week 3 at Lakeside

This week brought some challenges for us. Bonnie returned to Charlotte to be with our daughter Caroline who was having some outpatient surgery. She was born with one kidney and that one is not working to full capacity. Eventually she will need a transplant and this surgery was to connect a vein and artery in her arm to prepare for dialysis. The surgery went well ....but the recovery was longer than expected so Bonnie stayed the entire week to make sure Caroline was capable of functioning on her own. I hired Sam Creech .... a young man who will be a sophomore this year and has been an outstanding participant in our program for the last 5 years. He was an invaluable help and did a superb job! For 3 of the days we had over 50 kids in the Upper Room and I needed some help with logistics. I also managed to get in some beach time in the afternoons. Our focus this week was how water was used for healing .... and the water crisis in el Salvador. We are very close to the Meyer family whose cottage we live in for the summer.... we have a separate apartment on their second floor ....but we cross paths a lot with Laura...the Mom ....and her two children Ellie and Nathan. We often joke that it is not communal living....but it is about as near as you can get. The husband and father ...Doug Meyer ... died of a heart attack two summers ago... He was one of my best friends and all of us still miss him dearly. Laura's cousin Dan has taught in a school and worked on water projects in El Salvador and spent two days sharing his experiences. He brought his wife Ruby and their two daughters. His teaching skills were superb and slide shows raised awareness of the problems caused by the lack of clean water. The 5 gallon jug....weighing 40 pounds when filled .... which you can see under the table in the picture.... caused quite a stir when our boys had to carrry it on their shoulder ....and the girls on their head ....none of them were very sucessful. When they saw the mountainous terrain the children in El Salvador had to travel for hours to acquire water they learned some lifetime lessons! Our kids raised another $100 so 3 families will now have access to clean drinking water. They are learning you can make a difference!