Playing Pilot.

So we had a great time with Alex and Emily here. I was very sorry that
they got burned, but we really enjoyed them! They decided that since
they were supposed to be leaving in about 2 weeks anyway that they might
as well go home. Emily has a really hard time with anything healing -
bug bites and everything just get infected and won't heal, so we were
worried about her big burns getting infected. They live with local
families, so it would have been very difficult to keep them clean and
covered. So, they scheduled to fly out Thurs afternoon.

Gary got back into the country on Tues night and came home Wed
afternoon, but when he got here he was burning with fever! We've had a
cold/flu bug going around and many of us only got it for about 24 hrs,
but then Kel had felt a lot worse and had it for about 5 days, or so,
and was still dragging. I was hoping that Gary would feel better by
Thurs because we had arranged for him to fly the girls up to the
capital. It would have been very uncomfortable for them to ride the bus
- it's quite bumpy, crowded, hot and dirty. Not exactly what they needed
before taking a 30 something hour flight home! Unfortunately, Gary was
still no better Thursday morning. We decided that I would go with him
and help him at least while we were in the air. I don't know how much he
actually slept, but he brought along his pillow and at least rested most
of the time. He just told me what to do and when to wake him up and we
made it there and back! So, we got the girls off, and headed home, we
didn't even leave the airport.

Jonathan (our other pilot) and his new wife, Melody, were supposed to be
returning on Wed, but they didn't receive their passports with their
visas in time, so they had to reschedule for the next week. It would
have been nice for him to be here to do the flight with Gary, but we
weren't really ready for them! On Sunday, I had told the boy living in
their hut that he had to move out (actually I had told him before that).
He thought that since Jonathan wasn't coming until Wed he should be able
to stay until then! I said, "NO, he is coming with his wife now, and we
have to clean this place up!" Ok, he would move tomorrow. Well, Monday,
Josie and I just went up and took brooms, etc and started moving stuff
out. He didn't put up a fuss, but he wasn't going to do it without some
motivation!! Anyway, it was really filthy and there was all kinds of
construction type stuff and whatever else in there, so we piled it all
in a container. I really wanted to set it up clean and nice for them to
come home to and then they could work on going through the stuff at
their leisure. Well, while we were cleaning, Josie said, "This place
really needs some paint on the walls." It is a mud brick hut and the
walls are just sand and cement plastered and no one has ever painted it.
I had to agree, though I knew it wasn't going to be an easy job. I asked
around and was told you can get paint in our local market, so I called
Gary who was still in France and asked if it was ok if we painted it. I
wasn't sure why it hadn't been painted yet, so I thought maybe there was
a reason! He said we could, but I could tell he thought we were crazy!
Anyway, I called Frederick and he was willing to go to the market with
me to help me find it. The guy only had two gallons which I knew would
not be enough, but I thought at least we could start with that and see
how much more we would need. (I really don't know what I was thinking -
why start if I didn't have enough!? But I really had no idea what enough
would be!!) So, we started working. The two gallons almost covered the
whole thing once, but the wall soaked it up as fast as we could put it
on! I wasn't really surprised, but started realizing that we would need
at least 3 coats. So, back to the market Frederick and I went. I had
seen some 5 gallon cans of paint as well, so even though I knew he
didn't have more gallon tins, I thought maybe he would have a big one.
Sure, enough he had one and it was a lot cheaper than buying it in the
gallon size. I was really thrilled. So, the next day I ran up to start
painting and opened it up. It didn't look the same and it was really
thick. I waited for Kel to come and he confirmed what I was afraid of -
it was water based paint - not oil based, like we had been using. Kel
thought maybe we could use it, but some of my walls have water based
paint on them and it just washes off. So, I didn't want that. So, I
called Frederick and he came and helped me take the paint back to the
market. Thankfully, we had also found out that Jonathan and Melody
weren't coming that week, so I wasn't as stressed because at least the
pressure was off a little bit! Frederick convinced the man at the market
to take the paint back and since Gary was coming back that day I wanted
my money back so that Gary could just buy some in the capital. They
usually don't want to do that but he did. So, we waited two days for
Gary to get back and then he didn't get paint. He went to the store to
get it just before coming home and they were closed for their midday
siesta! So, I sent Frederick back to the market to ask the guy to order
the paint - he had told us before that he could get it, but I thought it
would be faster to get it from town. It was good that we had a couple
days of break because Josie wasn't feeling well and since I had been
gone flying Thurs and we had had so many people here, things were a real
mess! So, he got the paint Friday afternoon, so first thing Sunday
Frederick and I were back at the market! He had 4 gallons. I had asked
for 5, but we would take what we could get. We really had to get to work
now, so Kel jumped in to help us. I don't think he was too excited about
it, but he was a good sport and we really appreciated his willingness to
help us! Anyway, we got the third coat done and ran out of paint and it
was still splotchy. I sent Gary back to the market to see if he had a
couple of pints at least - no luck. We were so close! I was really
discouraged. We were out of time and paint, and it was getting better,
but if we just had 1/2 a gallon more, I was sure we could have it
looking so much better. But what could I do - there just wasn't any more.

Well, the new doctors were coming in that night, so I gathered up some
sheets, etc and we went down to make sure they had a place to sleep for
the night. They weren't going to be getting in until late, so we wanted
something to be ready for them. It's another long story, but there
weren't any decent mattresses there, so we got Jamie and Tammy's bed and
moved it over. Then when we were in their house Gary said, "Here's a
gallon of white paint if you want it". Yippee! I was so excited! It was
exactly what we needed! (Thanks Tammy and Jamie - I'm replacing it for
you!!) So, the next day we finished touching up the splotches in the
morning and started cleaning (carefully!) in the afternoon. By noon the
next day, Thurs we were ready for Jonathan and Melody's arrival at 1:30!
We had just enough time to make lunch before they arrived. I felt so
much better! And they were pleasantly surprised, I think!