Update

Hello Everyone-

Sorry for slacking on the posts. Most of you know that Joel and I are home right now. We arrived last Tuesday and will be staying until Tuesday the 3rd. So far we have had a busy time here catching up with everyone. Joel was also in a wedding over the weekend

(Joel and the groom...best friends since Jr. High)(Parents of the groom...boogying down!).

To update on the happenings right before we left, we took our "cool cash" grand prize winner and her sister to lunch at McDonald's. We had a great time. We also had to finally say "goodbye" to the kittens which was very sad. Joel is healing well from his surgery and is still feeling a little uncomfortable.
As mentioned in earlier posts, if the kids can memorize John 14:6 in English then they get to go to the water park. While we are home we are hoping to purchase 20 or so swimsuits for those kids that don't have one. We also hope to buy 6 backpacks, one for each child in our class.

That's about it for now. You can be praying for my interviews coming up at Mary Bridge and Tacoma General and that we have a good rest of our visit. We miss our kids a lot, but are enjoying catching up and visiting with everyone.

If you would like to donate for the backpack/swimsuit fund please give us a call. Otherwise. please be praying that we would be able to get what we need and bring it back into Mexico tax free!

Thanks for checking in!
The Kellners

::HEALING and VISITORS::

Hello everyone-
It was good to hear all the concern, We sometimes do not think anyone is reading this thing. The Hospital ticket will end up being $25,000 pesos... We paid $10,000 on our card when we left and then still owe $15,000 to the doctor on Friday which we can cover from our savings account.
The first day home, did not hurt much. I stayed in bed mostly playing the Nintendo DS and trying to recover. In the evening, I set up all my print files for work and then went to bed. Saturday morning hurt a little more. I practiced worship in the morning with Joy, and sent off files for work, since we do not have the internet at home. They also have Vonage phone service and I got to call my mom and grandma for an early Mothers Day present.
In the afternoon I tried relaxing on our balcony and we had visitors! Jan and Raul and Allison friends of Leslie's from Washington are down for a visit. Jan had been here before, about the same time the Kittens were born. They were sad to hear about my accident, and I was able to relax in the most comfortable chair as we all visited. It is so fun to get un expected visitors, it really lifts your spirits.
Since they saw the new kittens, Leslie wanted to show where Pancha had been hiding them on top of the hill. They were gone for a while as they climbed the hill. In about 20 minutes they had brought the kittens back down the hill to our balcony. After visiting with the kittens, they tried placing them out front where they were first born. This is the 2nd or 3rd time Leslie had tried this, and as usual, Pancha took them back to their mountain retreat.
Sunday we received a call at about 8 am from a couple Mike and Jennifer who had been reading our blog and wanted to visit with us and go to church. Raul, Jan's husband, plays percussion and we invited him to play the Jimbe Drum for worship. As weeks go on, I am realizing what a privilege it is to lead people into worship. These last few Sundays people have been lifting their hands and really singing along. Raul did a good job with the drum even though it is not the lively music he is used to.
After church, we all went to Freddy's Tucan for breakfast. Mike, Jennifer, Jan, Raul, Allison and Jose (Allisons mexican friend) and Leslie and I. It ends up we all have a common friend in Brett Latin who officiated our wedding. Mike and Jennifer got our blogspot address from Brett. And Jan and Raul are really good friends of Brett.
We visited for a long while then Mike and Jennifer came over to see the apartment and visit more. Mike is a wizzard at Flash and quickly showed me some tips to do what took me 4 hours on my own. You can check out his website at www.heatherandrain.com. It was good to share our experience with them because they hope to do short term mission work sometime in the future.
The pain level for Sunday was pretty intense. I do not understand how I can feel worse 3 days after my surgery than when I first left the hospital. Mornings are the worse. I find when I am still, everything is fine, standing or sitting. It is the moving between that hurts. Also you never realize how much you use that sensitive area: Stopping peeing for example or perhaps coughing.

