C is for Ciprofloxin

What an incredible relief to have finally arrived at our dear friends’ house; a place of incredible hospitality! Have you ever been to a home where you just know that from the bottom of your hosts’ hearts, you are welcome; where a perfect mix of “help yourself” is married with “we’re here to serve you”? There was a warm welcome at the door with wide smiles, tight hugs, clean sheets, laid out towels, and a working toilet. AH! A WORKING TOILET! The crowning jewel on the perfect accommodation! And speaking of crappers, take a look at this poster one of the workers in the Big City has produced!!





Is it not the BEST poster you’ve ever seen?? I MUST get me one!! Our friends had it hanging on their living room wall for a while, but their local friends just could not see the humor or beauty in it. Guess it’s a cultural thing; and a subject to us, who are in our line of business, find very interesting.

We were told ahead of time that we’d be just in time for a gathering of their home fellowship! What joy to be able to worship again in our heart language! For too long our family would have only ourselves to meet with in English- good; or with more bodies, but having to listen and sing in a language we’d never master quite well enough to have an easy time of in church- also good- but neither being ideal. This was IDEAL- more people, AND in English.

To start off our time, we did what all typical Americans do when they meet together- we ate. And it was not just any old American food. It was as traditional as you can get---- grilled burgers and dogs (even if the dogs were made of horse meat).




On real buns, with yellow mustard, real pickle relish, and holy cow! What is this?? Real iceberg lettuce??!! And certainly those couldn’t be Doritos! Ok, clearly we chose the wrong city to live and work in. I’m just sayin’. Perhaps we’d still be there today, had we had real pickle relish and a decent way to “take care of business” in the All-American way.

It was pure rapture to be able to share what the Good Lord did concerning stamps, and keeping the plane coasting at high alttitudes- remind me to tell you about the time we saw the pilot come out of the bar and onto our plane (that was back in the good old days.) – Everyone there unanimously agreed that there was NO WAY EVER that would have happened in the Big City!! Gov’t officials there instead bend over backwards to make things difficult, and foreigners out. They concurred readily that there was no other possible way to explain what happened other than direct Intervention; one even off-handedly mentioned that Mr. Stamp wasn’t even a “stamper” at all.

Feeling encouraged, and fed in more ways than one, we floated off to bed with overflowing gratitude and lighter hearts. Many burdens were already melting away; our tired souls were being renewed quickly.

Now you must know that Mike is terribly allergic to cats. So much, that about 1 hour in a house with a cat, makes him unable to breathe well. They have 3, so he elected to sleep outside on an air mattress with a sleeping bag. It was either be up all night, and not able to breathe, or be up all night from barking dogs and city lights. But unfortunately, none of those were to blame for keeping him up all night. Around 2 AM “IT” began. For hours, he cursed the lamb meatloaf and fertilized the lawn. To be fair, he has the weakest stomach of all of us. If someone is going to get sick, it’s going to be him first. But he’s also the fastest to bounce back. And we ALWAYS, from vast experience, travel with Imodium. The first dose went in around 6:00, at first light. But in 4 hours, it had done nothing to quell “ITS” onslaught. So, with only 18 hours to get “IT” under control, we had to do something more drastic- it was time to bring out the big guns- something never to have failed us yet. “Honey, would you please walk to the pharmacy?” Luckily, there is one of every corner and then some, so finding one was absolutely no problem. And the best part is that you can get most anything over the counter! Ciprofloxin to the rescue!! I know it’s an antibiotic, and I know it SHOULD, by definition take days to start working, but seriously, this stuff works within hours; by noon, he was feeling MUCH better, albeit weak.

He spent the rest of the day outside, reading the first paper we’d seen in months, and sleeping on and off. It would be a long, long night very soon, and he was banking his shut eye ahead of time. The rest of us, should have been doing the same, but we, instead, were taking great delight in having a Monk-a-thon inside. I’m pretty sure we made it through the entire 1st and 2nd seasons, and maybe even some of the 3rd, before we tried to get everyone bedded down by 8:00. We did stop long enough to heat up some leftover wienies, I mean who can resist horse meat sausages grilled on flames?!? The kids also took breaks to be super goofy, and came up with this:





At last it was 12:15 AM, and time to get everyone dressed in their traveling duds and our teeth brushed one last time. Anyone ever do an all night red-eye?? That slimy, gaggamatic feeling on your teeth totally grosses me out! Sorry. Moving on. Anara was beyond pumped to break her last paper chain link and toss it just before the driver honked in the driveway (nothing like waking up your host and hostess as a good bye gift). She was NOT pumped, however, to discover that she had mis-stepped earlier in the yard. Guess who was elected to clean off Daddy’s misfortune as the driver waited?? With one last walk through the house, I discovered that I came about 1 minute from forgetting the camera battery charger! THAT would have been probably the most colossal misfortune of them all! For a while at least…

Now, keep your shoes clean, brush your teeth, and Have a Magical Day.