A Bitter Note

My next post was going to be about our island adventure, but last night kind of changed that a bit.  Viviane and her family invited us to their home for a churrasco last night.  We were so excited about getting to meet them and spending time with them.  The girls absolutely loved the fact that her father grows grapes and were having a great time eating right off the vines.  They have a little dog--the hotdog kind--and the dog took to me.  A little too much.  I noticed that he was following me everywhere, and always laying at my feet.  Matt and I were talking to Vinicio, Vivianes brother.  He is one of Darens English students and is an engineer for GM. I was petting Scooby and Sarah decided to come behind him and give him a hug.  He had been very friendly with the kids up until then.  Well, we think he got jealous and turned around and bit her in the face.  He bit right through her nose. 
It was pretty awful.  She was bleeding and traumatized by the dogs reaction to her.  Daren and Vive took Matt and I and Sarah to the hospital--the first one did not treat this kind of wound.  So then we went to a second hospital--which is basically just an Emergency Ward--where they finally did see us.  That was a bit of culture shock.  They do not have any curtains between the patients.  On the bed next to Sarah a guy was laying their with his head open and exposed while they stitched it shut.  On the other side of him was a little girl about Sarahs age who was screaming as they stitched up what looked like was her throat.  I did everything I could to keep her back turned to them so she couldnt see what was going on.  But she kept wanting to know why the little girl was crying. They finally cleaned the wound and said it would not require stitches, then told us that we would have to go to yet another pediatric clinic to get a tetnus shot.  It was about midnight before we got out of there. 
We made our way back to Vivis family and a very late dinner.  Such a wonderful family--they felt so bad--and I felt bad that they felt bad.  But they fed Sarah sausage, olives, and grapes and she was happy and dancing around until we left around 2AM. 
We are all exhausted and shaken, but God did take care of us.  But even though we were riding around the city in the middle of the night, I had a very strong sense of calm and peace that we would not be harmed.  Daren took great care of us too. He basically took his life in his own hands to get us water.  The pediatric clinic was in a very bad part of the city. He was so good about taking us all over and getting us where we needed to go.  On the way home he said, ok everybody--make sure you are buckled up because Uncle Daren cant stop at redlights at this time of night.  And I dont know what I would have done without Vivi.  She came in with me and traslated all the medical terminology and instructions I would not have understood very well.  Matt was very frustrated.  They would only let one parent go in and it was so hard for him not to be able to communicate and make sure that his little baby girl was getting the right kind of treatment. 
Sarah fell asleep in the car on the way home talking about Sammy and how Sammy is such a nice dog.  We all miss Sammy.  She slept through the night and now we have to watch closely for signs of infection and she will have to get another shot in three days. 
I am about ready to go wake Matt up so we can pack him up.  He leaves today for the States.  It was a bitter note at the end of his trip and I know that it will be very hard for him to leave Sarah right now.  So please pray for all of us. 
The picture above was taken two days ago in Gramado.  We had a wonderful time there and I will have to tell you about it soon.  But now to packing...