plans

Well,I think most of you have heard that last week was very eventful in Madagascar. The Mayor of Tana wanted to overthrow the President of the country. There were a lot of riots and burning of buildings. This week however, it appears like things have settled down and businesses are back open. I received e-mail from friends that are there and they said yesterday and today were like nothing happened. I saw in the new link on this site that the Mayor was fired. I pray that peace has returned for good over this situation. I wasn't sure if I would be able to return as planned, but it appears if the peace continues I should be leaving on the 14 of Feb as scheduled. I do however, have to make sure the mission is OK with this also.

January was a good month for me. I had the opportunity to meet with Rich, Bonnie and Nichole while I was in Arizona. We spent the afternoon together and it appears things are going forward with new missionaries gearing up to come on board in Madagascar. I am excited to return and get things going.

My Dad is doing a lot better than the last entry. We were able to get all the paperwork finished and my Mom is now on Medicaid. She is getting very good care at the nursing home and it is very close to my Father's house.He can get there in 2 minutes by car. Physically Mom is getting a little better. She can now eat ground and soft food and not baby food. Most days during the day she can talk where you can understand her. The nights though are tough. The other day she had the nurse call home so she could talk to us. That was a huge thing. I am so glad God is with us every day every hour every second and we can leave everything in his hands and he will take care of it.

As for me I finally caught the cold everyone else had. I was down for over a week and still have a cough now. It has been 2 weeks now. I did go to the Dr though and he gave me some antibiotics. I guess with that it just takes time. I pray the cough will be completely gone when I travel.

Thanks for all the prayers and keep praying for the country of Madagascar. Pray that peace will prevail.

Thanks God Bless Sandi

snow snow snow

Hi everyone, well, here I am again writing from cold and snowy Michigan. Last week the temperature drooped to 20 below F for those of you in Mad that is -29C. It warmed up a little over the weekend because we got 8 more inches of snow. They say this is the worst winter they have had in many many years. If God is trying to show me this will never be my home again, it worked.

Well, now about my Mom. Some days are better than others. Yesterday was one of the better days. When I came in the door she was in the dinning room and yelled to me by name and said come here. It was good to have her know me. The night before she told my Dad she was going to die that night. She is talking a little now where we can understand her. She still can not walk, but can scoot around in the wheel chair using her feet. She is not eating regular food because she forgot how to swallow. The food is all mushed like baby food. We have been giving her some protein shakes which she really likes.

As for me, I am at peace with everything that is going on. I have been listening to God when he speaks to me and reading and studying His word daily. I thank you all for all your prayers. Please continue to pray for my parents and that God continues to use me as his servant.

update on home assignment

Well here it is. I have been back in the states for 2 months and it has not been an easy task. In November when I returned to the States my mom returned home from the hospital the day before me. I was able to help my parents for about 2 weeks before my Mom returned to the hospital. We had many rough days where she almost didn't make it. After about 3 weeks she was released. She went to a nursing home where she will live the remainder of her life. I went to Arizona January 1 to 9 and during that time they discovered she had lost 37 pounds in 1 month. When I returned my Dad ask me to postpone my return for a month. Tomorrow I will try to change the date. I think it is more for my dad than my Mom. He is really taking this whole thing very hard.