fun to show you a little of what ship board life is like. I can promise you it is not a cruise ship. It is a functioning hospital ship with 6 operating rooms. The medical staff does a lot of hard work on board, but then so does all the rest of us. It takes all of us to bring hope and healing wherever we go. But, life is not all work and no play. We have been blessed with comfortable living spaces on board. This 499 foot hospital ship takes a crew of 450 to run it. There are many families and individuals who live, work, eat, worship, relax and go to school. Yes, we have a fully staffed and functional school on board for the upwards of 70 kids we can have living on board. 
The teachers are really good. We had the pleasure of going through training with four of them, we were impressed with their dedication and desire to teach.But now, lets take a look at some of what we have on board. First of all is the Jacobsen home. The top picture is the room that the kids share. They have bunk beds, a little storage and as you can see, like all kids, a messy room. The next picture is Deb's and my bedroom, it is small but very comfortable. The bed is a cross between a queen and a full sized. Once we got over the jet lag, we have been sleeping very well. The next picture is our living room/mini-kitchen (we don't have a stove). The sofa is facing our picture windows so we can sit and watch ships, fishermen (see earlier blog) and the water. Not big, but still very comfortable with more than adequate storage. We also have a refrigerator and a sink in
this room. There is a kitchen table so we can bring food from the dining room up here and have a family dinner if we wish. The next picture is the best. Where else, as we say on board, can sit and take care of business, wash your feet, and brush your teeth all at the same time. The bathrooms are really small. If you aren't careful and you don't pull the shower curtain closed, you might get the toilet paper wet. But they are actually not bad. What took getting used to was having only one bathroom for the four of us. It is the first time we have had to do this. We are definitely learning to be quicker in the morning than we were.
On the left is Mike's office. Again, very comfortable and more than adequate to do what he has to do. With today's technology, it is amazing how quick and easy it is to communicate with almost anyone anywhere in the world. It is reassuring that I can call Mercy Ships in Lindale, Texas if I have a question (taking in account the 6 hour time difference).Below are three picture of some of the common areas. To the left is what we call the Town Square. It is two decks that contain our Starbucks (the picture on right), a snack bar that sells candy, sodas and on Mondays we can buy crepes and Wednesdays waffles, a Ship Shop (the closest thing to a department store on board), an internet cafe and a comfortable lounge area. Right around the corner is our crew bank. The bank is where the crew keeps their money, we can make deposits, withdrawals, and even transfer money almost anywhere in the World if we need to (that is part of Mike's job). The one thing our bank can not do is make loans.
The picture on the bottom is our dining facility. We eat all of our meals cafeteria style. The food is really good. We were told that everyone who lives on board for any length of time gains weight. Not good news for those of us who want to loose a little. As I said above, it is nice that one member of the family can come down, get enough food for the family and eat it in our cabins. It helps keep our family identity.
There are always things going on on board, like tonight, we went to what we call the International Lounge and watched a movie, but, this blog is long enough so I'll save activities and more picture until a future blog.
We thank you for joining us in our journey, we pray for all who read this blog, we consider you all family and friends no matter where in the World you are. God Bless you all.
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