Easter fun

Easter was pretty low key this year...I was realizing yesterday that this was the 1st Easter in 7 years I've celebrated in the US. I really love Holy Week in El Salvador...everybody is on vacation, and I miss the beautiful rugs that they make in the streets. I had totally forgotten that families get together for Easter. Since we don't have family nearby (except for some of Elvis's cousins in LA), and Elvis had to work yesterday morning, we didn't have any plans. Suzy and I caught a ride to our church, which was so good. Then we went to the park for a bit once Elvis got home, and we were just so happy to see Suzy being her silly self again (with just a few moments of tiredness).


On Saturday we went to an egg hunt on campus, but we got there too late and it was all over already. Sounds like it was like letting loose the bulls in the china shop, so I'm OK with missing it. They did give Suzy a couple of eggs that were left over, so we hid them for her. She looks pretty into it in the pictures, but the truth was she would go get one, then want to lie down for 10 min, then go get another one.

Saturday night, Elvis made us a special treat....Salvadoran torrejas. It's basically french toast made with egg bread (which we luckily got from Trader Joe's donations last week!), then soaked overnight in an amazing sauce made of unrefined sugar cane molasses and milk. YUM. We ate about a dozen each i think (Suzy included!) And then we put the sauce over bananas. And then we drank the sauce by itself.

Overall Suzy is sleeping much better, and is in great spirits this morning. We hope to get lab results today and have this mess all cleared up.

Trying jelly beans for the 1st time

torrejas!

Easter 2012

Easter 2011

Easter 2010

update

So, the doctor didn't have any immediate answers, but she did do a lot of tests- a urine test (Suzy did awesome peeing in a cup!!), a stool test (in progress...), and blood tests....they took 8 vials of my little girls blood while she sat there screaming in my arms. Not my idea of fun. Nor hers. They are testing for anemia, parasites, kidney functioning, white blood cell count, allergies, etc etc etc.

And what's with these complicated poop tests here in the US???
They gave me 3 jars to fill up, each in specific ways, and about 8 different spoons i have to use, and it's over a course of 3 days worth of poop. It was so complicated I literally had to take notes to remember how to do it. How come in El Salvador you get one cup, one spoon, and $2 and 1 hour later they have the results at a 24 hour lab near your house?? I don't get that. After we finished the 3 day process here, it will take another 4-5 to get the results. How efficient.

Oh, and the doctor said that she's in the 1 percentile for weight and 6 percentile for height....still better than her mama who was never even on the charts!


Suzy seems to be acting much more normal today...being her silly self. However, she slept terribly again last night. Hoping that was the last night of that.

And just so you don't think that we are not having any fun at all, here are some pictures of our trip to the Pirate Ship park this week. It is the coolest park here in Pasadena, complete with cannon balls to climb, a sand and water area, and it's even surrounded by squishy floor to mimic the ocean. And it's all completely handicap accessible. Although Suzy had bursts of energy at the park, I knew something was wrong when she would just come lay in my lap for 20 min at a time and watch the other kids.

So, that's the update...we're praying for a good night's sleep tonight.

request

Could you please pray for sweet Suzy? Ever since we moved here, she has been sick with one thing after another (or on top of another). That is not like her- she hardly ever got sick in ES. This week, she has had some stomach issues, and has zero energy. As in, we can be at a playground, and she'll just lie down on the floor, on the slide, on a bench, wherever. She begs to go to sleep at 5 or 6 pm, which is hours before her bedtime. She is normally spunky and extremely silly, and she's just tired all the time right now. Even though she's tired, she's sleeping terribly at night. I was up with her from 4am-7am today. That is not sustainable.

We don't know what's going on...maybe a left over parasite from ES, maybe anemia since she doesn't eat meat, maybe something else. We go back to the doctor today at 4 pacific time, so we would love your prayers so we can get some answers.
Thanks.

We read this passage from Isaiah 53 in our women's prayer group this morning:
 ⁴ Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.

Thinking about Easter, it is amazing that even though the reason Jesus died was because of our sins, because of his great love we get to experience healing (not just physical, but emotional, spiritual, relational, etc). Thankful for that.