Heading home!

Wow, here we are again... another week down and on the way home!  It's amazing how quickly these weeks fly by... but usually not until after I'm really, really ready to see my family again so it all works out nicely.  We actually got here to the airport quite early for our flight (nearly four hours early, to be exact) since Duane had some errands to do before noon here in The City after flying us in.  Nick and Amanda were total rock stars on the bumpiest flight I have ever experienced in the Cessna 182 this morning, thankfully.

We are now sitting down to a nice lunch and enjoying free WiFi before heading to the gate.  We have about 4 hours in Miami and then get "home" to RDU just after midnight... Can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to live 10 minutes from the airport instead of two hours now!  Please pray for good weather for Nick and Amanda so they can get back to Wilmington safely.

Had a great couple of days in Canilla as usual-- It was so, so good to get my arms back around Katie Ficker after her horrific pregancy and surgery experience in December!  My arms could have wrapped around what's left of her (she's so tiny as she continues to recover from blood loss and bed rest) probably more than once and never let go if I had my choice.  Thanks to all of you who helped pray her back to health recently.  For those of you new to the story, feel free to check her out at https://theaaronfickers.wordpress.com/ -- but fair warning, don't start reading the most recent post if you need your mascara to still be in place for the next few minutes.  It's a heartbreaker...

It's amazing to see the new hospital under ROOF now... God has been so faithful throughout the expensive building process, and the workers-- under the leadership of Duane and his oldest son Ryan-- have done an amazing job.  It's mind-blowing to think of what will soon be happening there and the blessing that it will be to such a large and underserved area.  Until the completion of the hospital, the nearest one is about an hour away-- but the nearest one more-or-less guaranteed to be able to do a C-section is nearly two hours away!  Plus, they are both "free" government hospitals where Mayan patients especially are not treated very kindly most of the time.

As I post pictures of the new construction, I realize that I haven't really posted much of the hospital in Chichi-- the Good Samaritan Hospital-- where we worked this week!  I love the open-air design and courtyards there, which have been incorporated in to the designs for Adonai's hospital also.  So here are some shots of both...

Rooftop view from Adonai Hospital-- ready for the concrete roof/floor pour soon!

Walking around, touring the grounds-- note to the right where the roof is finished over much of the outpatient area!  We are standing in the (future) courtyard...

The view out the back of the hospital-- yep, cows and all!  It's a beautiful valley, though...

And the rooftop view over the side of the hospital, from atop the future ORs... Cloudy but beautiful day...

The clinic (prenatal area) in Canilla-- soon to move to the outpatient area of the hospital

And another one I can't get to turn the right way!  GRRRrrrrr... But this is the beautiful courtyard area inside the "Buen Samaritano" or Good Samaritan Hospital in Chichicastenango... the bottom floor is outpatient, and the upper floor is inpatient.  Love the open air feel!

The Emergency Room is also pretty open, though...

And the view from the rooftop is a little more urban in this location!

 We hope you've enjoyed following along this week, and thank you for your support and prayers-- Back the first week of May if you want to check in again!