Happy New Year's Eve!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We are at home and enjoying the evening. We ordered pizza for dinner and enjoyed it.

Sally brought her computer and settled in to her world.

Mom tasting one of the five deserts we have.

Playing with the new camera.

A family photo before we get back to eating again.

OK, it is a night of snacking, playing on the computers, watching TV and just being together. Dad has not been feeling good so we will check in on him from time to time and take him ice cream as he wants it :)

We will got to Charlotte tomorrow and spend the night there. I will fly back to Guatemala on Saturday.

Catch you in 2010!! Happy New Year!!

Trip to Chapel Hill!

Sally and I went to Chapel Hill for a ballgame and we had a great time. We were practically booted out of her car at the hotel by the valet attendant. I believe in being efficient but this was a little over the top. We then checked in at The Carolina Inn. Once in the room, we were able to eat the warm chocolate chip cookies they give their guests upon check-in.

Sally enjoying her side of the room!

The restaurants were very crowded for the students being off the campus. We were able to eat at a pizza place and then shuttle to the game.

Our seats were fabulous and it was a good game with Rutgers. This is the jersey of Sally's all-time favorite player that hangs in the rafters. My nick name for him is is "cup cakes" :)

Roy meeting with the players during the game.

We shuttled back to the hotel for the rest of the evening..........................a good day!!

Vacation passing quickly

These three weeks at home are passing quickly but it has been great. We have had family dinners, lots of foods, a dinner at South Fork, have met with the Sub Club...................have you noticed that the theme of these events include food??

Mom enjoys her computer games.........................

Sunday after worship we ate fish.

We traded places................


We have also been shopping......bought a few things........and went shopping some more.

Family dinner

Mike, my brother, decided it was time for desert...........which pie? Apple, pecan or fruit???

Mike dug into the pecan.............

The rest of my photos were not very good. I would not appreciate a posting of my eyes closed so I will have to look for more photo opportunities.

Merry Christmas until next year!!

Merry Christmas!!

OK, that is all I have to say right now................................I will follow with photos of our family dinner last night.

Preparation for dinner tomorrow

We will have our family dinner tomorrow so we are having fun preparing it. We all like to chop, slice and dice so it is fun to prepare it.

Here mom is slicing cranberries for a salad.

Dad is shredding the cabbage.

This is the "green salad" that I like so much!

All of the vegetables are ready for the vegetable plate. The shrimp are ready to cook!

How is that for an apple pie right out of the oven?


Tomorrow we will bake a turkey and a ham. We will also have dressing......................and who knows what else ?!?!?

Thank you South Fork!!

Tonight we had dinner at the South Fork Church of Christ. It was a special evening of fellowship and time with friends.

I spent so much time talking, I got very few photos.

I was extremely excited to see Anita, who graduated from Michigan Christian College the same time I was there. I had not seen or talked to her for more years than I want to admit...............but it was like I had seen her last week. Thank you Ben and Anita for driving to Winston!

I have introduced Joe and Jane in the blog before and they were also with us tonight. Jane continues her work with Evelyn' s Baskets of Love and Life in the effort of helping babies born with cleft lips and palates.

I stepped in the kitchen as some of the ladies were cleaning. Pat and Anne were finishing for the night when I surprised them!


I can not express enough appreciation to the congregation for hosting the dinner. The food was delicious and the ladies worked very hard!

.............and it continued to snow.

Dad braved the cold weather while mom braved the warm kitchen.

Dad went outside and took photos of the house from the road.

We had a total of ten inches!!

Mom cooked breakfast..............eggs, bacon, toast and coffee..................it was very good and should be all that we need to eat today :)

It is snowing.....................

Dad, Mom and I returned this morning from Winston. Last night we enjoyed the Christmas Concert with Sally and returned home to Morganton.

This morning we planned on meeting at IHop for breakfast. Mom and Dad arrived early so as Sally and I were leaving her house the phone rang. It was my parents saying that the IHop was on fire and they had been asked to leave. Sally told them we would meet them in the parking lot and decide what to do. When we arrived, there were four fire trucks and they were at work.

We selected another restaurant and enjoyed a very good breakfast. While we were eating the rain/ sleet started. We arrived home safe without any problem.

The snow/ sleet really started and it was pretty. I went outside and we had five inches and it was continuing to come from the sky.

Mom and dad on the porch with the snow continuing.

I think we will spend the night at home and relax............what else can you do?

Happy Birthday Dad!! and meet the Sub Club!

Happy Birthday Dad and we will celebrate more tomorrow!!

This morning dad and I went to the coffee / internet shop and then met everyone at the Subway for the weekly Sub Club. They meet there every Wednesday for lunch. I had the veggie sandwich and it was very fresh.

This was the group that met today: Rita, Mom, Jessie, Evelyn, Freda, Tom, Don, Dad and Jeff.

After lunch, mom and I headed to the mall to get a few things..................then it was home for the evening.

I am in North Carolina!

I have arrived safely in NC............and it has been an interesting travel home and also a little reverse -culture shock.

