March 29, 2015 - Shelley

March 29, 2015

I’m feeling a bit of nostalgia today.  Twenty-eight years ago today (also a Sunday), our youngest child, Andrew, was born.  The next day our daughter Emily celebrated her birthday and the 3 days later our daughter Lindsay had her birthday!  What a special week this has been every year since!  You can never have too much cake, I always say!  Happy Birthday to all of you!  XOXOXO

While our humanitarian work remains an exercise in patience, we had a really rewarding week with Operation Smile.  The ladies were operated on this week.  The patients will have to stay for another 3 weeks before they can go home, so we invested in some “projects” to help them pass the time.  The other senior sisters went with Clark and me to get them started.  We taught the gals how

to crochet with “plarn” – plastic bags that are cut into strips and then crocheted.  It was a huge success and is one thing that they can continue when they go home because there are plastic sacks in most places.  We showed them how to make purses, but there are lots of other uses.

We pooled our resources and had wooden frames made for each patient.  The RS ladies here use these as a kind of a loom.  There are about 20 nails pounded into each of the four sides.  Then they wind yarn back and forth to

make decorative pillow covers or small blankets (several tied together).  We bought enough yarn for them to make

several.  Steve’s mom and her friend came to be the instructors.  And the gals were all over this, too!  Most of them are starting to feel better and really needed something to help them pass the time.  Also, several of the patients are young teenagers who brought their mothers with them – and the mothers were excited to have a project to work on, too.  Steve knows a man who makes these frames, so we ordered them and then picked them up at the lumberyard.  I love the smell of wood being cut – so the lumberyard was another fun experience.  Not exactly like Home Depot!

It’s hard to see but there are huge hardwood logs being cut off to the right.  Anyway, the smell was great!

Also, Clark and Dr. Mikesell have made friends with a man who runs a small store downtown where they buy stale potato chips.  He’s Belgian and speaks English pretty well.  They told him about the OS ladies and he donated enough nail polish and lipstick for all of the patients.  I felt a bit nervous about the lipstick, but their reactions were almost like magic.  This is one of my favorite

pictures.  She is looking so wistful as she sees herself with lipstick on for the first time in her life.  Really beautiful!  You can just hear what’s her name from “West Side Story” singing – “I feel pretty, oh, so pretty . . .”  Below is one of the

church volunteers, Claudine, showing another patient how it’s done.

Painted nails were a hit, too.

Well, Operation Smile has once again been a wonderful experience for us.  They plan on coming back in July to do another cleft palate project.  We had a very sobering and touching moment when we arrived at the hospital yesterday.  The doctors and nurses arrived at the same time to do their rounds.  When the patients and their caregivers saw us all, they broke into dancing and singing.  But it was WHAT they were singing that made all of us filled with emotion.  The words were expressions of gratitude for helping them become whole again and to be accepted back into society.  The interpreter said that they said – “We lost our friends, we lost our families – and our only friends were the flies.”  Very sobering.

On a lighter note, Clark was able to sneak a photo of something you might consider for Sunday dinner.  It was in the freezer section at a local store.  Now,

I’ve heard that octopus can be quite delicious . . .  ☺  Let me know!  haha

Traditionally, we’ve had a family reunion each summer.  This year, however, our children and their families chose to have the annual reunion over Spring Break.  Spencer and Jacey’s family hosted the event in Santa Rosa, California – and it has been this weekend.  The time difference makes

things a little tricky, but here’s a picture of Clark enjoying a Face Time call from Spencer, Matt, and Mike.  He’s with our Congolese sons (and translators) Flavien and Steve.

In connection with the reunion, I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting when I received a text concerning a late-night game that was being played.  The adults were playing the Game of Things (a topic is given and everyone thinks of something in that category).  Anyway, the text was about the topic – “Things you shouldn’t say to your mother/father”.  They were having quite the funny time – and it was very hard not to break out laughing!  (Not that I was reading texts during church! Haha)  We felt so glad that technology allowed us to be connected to the fun!

I couldn’t end without one more OS picture.  Isn’t she adorable?!!!!

Well, I just can’t believe that it almost General Conference again.  We’re really looking forward to that!  Today was Palm Sunday, and we saw many people walking to their churches waving palm fronds.  There was even a transport van with palm fronds tied on the front!  This country is full of wonderful, religious-minded people!  Have a great week!

Love,  Mom/Soeur Davis