Testing our Faith...

WOW!! That's really all I can say about this past week!!

I know a lot of you have heard that last Saturday (9/26) Arnett came down with malaria. First, Praise God, he's over it!! Things were pretty scary there for a little while. His fever was up to 104.5ish. Malaria is a disease that is carried by mosquitos. We take an anti-malarial drug daily but 1) it's not a 100% guarantee that you won't get malaria and 2) Arnett occasionally forgets to take his!! Something, he swears he'll never do again! On top of getting malaria, he came down with some stomach thing. At first, we thought it was due to the malaria but after the malaria treatment ended the stomach issues were still there and getting worse. He had a round of lab work done. The blood work came back normal, no bacterial infection...Praise God! We're still waiting on the second round of lab work, they had to grow some stuff in it, so it takes a few days, and then a few days longer because we are in Africa!! We're hoping to have the results on Tuesday. We've been in contact with a doctor in the states that works for our company. He's thinking Arnett got an amoeba, which you get by drinking unclean water (we do have filtered water in our home, so not really sure how he got the amoeba, if that's really what it is). He went ahead and took some medicine to get rid of  the amoeba. Praise the Father, that it seems to have gotten rid of all the stomach issues!! So, hopefully, Tuesday's lab results will show an amoeba and we're ahead of the game. Arnett feels lots better, just really tired! He went about 3 nights in a row of not sleeping! It wore us both out. As, I was up off and on with him. And then taking care of a 4 month old by myself for almost a week! Needless to say, after the rough week I had the week before last and the fact that I was ready to get on the next plane outta here, this week sure didn't help! However, despite all the struggles we face we know several things:

1. God is in control!! Praise Him for that!
2. God has never and will never leave us!
3. We know all these trials are only being used to make us grow stronger in our walk with Him! Another PRAISE!!
4. Despite it all, God has called us to Africa and we rejoice in the fact that we are where He wants us!

So, here's our verse of the week (really for the rest of our lives!!) James 1:2-4

"²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Despite the rough week...our precious little boy turned 4 months old this past week!! He's getting so big, so fast!! I just wish I could slow down the hands of time!! He had his 4 month old check-up this week. He's up to 16 pounds!! Here's a few shots we took of him.

We can't say THANK YOU! enough for all your prayers concerning us!! God is listening!! Until next time...