship as something that comes and goes with the seasons of life. I don't do the greatest job of keeping in contact with past friends - not that they were/ are not important. I guess I feel like sometimes I just don't have the emotional energy to maintain past and present friendships. Which is not to say memories of people and places don't surface with certain triggers. But I've found it easier to just not dwell on my memories of Kenya and of good, good friends. It's just too difficult. When those triggers arise, I might have a good cry - or journal a bit - and then I move on with the present.

I'm rambling. The reason I'm blogging today is because I had to say goodbye again, and I figured that I better put all this down while it's fresh. We said goodbye to the Custers today - it still seems all a little surreal. I can't believe they're gone and not coming back. It's hard to imagine how life will be different here with just 4 families rather than 5 (redistributing responsibilties, changes in team dynamics) - those of you who are on a mission team know that you become close like family. And our friendship with the Custers went back even farther than our team formation. We met Drew and Jamie when they were first dating - Drew was doing youth ministry and we were doing Hispanic ministry at the same church. We double dated a few times during their dating relationship, had many a conversation about our dreams of mission work in South America, Jamie and I endured several difficult years working and teaching in the Memphis school system, and finally through lots of prayer - we committed to working together somewhere in South America. Josh and Drew have been long time prayer partners, and Jamie and I have enjoyed many a "mommy" talk and prayer together as well. All that to say, we will miss them a lot - we'll miss Drew's good humor, vision, leadership and Jamie's sweet spirit, teaching skills and organization. And I'll miss the friendship that I knew would grow up between Hannah and Eliana. Since hearing the news that they were going back, I've been through a roller coaster of emotions (a little bit like the grieving process, because you're 'losing' someone important to you) -again, those who have been on mission teams probably know the best the variety of emotions you go through (and it probably doesn't help that I'm a little hormonal with 1st trimester pregnancy). Mostly I have just been sad. But we are very thankful for the 6 years that we have known the Custers, and the year and a half they were here with us in Cochabamba. They have left their mark on people's lives, on our team, and on us. We pray God's greatest blessing on them as they return to the States - that God would place them somewhere where they will feel fulfilled and content, and would use their many gifts to His glory. We love you guys, Drew, Jamie and Hannah, and will be praying for you as you transition into your new life Stateside.

Bolivian Travels

With the Harding interns here for the summer, opportunities opened up to do a little bit of traveling around Bolivia. We accompanied them to Santa Cruz for the ladies conference, and also on a survery trip of La Paz/ El Alto. Josh took the opportunity of the trip to La Paz to take the interns to a very beautiful and out of the way place in Bolivia called Uyuni, famous for the fact that it has some of the largest salt flats in the world. It is an interesting trip because you can take the train, one of the only remaining functioning train tracks in Bolivia. In addition to all these travels, Josh took some of the interns with him on a day trip to some Incan ruins close to Cochabamba called Inca Rakay. All in all - it made for an interesting summer! Here are some pictures from our (mostly Josh's) travels.


The ruins of Inca Rakay. Archeologists think this may have been some kind of watch post close to the end of Incan territory. They are fairly remote and not very well visited or maintained, but interesting nonetheless. You should have seen the car when they got back! It was covered in about an inch of dust, partly due to the fact that they got lost on the way there and went about 40 minutes out of their way.


On the train to Uyuni. They took the executive train, and Josh was actually pleasantly surprised with its cleaniness and service. He met several interesting people on their train ride as well, a family from Virginia and an Eastern Orthodox Bolivian man who told Josh he needed to do some more studying, as the Eastern Orthodox church is the only true church : )


Josh on the salt flats. The girls and I opted to skip out on the Uyuni leg of the trip, seeing as this time of year it is frigidly cold. They "harvest" the salt and industrialize it, but the good news is that it "replaces" itself. Don't ask me how - I'm not a scientist.


A view from an "island" in the middle of the salt flats.


Josh licking (well, according to him, pretending to lick!) a table made from salt. There is actually a hotel where everything is made from salt.


