ChristiAnne and Scott

ChristiAnne and Scott started seeing each other a little before our family trip to ski in Colorado for Christmas. They were officially "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" in April of 2015 before ChristiAnne came out to Texas for a month. ChristiAnne met Scott's parents this weekend and fell in love with his fun and enthusiastic mother. Sister Sonne took these pictures of them in Provo Canyon. 

Six flags over Texas

Lara took the day off work as did Isaac and took Diana and Tennessee to Six Flaggs for their reading rewards. 

Summer in Utah 2015

We spent the month of August and the last part of July 2015 in Utah while our home was painted and carpeted. 

We ate at Malawi's Pizza where ChristiAnne worked

We went to Seven Peaks water park with the cousins

We went to the aquarium and saw the Penguins. 

We went to the Great Salt Lake

It was really hot and the salt water burned our skin but we DID IT!!!

While we were at Salt Lake the big kids went to Lagoon

Joseph Jay Peterson

Joseph Jay Peterson was born at 3:40am on September 22, 2015. He weighed 11 pounds and 4 ounces and was 23 inches long. He is a snuggly sweet perfect little baby. 

At two weeks old he is finally back to his birth weight but we lost some of that amazing chubbasaurusness. 

He is just so sweet. 

Psychiatric patients in Africa, by Dad

Monday , July 6th had to be one of the wildest experiences of my life. I hopped in the back of a local police truck,(if you could call it that) with 7 police officers and went searching for psychotic individuals that are roaming the streets of Juba not connected with society and not able to take care of themselves. Driving in the back of the truck was about as close as you get to a real live video game. I am not quite sure I have ever felt that nervous. The further and further we got away from town, I was beginning to wonder if they had already had their first patient – ME.  We finally identified our first individual. He was walking around the marketplace on the outskirts of town completely naked. Not one piece of clothing. He had horrible open sores all over his body with flies covering each of them. I seriously could not believe my eyes. It took the police a little while to convince him to get into the back of the truck. It had to be 100 degrees outside, I know I have the sunburn to show it. The police officers themselves were hesitant to touch him and it took some coaxing/yelling form the senior officers to the junior officers to lift him into the back of the truck. I was searching for something he could sit down on but there was nothing. He would not sit down, which I would not blame him as the metal truck bed had to be burning. They forced him to sit down naked on the back of the bed. He had to burn his rear end.  I road in the back  of the truck with him. We ended up picking up 4 others. None of which had family to take care of them, nowhere to live, no one to love them or miss them. I seriously never believed this existed in the 21st century, but unfortunately it does. It was comforting to see what GEMS and Dr. Atong are doing for them. They give them a bath, a haircut, new clothes or clothes period, a hot meal, and a shot that will last for a month. 

Working with Polio Survivors

While working with the Polio Survivors I walked across the street to talk to two young women walking into town. I had an interpreter with me. I asked where are you headed? They answered we are headed into town to but some food. I asked how long have you been walking, they answered about 4 hours. Each of them were carrying a child which honestly they wrap them up so well I could not tell. I often wonder how hot the children get with the sun beating down on them wrapped up they way they are, but then I had to assume those mothers know best. I also realized what a blessing it would be for that child to hear the constant beating of their mothers heart. What a bonding experience, unfortunately in our sophisticated fast pace life we end up giving up so much without realizing it. Anyways, they had not eaten in over a day and were carrying $1.50US of items on their heads to buy some food in the market place. They had both knelt down prior to leaving that morning and prayed to God that He would provide. I gave them each $10US which should feed both of their families for 2 weeks. They could not believe it and thanked me and praised God over and over. They said I was answer to the prayer. I can only imagine there are hundreds and thousands of mothers in that same position all over South Sudan.

Attached is their picture.

$1.22US will feed a family of 6 for 1 day.

The Women of Northern Bahr al Ghazal

I believe the most moving and touching experience of the trip was hearing of the day to day decisions that many of the women living in NBG have to make. Decisions that we would not even consider or could even imagine a mother would have to be placed in. When one has to go to sleep at night or should I say try to go to sleep because of the lack of food and water, it puts a whole knew meaning to sleep apnea. In the US we have difficulty sleeping because we have indigestion from eating  too much too late in the evening. We can’t sleep because our minds are trying to solve the problems of the overstimulated lives we live. How would you like to go to sleep at night and not be able to sleep because your mind is trying to figure out where you might find food or water tomorrow?

Or even worse, do you take your newly born child 2 days into the nearest town to get medical attention or leave your 2 year-old sick child, not know if they will be alive or not when you return.