He's Back!

They got stuck in Miami overnight on Sunday so Cody didn't get back until Monday at 2pm BUT he is here and I'm so happy! We've had a couple of honeymoon type days and it has been enjoyable to hear all about his trip, what he learned and what life is like in Bolivia. The pictures from our camera were slim but here are a couple of Cody with our Compassion Kid Efrian. (pronounced F-rye-een)Efrian is 15 years old, lives with his family on a small farm which is less than a 1/4 acre and rides his bike 30 min one way to school each day.

Boliva Update Day 7 & 8

Day 7

Wow! It’s amazing how fast a week can go by!

After breakfast Rob had a chance to meet Isaias, his Compassion Child. God has a sense of humor because this kid was so much like Rob! Rob said, “He’s a nerd, just like me!” This kid LOVES to study. He’s a huge geography whiz and really is quite amazing as you sit and listen to him spout Bolivian history and see his dedication to school and becoming the best student he could be. He lives with his grandmother – an amazing lady. He’s been with her since he was 3. His life had been so traumatic, parents abandoning him, and something happened which caused him to have delayed development. He didn’t speak until he was almost 5. The doctors told his grandma that he would never speak. Grandma is feisty and she refused to take that news. She told me that she prayed and told God, “Well, God, I think you’d want this boy to speak so I am trusting you to make it happen.” She went on to say that finally in Kindergarten he started talking and hasn’t stopped! Isaias was EXTREMELY nervous to meet us. We invited him to go to Lake Titicaca with us on Saturday and he burst into tears, it was too overwhelming. We reassured him that we understood and that we loved him no matter what. We left things by saying if he changed his mind, he could certainly come and Grandma could come too. He promptly told me, “Madrina, sabes que, no voy a tener las ganas de ir con ustedes. Tal vez cuando soy mas grande.,..” which basically means, “Just so you know I won’t have the desire to come with you. Maybe when I’m older…” Again, we told him that was fine and said our goodbyes. He was supposed to meet us Monday, but didn’t want to miss an exam at school. He was supposed to go with us for the whole day on Friday to hang out with us but didn’t want to miss school. This kid is dedicated!!!! His favorite read is the Encyclopedia. We busted out my laptop and gave him a crash course on maneuvering and in no time flat he was Wickipedia-ing Bolivia and giving us a short version history, and geography lesson.

Day 7 was an extremely tough day. Not necessarily in a physical sense, but very much emotionally. All of us had the opportunity to go on a home visit of one of the Compassion Project’s kiddos. For some it was their sponsored child. Devastating poverty is always something that will impact a person, changing their perspective forever. This day was no different. I don’t want to share all the stories, because each team member will have a story to share when they return. The visit I went on was really tough. The family lived in a one bedroom upper floor adobe structure. Wobbly and extremely steep and primitive wooden stairs were your entry into the “home”. Inside were 2 beds. Wooden floors, an extremely small table, closet and cooking stove much like a camp stove. Mom had been bed-ridden for 3 months with a spinal injury. Her daughter was there with her and all of us thought she was maybe the Compassion child living in the home. She looked like she was about 5 years old – all of us had to restrain ourselves from registering shock on our faces when she told us she was 15 years old. There were 2 other little sisters who also lived there who were at school at that time. Mom let us know that though she has tried to take care of her family, her husband usually knows when any money is made from selling her chickens and rabbits she raises and he takes her money, gets drunk and then usually beats her. This happens on a fairly regular basis. She wept as she unburdened her heart to us. We spent time praying with her, reading scripture and doing our best to encourage her. We also were able to give her a wheelbarrow full of food. This is not an unusually circumstance for many, many families here in El Alto. As you reflect on this terrible situation and the fact that it plays out over and over, you are left feeling hopeless and you realize that our only option is to help them understand the hope they can have in Jesus. We aren’t big enough to make a dent into this heartache, but God is.

Another HUGE heartache happened this same day. A nearby neighbor to the project came to us about 3 in the afternoon. He and teenaged son were frantic. The teenager had fallen asleep during his watch over his little 2 year old brother and woke up to find the little brother gone. Somehow the front gate had been left open and the baby brother had wandered away. They had been searching since noon. We helped them look but were not able to locate this precious little guy. As of 6 pm they still hadn’t found him. Today we asked if he had been found and he still hadn’t. I don’t even know what to say – our minds wander as we have seen the danger of these streets and we wonder if this little guy will ever be reunited with his family. We have continued to pray for a miracle.

