God's Creation is so perfect!

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

We learned last night from the blog that today is Dr. Scott’s birthday! We are planning on doing something special for him….maybe get a cake, and Jacky might cook something for us!

We had spaghetti for breakfast…no complaints here…the sauce is really good!

This morning we had the luxury to sleep in a little, and were ready to leave at 9 am. However, the van was having some issues again and we didn’t leave until 11 am.

We had an interesting ride to the first orphanage in Arniquet. We had been driving for a while and suddenly we arrived at a river. There was not a bridge or any road to cross over the river. The road that had brought us there had ended. Dr. Phil looked around….and we didn’t know it yet, but he was analyzing how he was going to drive through the river! We sat there in silence observing a man and his sheep walking through the river. The water came up pretty high… Jackie made a good observation when she said “This is not the Red Sea!” We all shook our heads and looked around in disbelief as we drove through our Red Sea! The scary part was when we made it across and looked back as the small, low-to-the-ground pick-up truck, that was carrying our medicine, began to make his way across. Thankfully the boxes of medicine had been tightly secured and we all made it safe….

The ambiance in the Arniquet orphanage was peaceful, and we skillfully saw and treated all 56 orphans.

On our way to the second orphanage in Port Salut, we had our lunch which consisted of hard boiled eggs and bread. Thankfully we didn’t have to cross the “Red Sea” again, because Dr. Phil found a road that had been recently built. This road led us to a mountain with an unforgettable view. We stopped at the top and took some pictures of the clear blue sky, with the palm trees and the amazing blue/green water as far as your eye could see. As we approached our destination, the streets looked cleaner and the surroundings more beautiful. Dr. Phil told us that the eggs we had had were just a snack. He said we were going to stop by at the beach and had some langostinos and fish waiting for us. And to think Dr. Scott had requested “Chinese Food” for his birthday…

We had amazing langostinos with a Caribbean sauce that was out of this world! The fish tasted super fresh, the rice was so moist, and the plantains were crisp and delicious! The breeze was so refreshing, and the view was spectacular….the blue water surrounded by beautiful green mountains!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay there too long. We headed to the second orphanage in Port Salut, and because we started late we were not able to attend all the dental needs of the 48 children in that orphanage. However, we were able to take Polaroid pictures of all of them, and again it was such a treat for all us to see their happy faces as they held their own picture!

Our way home was a little scary. We had left the orphanage at around 6:30 pm, already pitch black, and had to drive down a mountain in a van which, as you might remember, is not in excellent mechanical conditions. But God protected us the whole way down, and we made it safe into town. Since it was Dr. Scott’s birthday, we stopped at a supermarket and picked up some ingredients for Jackie to cook some Rice and Beans Puerto Rican Style. Then we stopped at a restaurant called “Le Cayanon” and picked up a birthday cake for Dr. Scott....Sure the cake was pink and we had to use a match in place of a candle, but Dr. Scott got a cake!