Josh said he felt like they were one step away from a blockade through the whole trip. They took the train to Uyuni, only to have the tracks blockaded behind them, so they had to take a bus to La Paz (Josh said it felt like they were driving on a goat track the whole way!) We arrived in La Paz only to have the whole city shut down for a civil strike. There is a debate right now whether or not to change the political capital of Bolivia to Sucre instead of La Paz. So the city of La Paz called the strike in support of keeping the capital in La Paz. Thousands of people made an 8 mile walk up to the altiplano to show their support of the strike. One of the church members escorted Josh and the guys in the group on the march. It was a definitely a cultural experience! They actually managed to hitch a ride in a dump truck with about 40 other people for half the way. Here is a picture of Josh in the back of the dump truck.

Is it Time Yet?

Josh recently wrote the following article for our team newsletter. About a week later, Miguel and his girlfriend Gabriella, both made the decision to put the Lord on in baptism. God is good! We are so excited to welcome this wonderful couple into the family of God. Please pray for the many more who are on the brink of making the same decision.

"The gestation period for chickens is 21 days. For rabbits it’s just ten days more than that. Growing up I remember waiting on each of these animals to bring new life into the world. One gets up in the morning wondering if today could be the day. JP our colt took us all by surprise because we didn’t know exactly when the mare had been sired. Usually though, one can know with pretty good precision when to expect the new little ones.
If only one’s birth in Christ were so easy to calculate. Many factors are at stake in determining one’s birth in Christ, namely cultural and familial influence, education and open-heartedness. The scale to calculate the growth and development of a soul is not an exact science but a discipline in waiting on the Lord.
We missionaries are waiting on edge with anticipation as several are on the verge of making a commitment to Christ. Their decision to put Christ on in baptism is neither an easy one nor one made lightly. Often their choice goes against their family’s upbringing and teaching. “Baptism?” the family asks. “But we baptized you on your first birthday.” However difficult the decision, C-section or inducement is not an option. We must rest on God’s time-table. They will be “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:13)
Recently, Butch went out and bought a foldable, PVC-framed baptistery. He actually spent above his budget because he got the next size up. His reasoning? “Well, I wasn’t sure if we were going to get Miguel covered in that other one,” He said. There are many like our large-framed Bolivian friend whom we hope to be “born anew” in the near future. Please be praying for their decision and our patience as we wake each morning with anticipation."

New Pictures

It has been a busy summer for us - and unfortunately, this mom hasn't been very good at taking pictures. But here are a few pictures of our summer events - thanks to one of our interns, Stephanie.

Our newest family picture. Michaela is 26 months, and Eliana is 9 months.


The Cochabamba ladies, Katie, Talia, and I (along with our 2 Harding interns, Rachel and Steph, who have been working with us the last 6 weeks), who went to the Santa Cruz ladies conference. It was encouraging to see many faithful Bolivian Christian ladies uplifting one another. Josh watched the girls at night so I could enjoy the lectures. What a great daddy!


Our VBS class during our gospel meeting. We were helped by the Aggies for Christ who were here for a week. They helping advertise for the campaign, did some service projects for the church, and put together a VBS for us.


Eliana and cousin Zion, enjoying time outside. Erik, Jenny and Zion visited us for a week over the weekend of our campaign.

Giving it to God

Lately, I've been wondering what God is trying to teach me through all the struggles of the last few months. And I think that over the last couple days, the lesson has been driven home in a way that I don't think I have ever understood before...