Today is the first day I am actually beginning to feel better. I walked our trash down the hill to the trash pile and that was probably a little much to begin the day. After the exercize, I spent most of the day resting reading a book "90 minutes in Heaven by Don Piper". I finished the whole thing!
Jan and Allison came up for a short visit in the morning and around 2 we went to "COMIDA CORRIDA". We had 6 people with Vera and Jan, Raul, Allison and Veras friend. Lunch was very good. There is too much to talk about this time.

I think part of getting better is pretending to feel better than you do and actually going out of the house.

After lunch, we went up and got the Police report for the Camera... Hopefully that will be all the Insurance company needs.

Leslie has been doing an awesome job of taking care of me. I am lucky to be married to a nurse. Besides caring for me, today she did the laundry, cleaned the apartment, changed the sheets and swept and mopped the floor. Our apartment looks very nice.

With so much bad news in the past blog entries, I am sure people want to hear how I was recovering and I want to let everyone know that God is good, and things are looking up =)

God Bless!

Joel and Leslie



PS... I almost for got to say that sometime last night Pancha brought all three kittens down to our balcony to take up permanent residence. It looks like Leslie won the battle in the end! They are almost old enough to give away... anybody want a kitten?

The Break-In :: Emergency Surgery

Hello Everyone-

What an exciting week this has turned out to be! Let me first just say that after this weeks happenings we will feel lucky to be alive by the time we get home.

The week started out like a normal week...Joel worked all day Monday while I cleaned the house, we had Tuesday off and went to the beach, etc. On Tues. when we came home from the beach we noticed something wasn't quit right. As we came in, we saw that Joel's desk had been turned over with the drawers open, and there was a mess on the floor all around it. Our first thought was, "was there an earthquake?"...naive us...we had the earthquake theory because there were no windows or doors broken...we actually had to unlock the door to get inside...our windows are always open, but we have bars on them. After that, we started to realize what had really happened. As we looked around, we noticed that the video camera was missing, but nothing else. That was strange...why didn't they take the computer, and the printer, and the guitar, etc? As our investigation went on, we started to think creatively about how the robber might have gotten in. We have two balconies, one on the roof which is the full balcony, and one downstairs at the level of our apartment that wraps around. We went out to the wrap-around balcony to see what we could see...sure enough, all the evidence was there. The suspect left a long piece of re bar with a hook on the end to "fish" things out of the window. That's why he didn't get the computer, or the guitar, or the printer, etc...because they had nothing for the "hook" to grab onto....Yes, they tried to get the computer (it was laying on the ground damaged, as was the printer).


Our neighbors were SO helpful to us! They came over and saw what had happened and had mentioned a strange character running up and down the hill several times that day. One of our neighbors called the police right away for us. Four police officers showed up within 5 American minutes of calling and said they would beef up the hill patrols. Our neighbors also told the officers what they had seen.

So, fortunate for us, we have insurance on the camera and computer, so hopefully we can get them replaced. To file the police report, we were told to go to the police station that's clear out by the dump where we go to school. We thought we could just "stop by" and take care of it "really quick" on the way to school...again, naive us. In our defense, we did show up an hour before school...seemingly enough time to allow the difference between Mexican and American time. Anyway, we were there for 2 1/2 hours waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more. It wasn't that there was a lot of people or anything...it was more like there were five employees at their desks and only helping 2 people at a time while their counterparts talked on their cell phones, surfed the net, gossiped with their co-workers, etc. Needless to say, we missed school on Wednesday and are due to go pick up the report this afternoon...we couldn't take it home on Wednesday as they had to verify the story with the local police dept. (long lengthy Mexican story)...please pray for a speedy trip.

In other news...our health seems to be further declining. The cold that I developed last Saturday turned into a sinus infection on the right side of my face. I don't ever remember a sinus infection hurting that bad and I have never blown such bright yellow snot out of my nose either! That was a quick fix...I went to the pharmacy for some antibiotics and decongestant, and finally, today, Friday, I have woken up without the right side of my face and jaw throbbing...Praise the Lord!

