Surprise, Surprise!

- April 18, 2013

Sorry there has been no communication for some time. I was planning a surprise and couldn’t talk about it on the blog or the person we were to surprise wouldn’t be surprised!

In March I worked flat out to get the annual reports done, saw a lot of patients and tried to get work all caught up as I went to the US for 2 weeks on March 28^th! Major Mereki and I travelled to New Jersey to make a surprise visit to see my older brother, Don, who had been in the hospital since December and got out only a week before we arrived. Dennis, my brother from California and his wife Kathy Rose travelled to meet us there. They arrived Wednesday to surprise him and we arrived Friday evening. When we walked in he was napping on the couch and we woke him and he was dazed! We really surprised him! He wondered who else was going to surprise him!

The next day we all left for Annapolis to see my niece, Ellie, who is a Plebe in the US Naval Academy. She also was so shocked to see us all! She thought only her mom and sister was coming to visit! We rented a big house within walking distance of her and we were able to spend the afternoon and evening with her on Saturday. Sunday we went to the Naval Academy cathedral for church and then we had brunch at the Officer’s Club. What a great brunch and we really ate! On the way back to the house we ran into the Easter Bunny and Major got his picture taken with him. We wheeled my brother in a wheelchair around and he used his walker for short distances.

When we arrived it was in the 40’s for the highs and 20’s at night! Quite a shock to our bodies! There was even some snow left on the ground from a snowstorm on the Monday before we arrived! The second week we were there it got up to 82 one day and down to 60 at night for one day! We were much happier!

We spent the rest of our two weeks taking my brother out to walk and to an outpatient surgery one day and he went shopping with us each day! He had never seen so many stores in such a short time! We also went out to lunch each day and cooked dinner each night for him. We saw a lot of improvement each day we were with him and he was able to walker further with his walker and get a bit steadier.

While there we visited with James Eason and his son Sebastian. they drove down from Conneticut to see us. James is a leader in the Zimbabwe Rural Schools Development Fund and has been to visit us several times to see the work they have done in supporting upgrading schools in our area. He has been transferred from his home in UK to the USA. So it was great to see him!

We spent a lot of time eating (Major’s favorite!), encouraging my brother and trying to get him on the road to health! We were able to call a few people and email others. We didn’t go outside of the area because we were there to help my brother, so sorry if we missed seeing you! It was a great time and flew by very fast. The day we left (Friday) it was rainy and cold.

We had good flights back and no delays and arrived back on Friday evening with our entire luggage! We quickly ran to the store for some groceries and left Harare at 7 p.m. we arrive home 12:45 a.m. and by 1 a.m., I was in bed and sound asleep!

At 2 a.m. I heard a knock in my sleep. I woke up and couldn’t remember where I was or where the door was! I finally stumbled to the back door and the driver was there needing the keys for the ambulance for an ambulance run! Gave him the keys and back to sound sleep for as few more hours!

Last night after church we celebrated Cheryl’s 60^th birthday! We had come with some special decorations from the US and new birthday glasses! We had a great dinner together and a fun party. As Major said “just invite us for food and we will be there!”

Today is Independence Day # 33 for Zimbabwe! That means we work a half day at the hospital or until we are done and then not come back in the afternoon if all stays quiet and no emergencies walk in! After 3 busy days back at work it is a nice chance to catch up at home! It was 61 when we got up this morning—seems like winter is on the way here! Still sunny and bright during the day!