Just a quick update to let you all know that Aunt Marcia got great
care while she was in France and I believe is en route to Regina at
this moment. She contacted Carol and I heard she sounded her usual
lovely self. She was even talking about coming back to Burkina to
finish her visit. She said she was in the best hospital in Europe for
broken bones and was well taken care of. Thank God! The doctors even
thought that she might be walking again in about 3 months. Wouldn't
that be amazing?!

Loren's grandmother was released from hospital last week. Ironically
while I was heading there to pick her up to take her to the Mission
guest house, I broke a rib so ended up staying at the hospital to do
tests and xrays while she got to leave in my car. I was just turning
to put my purse on the seat when I heard/felt a loud crack. It hurt a
bit but as I started driving it hurt more and more to the point where
I could barely shift gears. The doctor said it was out of place from
the accident and while moving back into place, it broke the cartilage
where it attaches to the rib cage (now it's really out of place!). The
muscles had spasmed to protect the internal organs so after several
hours of rest (and lots of painkillers) it relaxed. Thank goodness for
Loren and his uncle Bruce who shuttled me about and took care of me
that day.

Anyway, Gramma is still sore and bruised, anemic and dizzy but she's
at the guesthouse where Carol is taking care of her. She will delay
her trip home as she isn't ready to fly. I think she's a little
discouraged at the state of her health but she's back in form, bossing
people around (lol!) so we figure her spirit is back!

Clark doesn't look like Zorro/raccoon anymore, but is still walking
about with a cane. He is sort of able to get up and walk about himself
now, but it's tiring and he of course over does it so ends up on his
back again the next day. I'm guilty of that too. I decided that I'm
getting fat from not exercising so did the Cardio DVD from P90X. I
used to (just a few weeks ago) be able to do the whole thing with out
breaking 70% heart rate. 10 min in I didn't think I'd get to the end.
I didn't do all the exercises and I thought my heart was going to
burst out of my chest. Stupid idea for someone who's lost as much
blood as I have and I paid for it the next day with fatigue and
swelling. Loren is always telling me I'm too much in a hurry. I
suppose he's right!

I'm a lot better. Considering that for 2 days following the accident I
couldn't walk or sit by myself, I'm doing great. I actually went out
with Loren on the 31st for a few hours. I did a little (cautious!)
dancing. I still have sore shoulders/collarbone, ribs and tailbone so
find it hard to sleep. Up til today, I haven't been able to wear
t-shirts, just button downs, because I can't pull them over my head,
but I can now as long as the shirt is pretty loose. I'm heading to
Ghana early Feb so I will go see a chiropractor when there. My boss
knows an American who is practicing there. But boy do I miss Dr.
Chewpa, my chiro and Dan my physiotherapist!! I know if I could get to
them regularly, this would be gone already! Loren has been calling me
"gros bebe" or big baby.

I am back to work, and we have our office all set up. We should have
our workshop completed for mid Feb and we should have the company all
registered and ready for business in a couple weeks. We have signs
being made and the boss arrives next week with the technician. Very
exciting! Nearly ready to step into phase II which is increasing the
sales and market share of the company.

Following that, my mom, sister and niece are arriving on the 25th so
we are trying to get the house ready for their visit. We had a number
of things planned but everything has changed due to the accident. We
don't know if we'll be at the farm as Clark and Carol are in the city.
Loren and Clark were both supposed to be away but might actually still
be around at that point. We will still go to Nazinga but not sure what
else we'll do. We'll just have to play it by ear I guess, depending on
how my family feel. Travelling here is not like road trips at home,
it's very tiring. It's hot, dusty and the roads are crappy. So 100km
can take two gruelling hours.

Felicia, my sister is staying 10 days. My mom is staying 5 weeks. She
isn't really here to see me, she's here to see Ben. So I figure I have
a built in babysitter as I have to go to Ghana and potentially to
Ivory Coast in Feb. Ghana is for a managers meeting. Ivory Coast is to
open a new office there. They are supposed to have elections in March
so we won't get an office or anything, but we do want to get the
business registered. I'm a little bit worried as I've heard some not
great stories about Ivory Coast but it's not like I'm going to the
Sudan or something.

Shortest post ever! But then it's not terribly exciting lying around
getting better.