Tanna Donalson’s Blog

I love Sundays!

Today has been a much better day if you were wondering.  I had plans to go to this village called Dunni with that missionary that I mentioned named Tommy Harrison.  He is from Alabama - well on the Georgia, Alabama border and he has been coming here for many years.  His wife died not too long ago and he pretty much lives here.  He goes home about 6 weeks out of every year.  He really is an amazing older man - I learned a lot from him this morning.  So anyway, I went out to Dunni with him - it took us about an hour away.  It would have only been about 20 minutes but the road was unreal and we stopped to take lots of different people to different villages - people that otherwise would have had to walk hours and hours to get to their destination.  Tommy wasn’t on any sort of schedule although they were waiting on us when we got to Dunni to start church.  The villages are so small that when you drive up - they know and so they can just carry on with life and when the kids start yelling, “salminga” - everyone knows that the white people have come to start church.  So anyway, first we sang some praise songs.  The songs were about telling Satan to go away because we don’t want a part of him, God has made a road for us and not to be afraid,  wanting Jesus to come because He has life, there is no medicine man or witch that has the power of God, heaven is a fine city - I will someday live there, I’m dancing because I am happy, and if it weren’t for the Lord Jesus, I would be lost.    I LOVE their songs.  They are so applicable to their lives and culture.  Which brings me to the purpose of this blog today.  First thing I want to write about is the method of missionaries establishing churches around the world and how much damage is done.  Someone said that missionaries have done more harm than good as far as church planting goes.   We try so hard - way too hard to push our culture and beliefs on these people and completely disregard that the Holy Spirit is alive and working and not allowing Him to reveal Himself to them the way He sees fit.    There is this cultural boundary that a lot of people cross.  A church is to be established for what purpose?  To spread the word of God.  So we say that spreading the Word is our purpose, but yet a lot of missionaries will try to tell people how to do things and why their ways are wrong.  Sure, we can teach the people to build water wells, how to wash their hands and the importance of it, how to read and write - give them skills.  But you can’t change the way they do all of that.  If you do change the way they do things, as soon as you leave they will go back to their old ways.  You see, especially here - the people are very into traditional things - especially the men.  So - you can come here and build a church, teach them how to build in the process, and teach them God’s Word but if there is no discipleship or friendship formed, it will be all for not and that church will fall apart.  So it’s interesting when short term missionaries have a goal to plant churches because it takes so much tender love and TIME to get things going in the right direction.  This area has been evangelized for about 50 years now but before that, they didn’t know who Jesus was.  SOMEONE had to come here and lay down the Truth and then allow the Holy Spirit to come and do His work in a way that is perfectly appropriate and cannot be messed up by human decisions.  That’s where we should draw the line.  People have got to be discipled and get discipled but at that point - they may not see things the exact same way you do - because of those cultural differences and isn’t it so wonderful that we serve the only God who transcends ALL languages, all boundaries, and has no boundaries!  It’s a good thing it’s not up to us.  If we tried to teach these people God’s Word just the way we understand it and expect them to understand it the same - we’re crazy - it just doesn’t work like that.   An example, the scripture that says if a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat.  We see little of this in the states and it’s usually confined to homeless shelters but here - LITERALLY if a man doesn’t work he will starve.  There are no homeless shelters and there is little mercy from one family to the next.  He will starve and die if he doesn’t work and so this scripture may seem a little more clear or relevant to the people here.  Also, stories about sorcery and other witch activities in the Bible, that we may have never been taught - are taught here all the time because that is the culture.  There are witches and sorcery and all kinds of strange traditional things going on.  In Nilerigu, we are somewhat sheltered from a lot of this although not all of it.  Way out in the villages far away, it’s more obvious.   So I guess after all this rambling - I should say my view of church planting/missionary work is totally different than it was.  Another glorious thing about this is that it would force you to relinquish any control you might have over things to the Lord whenever you are restricted to only teaching God’s Word and not saying anything else.  That was the very first sentence out of Tommy’s mouth this morning; “Everything I am about to tell you came directly out of Ephesians chapter 1 and is God’s Holy Word not mine.”  This way, he is not responsible as long as he doesn’t let his flesh intercede.  The Lord totally blessed him this morning too with some receptive people and even a few very profound questions.  One lady told him that she didn’t understand in the Bible when it says that if you have broken one commandment you have broken them all.   I think it’s James 2:10.  She was having a hard time with this and Tommy explained to her that if one little thing went wrong with his truck - like a flat tire -  the whole thing wouldn’t run and likewise, when you receive forgiveness after repentence from the Lord - He forgives ALL your sin - not just the most recent one. :)  Glory to God for that too!  That was a hard question to answer but he did a good job - I don’t know what I would have said.  And this lady’s second question was about prayer.  She was unsure that the Lord really heard her - she didn’t know how to tell and she was unsure of how to pray.  So Tommy encouraged her for a moment and when the morning was over she gained spiritual confidence in the Lord, stood up and prayed for all of us.  She was so outgoing and seemed to be liked by all.  I just prayed and prayed for her that the Lord would rise her up and give her the ability to be a leader which is all these villages really need…a leader.  The men were totally absent - out farming I am sure of it.  Tommy said this morning that last time he talked with the men he told them that in the Bible it says that when Jesus returns 2 will be somewhere together and one will be taken and the other one left.  He told them they better get ready because when that happens they will be at a loss and won’t survive without the women.  The women cook, clean, take care of the kids and house, nurse, take the kids to the hospital, go to market for the family, and even farm.  If the men were without the women they truly would be lost.  Typically the men are very stuck in tradition and don’t come to church often.  It is a sad reality because like I said, these villages are crying out for a leader to teach them because no one can read or write but there is no one to lead - not one man in a lot of villages who are willing to sacrifice some things and learn for the sake of their community.  On the flip side, there are some villages that have a pastor and sometimes that pastor gets sent off to school in Tamale which is a few hours away but when they return, then that village will have a leader.  Interesting isn’t it.

Alright friends - I am going to go on a little hike.  It’s super hot right now but it’s one of the last chances I will get to do this so I am doing it.  It’s really only a hill I am going to hike up but it’s something to do and I will get to see some of the beautiful farm land.   It is all savanah out here - and really when it starts raining more, from what I hear, it is even more beautiful than it already is.

My heart is healing from Friday and I truly appreciate those of you who have read that blog and prayed for me.  I am not sure I have been that desperate for help and encouragement as I was on Friday.  I hope to not ever have a day like that again but I know that with the Lord all things are possible - and we will not be defeated but instead claim victory over our enemies like fear, doubt, destruction, and sorrow.  I refuse to give into Satan’s scheems to take me off track and break my heart.  The Lord allowed it all to happen to help me see some things and open my eyes.  As He always does, He turned darkness into light and takes a terrible situation and somehow makes sense of it all.  Praise Him who is in control and praise Him for not allowing me to have control when I think I want it.  

We need Jesus to protect us from ourselves…do you realize that?  We are our own enemy.  Our flesh has evil desires and without Him stopping us, we would destroy ourselves!   I have definitely seen the repercutions of that.  I don’t know how to spell that word and I’m too lazy for spell check - so forgive me!

Much love to you all.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Proverbs 16:18

Friday June 6th, 2008….a day I wish to never revisit.  The lessons learned will one day justify all this - but as for now - I can offer no explanation - only sorrow, complete humility and gut-wrenching heartbreak.  The story goes like this:

I went to bed at a normal time on Thursday night.  We had our station meeting with the missionaries here and got to go to Tommy’s house who is a missionary who lives in the village most of the year.  He is an outstanding older man and I wish I could have even more time with him.  When I got back home I was tired so I showered and went to bed thinking the whole time…how much more time do I have to stay without anyone to lean on, a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen?  The minutes left count began then.  I do love this place for reasons but I also have learned how soon sanity might break without family or at least a good close friend.  Surely my attitude was wrong and I regret that.  The Lord rebuked me of sin - maybe without His gentle touch this time.  The following story was His cry out to me to turn from sin.  His cry was heard….all around my world.   So I had my alarm set for 6:50am as I do every day although I was already awake considering sweet Cheney outside YELLING for no apparant reason starting at 6am.  I got out of bed to get dressed and pull myself together for hopefully a not so painful day of clinic.  At first, things went my way - and then I got the real wake up call.  So I ate a little and went up to the hospital to do rounds.  To tell this story correctly I have to give some background on the first patient I saw Friday morning.  This patient was a grown man who came in on Wednesday complaining of paralysis from his knees down.  That’s not exactly how strokes usually present but with this numbness that was sudden with no associated injury or anything, you have to wonder.  Dr. Hewitt admitted him and just started him on Aspirin just in case it was cardiac related.  Thursday I saw him and he wasn’t any better…he was worse.   He couldn’t feel anything from the waist down.  I remember my note in the chart - expressing my concern that if the paralysis continued to ascend, it would eventually get to his diaphragm and he would stop breathing and die.  I immediately began to think - what on earth is going on?  After a few minutes in my mushy brain, I had an idea.  I thought maybe this guy has what is called myasthenia gravis.  I don’t remember a lot about it from school but I remember that it causes ascending paralysis and I don’t think anyone knows what causes it.  I couldn’t for a minute remember how to treat it but then suddenly, ’steroids’ popped into my head.  Without thinking another moment I asked for Dr. Hewitt’s consent on starting some steroids since it was his patient and he said I could try.   So proudly, I walked back to this patient and just knew his cure was coming…steroids.  So I ordered them in complete confidence.  Back to Friday.  I went to see this patient first because I was so excited to see if he got better.  I looked at him and knew immediately that he was doing great.   After some questioning, I learned that he was no longer numb and he was doing well.  I was SO proud of myself for remembering anything and I took full credit for it all.  Before I go on, I think I mentioned that I hadn’t been feeling well.  By the time I got to the hospital on Friday I felt great - no nausea - nothing.  So far, on this blazing hot day - everything was going my way.  I move onto some other wards to see people and then finally make it to ward 5.  This is where they hold kids (not babies) and some women too.  I looked straight ahead and there were 2 young girls laying in their beds waiting to be seen.  There was a little wooden stool between the beds and I decided to sit there and see these to girls.  So I sat down and naturally, being right handed, I looked to my right to see this girl first who was there for a snake bite.  All morning one of the nurses was acting so funny.  I didn’t know what was wrong - he seemed to be in a panic but never said anything.  So there was a female nurse standing next to me at the foot of the bed helping me translate for this little snake bite girl.   She was doing well and I began to write discharge orders for her.  To my left and a little behind me was another nurse, the one that was acting strange.   The nurse that was helping me says, “well, are you going to see this next girl now or are you finished?”  I said, “of course, I just need to see her chart.” So as the chart was being retrieved, I looked at this nurse who was acting funny and he says to me, “The girl had a seizure”.  I said, ‘ok I need to give her some phenobarbital but I don’t have her chart yet and I can’t order it if it has already been ordered, so I need the chart.”  By the time I said that, the chart was there and I began to look back through the orders.  There was no order for phenobarbital, so I began to write it.  As I began to write, the male nurse looks at me and says, “Madam, the patient has expired.”  Ya.

