Christmas Celebrations!

We celebrated Christmas for four days. On Saturday the 22nd we had a Bongolo station Christmas Carol at Drs Zach and Jen O'Connor's home. All the Americans and Africans living on the station were invited.

Sunday the 23rd Nancy, Deborah Walker, an African couple Felix and Adele and I went to the Nzoundou Chapel and had a Christmas service. Everyone enjoyed singing lots of Christmas carols.

We Americans had a Progressive Dinner on Christmas Eve. It started at Deb Walker's home where she and I provided appetizers.

We went to a total of six homes that night.

 

On Christmas we Americans had dinner at Barry and Terry Newman's home. Everyone brought part of the dinner. We were 18 people and most of us stayed for many hours. It was a very nice day.

 

Back in Africa....and Driving!!

I have tried several times to post a blog letting people know that I'm back in Africa but each time I write... my blog does not post. I'm not sure if it's an internet problem or what.

My friend Nancy Stauffer and I arrived in Africa on December the 12th. See the photo of us at the Libreville Guest House. I now have my long term visa which lasts two years. We took the ride down to where I live and are getting settled in. My house is all decorated up for Christmas and Nancy is now baking some Christmas cookies. :-)

Today's Positives:
1. We had good flights to Africa and I have my long term visa.
2. I'm about settled in at my house.
3. My house is all decorated up for Christmas.
4. I am able to drive my vehicle...using my left foot/leg to work the clutch!

Preparing my Return to Africa!

Last week I moved out of my apartment and now I am at my step Mom's house until my December 11th flight back to Gabon.  I am so glad that my Gabonese Entry Permit (visa) just arrived today so I will be able to enter the country. Many people were praying for this because a colleague of mine has had to cancel her flights twice because her visa did not arrive. She got one today as well so I'm sure she is thrilled!

My friend Nancy did not receive her Visitor's visa yet so we're still praying about that. She is flying to Africa with me on Tuesday.

Monday I had a good Orthopedic Dr. visit. It was my 6 month post TKR Total Knee Replacement appointment but it has not quite been 6 months. The Xrays were good but did show a bit of calcification on the sides and back of my knee, perhaps why I have not made further progress with bending my knee. Dr. said that I can still make progress with my knee bend up to one year after the knee replacement. I need to really work on bending my knee.

Today's Positive:
1. I received my Visa!
2. Mom and I are going out to eat dinner this evening with my friend Nancy and her Mom. We are going to one of my favorite restaurants, Summer Kitchen.
3. I am making progress with my many projects that I'm working on before traveling.

Thanksgiving Day + Packing!

I had a nice Thanksgiving Day. I was at my Step Brother's home at noon. Then I went to my cousin's home at 4pm. I ate plenty the first meal and very little the second meal. I never felt stuffed for which I am thankful.



Now I am busy packing up my belongings into plastic bins, suitcases or a throw away pile. I move from my apartment this next week. On Tuesday friends with a truck will arrive to put my bins into storage in someone's basement. Thursday another truck will pick up my furniture. Between now and Friday I will move my suitcases over to my Step Mom's house where I will stay for ten days before flying back to Africa. I am being very careful to leave plenty of spaces to walk so that I do not trip over my piles of "stuff"!



Today's Positives:
1. Today I weigh what I weighed before Thanksgiving.
2. I am making progress with my packing.
3. It is chilly outside but I have no where to go. I'm staying inside today.

Have a good weekend!

Thanksgiving 2012

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” Psalm 28:7 NIV

Next week is Thanksgiving Day and I am so thankful to the Lord for what he has done for me. Yes, my “heart leaps for joy” even if my leg cannot leap at all. BUT, I can walk! Yesterday I did aerobic walking for 18 minutes (I wear a pedometer) and I could have walked longer! I am also thankful to you my prayer partners for your continuing prayers for me during over nine months since March 5^th when I broke my knee/wrist.

What are my plans for Thanksgiving Day? Well, I am invited to TWO meals that day. At noon I will be with my step family and later in the afternoon I will be with my cousins. I should not go hungry. It will be a good opportunity though to see everyone before I fly back to Gabon.

When do I fly? My flights are on December 11^th and I fly from Omaha to Chicago and then to Frankfort, Germany before flying to Libreville, Gabon. Guess what. My nurse friend Nancy is traveling with me to Gabon and she will stay for about seven weeks! She has been to Africa three times before but never to Gabon. Nancy, an ER nurse, has helped me in many ways during these 9 months of convalescence.

Praise:
1. The Gabonese highway that was washed out by rains a few weeks ago was rapidly repaired and the southern and eastern parts of the country are no longer cut off from the capital city.
2. A couple from my Sunday School class helped me get four boxes of my things to UPS so I could mail them to the shipping company for shipment to Gabon.
3. I now have very little pain in my left leg.
4. I am making good progress at packing up my belongings that must be put into storage and other things that I will take with me to Africa.

Prayer Requests:
1.  Pray I receive my Permit to Enter Gabon. It was applied for by our Business Manager in Gabon and he will email it to me when he obtains it. I do not need a normal visitor’s visa.
2. Pray that Nancy’s passport would arrive from being renewed and that she would then obtains her Gabonese Visa.
3.  Pray for me as I finish packing up and then as I move out of my apartment before the end of the month. Yes, I will need some people to help me those last few days of the month.
4.  My main laptop computer was having problems with the keyboard this week so I took it to be repaired by the “Geek Squad”. Pray that it gets repaired and returned to me before my flight on December 11th.

Have a good Thanksgiving Day, a day for reflection on what God has done for you.
I will write again before leaving for Gabon.

Thankful for all God has done,
Carolyn

The Road FELL!

Yep, a couple of weeks ago a Gabonese ROAD FELL. Heavy rains undermined the road and it suddenly just plain FELL!!



This was HIGHWAY #1 in the country and connected the Southern half of the country with the capital city. It also led to the highway that went to the Eastern half of the country. I don't know how they repaired this road drop so rapidly but they did and traffic is now going back over the road.