Thursday night, Michaela started vomiting, and Friday morning started running a fever. I called our doctor, and he thought it was probably some kind of flu virus and gave me some medicines to give her to help with the vomiting. Friday night I was nursing Eliana and putting her to sleep when all of a sudden I heard Josh yelling my name. I rushed out of the room to find him holding Michaela. She was convulsing and then went limp. I have never been so afraid in my life! We immediately rushed out the door and to the car, me calling our pediatrician on the way. I tossed Eliana in her car seat and took Michaela from Josh. He drove like a crazy man from our house to the closest, most reliable clinic - honking, passing cars, hopping curbs, running red lights. And as I was sitting there holding the limp, unconcious body of our Michaela, all I could do was say "Oh, God, please", and keep trying to get her to respond to something - at least she was breathing. I have never felt so helpless before - and Josh kept saying "She's in His hands, Julie." She finally threw up all over me in the car, and that seemed to help her.

We got to the hospital, and rushed her to the emergency room, where she started crying. Our pediatrician arrived shortly afterward - I have never been so happy so see someone in my life! We thought maybe she had an allergic reaction to the medicine, or possibly had hit her head (now we think she fell when she had the seizure, when Josh picked her up at the beginning, he thought the fall triggered the seizure). But Dr. Monroy was almost positive it was a febrile seizure - one related to the fever she had been running.

They put her on an IV, and we stayed overnight for them to monitor her and run some lab work - thankfully, the lab work all came back negative for bacteria (the doctor would have run some more tests for meningitis if it had come back positive), and her electrolytes were fine, which made him sure that it was a virus.

We got home yesterday afternoon, and she's on some meds for the fever, vomiting and an anti-seizure. Her stomach is still bothering her, and she is just really fussy and wants to be held all the time - but she's alive! and talking!

Again, I just wonder what God is trying to teach us through all of this - in my earlier blog, I talked about His sovereignty and I think that's part of it. But I think more than that, He just wants me to give everything to him - knowing it's not my strength, but His.

Josh's swollen lymphnodes - Give it to God.

Stomach viruses and amoebas and colds and strep throat- Give it to God.

Daily frustrations of living in Bolivia - Give it to God.

Surprise! Third baby is on the way! - Give it to God.

Yes, even the lives of your children - Give it to God.

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." Ps. 68:24

Tribute to Moms - Past and Present

Sooo... the newest development in the Marcum house has been that Eliana has amoebas (the doctor thinks she probably got them from her bath water, because try as I might, I can't keep her hands, or for that matter, her feet, out of her mouth). Which in practical terms has meant: tons of runny diapers, a fussy baby with stomach cramps, another round of sleepless nights for Mom and baby, another 10 days of forcing medicine down her throat. Needless to say, mom feels like the world's worst mom because her baby has been sick off and on for the last 2 months (stomach virus, strep throat, a cold, now amoebas). A very wise woman at Livonia (yes, that would be you Rosemary!) told me that "guilt" is every mom's middle name. I told Josh - try as you might to be careful with your second child - it really is impossible to keep Eliana healthy with a runny nosed two year old around your house kissing her all the time.

But lest I digress to far into my pity party - I have been counting the blessings of being a mom in this day and age. Living here has given me a whole new appreciation of what billions of moms in the past and millions of moms in the present (missionary moms, moms who live in 3rd world countries, moms in the States who choose alternative child rearing methods) have to go through on a daily basis. How did/do you guys do it without ....

1) Disposable diapers. Trust me. After having 2 children with stomach viruses and 1 with amoebas (and one child potty training), disposable diapers/ pullups never looked so good. I can't imagine what it would be like washing them out, drying them, folding them, pinning them. For that matter - how did my mom do it without a washer and dryer the first few years of child rearing?

2) Canned baby food. I have a whole new appreciation for moms who make their own baby food now, because I am in the process of doing it myself. Canned baby food is too expensive to buy all the time here. It is an all day process - washing, boiling, pureeing, running it through a strainer, and storing it. And I can't imagine having to do it all without my food processer!

3) Over the counter child medication. This is one of those items that I will stock up on when we go on furlough. The child medication tastes good and is packaged convieniently (here, it tastes terrible and you have to count drops for every kilo your child weighs- really difficult when you're trying to drop it into your baby's mouth and they're screaming). How did parents do it without teething gel, baby tylenol, gas drops etc.? This is another one that I have gained a new appreciation for the last 2 months with so many sickies. For that matter, where would we be without vaccinations? It's hard enough watching your kiddos be sick with common colds and other bugs. I can't imagine having to nurse my child through a deadly or debilitating disease.