For me as people have died around here, my first response is this initial shock that only lasts seconds, and then comes sorrow, then my anger because it doesn’t have to be this way - and then acceptance of the way things are and sometimes I even have peace especially if I hear they knew Jesus.  That’s my cycle of grieving - whatever those psychologist say - that’s the way it works for me and it’s a cycle I know all too well now.  I have each stage down to a time.  I know that I will be shocked for about 30 long seconds, then sad for about 30 minutes and then I will be angry about it for a few hours and then by the end of the day I have accepted it.  The worst part about it is that this cycle is pretty much my daily schedule.  There are good days - few and far between.

Back to Friday.  My initial response due to my shock was, “what!?!?” and he repeated, “This patient just expired.”  Then my sorrow set in and behind many tears was medical personnel that had to do what I was taught and listen for heart tones, lung sounds and feel for a pulse.  So that’s what I did and was disappointed at the result.  I got nothing.  Next, I looked at her face which I regret. I won’t describe that.  Next I looked at the man standing next to me - stoic as could be.  I met eyes with him and then he turned to look at his lifeless daughter.  He hung his head over hers for one quick moment and then was taken away to the chaplains office.  Haven’t seen him again.  No chance to say I’m sorry - nothing.   Still in my sorrow stage, crying, I stand back leaning against the wall hoping it would provide the support I needed to keep my from turning into an emotional puddle right there in front of all those people.   The child to the left and the right of this little girl were just staring at her…just like everyone else in the room.  My tears were the only ones in that room.   Next, they brought in a curtain to hide the body, but we could still see everything.  I couldn’t leave although half of me wanted to.  Then before I could transition out of the sorrow stage, they came and took her away - off to the morgue.  The next events were only a result of my grieving cycle, including locking myself in the bathroom to cry for a minute, taking deep breaths, faking my happiness to dodge having to explain any emotion, etc.   I went back to work after all that. 

As I tried to figure out why on earth I had to go through that…I only came up with a few things.   I was sitting on that stool for at least 10 minutes tending to this young girl who just had a snakebite and was in no grave danger.  No one ever said anything to me until it was too late about this other girl not doing well.  By default, I looked to my right first and saw that girl first  - never thinking anything about it.   I do wish with everything in me that he would have told me this girl was not doing well - that’s what these nurses are supposed to do anyway.  But at the same time I know without a doubt that if he would have told me, I would have been holding somebody’s baby girl in my arms doing anything I could to lengthen her life….and then she would have died literally in my arms.  Maybe the Lord was protecting me from that, knowing that my heart would be heavy enough seeing what I saw - I didn’t need to have her die in my arms.  

My point:  Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”   I will never again in my life be so prideful.  The Lord showed me His unmatchable power on Friday.  I thought I did something well - giving myself full credit and not even acknowledging His ability to bring things to my memory when I need them. I thought I did something well and built myself up about it and just as soon as I adopted that prideful attitude, He quickly allowed me to see what would happen if I were in control….destruction.  I refuse to take the blame for that child’s death because I know she was very sick and was probably going to die anyway - regardless of any man made medicine I could have given, but nonetheless, I didn’t even look at her until it was too late.  I have to have the Lord with me in all that I do, write, say, etc.  He is everything and I wish the english language had a better word to describe what I want ‘everything’ to convey.  There is nothing else - nothing.  Without Him, there is only chaos, confusion, hurt, sorrow, mass destruction, loss, etc.  I, at this moment, have more humility that ever before.  I am hopefully going to learn to ask the Lord first before I do anything - even silly little things.  He really does care and He really showed me that He was here on Friday.  I am aware of His presence and His heart has overwhelmed me.  He has a wrath and He is powerful.  I have seen it first hand.  I wasn’t prepared or emotionally stable enough at the moment to handle it all.  Even though He allowed it to happen the way it did, He still cared about me and comforted me and gave me the strength I needed to carry on.   I will never ever forget the picture of that room as I stood up against a lifeless wall crying - looking at the people - somewhat unaffected by the situation.  This is certainly a lesson I will never forget.

In my journal last night I wrote the following: “Lord, help me stay humble here and for as long as I live.  That little girl’s life was not my punishment for pride but you allowed that sequence of events to happen and allowed me to see it the way I did to teach me a lifelong lesson.  You certainly are good Lord but I wish I wouldn’t have had to see that.  I will never forget it - help me forget it.  Please help me to recover - forget about what I saw - the child’s innocent face - but never forget my lesson.  I trust you - even when I am alone and have no shoulder to cry on or lean on - I still have You.  I know that my physical solitude has led me to spiritual abundance.  Only having you is hard for all of us but I know now that you really are all I need and that I can handle anything as long as I have you with me - one step ahead of me.  Thank you Lord for today eveb though I don’t understand it.”

I love you all.  Please thank God for your own life today and those whom you love around you.  Life is temporal.  Life is so temporal.  Not one second of your temporal life is guaranteed.  Please don’t forget this.  Love your families.  Drop your bitterness or anything that entangles you and holds you back from the only one importance in life - Jesus.  I have a hard time with these things - but I can only encourage you as I am being encouraged by His word.    What a miracle that you even live and breathe.   And we ask for more…..

I miss you all and as I fight through my own tears please know how much I love each of you and plead the Lord to see us all in His image and not what we have made ourselves to be.  Salvation in Jesus is the only important thing on this earth….if you haven’t found it - I beg you to ask Him.   Hug yourselves for me.  

What I left out from yesterday…

Well, I finally found a few quite moments here to write a few things I forgot about.    As I was writing about the story of the guy making fun me yesterday it reminded me of another similar story.  I told a lady good morning the other day and she responded with “na” which is appropriate and then she greeted me back.  I said “na” bc I didn’t understand the greeting thinking that when in doubt, “na” is always a good guess of a response!  So after I said that she turned to her friend and in broken english she told her how funny it was that the white people just say ‘na’ when they don’t know what else to say!  AH!  My secret is out!  Sometimes I just laugh and mumble something under my breath and they think I said something that was right but that doesn’t always work.  I am sure these people think I am nuts  - and I have to say I can’t do much arguing right now.  I think I lost my sanity last Saturday when I was left here alone.  :(  Poor pitiful me.    The very first thing I committed to memory when I was learning Spanish was how to say “I don’t understand” - “no comprende” and it would make sense that I would have learned that in Mampruli too.  I think maybe I asked someone how to say that but I guess I just don’t remember and I can’t tell you how many times I could use that a day.  Like I said, once you say something in their language, they think you can say a lot more. 

