extremes

This morning I was reading in Daniel chapter 1 where King Neb demands the "wise" guys of his kingdom to interpret his dream. If they can, they will be rewarded - if not "look out wise guys" - "they will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble!" Wow, that is extreme!

You've heard that Africa is a continent of extremes. It is.

Yesterday I was blessed to attend Nordy Siabusenga's wedding. Nordy has been one of our sponsored students and now he is a nurse, working at Namwianga clinic and married to Felister, a teacher at Choma. Nordy's extreme: he came from a very impoverished family - not able to pay for school fees for their children. Sponsored through secondary school - and college by ZMF-C. Yesterday, he was decked out so smartly in a white suit with 6 male attendants and 6 beautiful Zambian women dancing him into the auditorium to join the love of his life! Dancing ...cheering...ululating....huge celebration!! Wow - It was so special to be part of Nordy's very special day. I always feel like these kids are almost my own. I'm so proud of their hard work and their faithfulness to our God. Nordy is always very grateful for what ZMF-C has done for him.

Another extreme

Meanwhile , not even an hour before the wedding I'd been to Kalomo Hospital to retrieve our baby, Alex. Alex is 8 months old and is just recovering from a terrible case of measles. He was in isolation at Kalomo Hospital. At one point his fever reached 105 f. Yikes! I was worried. We made twice daily trips to the hospital as every patient has to provide their own careprovider. So, I'd drive an "aunty" in the morning - after packing a big lunch for her, new bottles and diapers for Alex and then I'd drive back again in the evening with the night aunty.

A nurse stopped me on Friday night and asked if I could help a family. A woman had delivered a beautiful baby boy two weeks ago, and fell into a coma. Baby needed either respite care at the orphan home where Richard and I are now managing, or to be put on our formula milk program.I spent some time with the father and determined that between the family members they can care for the baby if they just have some milk formula. So...they are now on the program. I brought some baby clothes, diapers, blankets - as the child had nothing, not even a diaper on. The family is from a village quite some distance in the bush from Zimba. The mom will not likely live - she is an AIDS patient, this is her 7th child and she already appears like a corpse. So sad. The grannies were giving her a bed bath as I delivered the milk last pm. I'll return to Kalomo Hospital and check on the family early this week.

From celebration to desperation.

Today - we heard that one of Jack (13 year old orphan who lives here at Kasensa), found out that his sister-in-law died this weekend. She is not old. As well, the wife of one of the teacher's at Namwianga secondary died today - of child-birth. This was her second child. And then a man at Monde took his life this w/e. Monde is close to where Jack and Twaambo come from. A few minutes ago Queen, one of our night shift aunties came to ask permission to attend the funeral of this man as it is her daughter's father-in-law.

Life on this earth is tough - no doubt. Some of us on the planet at this time of history have it very good.

For me, there are not enough good, clear reasons why there are such extremes from one continent to another or even within the same continent. Somethings are very difficult to understand.

But I do know that God is still in control of everything that happens and I do know that one day something quite extraordinary will happen - our very temporary bodies will be replaced by an eternal body. That is extreme - and while we live in these earthly bodies we will groan and sigh - but God has this all prepared for us!

I pray tonight for the mother of the 7 children - that she will receive the new body and that her children will be cared for by the grannies, aunties, father and others in the village.

Michael's problem and Michael's blessing!

Remember baby Michael from a few weeks back? He's now 3 months and weighs in at 2.9 kg. Still a teeny tiny Mikey, but "bit by bit" he's moving in the right direction.

About 3 weeks ago however, another health issue arose, besides being underweight. He developed an inguinal hernia which was getting harder to reduce manually. I'd taken him to Zimba hospital 3 times in the past 10 days and ....each time they say...he's not strong enough to withstand anaesthesia. "wait until its strangulated - is the message. Yikes.

I take him to Zimba b/c there are times when we cannot reduce the hernia and he stops eating. Unlike some of us, Michael cannot afford to stop eating. Finally, on Saturday the doctor at Zimba hospital said - "I can't reduce the hernia either, so lets consult L'stone General and see what they'll do". That doctor and I had already each spoken with the doctors at Macha and they also though LG would be the best bet as the hernia appeared non-reducable. So after a full morning with the sponsored kids Richard and I picked up Rachel (Michael's mother's sister) from Kalomo and headed to Zimba to fetch Michael and then off to L'stone. Dad of Michael (Samba) and another sister, Emmeldah joined us later.

Michael is to get surgery Monday am - so....please keep this very handsome and precious one of God's in your prayers. He has a wonderful family that at this point feel inequipped to care for a not quite 5 pound young'un. They all have either 4 or 5 kids at home. But....they so love this little one and are so looking forward to him being at home with his daddy and 4 other siblings at Choma once Michael has put a bit more weight on!