Clinic Day

 
 



On Tuesday Ruby and I had our second clinic day at the Cleft Palate Clinic in Lancaster. They are a very caring bunch, and we are fortunate to live so close to a great clinic.

It is always a very long day. Our appointment was at 10:30, and we were there until 1pm. The clinic allows us to see all the specialists (speech therapist, orthodontist, surgeon, pediatrician, audiologist) that relate to care of cleft palates. We just end up waiting a while between pop in appointments.  She'll continue check ups until she is five, when they will start to make plans for her next palate surgery.

opening her mouth wide after the dentist left!

Ruby was sort of bouncing off the walls in the waiting area, and then, once we did get into the exam rooms, she'd clench her little mouth up, knowing they all wanted a quick peek at her teeth.  The dentist totally missed her hidden tooth because she refused to say 'ah.' In the last room, I told her the nice surgeon would go away if she just opened her mouth, so she did, and after a brief conversation, he complied. Then we were out of there.

We took advantage of being in the city to go explore Central Market. We bought some produce and enjoyed the bustle. Then we found a Mexican restaurant and ate our late, much needed lunch. We found a park nearby with a dancing fountain that mesmerized us.






The city has pianos set up around the downtown, allowing it to call itself the "Street Piano Capital of the World." I thought people were scheduled to play, since there was someone with sheet music at every single piano whenever we passed by, but I was wrong. These folks just wanted to play. The pianos are mostly under overpasses or arches, making for neat acoustics. When we finally got into the car, she fell asleep after two blocks.







Today we took a field trip to Nixon Park. The girls really enjoyed exploring the indoor exhibits.  They have an extensive animal collection and a very interactive kids' area.  Then we took a hike, but I think the highlight was trying to catch tadpoles in the creek. 

"Mommy, is that Nature?"

Sapphire is getting very good at identifying Nature, especially when we are outdoors!  Here they watch a lightning bug make its way across the path.









Other news: At our house at least, the stink bugs might be winning.

Jasper has the 2014 Israel trip lined up, so if you are interested in learning about a late March trip, let us know and he'll send you the itinerary to review.








I leave in two weeks for my European trip. In addition to guide books, I've been reading books like *Priestblock 25487* (about all the many Protestant and Catholic clergy imprisoned at Dachau), *The Last Survivor: Legacies of Dachau,* and the *Nazi Officer's Wife,* all memoirs, to prepare me for Munich and Dachau. I was very interested to learn about the identity issues that people from the town of Dachau have--everyone associates their town with the concentration camp, but the camp itself is actually slightly closer to another town. No one goes there to see their castle. They are marked to the point that some people deliver their babies in other nearby hospitals so that the children do not have Dachau on their birth certificates.

I hope to blog through my trip as a way to journal and keep in touch with folks at home, so hopefully I'll have some neat photos posted here in two weeks!