Oh - I wanted to tell about the market.  The people that have been here will totally understand all of this but Tuesday was especially charming ;).  So the king of the region AND the chief of the mampruli tribe both live in Nilerigu.  On Tuesday, Mona Hewitt (Dr. Hewitt’s sweet wife that takes good care of me) took me up to the market to look for some fabric to make some things for a friend and her family.  As we were getting close we began noticing tons and tons of people all over the place.  People looked as though they were going to church, in their nicest attire and all done up.  In front of the chief’s palace, which is a group of huts, was a bunch of people gathered around.  I don’t know what all that was about but I have some ideas.  Mona told me that sometimes a tribe or a people group will give the chief a wife.  She will usually be in her teens or at least very young and neither he nor she can resist the marriage.  He has MULTIPLE wives and they live in his palace and I guess they serve him.  The super sad part is that if the chief dies, which he will one day, and the wives are still alive, they can NEVER remarry.  How sad is that?  So maybe it was some ceremony where they were giving a young girl to the chief.  Who knows.      So…onto the market.  After we turned the bumpy brown and dusty corner we drove into clouds of smoke from all the fires in the market.  People are burning trash and cooking over hot coals and dirty fires all over the place.  It was near suffocating and for some reason it was more than usual.  So to try and paint a picture of the market just envision the only color being brown, and masses of these little hut things.  The huts are basically 4 posts in each corner and there is a thatch roof on top - no walls.  They are all interconnected and although there is no rhyme or reason to anythinig that goes on there - everyone seems to understand it all.  It is highly unorganized and extremely chaotic.  Lots of pushing and shoving and tons of little kids screaming, “salminga, salminga”.  I was looking for fabric as I mentioned and since this is about my 8th time to go to market now I pretty much knew where those shops were.  When you get to a shop you want to look at they try to take all decision making out of your hands by saying, “This one is nice, buy it.”  They are fearless.  If they don’t ask, they might not get anything so they just act that way all the time.  It’s so funny to me.  I told her I was looking for a fabric that looked manly and not girly and she points to this yellow green and purple dealy with glitter all over it.  It didn’t take many more seconds for my slow brain to tell me that she was not understanding what I was asking for, so I moved on.  At the next shop I couldn’t breathe because of all the smoke so we moved on.  The next shop I was at actually made me laugh.  I was standing there looking at fabric when all the sudden something hit my leg.  I looked down and this little goat had gone mad and was running away but not looking where it was going - as dumb goats do.  So it ran into the fabric shop and right inbetween my legs.  It was no big deal to anyone but me and again I just had to say to myself, “only in Africa”.  The only thing colorful about the market which some call a trash dumb and that’s not far from the truth, is the women’s clothes.  They never ‘match’ and we would want to but they wear very colorful fabrics.  A lot of times all their clothing is, is 3 yards of some fabric wrapped around them…that’s all.  They wear it so well too.  I think I like that style. :)  So as you try to walk from place to place, you rub up against tons of people, some big some small, some friendly and some not.  Lots of them will have multiple things on their heads and you actually have to duck as you walk by them so as not to knock the stuff off their heads.  That’s something I really want to learn.  It’s so efficient.  They carry their babies on their back with no hands - just the fabric and then they carry an unbelievable load on their heads.  So you have a woman with a child and a huge bucket full of stuff and she has 2 free hands.  Man - she could make a killing helping spoiled families in the US get things done around the house! 

Ok - so one little medical story and although slightly sad, its educational about this culture.  So I saw this man in clinic on Monday. He tells me that his legs and feet are swollen so I took a look.  Welp, his legs and feet surely were swollen but that wasn’t the problem.  I asked him if he had any long term diseases or any reason for his hands and feet to look like they do and he told me that he has leprosy.  He was treated years ago at some other village but since has had some problems with his digits.  His hands had 10 fingers all together but only about 5 of them had all the joints.   Some of the tips had fallen off and some had been taken off.  Same story with his toes.  So I sent him to the theatre so that after clinic I could take a closer look and decide what to do.  I was planning to just incise and drain his toes bc they were seeping pus, but after looking closer Dr. Hewitt and I decided his toe really just needed to come off.  So I started with the most distal (far away) portion first.   I went right through the joint and didn’t really even have to do any cutting, it just turned to puddy in my hand.  I couldn’t close the wound because there was no skin to stitch shut so I decided to ask if I could take the whole toe off because it was all dead and if I didn’t do it, it would fall off eventually anyway.  He says NO!  After talking with the guys back in the theatre, I learned that the reason he wouldn’t let me finish the job was because if you are missing a whole toe or a whole finger, you can’t be in the running for chief!!!  Oh my goodness.  This guy had leprosy and only a few in tact digits on his whole body and he wanted to be chief.  hmm.  So anyway, I am sure we will see him back soon so that we can fix his feet.  Sad but true story.

I have tried about a million times to upload pictures onto this thing.  It tells me that the files are too big.  If anyone out there knows how to fix that, I would appreciate some help!  I have got some great pictures that I can’t wait to share with you all!  I hope everyone is doing well!  I am maybe feeling a wee bit better today but not really.  I am trying to take it easy but I feel like I have some things to get done too.  I may go spend some time in the maternity ward and see if I can deliver a few little ones!!!

Enjoy your families and the luxury you have.  Please don’t take for granted all that you have been given and find yourself just wanting and wanting.  Happiness or rather pure joy isn’t and will never be found in temporal things or material possessions, but rather it can be found at the core of the Father’s heart who loves you, who died for you, who is begging for your attention and much more of it, and who sits and looks at you with a heart full of awe because He sees you as you were created - in HIS image - pure, beautiful and without fault.  Find forgiveness for yourselves and for others.  Experience the freedom that only HE can give when you surrender.   And please for the love of Jesus - tell people about Him!

I love you all!  Thank you for your everlasting prayers and for encouraging me through a trying yet triumphant time in my life.  I couldn’t ask for better love and support and I am truly thankful for each of you! 

A new friend!

Hello everyone!! I am sick so I left the hospital early today and I thought I would come and write just a little bit.  I hope this finds everyone doing well and feeling well.  I began getting nauseated on Friday and it has just progressed since then.  This morning, I was leaning over a young girl trying to examine her and I suddenly was just sure I was about to throw up so I quickly ran down to the surgery office where there is a sort of bathroom.  I NEVER EVER want to have to use that especially when I am sick - but I was willing.  I felt terrible.  So I went home and took a nap for a while and went back to work this afternoon.  I feel kind of flu like which is strikingly similar to how malaria feels - although a little more dangerous.  It’s not that big of a deal though - you ask any missionary kid how many times they got malaria - and they won’t even know - it will be a lot.  You just take meds for it but that sort of maddens me because I have been taking this Malarone that I paid way too much for to try to prevent this very thing.  I am going to get a blood film done maybe tomorrow if I still feel bad and that will tell me if I have it or not.  Pray I don’t - PLEASE!  Going to the lab reminds me of when a lot of us (not me…yet) had to go and give blood.  See, the way it works here is that when someone needs a blood transfusion which is often, we have to search for it.  So we get the patient’s type and then try to find a family member, volunteer, or someone else to donate.  Usually it works, but sometimes we have to wait a while.  So far, no one has needed my type and I am hoping to get out of here before I have to give blood.  The conditions under which you give here are a little scary but most of the volunteers have done it and they are just fine.  ah.   Michael got some pictures of Shane when he donated which were pretty priceless.  I wish I had that - Michael will you send that to me?    So anyway, today has been somewhat of a bummer.  OH before I forget.  The last patient I saw before I couldn’t take it anymore today was super nice.  After she walked out, I had 2 translators in my room and they both said, “you know what?” and I asked ‘what’?, then they said, “that lady you just saw was a witch from Gambaga”.  So my obvious first question was “How do you know”?  One of the guys said, “Well, she goes to the Presbyterian church in Gambaga and I have seen here there.”  Um…ok.  I am still confused about this one….so if there are any of you out there that have been here and understand more about the whole witch thing around here - I would love some light to be shed on this whole concept.  I knew there were witches but maybe their term means something different than ours.  Nonetheless, it was a fabulous stopping point, because I was quite dumbfounded at that.

As always, I keep thinking of things to write about but a lot of times I think I have already written it.  I think it’s because I am also emailing Shane and I tell him things and that makes me think I have told everyone for some reason.  I just can’t remember what I type where.  So forgive me for any repetitiveness or any typos.  So - here in Nilerigu there are 2 poisonous snakes - the carpet viper and the cobra.  I have seen about 4 carpet vipers - 2 dead, 2 alive and they look so decieving.  They are small, and dark and I can totally see how people step on them all the time.  They are hard to see.  Now the cobra on the other hand…NOT hard to see.  Last summer, there was a cobra at the schoolhouse that was eventually killed.  Well, just the other night - and I just know I have already typed this - Dr. Hewitt was sitting in the schoolhouse and he heard the nightwatchman knocking on the door.  So he went out there and together they had to hunt this cobra.  The nightwatchman could hear it and saw it move into the chicken cages.  It went into this little hole and wouldn’t come out so they tried a few techniques.  First, they poked and he didn’t come out - then, they lit a little fire and stuck it in one hole, hoping it would come out there other hole.  After a while, he didn’t come out and so they both thought that it was dead.  Right when they put the fire out, the cobra comes out with a vengeance I am sure - and it got beat to death.  AH!  So that’s a little freaky and I am in the schoolhouse right now!  At this point though, after walking alone at night around this compound, down paths, on roads, in the allys with all the trash and pigs, etc. …I am really unaffected by a lot of this.  I imagine if I saw a snake I would be scared but right now just thinking about it doesn’t do all that much to me.  You get very accustomed to things after a while.  SUCH AS:  #1- not wearing bug spray.  I did for a few days and then i quit for a while and now I started up again.  It just stays wet because of the humidity so when you walk outside with bug spray on you come back caked in dirt.  So during my sabattical from bugspray I was chewed up to the max.  I wish I could send a picture of my ankles.  It seriously looks like I have some rare skin disease or something - in fact I do and I think some people call it ignorance.  ha.  So anyway, I swallowed my pride and now am wearing bug spray again.  The mosquitos don’t seem all that bad but I guess they are - especially at this time of day!   #2 - the language.  My translators in the clinic are starting to pay less and less attention to me.  I think it’s because I have learned how to ask a lot of questions and some medical terms but I don’t always know what their responses are.  One translator in particular makes the patients repeat what they say slowly so that I get a second chance to hear it.  It’s good and I teach her some english too.  See, Mampruli people call everyone ’she’.  They don’t understand that boys are ‘he’ are girls are ’she’.  Oh well.  There are a lot of differences.  Their english seems broken to me which it is, but they are able to communicate with each other so whatever.  It’s just funny when I have to use a translator to get from their english to my english.  So all this to say, that I have learned quite a bit of the language and have enjoyed it but the down side is that people think I know more than I do.  If I ask a question in Mampruli, they may respond to me in Mampruli and start going off about something  - well then I will have to go get someone to tell me what they said - which is kinda dumb - I should just always start off with a translator by my side.  #3 - I use the water to brush my teeth - not a big development or a big deal either but I just got so tired of going to get filtered water to brush them so I don’t.  It never has caused any problem. #4 - I don’t like warm showers anymore.  I am sure I will when I get home but for now, it feels great to take a cool shower.  #5 - I took the temperature in my office today with the fan on high and it was 97 degrees farenheit and then I though - hmmm I am feeling very comfortable in here.  Granted I wasn’t in the sun, but it was shining in the room - so that’s so strange to me.  I will freeze in people’s houses when I get back.  Shane told me he has left our thermostat at 80 since he has been home - I think that’s so funny - and yes it will probably stay that way until I readjust.  We used to argue that it was too hot in the house and now we will argue bc he is readjusted and I won’t be and I will want it warmer.   Maybe…maybe not.  We’ll see.  So those are a few adjustments I have made among many others -but it is so neat to spend such a long time in a culture and really begin to understand some things about the people!

