Where does the time go?

Yes, it has been a month since our last posting. I apologize for the lack of communication on our part. But I do have some excuses. Shortly after our last posting, Sam got a fever and abdominal pain. 3 days later he was getting worse and we didn't know what was going on so we took him into the doctor. We were quite concerned at the time of possible surgical problems or rare tropical diseases and wondered if we would be heading to South Africa for some further care. But after a day of going to 2 different doctors and the Central Hospital for an ultrasound and x-ray, we finally had a diagnoses. Pneumonia! Thankfully nothing too unusual. But it did take him 4 or 5 more days to break the fever and the better part of 2 weeks to get back to normal--so we were sort of preoccupied.

In the meantime we were getting ready to move our family for the month to Blantyre, another city 4 hours south of Lilongwe. Mike and I are doing a tropical medicine training there. We unfortunately don't have reliable internet access there. So right now, we are halfway through the month and I am taking advantage of a weekend home in Lilongwe to use our computer and internet connection. We will tell you more about the course in a future blog.

For now, here's some pictures of the family. Last weekend Mike and I had the opportunity to play in a tennis tournament. We found ourselves playing against 17 year old Malawians that train every day. And since we haven't played more than 4 times in the last year we were a bit out of our league. But it was a fun opportunity. As you can see, Sam is looking happy and healthy. And we enjoyed the weekend with the Harthoorns.

Oh, and I almost forgot. We had to say good-bye to the Jansens last month as well. They are back in the states for the year to reconnect with family, friends and supporters. We miss them already.