Joel actually gets the credit for the most interesting health story for the week. On Wednesday night headed into Thursday morning I had reached over to touch him and noticed he was burning up. I took his temp when we woke up the next morning and it was 103...adults aren't supposed to run fevers that high. Anyway, the only other symptom he had was that "My butt hurts"...sorry, there was just no other way to put it. Needless to say, you shouldn't have 103 fever and only your butt be hurting. We thought we would wait for other "normal" symptoms to develop before treatment. I just gave him some Tylenol and he slept the fever off and woke up fine. He insisted on going to school and as we were driving there, another fever developed with the full on chills and shakes. He was a mess by the time we got to Pan de Vida and was escorted to the doctor's office by Dennis and Pastor Luis Miguel. I stayed behind to work with the kids, not feeling too well myself and really worrying about Joel. Dennis came back without Joel and I was told that he was now in the proctologist's office for the "pain in his butt." It turns out that he had a badly infected, grade 4, thrombosed hemorrhoid. I followed Dennis back to the Dr's. office (yes, I actually drove) where I met Joel. The Dr. shut down the rest of his day's schedule to admit Joel to the hospital and do emergency surgery. At first, we were told that it would cost 2,000 pesos for the dr's. fee, and 600 pesos for the hospital stay.....It turns out that this whole thing is costing more like $2,500 US Dollars, $750 for the overnight stay and $1500 for the surgery...boy did we feel deceived. It was an error in communication, and we were actually aware of the actual cost before going in for surgery...it was an emergency though and needed to be done. The proctologist so strongly suggested the procedure that he even gave up his $500 portion because he thought it was so necessary and could see that we were going to go home because it was too much money...so instead of $3000, it's going to be $2500.

So, here we are, Friday morning, at Cornerstone Hospital in Puerto Vallarta. Joel is feeling fine, he's eating breakfast right now. The Dr. said that everything went well and the Joel should be fine. He had to stay at the hospital because the infection was so bad and he needed to be monitored. Luckily the kids don't have school today in celebration of Dia de Mamas (Mother's Day). We are hoping to take it easy and rest.

Now for some good news...I have submitted three resumes/applications for three different positions at Mary Bridge/Tacoma General for residencies. One in the PICU (Pediatric ICU), one in the NICU (Neonatal ICU), and one in the Mary Bridge ER. So far, I have an interview set up in the NICU that I'm really excited about! That will be on the Monday before we return back here to PV. I would also love to interview in the PICU as well. All the positions start in the beginning of September.

Please be praying for us as we prepare to come home for our visit. We really feel like the enemy is attacking us and trying to distract from God's purposes. We don't feel like doors are necessarily closing yet as the kids are doing great and the clinic in Quimixto has been going much better. We appreciate you checking in and praying for us!

Joel and Leslie

::From Bad to Good::

Hello Everyone-
This week started out pretty rough. We lost the internet connection at the house, Leslie lost her sunglasses, I lost my iPod and the bank took back the “Customer Satisfaction Credit.” We were feeling pretty lousy and questioning why we are even down here. As the week progressed, things got a little better. We put everything in perspective by realizing all the blessings God has given us by living here. When we first moved here we did not have an internet connection, then for 2 months we picked up a wireless signal but now it is gone. It was a blessing to have the internet while we did and we should not complain now that it’s gone. We should have known the credit from the bank was “too good to be true”. We felt deceived by the language “Customer Satisfaction Credit” and the fact that it stayed in our account for 10 days. We did not understand it was never ours in the first place.
With the money out of our account, we were feeling very restricted, so we decided to take $500 from our “no-touch” savings so we could breathe. Again having savings is another blessing from God.
There was no school on Wednesday, so both Leslie and I went to Quimixto. It was Dia de los niños, “children's day,” and Randy and Sandra brought candy for the kids. The majority of the people for the clinic had traveled to Yelapa to get a free vaccination from the Red Cross. Leslie had 2 patients and after treating them, they treated us to some fresh coconut milk at their house. One patient, Carlos is one of the original people in Quimixto. He was born and raised there and has 4 kids still living there. His sister is currently staying with him too. The reason Carlos went to the clinic was because of his Left foot. He has had swelling and pain since last July. Leslie looked at it and recommended he see a doctor immediately. Besides his Left foot, he has a bad right hip and uses crutches. This did not stop him from getting his machete and whacking off the top of the coconut for us. The people here are very hospitable.