Ok - off subject but I have to write it before I forget.  I haven’t even told Shane this so he wil read this for the first time here. I feel like I have a new passion for medical relief mission work.  I don’t really know where this all came from but I was praying the other day about what the Lord is trying to teach me long term for my life and this is where I ended up.   A few reasons I think this: 1 - I have been here for 5 weeks now.  Shane and I miss each other but we are managing well enough.   Although it isn’t fun to be apart, the Lord has taken care of us and is teaching us a lot. 2 - Shane and I have some wierd ability to be flexible in situations.  Certainly Shane was out of his comfort zone while he was here but he did so well and one day he even really wanted to see a C-section which was great!!! 3 - Relief missions are shorter term and spur of the moment - less planning - probably more chaos but at least you don’t spend a year preparing for it. 4 - I have a new passion for it and 5 - I am not as passionate about living some place for the rest of my working years away from my friends and family and I thought I was.  It took coming here to see that and I will never close that door unless the Lord does first - but I have these feelings for a reason so I am listening to them. 

Oh - something funny to end with.  I am starting to be able to understand when the people are making fun of me!  I love it because they think it’s so funny when I try to talk Mampruli and mess it up!  I said good morning the other day to a man when it was clearly after 12 (it was about 12:30) DUH!  That’s good afternoon.  So I heard him talking about me after I walked by to some other people and so I turned around with a huge smile on my face and walked right up to him and said, “I’m sorry, I meant Good morning”  and he just had no expression on his face for a second because he thought I was offended at being made fun of but then we all laughed together!  Some of them have learned my name and know that I am trying to learn - and for the most part people are very open to teaching me and being patient with me.  I just thought it was funny that I actually knew he was making fun of me! 

I want to tell you about the market too but I think I will save that for another day.  I have to go now.  It’s Dr. Faile’s birthday and I don’t want to be late for dinner.  Bad guest manners.  :)  

I love you all and wish you the best.  Quickly, something I read on Sunday that I liked was:

“For judgement will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgement.” James 2:1

I really liked that because it encouraged me to love on these people until the very last day here - it gave me a little needed strength.    I LOVE YOU ALL!

Oh - I almost forgot - haha this is the neverending blog.  The title is “a new friend” because I have made friends with the Faile’s monkey.  I have been able to go out in the yard with her and feed her almost every day.  She pulls me arm down and looks for scabs on my skin bc she likes to groom and she eats the scabs.  Gross.  But you pick through her hair and clean her off and she does the same to you.  It’s pretty cute.  They call her monkey.    I love it! 

Ok that’s all - I’m sorry! 

Just an update…

Hello again!   It has been far too long since I have written and I suppose there is a good reason for that.  :)  Mainly because for the past month there have been volunteers here with me and we have had sleepless nights full of card games and a lot of laughter.  I stayed in a room for the past couple weeks with Stevienne which was a blast - although I was always in bed way before her - even when  I felt like I was going to bed really late.  I guess in Hong Kong that’s the way it’s done - they said they don’t go to bed until 2am or so every morning.  I would die.  We had another group here from Tennessee for 2 weeks- Dr. David Stockton, one of his residents in the family medicine program, and Rose Marie a lab technician who was a gem to have at the hospital.  She would do anything for us and it was so great!  So now they are all gone and I am left here as the only volunteer.  I had a couple nights where I was upset and really ready to come home but I am better now.  I am still very excited to get home but I will also make the very best of the rest of my time here.    I am staying with Dr. Faile and his family now so that I don’t have to stay alone in my house which is really nice.  They have a pet monkey who I don’t think likes me very much.  She tried to come after me when she just saw me through the window.  Yikes.  :)   

Since I haven’t written in over a week I will do my best to remember some things I have done.  That’s hard to do because the days are so long.  It rained and rained for the first time during the day starting Friday morning.  That was so beautiful and refreshing.  It wasn’t raining when I woke up at 6:45 but it started shortly after.  A few of the doctors had already taken a truck up to the hospital so Justin, Stevienne and I took full advantage of not being able to make it to morning rounds and we played cards until they figured out we weren’t there and came to get us!  :)  There were a lot less people at clinic that day too becaus they were all out farming.  So that was nice!  I was home by 5!  Then came Saturday morning at 4 when I woke up to say goodbye to Stevienne, Justin and the others.  It is so wierd here without Stevienne and Justin.  They have been here with me the whole time - we actually flew up here together.  So that’s strange and I miss them a lot.  I said goodbye to the Tennessee team and went back to bed.  That’s always the worse part.  I hated it when Shane and the rest of my group left because I went back into an empty house and an empty bed alone and tried to sleep which was unsuccessful.  Then this time, I went back into a bigger house that was completely empty except for me and the night guard out back but I think he was sleeping too.  :)  Yesterday (Saturday) was busy.  I was on call so I was going back and forth from the hospital all day.  I had one admission that was pretty sad.  A 18 day old baby who came to clinic last week and was given an antibiotic for a rash.  It obviously didn’t work because she presented back to the hospital less than a week later with not a rash but flesh eating bacterial infection.  It’s called necrotizing fasciitis.  It is so hard to treat because the tissue is pretty much dead so there isn’t good penetration of antibiotics.  So you just have to debride it - which basically means to flush it out, clean it up and trim the edges of the wounds until they bleed well enough that you think it might heal.  I saw her Saturday night and it looked bad but this morning it was so much worse.  When we tried to give her a sedative through her IV we realized that the IV was never in a vein…meaning she never got the medicine.  By the end of debriding her wounds, she was left with hardly any skin covering her L arm and with numerous holes that will most likely get bigger.  I don’t know if she will make it or if she will ever heal but I am praying for her and trying to believe big things for her.  It looks awful.   

I should backtrack to last Monday.  I went out to do public health with Mrs. Babba and a few of the other volunteers.  We went to a village called Tunni that was about an hours drive away on a terrible road!  When we got there I saw a tree off in the distance with lots and lots of women and children standing underneath it.  They were all there waiting to get their children vaccinated and treated for various things.  I admitted the ones that needed to be admitted to the hospital here in nilerigu but I knew that they would have to walk to the village they came from to prepare to go to the hospital and then most likely walk all the way to Nilerigu with their sick kid on their back.   So I hated to admit any of them but SO MANY of them are malnourished and had to be admitted to Kokodu which is our nutritional rehab center right outside of the hospital.  There, they get good care and education about nutrition and other things.  It’s a great place.    When it was time to go from Tunni, the two nurses from Mississippi had a soccer ball to donate to the village.  I got this on video - it was the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen.   They all just yelled and screamed for joy and ran in every direction because they were SO excited to have a ball in the village!  It was great!!!  

Anyway, those are a few of the highlights from the last week.  Things are going well here and my time is quickly coming to an end.  It will be bittersweet leaving because I have been here long enough now to build a little bit of a relationship with a few people.  I will certainly miss the kids and many other things but I am SO ready to see Shane and my family and eat some yummy American food.  I am excited to drive a car and run on a treadmill.  I am excited to accept my change of heart towards so many things and learn how to love people in a different way.  I am also ELATED to share this experience with some of you!  I have learned a ton and the learning will continue until the day I leave and for that I am thankful - but there are times when it seems like medicine may not be the primary reason for me coming.  It’s been nice to do medical things and learn in the hospital, but the highlights of my day usually come from relationships with people.  The Lord works all around the world!  Please pray for this place and it’s people.  There is so much that goes on that doesn’t make sense and that I am sheltered from here.  I know there are witch doctors and some wierd beliefs such as, they think that the chief of this village knows what you say and do when he isn’t around.  So they even challenged this girl from Canada that is here, Ashley, to go to the chiefs house and ask him what she said the day before or something like that - and they faithfully believe that he will get it right.  I still haven’t met the chief but the rest of my group got to.  Aparantly the king of this region also lives in Nilerigu.  I did not know that until today and I am sure he doesn’t get out much but it’s interesting nonetheless.   One last thing that gets me every time is that a lot of women here deliver their babies at home - not like ‘at home’ in the US - but I am talking at home in the hut - without a midwife or anybody other than someone to catch.  These babies don’t always do well and sometimes the moms don’t either.  They may have some of the placenta retained in the uterus and they come in sick and we have to do an D&C or other thing.  The family planning or rather, lack thereof here is unreal.  I have never seen anything like it.  Also, some of them have illegal abortions where they will put some sort of herb in the vaginal cavity that expells this hormone like substance that acts like oxytocin and causes contractions I guess.   So these women get sick sometimes too and have retained product very often.    Sad. 