4) TV. Now let me preface this one with the fact that I have been reading recently online how TV increases a child's risk for ADHD - and so all of a sudden, the TV has been much more curtailed at our house (no more than an hour a day for Michaela, and preferably none for Eliana). But I have to admit, when I'm putting Eliana to bed and am here all by myself, the TV comes on for Michaela. And in desperate moments, it has been a salvation at times.

5) A baby swing. I went into mourning when I had to pack Eliana's away a couple weeks a go.

6) A breast pump. For my male readers, I won't go into detail on this one, but mine has been invaluable.

8) A myriad of child friendly toys and books. Thankfully, Eliana is at the stage where she can sit up on her own and play with chew toys and cardboard books. So many children and parents in the world live without a single toy in their house, much less a book. Kids in Kenya used to play with balls made out of plastic sacks and rubber bands. And so many of the toys available for toddlers here are so cheaply made, they come apart and are a choking risk.

7) A husband. My hat is off to single mom's - who I know do it all for their kids. I am so, so thankful to have a loving, involved husband and father by my side.

My list could go on and on - baby monitors, rocking chairs, etc. etc. etc.. But the real thing that is keeping me going in all of this is my Father. Knowing the extent of his love for me, the things he has endured, the fact that he is with me day by day every step of the way. How do people do it without Him? Most of all I am thankful for my relationship with the Lord.

Under a Cover of Prayer

For those of you who are in the dark about what has been happening the last couple weeks, I deeply apologize. Part of it was wanting to be sure before we broadcast anything, and part of it has been that we have just been in survival mode.

A couple of weeks ago, Josh started having pain under his arm. At first he thought he'd just pulled a muscle working in the garden, but the pain kept getting worse and worse, and then he noticed a swelling as well under his arm. We thought it just might be a swollen gland, but after a couple days, he was having trouble doing anything with his arm and began having night sweats and cold chills in bed.

So he went to the doctor to get it checked out. The doctor thought it was probably just an infected gland, and gave him a round of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, but because cancer is genetic in Josh's family, though that he'd better do an ultrasound to cover all the bases.

The ultrasound results came back showing not a swollen gland, but 7 lymphnodes of varying sizes. The doctor was fairly alarmed, and said that the surest and quickest way of finding out if the lymphnodes were benign and infected or malignent was to do a biopsy. So a couple of days later, Josh went in for a simple surgery. They made a cut under his arm and took samples from 2 of the lymphnodes.

The results came back on Monday - NOT malignent. Josh said he's never been happier to have an infection in his life!

Like I said earlier, I think we've been in survival mode the last couple weeks with everything that's been going on. I just couldn't think very much about the biopsy, because if I did, then my mind started going over all the "what if's". But, try as I might, it was really difficult to sleep for a couple of days. I think I have a much better understanding of the feelings and thoughts people go through when they hear the word "biopsy"!

But I have never felt, as much as I did at this point in our lives, the peace that comes from the knowledge that we are covered in prayer. Over the last week, we have received more encouraging emails from so many individuals saying that they were praying for us - and so many more emails from individuals saying that they were so thankful with us about the results. I took such comfort in the knowledge that there were men and women of God rallying around us - I could almost picture you: around your tables, in your living rooms, congregating as a church, in your beds, on your knees, in your cars, with your families - praying for us. How can I begin to say "Thank you?"

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16

Please continue to pray as we consult with the doctors about how to treat this infection. Josh's fevers are gone, but the lympnode under his arm is still swollen and painful.

We are thankful - thankful that the results were not more serious, and thankful that the results allow us to continue with His work, and continue raising our family here in Cochabamba.

We love you all!

Twilight Zone??