Traveling though the airport is never boring! One man was sitting on the floor, without his shoes on, with his sun glasses on and savoring an unlit cigarette!! It is interesting to see how families interact and how the parents deal with issues........or I should say, do not deal with isses.

On my flight from Houston to Charlotte, the stewardess was born at the same hospital I was, Hoag Memorial Hospital. She told me that it is a huge teaching hospital now. That flight was delayed because we had to return to the gate twice to get passengers that had not made the connection. When we landed in Charlotte, I heard the pilots talking about how bad the fog was and their visibility was poor. After we landed, the stewardess told them about a large plane to our side that we almost hit. We had to back out and go to a different gate.

Yes, my parents brought me two Diet Dr. Peppers! They were greatly appreciated.

The fridge is full of all my favorite things and we are doing alot of fun things. My brother came over for lunch this afternoon. I got my hair cut..............and she told me that Lisa had done a good job on my hair! Thank you again, Lisa.

OK, I will keep you posted.....................another full day tomorrow.

Last clinic of the year!!

OK guys........I do not have any photos from today. It was a busy day with 16 patients at the clinic and then we made a house call on two more patients.

We saw a variety of patients today but nothing very serious.

We saw several diabetics and all, let me repeat all, had extremely high blood sugars. I think everyone has started celebrating early. Even a few that have been successfully controlling their blood sugar fell short.....or jumped high, I should say.

One lady with her baby came to the clinic again today. When the baby was born, he weighed only 5.9 pounds. He has continued to gain weight as we have seen him.......well, today she came and told us he has another problem. Yes, he now has two hernias. We talked about different options she has but I reinforced it was not an emergency.

I could tell she did not really like what I was saying so when we were finished, I asked her if she had any more questions. She said she wanted to talk to Lisa so I called Lisa to see if she had any more suggestions. Lisa did not have anything different but I could she was still not happy. I don't know what else I could tell her.

We went to visit the patients in the house near the clinic. The lady has arthritis but the gentleman, unfortunately, has had a stroke. It is a very difficult situation for them. It looked as he had a lot of family support and I hope it continues.

So, I drove back to Lisa and Kemmel's to park the truck........guess who was in the house talking to Lisa? The patient with the little baby...........I am sure that Lisa reassured her.

OK, it is time for vacation........we will leave Chichi at 0800.......then it is on to the airport for me. Lisa, Kemmel, Neva and Glenn will fly out at different times..............

Clinic in Lemoa and introducing Lamp Chops

This morning Lisa, Glenn and Neva picked me up for clinic in Lemoa. We drove in the Suzuki and you know I like to travel in that!

We had a good clinic of 20 patients today. Neva and I saw a wide range of patients.

One man could not hear well so Juan flushed out his ear. Neva had not seen this process before so we watched........I told her you could never be sure what might come out. Well, Juan flushed out what you would expect........ but he also flushed out something that once had the ability to fly!! It had small wings on it and there was no idea on how long it had been in there.

We saw one lady that was very nervous and her daughter said that her dad had died 4 months ago from cirrhosis. She said that he had been in bed for a year and he had drank a lot. Her mother did have a hernia which I hope she will pursue getting repaired in Quiche. It was just a very sad situation with her having 5 young children in the home. We spent a lot of time talking to her about her relationship with God and how that was especially important now.

This mother brought her baby for a consult. He was just as happy and content as he could be!

Lisa and Kemmel know that I want a sheep so they gave me Lamb Chops this morning!! He is precious! He will not need a lot of maintenance. He will be easy to care for!


Tomorrow is another day...........another adventure!!

Work Day in Lemoa

Today we had a work day. We cleaned out the pharmacy, our boxes, counted recently obtained medicines, labeled medicines.........whatever needed to be done.

Here Lisa is going through her set of medicines.

Josefina counting and going through her medicines.

It was the last time of the year that we would all be together as a team. Kemmel went and got us pizza and it was very good! After we killed the pizza, Lisa brought out desert which was cheese cake........now that was something!!! Thank you, Lisa and Kemmel!

We finished up for the day. I rode to Chichi with Glenn and Neva. Then I went shopping for some rings to send to a friend.

Within 30 minutes they had closed the road back to my house for a celebration. They were playing music in the street, the street was roped off and the crowd was gathering. There were about 30 costumed people dancing in the street. This guy really caught my attention!!

This good boy was dancing around with his badges on his vest.

This was one of the animals. It was quite a gathering!

We have three more clinics for the year and I will keep you posted..........then we are headed for The States!

Highland ABC Celebration!!!

What a day!!! We had a great celebration!! This was the first time we had the ABC Celebration here in the highlands. Our ABC Children are in 8 communities and there are 274 children in the program. We had 800 people in attendance today and I think everyone really enjoyed the day of celebration!

The guys put up tarps to provide shade for the crowd.

Kemmel welcomes everyone and gives some direction for the day.

Voces Acappella sang for us toady. It is always a special treat when they are with us.