So I’m off.  I think I am going to go read for a while.  I am chronically tired but I have learned to fall asleep in just about any condition. haha.  Shane, if you are reading this, don’t get too excited - I will readjust to home and snoring will soon wake me up again.  :)  

Scripture that encouraged me this morning as I was reading during church when they were talking in Mampruli:     2 Peter 3:9   “The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for ALL to come to repentance.”  

I love that and Jesus loves these people and the rest just as much as you and I.  Pray for me that the Lord will grant me the strength and courage to continue sharing Jesus with these people.  Also that I would not be inhibited by time, sleepiness, selfishness or fear. 

THANKS!!! Until later…

Just a little story

So I just wanted to write a little blurb about yesterday which happened to have been one of the better days I have had here.  We went to 2nd Baptist church (kind of a funny name - there is a 1st Baptist and a 2nd Baptist among others).  A lot of the hospital staff and younger people go to 2nd Baptist.  It was long - as is the tradition but it was really good.  He spoke from 1 Peter but jumped around a bit so I just resorted to my own little bible study on my lap.  I have continued to read through Jeremiah although sometimes I feel like it is dry - but I do understand the deep importance of learning the old testament in order to appreciate and understand more deeply the new testament.  So anyway - after church we came back to the compound with plans to go to Yesah and Joyce’s house.  Yesah is one of the cooks at our house - he is so great and has such a wonderful family.  We have all had fun spending time with them.  He’s got 2 sweet little girls - one named Marianne Joy but they call her “nina”, and one named Chelsea or she answers to “na” as well.  Chelsea will aparantly grow up and be the chosen wife of Peter Faile - Dr. Faile’s son.  There’s only a few decades of difference in age - no big deal.  :)  We were invited to their house to eat foo foo.  I regret that the rest of my group was gone because it was actually a verry enjoyable experience.  We went to the crazy market first which I am pretty sure I am done with.  I don’t particularly want to go back again unless I really need something.  After market we made it Yesah and Joyce’s just in time to see how the foo foo is really made.  The yams here look like our potatoes - they are white.  They are very starchy and don’t have a whole lot of taste.  You boil them for a while and then take them out to this wooden bowl that sits on the  ground and pound it for a very long time until it has a paste like texture.  When it’s all done Joyce made it into balls and it looks exactly like uncooked bread dough.  Then you pour this sauce over it.  Yesah knows that strange foods freak me out so I am pretty sure he lied to me - haha - but I was told that it was boiled palm nuts (which are red) and some chicken and goat meat.  Surprisingly, the sauce was very good.  I could definitely eat that every day … if I were stranded and had no choices.  :)  We got to sit outside in their little ‘courtyard’ if you will, and eat. 

Before dinner I think I had more fun than I have had in the past month.  There were about 20 or so kids hanging around - and they all seemed to be younger than the typical ’salminga’ entourage.  I think it was because yesah’s kids are young.  Anyway, as we were waiting to eat dinner - I decided to go outside the gate and play a few games with the kids.  We played hide and seek - African style.  I somehow was able to tell the kids to turn around, cover their eyes and count to 10.  I about kicked myself because they count fast - and there are not a lot of good hiding places - so needless to say I had to run fast.  I was wearing a long skirt and flip flops which made it all even more interesting.  So the first time we played, I ran out of time quickly so I just ran into a nearby family’s house that I didn’t know.  They didn’t see me a first because I was just hiding behind their front door - which worried me a little - I was afraid they would get upset.  But along came an older man and he just pointed and laughed just about as hard as he ever had it seemed.  I told his granddaughter what I was doing and they quickly took me in and caught on to the game.  I was found quickly as well due to the uncontrollable laughter from the locals laughing at the salminga hiding in their house.  So the second time was even more eventful.   As they were all counting to 10 - I again ran into the same house.  The first thing they did was try to feed me their rice and then they quickly ushered me into a room and shut and locked the door.  I couldn’t see well but once my eyes adjusted I turned around to see what kind of room I was in.  Was it someone’s bedroom, a kitchen of sorts, and was I in there alone were all the questions I had in my head.  But I would have never thought that the room of choice to hide me in was their ‘toilet’ room.  There was a hole in the ground and a tin cup next to it - no windows and a pretty good seal when the door is shut - which it was. :)  The lock was on the outside so I began to ask the girl to let me out politely and she didn’t.  She was having way too much fun.  So she and the rest of her elderly family members went to their front door and shut and locked it as well.   I figured at this point that they didn’t really understand the real concept of this game - which is to eventually be found.  They just laughed and laughed and laughed.  So I had to pause and say to myself - ok, here I am in the middle of nowhere playing hide and seek with a bunch of kids and locked in a toilet room of a family that I have never met.  I don’t know any of their names except the younger girl - Sandra.   So then I began to laugh and laugh at the situation as a whole.  Never for a second have I ever thought that any of these people could or would desire to cause me harm.  It just seems that they take such good care of each other.  I just love these people so much.  So they let me out finally and they opened their front door and all the kids rushed in and chased me for 5 minutes it seemed all around the surrounding area.  Their little screams and hollers when they have found you are too cute.  I loved it. 

On our walk home from Yesah and Joyce’s a few boys were waiting on us to walk us home.  It was Timothy, Isaac, Moses and a kid that I see every day but can’t remember his name.  As we were walking we were talking about snakes and they asked me why I thought they were so evil.  haha.  So I gave my theory about how God took Satan’s feet away in the Garden of Eden and told him he would slither on his belly forever.  So snakes somehow remind me of Satan - and all they do to people is hurt and scare them.  So that led to a deeper chat with the kids.   I began to ask them as if I didn’t know what happened in the Garden of Eden and what it all meant.  The kid that has the unknown name was the one who did most of the talking because his english is fabulous.  He began to tell me all about the Garden, sin and the fall of man, God’s wrath, God’s mercy in sending his son, the life of Christ, who Jesus really was and what He did, His death, His ressurection and the freedom we have in Him.  Oh my goodness.  I just wish I could have taken that moment and boxed it up in a worthy box to be re-opened every time I grow weary in doing anything good.  I was blown away.  He knew more details about it all than I could remember.  He told me how old Jesus was when he did various things…I mean this kid knew the whole story in and out.  The most amazing part of it was this:  I could have easily not been a believer last night.  And if I hadn’t been, I would be now no doubt.  He didn’t know what I believed  (aside from the times I have scolded them for being hateful to one another and telling them they are hurting the heart of Jesus when they act like that).  He never paused or thought too much about it - he was just telling me the simple truth so matter of factly without any apprehension what so ever.  We call this evangelizing in the US - where people go out of their comfort zone, gear up, memorize scripture, at times forget to rely on Christ for the words, and go out and find people that may not know Him to talk with.  This kid just calls it life or just another day.  He has been nothing but a good friend and a protector to some of the other kids.  He really does exemplify Christ.  He didn’t have to go into a long time of prayer begging the Lord to show up, or study for hours to feel more comfortable talking about Jesus or anything like that.  He has just been told this truthful story from God’s word about Jesus and he was simply telling a story - and the eloquent way that he spoke was unlike any other 9 year old kid in the world.  For some reason, even though I have heard that story a million times and often tell it myself, I was more encouraged by that than I have been in a long time.  How amazing - the heart of a child - the simplicity of their faith and the love that they have for the truth.  I was simply in awe and seriously sat there for a good 5 minutes not saying a word because I honestly was speechless.  Then the nightwatchman kicked them out.  So the glorious moment ended - but I walked inside with an overflowing heart of joy.  And THIS is why I LOVE LOVE LOVE children!  I learn SO MUCH from them!  Am I at times starved for adult conversation - sure - but it is worth it!

The rest of the people went to Nakpanduri today to see the cliff or rather the big rocks out there.  Well worth the trip but I didn’t want to go again since I got to go a few weeks ago with my buddies.   I am on call as well so I didn’t really want to leave. 

So that’s all for now.  The Lord continues to teach me and protect me here.  Thank you for your prayers and support.  I can’t wait to see all of you.  I can’t start counting down now but the time will go by quickly I am sure.

Enjoy the memorial day off of work!  Today is African Union day so all the kids are around and wanting to play - so I am off to do the thing that gives me more joy than most things - play with kids!

Response to comments

Well - I didn’t know a better way to do this other than sending multiple people emails in response to comments.   Thank you all so much for your encouragement.  It’s funny - during the days that were so hard right after my group left, my blog never sent me email notices that I had comments, so I didn’t check.  Just today I saw that quite a few of you had written and encouraged me even with just a few sentences.   I just want to say thanks and that I am learning that the Lord is really trying to teach me for some reason that He is absolutely all I absolutely have to have.  I don’t have to have lots of friends, family close by, or people that speak my own language - those are luxuries - all I need is Jesus.  But I still long for those things.  I think that is why I didn’t get the notices - because then I would have relied more upon the words of man and not the words of Him.  He has led me to some sweet scriptures and I might have spent my time reading on the computer or putting my hope in people to bring me through a tough time.  Not that leaning on people is wrong - but for me - in this place and at this time - He wanted me to be in solitude for a few days to reflect and realize some things.  Yes, this isn’t my favorite place on earth - mostly because of the work I am doing, but yes this is what the Lord has brought me to do and I should do it not only with a smile on my face but working towards having a pure and thankful heart toward this place.   I wish I could take most of these people home with me - I love the people so much!  I feel like when they reciprocate my smiles even when neither of us know what to say, it speaks a thousand words - that could never be put into correct or adequate translation.   I say “na woonie nun sunie” about a thousand times a day and sometimes they don’t even understand and that is as close as I can get to ‘the Lord will help you heal’.  When they understand - they always respond with “Amen!  Amen!”  and I love that.  A small conversation that communicates a days worth of talking.  They hopefully see that #1 I am trying #2 I love them and #3 We cannot put our trust in these medicines or temporal things we have to offer - but only in the Lord.

