Preparation for the sail

Before we had out to sea we have to do a few drills - this is one of them. Don't we look good in our lifewests ? Now Miriam is used to them, in the beginning she wasn't so happy about it.

Miriam with her preschool group getting ready for the sail. Her teacher put a lot of effort into preparing the little ones and we are so appreciative of that. Miriam is the second from the left :-) with the cutest smile !!

Who enjoys rainy season the most ?

We were playing on Deck 8, when out of nowhere it started pouring. Next thing we know, all the kids are jumping and sliding in the water. It was so much fun to watch them and very tempting to just join them .
Even though it is the end of rainy season we still experience some downpours every so often. We are grateful for Deck 8 and the ''play area'' that it is turning into for our little ones.
We only have a couple more weeks here

in Liberia before we are leaving for Tenerife.

Thank you all at home for supporting us in
any way shape perform.
We appreciate you all so much and send you our
love from West Africa.

Eye clinic visit

The other day I took a vision trip to one of our eye clinics and I saw these posters hanging up in the clinic. So if you are pregnant in Africa - you go and visit the ''big belly clinic'' ! Is that not something we ''Wester'ners'' have to smile about ?

And since there is also a bit of domestic violence going on they have to have signs like these - telling the man to be a loving and caring partner.

When I spoke with the eye coordinator she told me, that they see so many eye injuries that are caused by hitting and domestic abuse. It just made me sad and you can just hope and pray that posters like these speak to somebody.

What has happened with us on the AFM ?

In Miriam's preschool her teacher talked about friends and so we, being her friends, were invited by her to her friends party with popcorn and other sweet treats. It was a nice little break for Kelly and myself at 9:45 am !
Miriam wears her first african shirt and not to miss her green ''special helper sticker'' !!

Couple of weeks ago we had a tour of 75 school kids here on board and it was really fun. Even though it was quite stressful - the outcome was awesome and worth it.

The kids enjoyed the toys of our crew and had a fantastic time .

This is our media liason Tyler and she is such a big help and blessing - with her sweet personality and easiness to conect with people. Those east Texan's are just precious jewels !!!

Miriam is 3 !!

And a special Birthday guest was our friend Nick Vujicic from Australia. The man with no arms and legs that changed our lives forever. What an amazing man of God and an inspiration to us all !!!

.... and of course there was the cake and the gifts

This is how a 3 year old looks on the Africa Mercy - sitting in the Dining Room and waiting for her lunch...!! Since we can't have candle's on the ship, the artificial ones on the hat will have to do, she also got to blow them out - thanx to Daddy's creativity !!

With her friends from Liberia, Holland, Canada,

South Africa, Germany and the US at the afternoon party.

This is Miriam with her new gift from Susu and Papa who - Curious George - ... all the way from Mississippi even with Roller skates. She was sooo happy and Thank you to Susu and Papa Who !!!

She is a really proud 3 year old and told everyone on the ship that it was her birthday.

So the entire crew of the Africa Mercy knows now that Miriam Sue Grizzard is a proud 3 year old that goes to Miss Elizabeth's preschool.

''Mercy'' on the Africa Mercy

There is a new baby that was born on our hospital ward 3 days ago and her name is Mercy. Or that is what the day workers decided to call her. She is absolutly beautiful with big eyes and a lot of black curly hair. Her mother went into early labor and she is a mom of a little 6 year old patient that is here for treatment about his burns.
God is good and gave favour to the delivery and mom and baby are well and it is quite exciting to have a little newborn onboard.
Miriam already wanted to see her and she was very happy to touch her little cheeks and smile at her.

This is Laura, one of our ward supervisors holding Mercy just a couple hours after delivery. Everything went well and we are so grateful for God's protection and guidance.

Thank you for your prayers and support for us. We appreciate all of you so very much.

The Grizzard family in Liberia

Beautiful Miriam !!!

We just want to ''share'' our beautiful daughter Miriam Sue with you. And we thank the LORD for such a wonderful and happy girl that sings, jumps, laughs, giggles and makes everybody around her happy. She has adjusted to Ships life so well and is enjoying preschool.

Her new word is : actually , and it sounds really funny when she says it !!

.... do you think we've been too long on the ship now ? I get the impression that there is something wrong with my family !!

dress ceremony

Yesterday was a wonderful day for my patient ''Mama Brown ''. She is the 2nd. from the left - back row. She could go home after being in the hospital for weeks and having had her 3rd. VVF surgery. She is almost dry and for her that is a miracle. We do VVF surgeries onboard the AFM and it is a surgery for woman that have developed a fistula due to being in labor for too long - normally 3-4 days. It is unfortunatly very common here in West Africa.

We are so grateful that we can help some of those ladies - they are so sweet and have gone through so much trouble, often still from the time of the civil war that Liberia had for 14 years. It ended in 2003.

welcome to our webpage

hello everyone - we got into the 21st. century technology and you can look us up and see what we are doing down here in Africa