Yesterday Joe was sick with a nasty bug and so I had his chores on top of my own... plus Dr Sam and a couple team members were headed back to Davao so we needed to get them across the river... so I drove... and since I was driving that far we figured I may as well get a few supplies up in Alabel. The river 'road' had a brand new route and it wasn't packed down yet... and it was difficult to follow... but we made it across... Then came the mountain road... I was unable to get the jeep out of 4 low, so it was slow going... but I made it... I got the things I needed at the market, refilled the 4 water jugs and headed back in. This time I was able to get the jeep into 4 high at least which made it go a bit faster... About 3/4 the way over the mountain in a village where we sometimes have done outreaches and often get patients from... I was flagged down by a woman I had seen the day before at the clinic while her husband had surgery on his testes... She explained that he wasn't able to sleep because he was in so much pain. I went and checked on him and he was definitely in some major pain. I told them I could give them different pain relievers at the clinic, but they would have to pick someone to ride along and then they could borrow our horse to return home in. (It's about a 4 hour hike, but an hour or so on horse... oh yeah, and the rain was starting). A couple boys were picked and they excitedly took their places in the back of the jeep. It was definitely God's providence for them to be there... since I was alone I wouldn't have been able to keep my water bottles upright on the way through the rivers... but they made sure they kept them all standing for me! They quickly got the meds and then we got the horse ready and out they went.... and we haven't seen the horse since! lol. I'm not worried though... I know that returning borrowed items isn't a super high priority here... if they don't come back by tomorrow we'll probably drive up that way and bring it home. Today was my turn to be sicker than a dog... Tonia and I both had some sort of flu bug, just manifesting in different ways... I couldn't sit up or stand without walking like a drunk person from the spinning world... thus causing the stomach to revolt! Tonia had a huge headache and felt sick as well... thankfully it seems to be a 24 hr thing and we are both feeling better this evening. Again it was God's hand at work that there was no horse chores last night or all of today! Such a huge blessing on a tired, sick, family! I love it when God works these things out!