I went to buy a phone card today to see if it will work and the man I bought it from said to me “Are you buying for all of these children” referring to the masses of kids standing behind me.  I asked a few of them to take me there because I didn’t know where I was going - but the farther you walk the more warm bodies you collect. :)  I told the man that “no, I am not buying anything for these kids but I love them very much and I am thankful for the help they give me getting around this village”.  And he says to me, “Oh so you love all people” and naturally my ‘Christian’ response was “yes of course and that’s only because of Jesus”.  It wasn’t until now that I am kicking myself for my response only because I responded with the cliche thing to say and not the truth.  How many times am I selfish or have my own interests above anothers?  How many times do I neglect someone because I have chosen someone else as my favorite? (especially here) I could go on and on.  I do not love all people but I am called to.  We have been commanded to love all people without prejudice, without favorites, without selfish attitudes and with nothing but abundant love - and I can’t for a second claim that I do that well.  I try and I do love lots of people - but there are times that it is hard to love the harsh, the wicked, the ones that have wronged us, the ones that hate, the ones the cheat, murder, lie, steal, beg, etc.  But then you realize…. we have all been those people at one time or another - a liar, a theif, a murderer, harsh, wicked, evil, selfish, and unlovely.  Who on God’s green earth are we to think we have ever been better than the worst most wicked evil doer on this planet?  So conviction set in.  I told this man I would come see him again before I leave and now I must - to ensure that He does know Jesus and loves Him - and hopefully filters things he hears with God’s word first.  Most likely he is a believer but lots of believers here seem to have a very superficial understanding of who Jesus really is and the things that He has done.  They don’t seem to read their bibles much. 

Yesterday which was a very long day of clinic - at least 40 or 50 people - mostly Muslim surrendered to the Lord Jesus and lost their old ways.  The room that the chaplains take them to while speaking to them was overflowing - and I couldn’t hardly walk down that hallway without bursting into tears.  The salvation, repentance, and freedom that is in that place is unbelievably overwhelming.

This morning rounds went well…until I got to the peds ward AGAIN!  I am about sick of sick kids.  I love children way too much to ever be a pediatrician or anything of the sort. So the 2 sweet doctors (Faile and Hewitt) had come and seen most of the kids before I got there. The only kids they don’t see every morning are the ones that Dr. Gillis is taking care of (one of the surgeons) although - Dr. Faile does surgery too so I am sure he checks on just about everyone. So as I was walking around the beds looking for charts I hear this sweet little gasp for air.  I look up to a mother who is not in distress with no expression on her face - I was expecting something else I guess.  I look down to this small child and see 2 things:  A bottle of fluids that was empty (suggesting that he had received a whole Liter of fluid - WAY TOO MUCH!) and a belly that was getting more distended by the second.  Then I look at his face and see all these secretions (mucous) coming out of his nose and mouth and all this edema (swelling) around his eyes.  I knew at this second that this baby could die if he didn’t get some help.  So my motherly panic sets in and I grap the closest nurse and asked him to get the suction pump.  He says to me “what is that?”  but I think he just didn ‘t understand what I was asking for - surely he knows what it is. After explaining that he should find it or get help to find it or this baby may not do well - he walks slowly to the ward that is farthest away to ask.  grrh.  So he comes back with a suction catheter that is VERY SMALL!  He starts to try and suction one nostril - only retrieving small amounts because it is too small.  Then he says to me “there now, this baby will be fine”.  So I grabbed another nurse.  Long story short - we ended up putting oxygen on him which I don’t think is really concentrated oxygen but it’s better than nothing, gave him lasix to pull the fluid off of him and put a catheter in his bladder.  I watched as he worsened for about 20 minutes - and meanwhile someone went to get the guy that had put this kid to sleep for surgery about an hour prior to all this.  He had been given way too much fluid and also was having a bad reaction to the ketamine - which is why it isn’t used much in the US.  All I could do was pray and hold this childs hand thinking if he dies right in front of me I am so not ok with that - and I don’t know if I can carry on after that.  So I prayed and prayed some more - waiting for mom to cry or touch her child -ANYTHING!  The chaplain shows up ready to pray over this child and mother if need be.  He stood far back out of the way and prayed silently.  And then…without any further treatment or anything at all - the baby started breathing….and kept breathing and quit choking and was no longer restless and began to fall asleep peacefully - still breathing and with a little tiny heart working as hard as it could.  And 20 more minutes later I left - with a smile on my face and a speechless heart….and that is the God that I am here to serve today.

So I will leave you with that - a smile on your face now knowing that the God you serve is the only God that answers, the only God that cares, the only God that loves and the only reason that you can love.  Go today and love on someone without apprehension, without reservation and without fear.  Jesus is the answer to all things - and all things revolve around Jesus.  Search for Him and find Him in all things, even the smallest most trivial things - He is there and He actually cares!   Did this mother deserve her child to make it through that or did that child deserve to live at all?  OR - does the Lord have eternal and powerful plans for these people - and He is just calling out to them to be His servants.  I’m not sure but I think this baby’s name was Emmanuel -  And God is most definitely WITH US!

Off to lunch -  I LOVE YOU!!! 

About the craziest day of my life

E vela is my word of the day today.  It means you are beautiful in Mampruli.  I can’t tell you how many times I have wished I could say that where they would understand me.  Especially when women shy away from having a photo taken of them because they are ashamed of something.  So now I can and I am happy about that!  SO - life is different here now.   I miss my friends for sure.  So do the kids - they won’t hush about my friends that left and how many times do I have to tell them that “no, they are not coming back soon - you will have to write them letters.”  These kids’ days revolve around the lives of the salminga’s (white person) here.   I think I already wrote about how Bright (a lover of Elizabeth) skipped school on Wednesday to come and get a picture of her that she forgot to leave.  Sorry Elizabeth to tell you this - but you caused some devastation to the family because they ask for it at least twice a day now - they keep saying, well have her send it to you - we want to remember her.  And the latest request this morning was - please get your pen out and give me her number.  They are too cute - and a little aggressive I might add.  Bright has been extra ‘beggy’ since Elizabeth left.  Every morning he walks me to work and the whole way he is either asking when Elizabeth is coming back - which I might add doesn’t help me cope with the absence of her and the others - or he is saying, “I like this bag - give it to me or I like this watch - give it to me.”  I squeezed his cheeks this evening and looked him straight in the eye and said, “Bright, if you beg for one more thing today I will not give you anything at all when I leave.”  He and his friends laughed and talked so that I couldn’t understand.  Punks.  But I love them.  I called Albert a punk yesterday and none of them had heard that word before - so I quickly regretted saying that and had to describe what a punk was.  Oh well - he was actually quite a bit more pleasant after I called him that. :)  OH - and this evening after work I went to Joyce’s to help a few girl nurses that are here find the sewing shop to pick up their skirts and such.  On the way I met a very handsome boy named ‘PROSPER’.  We have all heard about him.  He was banned from the hospital compound a few years back by one of the cooks because he was lying to everyone to get them to give him things.  Funny thing about it was that his dad, Christopher, works in the Tuberculosis ward at the hospital and is very nice.  Prosper was telling long sad sob stories about how his dad died and his mom was sick or something to that effect to get things.  SO I decided when I saw him to introduce myself this way: “Oh Prosper - I have heard about you.  I was wondering why I hadn’t met you yet but I know you can’t come inside the gates.  I know your father Christopher and your brother Bright and in fact I even went to your house last week to see where you live.  So your stories won’t work with me - you can’t fool me.”  He smiled and looked down at his feet before he even said anything and all of his friends laughed.  They are slowly getting the idea that their begging won’t work with me and I’ve about had it with them and the begging.  So most of them have stopped asking for anything (except Bright) and are acting like little angels - thinking it will get them more I guess.  Anyway - these kids are quite the characters.  Kids are kids all around the world - they tell stories just like I did - and they are quite creative.  They even fight as Shane and I got to see first hand last week when we broke up a little fight as a boy threw a younger girl hard down onto the ground.  They wanted to climb the same branch and the boy didn’t want to share.  That boy said later to her, “And I will do it again.”  I haven’t seen him around here again.  He is a twin anyway so I might get mad at the wrong kid.   Enough about them.