The day ended with a very energetic goodbye program. Person after person got up to thank us for our work. Children gathered around each of us and prayed blessings over us. And, each one of us were gifted with the typical alpaca knit hat (Chullo) and awesome handmade gloves. These will come in handy in snowy Colorado!

Goodbyes are always terrible to me. I’d rather always just say, “See you soon!” So I did, because I plan to return! Crocodile tears were shed and many grimly little hands with dirty little faces that we loved with all our hearts clung to us and wept with us. Ouch! We leave Bolivia with pieces of our hearts left behind! My feeble attempts to describe these days don’t do justice to all we experienced, but hopefully you can see that God is good, He has changed us for His purposes and we know that He will continue the work He began through us here in El Alto.

Day 8

Rob and I were very surprised…we had a knock on our door after breakfast, Maria let us know that Isaias and his grandmother were at the hotel and were planning to go with all of us to Lake Titicaca. Wow! We couldn’t believe it.

We had an awesome day. The team loved Lake Titicaca. Amazingly beautiful. We had fresh trout for lunch, seriously the best I’ve ever had. Isaias was a new boy! No longer timid he talked our ears off. He LOVED playing games on Rob’s iPhone. Rob often has a funny way of saying “Hello!” as he’s reacting to things and by the end of the day, Isaias was saying “Hello!” as close to the way Rob said it as he could get. It was hilarious. We went out on the lake on some not so very sturdy looking sailboats. Always an adventure! His funniest question was “Is the United States democratic? Rob told me to explain to him that it is republic. Trying to explain the electoral college, etc…yeah, not so much. There are limits to my Spanish abilities!

On our return to the hotel we had the privilege of experiencing a genuine, El Alto, Bolivian traffic jam. Craziness! I don’t even think I can describe it! After finally arriving at the hotel, a quick “pit stop”, we jumped back into the vans and headed to LaPaz for some shopping. Let the bargaining begin! We had loads of fun looking at all the shops and enjoyed bartering for the best precio and asking for a “yapa” where appropriate when we bought in a large quantity. Yapa (not sure of the spelling) is the word for “just a little more” that you can ask for when you buy in a larger quantity.

Returning to the hotel, we went up to our 6th floor dinner room for dinner. We were greeted by a drunk cook (poor guy had been cooking for a wedding that afternoon and it is customary at weddings for people to give the cook shots of alcohol.) He staggered out with our food and we were all astonished it didn’t end up on the floor. The hotel staff sent reinforcements and finally sent the cook home. We also had the fun of the wedding DJ who stayed behind and played all kinds of songs (at least 3 decades old) for us to dine by. We got a kick out of some of the selections – Village People, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross…I’m not saying who, but several team members did the Electric Slide to one of the songs. We were definitely a spectacle to anyone who could see us through the upper story windows!

Now everyone is tucked away in their beds – at least I hope they are. They all leave at 4 am from the hotel tomorrow morning. Rob and I will have the blessing of sleeping in a bit and then we head for Cochabamba later in the day. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to truly be going to my hometown and having the opportunity for Rob to experience it with me! It’s been 28 years since I left. I know I’m in for some surprises. I can’t wait!

Not sure if I’ll have anymore internet options until we return. If I do I’ll keep posting, if not, I’ll post more when I get home.

Viva mi patria Bolivia!

Bolivia Update day 5 & 6

Day 5

The routine has become this – breakfast at 7:30 a.m., leave for the site at 8:30 a.m., return around 4:30 p.m.

Our wonderful new friend and Compassion Representative Yvonne received many cheers from the team for providing some new items for breakfast: oatmeal fresh bread, PIL yogurt (hooray for PIL – PIL was the dairy that provided all of our dairy products in Cochabamba growing up – as a recuerdo my mom gave me a PIL milk bottle that I have at home) and lots of Coca Tea and Nescafe Coffee. It was a little step up from the 2 pieces of cold toast and tea the days before. We very much appreciate the hospitality of the hotel staff, but we all needed a little more sustenance for the extreme physical labor we are doing at the site every day.

Arriving at the site starts our hearts a churnin’ with love. The children run up to the van yelling, “Hermana! Hermano!” as they run up to hug us. It’s a beautiful sight. One that we’ll carry with us for years to come.