Thursday we had school, as usual, only 3 of our 6 students showed up (because of dia de los niños) so we could not do all that we planned. We reviewed the Bedroom and Kitchen, and worked on verbs, then played their favorite game “Bingo”. On our way home I took Leslie to a movie. She likes surprises, and the movie was a good morale boost for both of us. We saw “P.S. I love you”. It was a good story of love, it made both of us cry at certain parts.
Friday, everyone was there at Pan de Vida . Leslie took over the class and I played barber to cut one of the kids’ hair. I ended up cutting two kids’ hair! I talked with Pastor Luis Miguel and plan on painting the Pan de Vida logo on the front of the building... I will have to show the final piece if it works out.
Leslie said the prizes for the cool cash auction went well. The kids originally did not understand how the auction process worked, but with help from one of the parents they caught on by the end. The kids bought all of the prizes and the big winner of dinner at McDonalds is Cecilia. She gets to bring a friend and chooses to take her older sister Brenda. Next week is Mothers day, so we plan on taking them Saturday the 17th before coming up to Washington for the visit.
After school Friday, we hosted dinner for Vera and a guest. Vera has had a new visitor every day since coming home. They all ride in on a bus from the neighborhoods around the dump. It is great for us because we can meet these new people and hear their stories. Anyone who would generalize that the people here are poor because they are lazy, are wrong. Every one we meet wakes up very early in the morning and works long hours to bring home money for the family. The problem with living in a tourist area like Vallarta is they are not paid much, and once the slow season starts they cut workers quickly. We visited with Vera’s friends until 9pm and then gave them a ride to their house in our car so they would not have to take the bus for an hour. When we arrived, the family was waiting and we shook hands with all of their 4 kids.
Saturday I helped Ric pour the cement floor we were going to make when my dad was here. They brought in dirt and we laid the best floor yet. The husband, along with leveling the floor with dirt, placed blocks at key locations to indicate the desired level of cement... This made us use more cement than I think we needed but it will make a very nice surface in the end. We had a long steel beam and using the blocks as pivot points were able to make a smooth and level floor.
Leslie taught class by herself, which ended up being very crazy. The church had made boxes for “dia de los niños” and given them out with balloons. There was a lot of extra noise and the kids could not focus as Leslie tried to teach them the “Fruit of the Spirit” from Galatians 5. Next week we will have to review the same topic.

Today at church, Pastor Ric surprised us with an award for all we have been doing at church and in the community. He gave us a paper certificate and some money to go treat ourselves. In light of loosing the “customer service credit” at the bank, it is great to see new ways of God providing.

Please be praying for Leslie. She did not sleep at all last night due to extreme sinus pressure and pain. It is from her upper jaw to her head. She is uncomfortable and is tired of being so sick. It seems that she has not been completely healthy since March. She has had everything from a sore throat, to swollen glands, to back/hip pain and now these sinuses. She has been handling this very well but we really would like for her to be all better.

Monday and Tuesday of next week we have been invited to two dinners. One is at Dennis and Faye’s to show them the video I have been working on. The other is at Ric and Joy’s with Randy and Sandra. Yeah! Leslie is glad she doesn’t have to cook.

Sorry for such a long entry and no pictures, but this has been a very long week and I had a lot to cover.

God Bless!

Joel and Leslie