I should tell you about my Wednesday.   Oh my word.  Craziest day of my life as I know it.  There was a wreck in Tamale on Monday which is about 3 hours from here.  There were 7 people in a van and the driver kept falling asleep.  The people woke him a few times but he fell asleep a third time and ended up flipping the van.  All 7 people have sever injuries mostly on the L side.  So instead of seeing patients in the clinic that day, I stayed back in the theatre to do procedures.  In a chaotic situation like this, I guess the doctors just assumed I was comfortable doing a lot on my own.  So I did.  My first patient was a teenaged boy who had mangled about 3 of his fingers on his L hand.  There was no bone even left so I had no choice but to amputate them.  So I did - all 3 of them.  Before I continue, let me paint a quick picture of the room I was doing this in.  It’s called the ‘clean’ procedure room.  Clean - only because it doesn’t have a door that opens to the outside but it does have windows that are always open to the outside.  There are flies and mosquitos and lizards and all sorts of things crawling around in there - in other words - there is nothing clean about it other than the sterile gloves I was wearing.  The bed has a sheet over it that has been used for the last at least 20 patients with all of their grossness all over it - again not clean.   They typically use alcohol pads to clean things because they don’t have much that is better.  They have this orange stuff that looks like Sunkist (yum) but I don’t think it works all that great.  So right before I was to make an incision on someone’s body it would get cleaned with alcohol - that’s all.  So I’ll continue.  Next patient was an 11 year old girl who needed 2 fingers sewn up and another one amputated - the bone was again… missing.  I asked the tech to give her 2 mg of Ketamine (what they use here to sedate patients).  We don’t useKetamine in the US because it can cause respiratory depression and they can stop breathing - but that’s all they have here and they don’t have a crash cart or any means to rescusitate anyone either.  They just push it in the vein and usually walk out of the room.  Sorry - so I asked him to give her 2mg and he pushes 5mg.  She fell right to sleep and I was so worried but knew that my time was limited and people were waiting so I went to work.  About 20 minutes later all I had done was amputated the finger and I needed more time.  So I asked for 2mg more.  He pushed another 5.  I asked him why he did that and he said it’s going to be fine - and walked out.  Same story 2nd time - but I was a little less paranoid this time.  Ah - this place is something else.  So I reduced one of her other fingers or for the non medical folks - I put it back into the right joint and stitched it up.  When I was finished they just laid her in the hallway to recover while she laid in the sun.  Onto the next patient - a 20 yo girl that was not doing okay.  We unwrapped her wounds and were pretty appalled at the sight of her bones sticking out of her body.  Even more disturbing than that was the fact that the wreck happened in Tamale and there is a clinic in Tamale that could have given at least a little bit of care.  They all went there but they only wrapped their wounds up - no medicine - no anything.  So all of their bandages were stuck to the dead tissue beneath and all of the flesh beneath the dead tissue was raging with unbelievable infection.  I will never forget this smell that I smell at least 4 to 5 times a day.  Infection.  So back to this girl.  Her shoulder was entirely exposed as was her skull, her L hand which was hardly even remaining, and her L forearm.  I about fainted at the thought of taking care of her so I sent her to the OR to have her put to sleep and cleaned up.  Bad part about all this is that you have to clean the wounds.  After 2 days - there is so much dead tissue and infection that you really have to scrape down to the good tissue and make sure it bleeds and has a good blood supply.  The longer you wait the harder it is and 2 days was an awful long time.  They all had to come partially on foot, partially by bumpy bus to get here.  Then they waited outside - again all needing amputations - not crying, complaining, begging for anything - not even food, or with much expression on their faces at all.   This girl had her whole hand taken off, and will probably lose her whole arm in a few days.  Next was a sweet baby girl who I had to pull off of her mother’s breast to take care of.  She had an open wound on her skull.  I was looking at her skull actually - there was no flesh left.  We pulled some glass out of her head and did our best to try and sew the tissue back together - as she cried and cried.  I also did my best to hold my tears back so they wouldn’t drop in her wounds and cause more infection.  :(   The would was about the size of a lime.   So last was the cutest 3 year old boy.  As he was unwrapped, it didn’t look that bad until we turned his arm over and then we decided within seconds that his arm had to be removed.  So we gave him some Ketamine, and off we went.  Amputated his L arm all the way up to his shoulder.  He wasn’t even crying when we first saw him.  I finally saw him cry yesterday morning in the peds ward which was somewhat refreshing for some reason.   Ah.  There were others - but the stories are much the same as these.  I will probably never again do an amputation on my own ever again - but the fact that i know how now is so frightening to me.  Sometimes when I am doing things like that I seriously feel like I am just this young girl who is playing with a toy or something.    I SO wish I could be posting more pictures of these things that I am seeing.  One last thing from today.  We unwrapped this guys head - first time to see him.  The whole right side of his head was eaten away and had turned black and full of infection.  It was surely a squamous cell carcinoma that has just completely taken over.  Saddest part is that there is so little we can do for him here.  It will be cheaper for him to just live the rest of his life at home and not in the hospital.  Perhaps we will clean and debride his head - but I really wish we had more available to treat with. 

Oh my gosh.  I am sitting in the school house with these 2 nurses from Mississippi and I was telling them that Shane and Elizabeth found this show on TV one time called African Idol or something like that and they didn’t think it was that funny but then - she changed the channel to another one of the 4 that we have and IT WAS ON!!! Idol.  I just heard a guy sing in the highest pitch ever - even higher than BJ in capable of! :)  haha.  You know I love you Beej.  This next guy in on the ground dancing and he is terrible.   I need to get out more - because this is pretty hilarious to me! 

I have some more things to write about that I may get to tomorrow.  For sure I will try to upload a few pictures - even though it takes forever.   

I love you all!  Pray for me - after May 31st I will be here by myself for the remainder of my time here.   I miss you all.

Eat something really good for me - maybe some ice cream or you know I really want some fruit.  So if someone would eat some oh - apples - that’s what I really want - just 1 apple. 

Idol is off now and I am annoyed - it didn’t take long.   So I am going back - dredging through the snakes and all.    We have had at least 10 snake bites in the last 2 days.  I was on call last night and never got called - your prayers are appreciated!

Goodnight.

A bum day

Well hello again from the middle of nowhere!  As I sit here and think about what to tell you all this time, I keep thinking that I have already written certain things in previous blogs!  So if that’s the case and I repeat myself please do forgive me.  The days are long but the weeks are short so it is hard to keep track of things that happen around here. 

Today was D-Day for my group - Departure day that is.  Sad for me and bittersweet for them.  I am happy for all of them to get to go home back to where they have built their lives - but I know that in some ways they will all miss this place.  I am sure they will each miss different things such as the precious kids, the sweet cooks at the house, the staff at the hospital or a choice few people in the villages.  I will just miss them.  Last night everyone wanted to spend one more night together playing games.  I think I mentioned before that there are 4 people here from Kentucky, 2 of them are our ages and the other two are older.  We also still have the 2 medical students from Hong Kong here with us.  Oh and I almost forgot, Dr. Faile who basically is the son of the guy who started this place, had been on furlow until last friday.  They brought one of their sons back with them named Peter who is also our age and will be here for 3 months.  He played with us last night as well but I am not sure he will be doing a whole lot of hanging out with us - it sounds like he is wanting to do some traveling to other african countries while he is here.  So all together we played our little spades tournament that seems to have been going on for some time now, and then later played catch phrase which was so much fun!  The girls won and we deserved it.  So we stayed up late doing that and then everyone needed to pack up still and shower so Shane and I didn’t get to bed until almost 2am.  The alarm was set for 4am which is when they had to leave today.  I of course got up with them and sent them off with my eyes half shut and teary.  It was so strange walking back into the house that was near vacant all alone to a big bed waiting only for me.   All of the things that didn’t seem to bother me or scare me slowly began to introduce that nasty fear back into my thoughts.  The noises from the animals outside and the nightwatchman were all the sudden frightening in ways - which is interesting considering I don’t even remember hearing these things when Shane was there with me.  So needless to say I did not get any sleep.  2 hours after I laid back down, I somehow realized that i had been subconsciously memorizing the annoying harmonies of the bats and wildlife outside.  My thoughts felt numb and I was somewhat speechless.  I definitely felt and still feel a heaviness having watched my husband and some good friends drive away from me this morning - when about 75% of my heart wants to go home with them.  Maybe I am being overly dramatic but it is a fairly disheartening feeling to be here ‘alone’ in a sense.  Today has been an easy day at the hospital because it is not a clinic day so as soon as I am finished here - I will be going to nap! 

Last night 3 people arrived.  A doctor who is on faculty at some Tennessee medical school, a famly medicine resident and a lab technician.  They are nice and they will be good teachers which is so refreshing because teaching is one thing I haven’t had.  The doctor rounded with me some this morning on the wards and already is so helpful.  I saw 70 patients in clinic yesterday and I anticipate tomorrow to be almost as busy but maybe a bit better.  There were 4 of us seeing patients all day long and I am definitely the slowest, so I want to say there were over 400 people here yesterday to be seen.  To make yesterday even more complex, I had a translator that doesn’t like her job (I think) because she doesn’t really pay attention to anything I ask her to ask the patient.  Its funny at times, I will say “Lahari, will you ask the patient how long she has been having these symptoms?”  She will talk to the patient and laugh or just chat a while and then stop.  She doesn’t give me an answer so I say, “what did she say?” and her reply to me is “yes”  or “no” which is clearly not an appropriate response to my original question.  Comical and frustrating but honestly a lot of the translators do this at times because I think they forget after a while what our question was.

Onward.  I should tell you about the weekend a bit.  One story I love is this.  I was sitting on the couch in my house on Sunday morning reading my bible.  I was on call at the hospital so I couldn’t really leave the compound to go to church.  Everyone else was gone.  Shane had gone to a village on a motobike with one of the chaplains, Fatou.   As I have mentioned before, the kids love to hang out on our porch which I am totally used to but there was this one girl who crossed her boundaries and opened the screen door.  They are not supposed to come into the houses.  She quickly shut it and right as I was about to get upset with her for opening the door, she began to sing Jesus loves the little children all by herself.  I realized that she was just wanting me to come talk with her and singing was the way she was going to win my heart.  So far, Elizabeth and I have asked a lot of kids to sing church songs with us so they know we love it when they sing.  It was completely adorable and when I went out there I was invited to come to their church.  They walked down to our house to see if I wanted to come with them.  Sweet kids.  I really couldn’t go, so this Sunday I told them to come get me and I will go with them and I will. 