The projects that we are working on include the building of classrooms, painting all the existing classrooms and serving the children by helping them with lunch and providing craft centers, activity centers, coloring centers, and whatever else we could think of…as in the “beauty shop” center which now happens daily and has not only been those little girls who were able to shower at the center that day, but also every single other little girl at the project! After lunch little chairs are set in front of big ones and 4 or so of our ladies go to town combing out the tangles (these little girls have the thickest, most beautiful, shiny black hair ever!) and then French braiding galore! We were able to buy some inexpensive cute little barrets, and hair ties…the little girls get to pick them out and you should see the smiles on their faces!

The building is going up slowly but surely! Rob and Tom Pelletier learned how to tie rebar Bolivian style. I was their interpreter and helper-outer for a while. Fun times! They finally got the hang of it. The big hole the ladies (who by the way were not Quechua, but Aymara I found out) dug out was amazing. The three little ladies could have outworked any one of us – amazing!

We returned to the hotel tired, dusty, sore, coughing up dust, but with overwhelming emotion in our hearts. It is a beautiful thing to show Jesus to others by coming alongside to help them in their work. We were able to purchase a bunch of tools to use and then leave behind and when the Project Director found out that we were going to do this she wept. She has been praying for more supplies but has not had the means to get them. God is good! Thanks to all of you who helped send us to impact this community.

Day 6

So, for those of you who ever played the game Frogger…Cody, myself and Yvonne were the human froggers this morning. We went with Yvonne to help bring back the fresh bread and yogurt for breakfast. Here in El Alto, traffic is tricky. If you were a car horn manufacturer, you would definitely make the big Bolivianos here! And, lanes are just suggestions, that basically are disregarded. We went down one side of the street, stopped at a little corner store and bought some bread, but then, we realized that the best place to buy the yogurt was on the other side of the street. Let the game of Frogger begin! We darted between traffic – when in Bolivia, do as the Bolivianos do, right? It was very entertaining for the locals, I’m sure, to watch Cody (who is super tall anywhere, but especially in Bolivia) with two other fair skinned women darting in and out of traffic, probably looking pale with fright at the prospect of ending up like the not so fortunate dogs we’ve seen along the roads! We made it across with a few “beep beeps” at us to get out of the way. Whew! We bought the yogurt and then had to go across. There was a pedestrian bridge which apparently the dogs use more than humans, but we decided we made it once, we’d give it another shot. This time we were relieved, having made it half way across the avenida, we saw that there was actually a traffic light. We waited patiently for the light to turn red so we could cross the rest of the way. Well, apparently the traffic lights are suggestions, too. We waited for the largest looking gap and then the game of Frogger began again! I have a whole new appreciation for the wonderful additions we have been having to our breakfast. Thanks, Yvonne, for risking your life every morning. LOL

After a hearty breakfast, we headed to the project site. We divided into the appropriate groups – one to work on the building, one to paint two additional classrooms that we were able to add to our project list since the other classroom was finished so quickly – woot, woot, Northern Hills crew – you rock! – and one group to hang out with the children. More children arrived today than the previous days. It was awesome to be greeted by them and to have them come up and hug you all afternoon.

More girls than ever had the chance to get their hair done. And little boys seemed to come out of the woodwork! To help the girls stop being antagonized by all the little boys…boys will be boys…I grabbed the 4 soccer balls and headed out to the open dirt space and kicked the ball as high in the air as I could and they’d run after the ball, laughing and wrestling each other to get the ball. It was a lot of fun. Eric came and helped out and soon we were having a contest. (Those who know me well, know I’m a tad competitive.) We tried to see who could kick the ball the highest and farthest. We were tied for a while…our little point maker guy was assigning us points for each kick. We both reached 300 and when I asked how to break the tie he said that whoever went even higher would win. Apparently Eric won. He finally ended up with 310 points to my 300. It was so much fun, I know tomorrow I will feel like I’m 202 years old – these bones aren’t as young as they used to be, but hey, it was worth it!

The building is coming along well. Today the tied rebar post thing went into the huge hole that was dug yesterday and Rob, Cody, Tom and John became the cement mixer on site and they poured the cement into the hole to secure it. They were awesome!