It has been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks (I keep wondering when life will slow down - maybe it never does!). Here's a recap of what it's been like in the Marcum household.

1) Rudi and Patti's wedding (see previous blog entry)
2) Josh's parents arrive the night of the wedding to spend a few days with us (For the record - I'm so glad they were here. Of course, visitors always add to the business of life - but it was such a wonderful visit. And, seeing as two of the ladies on our team are in the States right now visiting family (more power to them!), it was really nice to have them - kind of took off that edge of missing my family and wanting to be with them.)
3) Jenny and Erik Reyes and Zion (Josh's sister and brother-in-law) arrive. They are part of a team to Sucre, Bolivia that just arrived a couple weeks ago. They came to Cochabamba, a much more modern and developed city (imagine that!), to do some household shopping. We spent a lot of the week helping them purchase furniture, washer and dryer, household goods etc. Don't get me wrong - it was a joy to help them! We are so excited they are here.
4) I loose my wallet (including Bolivian ID card, American drivers license, credit card and debit card, and about $10) the day Jenny and Erik leave. Needless to say, I was very upset about the whole thing - imagining the paperwork and hours it will take to get a new Bolivian ID, a new American drivers license while in Bolivia, canceling credit cards and getting new ones while in Bolivia. We return to the restaurant where it was left on the table- nothing.
5) Josh leaves on an overnight camping trip with the men of the congregation.
6) Eliana begins running a 102 fever. After about 24 hours I take her to the doctor, and end up waiting 2 and a half hours because he's out on an emergency call. She has a severe throat infection and is on antibiotics (which give her diareaha and and upset stomach and makes for a very fussy baby who won't eat except for nursing). So I haven't had a good night's sleep this week yet, and feel like all I've done is nurse, walk, rock, and hold Eliana (and in my spare time keep up with a precocious 2 year old - who we found sticking DVD's INSIDE the casing of the TV yesterday, requiring us to take apart the TV in order to recover them - and attempt to cook half-way decent meals - our stock of leftovers is nil, thanks to this week). Josh's usual schedule continues - and I feel like this week we've been ships passing in the dark (in a too literal sense, since I've been up half the nights with Eliana.)

All of that is background to the story I'm about to tell you. I recieve a call this morning from the girls' doctor's office, saying that they have gotten some information about my lost documents. At first, I'm confused, (remember this is in Spanish, and I have the hardest time talking on the phone in Spanish) - I think they've lost the girls' doctor records and have recovered them. No, no - someone called their office saying that they found my lost ID card (I had a card for the doctor's office in my wallet as well, so I'm assuming the guy found the card, called the office, asked if they had a patient with my name, and asked them to contact me). I am so excited - my faith in Bolivia restored! The receptionist gives me all the information - name, where he works (office, street and cross street) cell phone number. So I call the cell phone - no answer. Eliana wakes up and Josh can stay with Michaela. So I pack her up in the sling and walk up to the road (about 5 minutes) and catch a bus into town (our car is in the shop). I arrive at the office, walk inside and ask for Diego Fuentes. No one knows him - no one of that name works there. I go outside - look around, ask in all the shops up and down the street, ask the kiosk sellers, ask the shoe shiners. No one knows a Diego Fuentes. After about half an hour of asking everyone in creation and looking the fool, I stand there on the street corner, feeling like I'm in the twilight zone, and ask "What are you doing here, God?" And eventually catch a taxi home.

Okay, so let me ask you. Why would a guy go to extreme measures to call my doctor's office, have them call me, and give me all that false contact information, requiring me to haul downtown with my baby and try to recover my missing papers?

Scenario 1 (suggested by the taxi driver as I was discussing the issue with him on the way home): It was a joke. The more I think about this scenario, the madder it makes me! Some joke to get my hopes up that my missing papers (of which I've already started the process to recover, having called and emailed the Texas State Department to find out the process of getting a new license, filling out the forms and getting the package ready to Fed.Ex.) are found - and require me to go downtown with my baby, wasting 2 hours of my day.

