May 22, 2014

Thursday, May 22, 2014

 

It’s another beautiful morning.  The birds are chirping loudly enough to wake everyone up at 5:30 each morning!  I have been so tired at night – Julie tells us that 9pm is “missionary midnight” and I’m feeling it!  By 9pm my eyelids are drooping & I can’t stay awake any longer!  The combination of fresh air all day, hot sunshine, managing the kids, the stress of being in a different culture, the tension of poverty mixing with wealth, not being able to communicate easily, etc… tiring!

 

There have been lots of fun things going on the past couple of weeks.  Julie, the kids & I made pizza last week on Friday night! Mmmmmm!  It was yummy!  Combined with a Fanta for everyone made a perfect night!  (Fanta is bottled pop & comes in flavors:  Coke, Orange, Citrus, Sprite & Fiesta – a purple berryish taste).

 

Josiane brought us sugarcane & that was a highlight for our kids!  Yesterday we were able to participate in serving the elderly in the community at their quarterly meeting.  There is song & dance, a special message from the pastor.  We serve them hot tea & bread & then they leave with a gift of rice, beans, salt & soap.  One of my most favorite things to participate in here.  

 

School has been going really well, overall, for the kids.  Their teachers gave me plenty of things to keep them busy.  We have been reading through the story of David each morning as we begin school – what a GREAT story to read to kids (and paraphrase as you go, of course!)  So there are so many exciting, surprising, disgusting, hilarious & entertaining details that I had forgotten all about!  Do you remember David marrying the princess & then she helped him escape out a window while she disguised his bed to look like he was still in it using a statue & goat hair?!  Do you remember that the whole reason David played the harp for Saul was to calm Saul down when God sent an evil spirit to torture him?!  Do you know about the intense man, Doeg?  (we call him Doug)…. He has quite a story!  (find him in 1 Samuel 21-22)…. And that David goes & pretty much steals Goliath’s giant sword from the church for protection?!  And one time when David gets frightened he puts on a good act of being insane – drooling all over his beard & digging marks into the gate?!  (the drooling part is Lauren’s favorite detail!)  Anyway, we have been enjoying this story! (maybe me more then them!)

 

After school we go down to the hospital & take hard boiled eggs to 3 patients.  Marie (Mary), Albert & Filicien.  I like taking the kids, even when they’d rather be playing outside climbing trees or playing with friends, because the patients LOVE seeing the white kids; and because I think it’s good for them to spend a little time with the bed-ridden people – to bring the patients a smile and to be thankful for their own able legs.  It’s good for me, as well.  The girls have brought Mary flowers a couple of times & she smiles so big!  She has a baby of her own that is sometimes with her in bed, and other times her sister is holding her baby (her sister is nursing both Mary’s baby as well as her own baby during this time).  Mary had an infection from an injection at a health center… the infection spread throughout her entire leg – requiring Dr. Tim to remove all the skin from her entire leg!  Mary was extremely thin & malnourished to begin with – Dr. Tim had a very grim outlook for her as he left for the states a couple weeks ago.  He told us to take her protein (via eggs & cheese) each day to help her body heal.  Last week, Joel replaced the skin on her leg with skin from other parts of her body (so she essentially is filleted and wrapped in bandages from the waist down).  But by God’s mercy, she is doing really well!  She has a smile for us every day and seems to be taking the skin grafts well.   Joel says Dr. Tim will be astounded when he returns tomorrow!! 

 

There is currently a team of 9 people from Texas visiting for 2 weeks & we are housing 4 of them with us in our home here.  We enjoy having them here so much!  I like the company of some fellow Americans (not to mention their awesome accents!) – and they are like Grandmas & Grandpas to us.  Dorothy encourages me in my attempts to learn cooking here & is so positive & energetic!  Her husband, Will, likes bird watching – so Joel has been spending bits of his mornings before leaving for work with Will watching the early birds outside.  The team has prepared a VBS for the kids at the hospital.  So each afternoon, we are teaming up with them to present songs, a drama story & crafts.  I love having an organized program down there & all the kids are enjoying some action in their otherwise boring days.  Anna has even gotten into it with us – she acted as a bird in one of the stories & then she was a seed the next day!  I’m so proud of her!

 

There are heavy challenges Joel faces every single day at the hospital.  Every day he encounters problems that are uncommon, advanced and beyond his scope of training.  The communication & cultural barriers are extremely difficult to work effectively within. And the lines for clinic are never-ending.  It really wears him out. 

 

 For our 12^th anniversary, Joel took me to “Kumbya Paradise”!  We walked the kids there (about 1 ½ hour walk) and Julie & her parents came to pick us up later with the truck.  It is a fun walk to take because there are kids all around us, following us, holding our hands & tagging along the whole way.  There is a lot of giggling from them as they watch the white people walk fast and try to speak Kinyarwanda greetings to them.  They try to practice their English to us.  They inspect our watches & are interested in our phones when we take pictures of them.  They especially get a kick out of Joel when he carries Lauren.  Here, the moms & girls do all the carrying of children…. As well as everything else.  So Joel is sacrificing his “macho-ness” when he helps me out by giving me a break from carrying Lauren on my back!  Thanks, Babe!  Very, very, VERY few people have a car here, so most everyone is walking … and they walk nice & slow – there’s no hurry to get anyplace. 

 

As we walked along, I asked Joel if 12 years ago, he would have imagined we’d be walking along a dirty road, with 3 children, surrounded by little Rwandan kids on our 12^th anniversary.  I don’t remember what I imagined out future would be.  Our journey has definitely been more difficult than I could have dreamed.  (I may or may not have admitted that there would be no such thing as surgeons if the medical students knew the full truth of what life would be like through residency & beyond… sometimes it’s better to just not know!)  Our journey has also been more blessed than I could have dreamed.  We have always had exactly what we need – and usually more than we need.  We are thankful for Levi’s enthusiasm, Anna’s pure, fragile heart & Lauren’s joy!  We are thankful for Joel’s practice back home – for their support for our family & their unique camaraderie. We are thankful for our school – and their gracious encouragement toward us taking the kids out of school early this year.  We are thankful, oh so thankful, for our amazing friends and family – both here & there. 

Our memory text for the summer is Psalm 139.  Oh Lord, You have searched me & know me.  You know when I sit & when I rise.  You hear my thoughts from far away.  You know when I go out & when I lie down.  You are familiar with all my ways….. Our Big God knew exactly where we’d be on our 12^th anniversary.  And He also knows where we’ll be on our 24^th anniversary.  He is forever faithful.  He is full of surprises!  He is our Good Shepherd & we are His little lambs.