The painters also were amazing. They painted like crazy and finished the 2 added rooms to our projects. Tomorrow they will paint a mural on the first classroom we painted and we’ll all have the chance to leave a handprint on one wall and sign it. That way the kids can keep giving us “high fives” after we’re gone!

Late morning, Tiffany had a huge blessing. Her sponsored child’s family came to the center to ask Tiffany to go with them to see their house. Tiffany, myself, Kaela and our Bolivian Compassion Representative, Maria all went. It was such a blessing for Tiffany to meet her child’s family and to see the conditions they live in. It gives her great insight on how to pray for Erica and how to really bless her family.

The day ended at the site with a Birthday party. Every three months the children celebrate the birthdays that took place that quarter. About 100 kids and project workers, along with our team crammed into the little room that the church currently meets in and the festivities began. Kids singing at the top of their lungs, a clown, (one of the leaders at the project dressed up as a clown), Mickey Mouse, (Yvonne donned this costume – it was a hit!), and some crazy games later and it was time for cake.

We went back to the hotel, tired, dusty, and happy. We all were praying that the showers would cooperate and be nice and hot. For the most part, they were. Hooray! Dinner followed – delicious, and then a wonderful time of debriefing together. God is moving! We all will return with a portion of our hearts remaining in Bolivia!

More to come…

P.S. 2 more children from the project were sponsored today by a couple of people in our group. We got to see them meet their kiddos…again, such an amazing time! Rob and I get to meet Rob’s kiddo, Isaias , tomorrow. Looking forward to that, big time!

Here’s a couple pics…takes FOREVER to load, so more, lots more to come when we are Stateside. Slow dial-up, best I could do with images.

Bolivia Update Day 4

From Carol Ann's blog

Day 4

We had breakfast – fresh pansitos and coca tea, with eggs, then piled in to the van to head to our week’s project. We’re building 2 classrooms out of brick and morter (at least I think that’s the terms I should use) and also painting a classroom and putting up a new nylon ceiling. We have plans to paint a mural in the classroom. So fun. We also had the fun of hanging out with the Compassion kiddos who attend this project site. It was awesome!

The guys are learning a ton about the Bolivian way of building structures. My favorite moment was when one of the men was using a pick to dig out a big trench and then a couple of wonderful Aymara women dressed in their colorful skirts and all came up and took over. They “out-picked” every guy there! Hilarious. My limit in the altitude was 4 shovelfuls of dirt, then taking a breather.

The children have the chance to take a shower at the site. They bring their towels with them and have that opportunity. A bunch of little girls did so today and we had quite the beauty shop afterwards. Combing out their tangles and then French braiding galore! It was fun. I haven’t French braided hair in many years since my girls are all grown.

The rain started moving in mid-afternoon so we packed up the tools and gathered up our things and headed back to the hotel. Everyone was about at their limit with the altitude, but I am so proud of everyone. They are troopers and really are making a difference in this church project site and the community.

I’ll blog more soon…..

News From Bolivia

The leader, Carol Ann, is blogging about the trip so far. I copied her words below. Cody will be experiencing things similarly although from a fresh I've-never-been-anywhere-but-Mexico kind of perspective.

I will attempt to record bits and pieces of our mission trip and post as frequent I can.

Day 1 – March 20th

Travel day! Team arrived ready to go. Security lines were loooonnnggg. Probably about 500 people, but we made it through. However, our Compassion Representative got stuck in traffic due to a very serious car pile-up on her way from Colorado Springs. Flight for life and ambulances were on the scene. We were thankful she wasn’t in the accident, but we were saddened for those families who that accident affected and prayed for them. She wasn’t able to make it to DIA to leave with us, but caught up to us on Monday in LaPaz.
We left DIA a bit late, around 1:30 pm instead of 1, but everything still looked ok…until…Dallas. The flight in Dallas was delayed several hours which meant our Miami connection was looking impossible. However, God is faithful, and we arrived in Miami at 10:55 and literally had to sprint through the airport to the connecting LaPaz gate and made it just in the nick of time. We all tried to get some sleep on the overnight flight to LaPaz, tried being the important word here!
Day 2 – March 21st