Scenario 2 (which makes me rather paranoid): The man called the doctor's office in an attempt to locate our home address/ home telephone, knowing by my papers that I am a foreigner - for who knows what reason, to take advantage of us in some way.

Anyone have any other ideas??

In an attempt to regain my perspective on life - I've been reading my Bible. Always a good thing to do. I'm studying through the minor prophets (a very good way to put things in context) and just the other day, read the book of Habakkuk. I ended up feeling very humbled - reminded of the sovereignty of God - of how He is God of history, and how my very small problems (not that they don't matter to Him) are small beans in comparison to the world wide problems He dealt with in the past and continues to deal with in our present day. Josh gave me a handbook of the minor prophets, written by Dr. Jack Lewis (one of his previous professors at HUGSR). Habakkuk 2:4 states "the righteous will live by his faith." Dr. Lewis' commentary on that verse went something like this "The righteous man will live by his faithfulness. Running the universe is God's business. The righteous man has his daily tasks to fulfill, and by them he will live [faithfullly]" - faithfully being my addition. Thank you, Dr. Lewis! Those were words I needed to hear. He is the one who "enables me" (Hak.3:19) to walk above all this. May the gracious way I approach every hiccup in my daily life be a witness of my faith and His righteousness.

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Rudy and Patti's Wedding

We have been very thankful the past year for our homestay program on several different notes - yes, there were times that were hard, but it gave us an insight into Bolivian life here, invaluable contacts, and a continuing relationship with a beautiful family. We have been able to celebrate several milestones in this family's life over the past year - a baby shower, the birth of a grandson, birthdays, renewal of their wedding vows after 25 years of marriage, their grandson's baptism and first birthday, and finally the marriage of their daughter. It has given us invaluable insight into the customs and life of the Bolivian people.

We were a little more involved this time than we usually are in other people's weddings. Rudy and Patti asked us if they could hold the reception in our yard - seeing as we have a large, beautiful yard out in the country. We were happy to oblige. In addition, they asked us to be "padrinos" (the term also used for godfathers/godmothers) of the rings. Here in Bolivia - and I'm finding out in many other Latin American countries - when a large celebration is held, in order to help with the cost of the party, friends are asked to be "padrinos" or "sponsors" of some area of the celebration - in this case, Josh and I were "sponsors" of the wedding bands. Which basically meant we paid for them. We said yes before we really understood everything that was involved (lesson learned: investigate local customs before agreeing to them) and were out a little more money than we were thinking, but, oh well - live and learn.

If any of you have ever had a wedding reception in your home or on your lawn, you can sympathize with how much is involved. The wedding party made multiple visits to our home to measure, show friends and family etc. Thankfully the visits were always announced, but sometimes on short notice. The day before the wedding and the morning of, workers came to set up tents, prepare tables and flowers and cakes. Josh was very perturbed when one of the workers drove across our wet lawn (it having rained all night). Michaela was asked to be the ring bearer - so we had to go shopping for a white dress, and acquire a pillow for the rings. The wedding itself started promptly at 10:30 am (much to our surprise) and was a Catholic ceremony lasting a little over an hour. Michaela did marvelously as the ring bearer. At which point the guests proceeded to our house where the civil ceremony took place, followed by a meal (not till 4:00 mind you!) dancing and music - the party lasting until 9:00 that night at which point tents were disassembled, chairs and tables broken down etc., allowing us to retire around 10:30 or 11:00. What a day!

Although we may have had second thoughts about it if we had known how much was involved, looking back both Josh and I agree that we would have done it again. The Arcos were extremely grateful for our hospitality, and we felt that it was a way to not only say thank you to their family for what they have meant to us this last year, but also a way to bless Rudi and Patti's marriage, and to show them how much we truly appreciate and love them.


Michaela, the ring bearer, with Ariana, the flower girl and the mother of the bride


The bride and groom sharing a dance (and a view of the tents in our yard)