Thankful and Thanksgiving

Dr. Margo Short and I are preparing an apple crisp for Thanksgiving dinner.

Here is the unbaked dish-Before!

Here is the after picture. I was so happy to have a basket to tote it to our friends home. I felt like Martha Stewart :) So thankful that I can bake something without my usual kitchen things like a mixer.

Julie and I are looking at the beautiful Thanksgiving dinner table that she set with some paper goods from the Dollar Store! She is an amazing hostess, just like her Mom Liz Kopp. So thankful to be a recipient of their hospitality!

We love Julie! Note the cute Thanksgiving decorations that she made even though they are leaving us before Christmas. We are going to miss the Korn family so much. I met them 7 years ago when we lived in the CURE guesthouse together.

Here is precious baby Emmett who is 9 months old wearing an 18 month outfit from Cracker Barrel. He is a big boy and so lovely.  His other brother Leon was at another party when this picture was taken. Leon is a popular young fellow with his friends. Josh and Julie are amazing parents!

At home in our apartment, we are thankful for the camping chairs that Mark bought for us to watch our grandson, George's soccer matches. They were so light and compact that we thought we would bring them to Niger with us. We did not know that we would use them every day! Sadly the two couches in our apartment are really terrible to sit on. They are not bad to lay down on at least!

Nurses are so thankful to Pappa Paul for buying them a new couch set for their break room. You cannot see it but it is black sturdy leatherette (AKA vinyl). It is very professional looking. He bought a similar set for the nurses in the Pavilion (Ward)

We are so thankful for Paul's generosity and commitment to training his residents from the University of Kentucky and all of the anesthesia and OR staff.

Thank you dear Dr, Margo for bringing her skills, kindness and love for the dear children. The feeling was mutual. They loved to run up to her and greet her. This particular day, Dr. Margo was having a sticker-fest. The children and even the mothers loved getting a few stickers on their arms, foreheads and clothing :)

Thank you to Josh (in the blue shirt) and his wife Julie for their service to CURE. Josh is the outgoing executive director of the CURE Niger hospital. Julie is the outgoing art therapist, par excellence! This week, even though she is packing, she made time to do special crafts with the children and give advice on some of the difficult patient situations. We are so thankful for these dear ones. Josh is wise beyond his years. It has been such a joy to work with him over the years. Thank you Josh and Julie!

George (our new executive director), Jacques (Controller) and Hannatou (our Spiritual Director) presented words or thanks and of course some parting gifts of thankfulness to the Korns. Thankful that our goodbyes are not forever! Josh and Julie will be relocating in the USA for now with new responsibilities with CURE. They have family in Cincinnati so we plan to catch up when we return to the USA in the summer.

Deux frères avec la même Père...this rhymes in French! It means two brothers with the same Father! Amen!! Emanuel works on our spiritual ministry team. He is awesome with the children and an excellent personal evangelist one on one. We are so thankful for his passion and faithfulness to the LORD and this ministry at CURE Hôpital des Enfants au Niger!

I know we are supposed to be thankful for our food....this is lamb entrails (intestines, stomach, liver etc0 in a sauce that is served before the roasted lamb. Many of us said....I 'll pass on this course of the meal! We are so thankful though that we were able to feed all the hospital staff, patients and their companions with the sheep that were bought for the farewell party for Josh and Julie.

Some didn't mind it too much. The tray with the green stuff was the salad course. It was Moringa leaves in a sauce with onions, tomatoes and green peppers served with powdered 'piment forte' very spicy pepper. I liked it with the piment, Paul skipped the extra spice. Thankful for the nutritious fresh green vegetables. We are eating a lot of canned vegetables as some are hard to find and spoil so quickly when you buy them. Carrots turn rubbery very quickly!

This grandma is thankful for baby cuddles when I am so far away from my own dear grandbabies. The Lord is so good to allow us to be involved with dear friends and their little ones. We are thankful!

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for Dr. Margo's visit and my A-Team nurse manager Fatchima!  We were all given CURE shirts for a group picture of all the hospital staff. When I get a copy I'll post one.

This blog post I have not shown any of our work at the hospital but instead attempted to show you our thankfulness during this season of THANKSGIVING! It has nevertheless been a full time of training and working with the staff on various aspects of patient care.  Every encounter with our patients, caregivers and staff we hope there is the love, light and language (word and deeds) that show the LORD Jesus Christ, out Savior's love.  We cling to the following verse in our daily work at the hospital:

Whatever you do, whether in word of deed, do it all in the name of the LORD Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father though Him.

Colossians 3:17

It is all for Jesus Christ our LORD!