Arriving in LaPaz at 6 am, we were tired, but super excited to be in Bolivia. Our gracious Compassion host, Maria, who works with Compassion in Bolivia, met us at the airport. We drove through El Alto, the HUGE sprawling very poverty stricken city just outside of LaPaz where we would be staying and working for the week. Our hotel, El Mirador, is on a corner, six stories, definitely not a 5-Star hotel, but we are very thankful for the Bolivian hospitality. Beds are not the mattress with springs kind, but more of the stuffed with wool, very “firm” mattresses with tons of wool blankets as there is no heating system in the hotel. Letting the team know that when they use the toilets in Bolivia they don’t flush toilet paper was a fun little announcement to make. The toilet paper is thrown into the wastebaskets placed next to the toilets. Wish I had taken a picture of a few faces as they heard this news. J For me, it was a flashback to my childhood – growing up in Cochabamba, Bolivia, that’s just part of life!
We had breakfast, were given the amazing Coca Tea which helps tremendously with altitude symptoms, and then were on our way to church service at the project site where we will spend our time working this week.
There are no words to tell you how I truly felt being back in Bolivia after 28 years of time in the US. (I left Bolivia in 1982.) Sitting in the church service, singing Demos Gracias al Señor, demos gracias, demos gracias por su amor…. hearing hermano Emilio preach the word and being in the same room with these beautiful Bolivian faces…tears rolled down my cheeks and I think I would have embarrassed everyone if I’d allowed myself to fall apart. It was beautiful. God is so awesome to have given me this opportunity! An added blessing, being here with Rob and the other wonderful 13 team members from Northern Hills. Wow. Seriously no words can really explain the depth of my heart and the emotions flooding over me. I am really home in Bolivia after all these years!!!
After the service we were given a tour of the site where we saw the project needs of where we will be working – building classrooms, painting, playing with the project children and more. We will not return to Colorado the same. This week will definitely change each one of us as we see God using us in ways we never imagined and we are blessed beyond measure by the wonderful people of Bolivia. Before returning to the hotel (remember we flew in at 6 and were basically blind staggering by now, but God helped us have the energy we needed) we spent time with the congregation who gave us an amazing feast spread out on Bolivian quechua blankets of potatoes, whole little dried fish, cheese, eggs, noodles and chuño (a very interesting dried black rotten looking little potato that is actually quite good). My husband (Rob) and Jen Jaquish ate the whole little fish, said the eyes were squishy.
We went back to the hotel for our “second lunch” which had more normal food for everyone and then after lunch…..SIESTA TIME! Oh yeah! I don’t think anyone cared that the mattresses were rock hard or that there was no heat…we just piled under the blankets and were asleep in no time. Waking up after a 3 hourish siesta, we felt refreshed and headed to supper. We had vegetable pureed soup, with llahua (don’t know how to spell it, but it’s a GREAT hot salsa in Bolivia), potatoes and sausage. Potatoes are a staple for the Bolivian people. I’m sure we’ll be eating a lot of them! We may have a cookbook in the future “The 700 Ways to Serve a Potato” Bolivian style.
After dinner we had a debrief time – many emotions and great stories of God at work and all around the incredible awareness of what a blessing it is for us to be here to be doing God’s work here in Bolivia. A million thanks to all who are praying and helped us financially to get here!
After a fun game of telephone Pictionary …. “And He said ‘huh’? and I said ‘what”? Kaela Green, seriously! (Sorry readers, guess you had to be there!) …we were off to dreamland once again.
Day 3 – March 22nd