I took so many photos, it is hard to select ones to post. There were prizes awarded for first, second and third places. Those photos will be posted in a newsletter that will come out later.

Even with all of the activities taking place, some children could not resist the pool.......no matter what color the water was!

There was soccer and basketball games going on. It was fascinating that these girls can play basketball in high-heels........and I mean, HIGH-HEELS!

This photo is very special to me. Neva had bonded with some of the girls from the Xejox area and then wanted a photo with them. This is the area that South Fork visited for the first time with us in 2007. Now, they have the ABC program! That story is a success!

We had many vendors through the day. Guys were selling choco-bananas, ice cream, peanuts and some ladies set up small stores to sell their goods. One guys stopped to watch the basketball game and decided to dip out some of his ice cream for himself and take a break to watch!

Lunch was provided, which was pepian chicken, rice and tortillas.

It was nice to see each community enjoying the day together while also enjoying the fellowship of the other communities.

We look forward to the ABC Celebration of 2010. I think it will be even bigger and better!

Clinic in Mactzul I

Today we had clinic in Mactzul V. It was a good clinic in many ways.

This is Juan Rafael. I introduced him a few weeks ago when he was in our educational class. Here is he is checking in one of the first patients of the day. He will return to school in early January and we wish him the best of luck with his classes!

We had 10 patients. One patient that returned was a baby that Lisa and Neva has seen in a previous clinic. The baby appears to be very healthy and is gaining weight! There is a great photo of the baby and Lisa on Neva's blog at http://www.berkeygn.blogspot.com/ There is nothing more exciting than to see a patient doing well!

This baby kept his mother busy during clinic. Maybe that is why he had the colorful hat on.......she could not lose him while he crawled all over. After he found someone to open his bag of chips, he ate them and then continued with his activities.

After clinic we went to Martina's home for lunch. We had a special invitation because there is going to be a dinner later in the month and we will already be in The States with our families so we joined Martina and her family today.

We had a wonderful meal of chicken soup, a special chili and hot tortillas. You may recognize Martina in the front, wearing back and white. She does look different than when she is in her scrub top........isn't that a common comment? "You look so different than when you are wearing scrubs.......I didn't recognize you!"

Her mother, Manuela, is in front of Kemmel. Her dad, Miguel, is wearing the green shirt to Kemmel's left.

Sometimes, people ask questions like, "How well do you really fit in, in Guatemala?" Well, when you are invited to eat with a family as we were today, when they tell you how comfortable they are with you in their home and that you are welcomed at any time.........you will understand. We pray that God blesses their home in the year to come, with material things but even more importantly with spiritual blessings.

ABC check-up in Mactzul V

This morning all of us met at Mactzul V to have a check-up of all the ABC children in the area. We saw 65 children. We only missed one and that was due to illness.

The health promoters checked in each family and then Glenn and Neva did the weights and the heights of each child. We were encouraged and also excited that all of the children had gained weight. We were equally excited to find that 100% had passed the year of school and will move on to the next grade.

These are the children of Tomas, our health promoter.

There is much more information and photos on the day. Please see Lisa's and Kemmel's blog at www.kemmelandlisa.blogspot.com/ and also Glenn and Neva's blog at www.berkeygn.blogspot.com/.

It was a very exciting day and we are thankful that the ABC program is successful. Thank you to all that participate, knowing that you are blessing the life of a child physically and also spiritually.

If you have not heard of the program and want to hear more, please email me at, fscubarn@aol.com. I will be happy to send you more information.

Thursday........good day!

This morning I was at home working on the educational plan for 2010. I think the possibilities are exciting. Our Health Care Promoters will learn much more and then eventually they will be teaching others to teach the information. The knowledge will spread and the people will be healthier physically and we also include spiritual teachings.

Lisa, Glenn and Neva had 28 patients at the clinic so I went to help them. There were several regular patients that came. The young man from Mactzul VI came that we saw last week. He looked like a lot different and it was for the better! He could walk and he actually was smiling! He still has a way to go but he will slowly get stronger.

Juan and I went to visit Armando. He is getting stronger but still needs to use his walker. They are doing some construction in the house and he told us that he is able to do a little of the work. When I first met him, he would not have been able to do this. It is nice to see him somewhat stronger.

This is Armando's wife and baby. The baby is one month old.

Smile for your first photo!!

So, it was a great day. It is good to patients progress and do well.

We had a patient at the clinic today that had stomach problems. I noticed that she was costumbre but I invited her to go to worship with me on Sunday. When I asked her, she said, "No I am costumbre." I told her that she was still invited. I wrote my number down for her and I told her I would meet her on Sunday if she called. I pray that she will call me..........she speaks primarily K'iche' so this could be interesting.

Tomorrow we are off to Mactzul V to check out the ABC Children.

Tuesday in Lemoa

We all met in Lemoa today for education/ work day. Lisa and I talked about education for 2010.

The guys started painting the clinic and then we joined in.

Tomas painting away!!

Marcos and Juan painting.

Manuel painting.

Lisa trimming out the doors.

The clinic looked much better and we got quite a lot done for the day.