Once everyone got back from various churches, the boys played soccer for a while and Elizabeth and I found some construction paper to write the letters to ‘merry christmas’ on and have the kids hold them and take a picture with us.  So we paused the soccer game, took and picture and are planning to send it out as Christmas cards.  YAH! Shane ended up rolling his ankle which is still swollen today.  I am sure he tore some ligaments or something.  He said that instead of stepping on the bottom of his foot, he basically stepped on the outside of his ankle - it was that internally rotated.  I hope he takes care of it…hint hint.  If you are reading this, you really should do something about it if it isn’t improving. 

So Sunday morning I started to read through Jeremiah.  This is what the Lord encouraged and strengthened me with that morning.   The Lord had spoken to Jeremiah and Jeremiah was very uncomfortable and not confident with his calling to speak and basically change the world with what the Lord will hand over to him.  So this starts with Jeremiah’s response to the Lord.  “Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth.  But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak.  Do not be afriad of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.” Jer. 1:6-8   And then also: “Do not be dismayed before them or I will dismay you before them.” vs. 17b  yikes.  AND “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” vs. 19.    I was encouraged, strengthened and also convicted at the same time about everything I had read.  Sometimes I am afriad to say what I feel I should, out of fear that either #1 it will get lost in translation or #2 they will not understand what I am really trying to say.   I know those fears are not worth not doing what the Lord has me here for but they get in the way nonetheless.  So - with that being said I was encouraged by the Word of the Lord as it does so well. 

 Anyway, I have a few kids outside waiting on me and I think I will go and talk with them a while before dinner.  They just handed me a letter before I came into the school house and it says this:  “May the Grace of your Lord Jesus Christ your Lord and King be cares your forrever and ever amen.”   Adam, Unice, Joana and Doris.     I loved the typos and I was actually near crying on the way over here as I was walking and right at that time these kids ran up behind me to hand me my letter.  Once again, just another small footprint from a God with unsizable shoes.

I love you all and wish you health and happiness with your families that you have so close.  May you not take for granted the time you have with them - cherishing every moment as if it were your last with them - sharing the Gospel until understanding is met and praying fervently for those whom you love that are lost.  I am praying for all of you that you may be encouraged by His word as I will be during a solitude time here in the middle of nowhere at some place called Nilerigu.   Until later….if anyone talks to or sees Shane when he gets back tomorrow night, please hug him and love on him while I am away.  Surely this will be difficult for the both of us.

Blessings.

A better day

First things first - I have to apologize for all of the typos in these blogs.  I have never once proofread any of them and don’t plan to.  Staring at this screen is hurting my eyes as it is.  So forgive me!  I am sure you know what I mean!   And thanks again to all of you sweet friends and family who have written us and posted messages on this blog.  We will never understand how good we have it to have all of you that love us and are praying for us.  My spirits today are much better and I know it is because the Lord cares about you and I and  listens to our prayers.

Two days in a row!  I’m doing good here!  It is so hard to have the endurance to write long blogs because it takes light-years to open anything on the computer.  I suppose another lesson I was sent here to learn; patience.  Really when I think about it,  this place has definitely taught me great patience and also broken some of my controlling tendencies.  The environment is so relaxed (outside of the hospital) and so it would be very hard to survive with a controlling mentality.

So - I am sure you are all wondering if I am ‘okay’ considering it was me that seemed to be in such bad shape yesterday after such a depressing day at the hospital.   I am certainly better today.  I have a feeling that more of my days will be like yesterday which it goes without saying that I am NOT looking forward to that.  But this morning was busy but not quite as abrupt and heartbreaking.  One of the newborns died but I had never seen the baby which of course I was thankful about that.  If I can associate any faces with someone’s death, it makes it so much worse because I will dream and think about them.  I am on call today and so far I have already admitted 6 people.  Some malaria, a lot of miscarriages and some other things that I am unsure about.   Without much direction, it is hard to say what is wrong with some of these people but I just do what I see fit and pray to God that He has His hand on mine when I write my orders.  Speaking of writing - random thought for you - there is a severe shortage of pens in this place.  Who would have guessed that?  That is what the kids want from us and if you find a pen in the hospital it is like you have struck gold!

Today has been fairly laid back other than the admissions to the hospital.  I watched a D&C where they clean out the uterus of a woman who has miscarried and I watched another C-section as well.  Michael wanted to scrub in and he will never get the chance to first assist in surgery in the US until he is out of med school so I really wanted him to take my spot in surgery today and help out.  I think he had a lot of fun!  He was excited and he got to pull the placenta out after the baby was delivered.  Woo Hoo!    After lunch we have really just been sitting around.  I live for Tuesdays and Thursdays - they are just so much slower, calmer and much more tolerable.  The heat is not unbearable but I would really appreciate some more rain.

I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier but last Sunday we went and played soccer in the field behind our houses.  It was the day before it rained.  Most of the field was dirt and there were a few spots of grass and a few spots of donkey and pig doo too.  The kids are usually barefoot and they just walk over it like it’s nothing.  Anyway, all that to say that as everyone was playing, it was like a literal dust cloud surrounding all of the life out there.  It was even at times hard to see very far.  It is just so dry here.  So the rain that the Lord blessed us with the next day was such a blessing and for a few days it kept the ground moist enough so that every time you step you don’t cover your foot in dirt.  We must have had 50 kids out there with us.  I feel like I already wrote about this but if not - it was really fun.  While our Salmina’s (white person) were playing soccer, Elizabeth and I were taking pictures and playing with the kids.  We had such a captive audience.  They didn’t even care to watch the game, they would just crowd around you and look at you with these huge brown eyes, dirty faces with flies here and there - almost as if you had the key to unlock the answer to all of their struggles.  I was delighted to have the opportunity to teach all the kids body parts in English.  We had a lot of fun doing that and by the end of our time together all I had to do was quickly point to something and they said it.  Their favorite was “belly button”.  The hope in their eyes when they look at you is almost unbearable because we know that all we have with us are temporal things - but the one everlasting thing we can offer is Jesus - and that small little thing called a language barrier gets in the way of sharing to the extent that we wish.  HOWEVER,  on a few different occasions, Shane and Elizabeth have both sat on the porch during the day and read bible stories to the kids.  They love it.  The Sunday school songs they know are in English too and I really do think they understand what they are saying.  The kids really are better translators than anyone.  They follow us everywhere - to the market, to the school, and they followed Elizabeth to the public health building and the whole way it seemed that their goal was to make her trip over there as easy as possible - as they took everything out of her hands and insisted on carrying it for her.  They tell us when we are getting ripped off when we buy mangos and other local things.  They say that if we sent them to buy it, then it would be a lot cheaper but when they see white people, they ask for more.  I have the hardest time wanting to bargain my way down with these people too.  This is their livelihood.  The other day I gave a lady 1 cedi and the limes I bought only cost about 60 cents.  I told her to keep the change and she did a little dance for me - right there on the porch in front of the kids and me!  She was so excited and so happy!  That probably fed her family that night.  And some people here will bargain down to the point where they are hardly paying anything.

Lots of people are preparing to leave soon.  One of the surgeons who we have grown to adore named Dr. Gillis will be staying until the end of the month but aside from him, everyone else is leaving.  There are 4 people here from Kentucky that are leaving on the 23rd I think and another surgeon from Ontario that is leaving Saturday morning.  Then of course my 4 beloved buddies are leaving here on Tuesday morning to start back to Accra.  Sad day and I’m not gonna talk about it right now.  There are 2 girls coming but they are only staying 6 days.  There are 2 men coming from Tennessee too.  One is an attending at a teaching hospital and he is bringing one of the residents with him.  So I will be the only girl. The only good thing about that is that those 2 guys can take medicine call and I can be on surgery call.  Also - maybe I can have a day off of the clinic one time and go do public health when they come.  Who knows.  I can’t tell you how many times I have thought about emailing the travel agent who was dear enough to put up with such a hag as me and help me organize our trip - and ask him if he can send me home a bit sooner.  Maybe I shouldn’t do that but I just might.   I think I am getting moved into the main guesthouse when my loves leave - that way I will not be in a house alone.  That would be nice.

I will leave you with this. Last night there was a real true Africa cockroach in one of the bathrooms in our house.   It had been there earlier and we left it alone, but there it was resting peacefully on Elizabeth’s toothpaste.  ha.  Shane had to get it for us and it was ginormous.  That’s a word I say a lot but have never typed and don’t think I will ever type again considering how uneducated and silly I feel just having typed a word that not only doesn’t exist but looks hilarious when you look at it.

Alright.  I love you and miss you just as much.  Dr. Hewitt’s wife, Mona is amazing and takes good care of us.  She is super sweet and fills the void of missing mom and the rest of our family.  One of her daughters brought me a thank you card the other day for bringing them some things from the states and she also had an idea to make Shane another cake for his birthday.  I know she is always here for us if we need her.  That alone is very comforting.

Take care of yourselves!  I will write again soon and hopefully will try to upload a picture or two when I have hours to wait on them.  Please pray for a restful night as last time I was on call every noise outside from the bats and other animals startled me because I kept thinking it was the bell meaning I needed to go to the hospital.   I didn’t sleep hardly at all and never even got called up to the hospital.   grr.

I think Shane just posted a blog - go read it if you haven’t already!