Overwhelming! The majority of the team got to meet their Compassion children. Those of us who don’t have a sponsored child or will meet them on another day watched and were moved to tears at these beautiful children who were so overjoyed to meet their sponsors. After a time of giving gifts, tons of hugs, meeting their families…we all piled in to vans and headed to the zoo in LaPaz. Amazing views of the famous Mount Illimani – breathtakingly beautiful!
We spent the day at the zoo with the children, had a delicious Pollo Copacabana lunch with the kids (reminded me of the Pio Pio restaurant I used to eat at – this last little tidbit is for my mom’s benefit). Then in the afternoon there was more zoo-time and those of us meeting our children on another day headed to hike around the Valle de la Luna. Spectacular! We had a great time. I told our guide (the Director of 13 Compassion Sites here in LaPaz, Don Herman) that if I said, “this is a great place to take a picture” that really meant “we are terribly out of shape gringos experiencing the altitude and need to rest a bit!” We did pretty well…hmmmm…well, just so you know we took a TON of pictures. LOL
Fun moment of the afternoon – I introduced Rob to SUBLIMEs! A chocolate bar from Bolivia with peanuts in it. Cody Bohall had the nerve to suggest it was like a Mr. Goodbar. Ahem, Cody, what in the world!? We photo documented the moment…pics to be shared later. After the Sublime I had to buy some Galletas de Agua, and some Merenguitas cookies. I LOVE BEING BACK IN BOLIVIA!
We returned to the hotel to say goodbye to the children. No one can be prepared for this. One day with these children and your heart is gone forever. It was hard to see them leave. Many hugs, lots of tears and promises of “I’ll write soon” or “I’m coming back!” were made.
After another great dinner (chicken, rice with cheese in it that I thought was arroz con leche – ooops, cabbage, carrots, beef and gravy) and SUBLIMES for dessert (courtesy of our wonderful Compassion Representative, Yvonne, who finally caught up with us!) we had a wonderful time of debriefing. Rob reminded us that just as the children were so excited to meet us and we experienced their overwhelming joy and exuberance and how we were so anxious to bless them and spend time with them, God desires that from us and also to be with us. We were challenged to come to God expectant, excited and genuinely ready to receive all He desires to give us. Really hit home after seeing this example in these beautiful little children.
Now it’s bedtime! Don’t know if I will get to blog every night. Sorry this is so long, but it’s the best I can do. I’ll post a few pics on Facebook. Will try to keep up, but at least this shows you that GOD IS AT WORK IN US, THROUGH US, AROUND US in Bolivia. We give Him all the glory and are so thrilled to be used by Him this week!

Another Update from Bolivia

Hi Everyone -

On behalf of the Mission Team, thanks for your prayers! We had a long flight day - a connection in Miami with about 5 minutes to spare and some other assorted excitement, but we made it safe and sound. Please continue to pray for health - altitude is giving some headaches and such, and for God to really use us while we are here. Please forward this news to others who are praying.

We have very limited internet access so no news is good news!

Blessings,
Carol Ann for the whole team.

Bolivia Update

Amazing church service this morning. Kids were awesome. The pastor had me lead one song. Community made us lunch picnic style. I ate a fish... Head and all.

Update on Bolivia Trip posted by Carol Ann Kelly on Facebook.

The team's Compassion rep didn't make it to the airport in time for their flight. So...the team is in Bolivia for a couple of days without our stateside logistics leader. They seem to be handleing it well though based on the facebook post from above. Carol Ann is the church team lead, was born in Bolivia and speaks the language making it a much better situation than it might have been. :)

Off to Bolivia

I dropped Cody, Jen and John off at the airport this morning. All of them were weighed down with bags full of fun stuff for the kids in the Compassion project in Bolivia and with the questions like "Do you have your id?" "You got your passport?" "Are you sure you got everything?". They are going to have a great time and I'm sad that I won't be joining. I'm excited to hear what God has to say to Cody through this experience.

Well Auburn and I are off to purchase NEW MOON! and then to Adria's wedding reception in Colorado Springs. :)

Five days to go

Cody is headed to Bolivia on Saturday for his first ever international mission trip. The countdown is on and so is the pressure. So much work stuff to catch up on to make sure that everyone has what they need while he is out of town. I have a list of things that I'm putting off until he is gone and I'll catch up then. Checkbook balancing, house cleaning, grocery shopping etc. We spent the weekend in Wray as Studio 8.18 Engineering opened it's NE Colorado office for the first time. He'll be back there once a month moving forward to have a local presence for the municipalities. Other than that, life is normal!

Enjoy the SUN!

Skip to my Loo broke the wall

Auburn was playing with her LeapFrog brand toy that matches animals. One of the songs that it plays when you push a certain button is Skip To My Loo. Auburn would push the button for the song and then she and Cody would start skipping. During the skipping portion Cody got a little exuberant in his skip, lost his balance and put his heal through the wall. Skip to my loo broke the wall and I have it on good authority that he isn't going to fix it until the wall itself comes down...

Eggs and Auburn

While down on the computer trying to get something important taken care of my 2 year old decided to open the refrigerator, get the eggs out, attempt to crack an egg on the skillet on the stove (that she can only reach on tip toes) and get egg all over the stove. I'm not really sure what happened to the other 3 eggs since there were just a few shells on the floor and Fella was licking away with egg in his fur. Joy...I guess the floor needed mopped anyway.