Are You Smarter Than This 4th Grade Teacher?

 

For our going-away party, our teammates put together a mock version of the TV show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" Dr. Paul Barton, game show host extraordinaire, emceed the evening as three 5th graders faced off against the departing school staff (below: Jenny Joy, principal; Lynnelle, 3rd & 4th grade teacher; and Shari Muesser, 5th & 6th grade teacher). 

It was a wonderful evening of laughter and good byes.

In round two, departing children played. They had to answer this question: What did Mrs. Allison have to do at 5am when she was a child? Angelyn got the answer correct: Milk cows.

Later in the show, the departing doctors played a round. Angelyn decided her dad needed some help so she climbed on his lap and became part of the team.

Above: Dr. Mattias Egberth, surgeon from Sweden, Dr. Joe Martin, family practice from Texas and Jay with Angelyn.

Here's the studio audience at the Nate Saint Memorial School library.

The docs mimic the emcee's bushy mustache! It was a great evening!

Adoption Dream Come True

A touching story is unfolding at the orphanage this week. Edwardo is getting parents. He is so excited! When they arrived, he was waiting outside with his suitcase. He didn’t want to go back in the building, to --in anyway -- slip back toward the life he’s known for most of his 13 years. It’s not that his orphanage life wasn’t loving, warm and well fed. It’s that his dream is coming true and he’s ready. 

It’s amazing really. To get parents when you are not a cute little baby or an adorable toddler and when you are deaf and emotionally and socially younger than your age because you grew up without a family. But God is bigger than all that. He brought Edwardo a mom who knows sign language. He brought Edwardo a dad who is opening his heart and home to a second family after seeing his paternal children into adulthood. Actually, God’s amazing. Three cheers to Casa de Fe (House of Faith) orphanage and Edwardo and his new parents!

By the way, I’d like to honor my son Dane by telling you what he’s up to. He’s at Casa de Fe orphanage working with a team from Mississippi. They are digging ditches for water pipes - by hand. It’s rained every day. The mud and rocks are abundant and Dane is right there digging in. Go Dane!

 When we first visited Casa de Fe in April of 2012 the green school building on the right was under construction. The students finished this school year in it and a work shop was built next door as well.

Here on the compound, we have new neighbors yet again. We love the revolving door of short-term missionaries who touch our lives, contribute to ministry and then take some God stories home with them to inspire others to give, go or pray.

This time our neighbors are the summer college interns. In the house to the left, five young ladies (including one Cornhusker from Omaha!) are staying while they work and learn at the hospital. In the duplex on the right, three sharp guys, engineering majors, are working with the Community Development crew learning to survey land and working on a project to update the propane supply system at the hospital.

Last week all of them flew into the jungle to better understand how ministry happens there. They drank chicha, ate a lot of yuca and some even had monkey or squirrel soup.

I wish I had known about a summer internship like that in college: oversees, in my career area, with a bunch of fellow Christian co-eds and safely under the shadow of some great missionaries. Tell your kids!

Please pray for the Thompson family who will be moving into our home here. They are raising support in their home state, Texas. They have three boys and a girl just like we do. Doug will be the new principal at the school here. Pray for protection, encouragement and fortitude, and for their support to come in. Thank you.

See you soon! The Allisons