Arnett, Crystal, Zeke, and Nema Grace: May 2010

So, the past two weeks have been exhausting, horrible, and frankly, I've just wanted to leave Africa and never come back!! This is a little long, but here's what's been going on...

So, I last updated our blog on Sunday, May 16th. In my post I was so excited and very thankful that everyone in our house was well. Well, that same Sunday afternoon Zeke started running a fever. UGH, the sickness is back!! So, we got up Monday and took him to the doctor. She said she thought it was a delayed reaction to the vaccines Zeke had the week before. Said with the 2 that he got, sometimes that could happen. She said if he wasn't better in a few days to come back. So, Arnett left Monday afternoon for the village, while Zeke and I stayed home. The next few days were rough as Zeke didn't feel good and he was pretty grouchy and not sleeping well. Arnett came home Thursday morning from the bush and I was so relieved because I needed some help. WRONG! Arnett came home from the bush sick too!! UGH, not again, please Lord, not again!! So, Arnett comes home and goes straight to bed. However, at this point Zeke is on his way to being fever free for 24 hours...YAY! I see his doctor in the grocery store Thursday afternoon and tell her he's doing better! Then, once again...BAM! He starts running a fever again Thursday night or Friday morning (can't really remember at this point!). Friday, was crazy busy for us, we had meetings and the first of our house guests arrived that morning. Angela, our neighbor Daniel's fiance, came for 10 days. She serves with our company and we were all together in the states for 8 weeks before coming to the field. Angela's term was up and she was on her way back home and stopped for a visit. So, we couldn't get Zeke to the doctor Friday. At this point, Arnett's still feeling bad too. So, I take Zeke to the doctor on Saturday. She said he's got a slight cause of bronchitis and we start antibiotics. Sunday, our real fun begins, the last of our 3 house guests for the week arrive. Our friends, John and Krista, were going to spend the week in London for their 10 year anniversary. We agreed to keep their 3 girls (ages 8, 6, and 4) for the week. So, now our house is completely full!! Arnett's still not feeling well and Zeke is somewhat better. The first part of our week went well. Arnett started feeling a little better, Zeke was doing well, we were surviving going from 1 child to 4!! Then Wednesday morning Daniel wakes us up at 6:20am, saying he was taking Angela to the doctor cause she was having severe pain in her side. Arnett got up and went with him. I had to get up too to take the girls to school and all that fun stuff. Angela ended up having kidney stones and spent the night in the hospital. UGH, Lord, why is everyone around me getting sick?? Thursday, H (one of our friends' daughters) comes home from school saying her throat hurts. By the time she goes to bed, she's running a fever. Oh great, here we go again!! She stays home from school on Friday. Then Friday afternoon, E (the youngest daughter) starts running a fever. Once again...UGH!! Saturday, the 2 girls are still sick with fevers. Sunday, everyone's doing somewhat better, that is until Sunday afternoon. E starts complaining that her head hurts (okay, so now my malaria radar is going off cause headaches are a classic malaria symptom). Sunday night at bedtime, everyone is doing well except E and Arnett, who's starting to feel bad again. Well at midnight Sunday night, the girls wake me up, "Aunt Crystal, E feels like she's going to throw up (once again another sign of malaria), she needs a bowl." Well by the time I get her a bowl, she's thrown up all over the bed. So, then it's change the sheets and do all those mommy activities! Well, its then that C (the oldest daughter) tells me, "I think I'm getting it too." Sure enough, she's running a fever...WARNING, don't come stay with us cause you're probably going to get sick!! So, we get medicine in the girls and we all go back to sleep. Monday morning, H feels well enough to go to school.. Praise the Lord. C and E are both still running fevers. E is still complaining that her head hurts. We call the doctor but can't be seen until Tuesday. So, we decided to take her to the lab to have a malaria test done (one praise about living in Africa, no request from the doctor is needed to get labs done and no prescription needed either to get medicine at the pharmacy). Well, sure enough, E has malaria. So, we started a treatment this afternoon. Praise God, her parents come home tonight. Nothing like being sick and not having your mommy there to take care of you!! And to make the 2 weeks of horribleness complete, Arnett's still feeling yucky too!!

So, this morning I was reading in Ezekiel. In Chapter 22 the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel about the house of Israel and all their evilness. God is planning to melt them all in the fire like cooper and silver. Well, it was at this point, I say "Thank you God, that when you melt me in the fire, it's not to get rid of me, it's to refine me." Then I think to the verse in 1 Peter 1:6-7 that says: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." So, even though I'm tired and sick and tired of everyone around me being sick and having to deal with all these issues. I Praise God, because it just means I'm in the fire, being refined by him. Refined to be more genuine and bring more praise, glory, and honor to Him.

So, even though these past 2 weeks have been horrible, God has also let us have some great moments too. Here's a few: Tuesday of this past week, we were able to get away to the pool and just relax for a few hours. It was so nice and Zeke loved the pool!! Despite all the sickness, we've survived a week with 4 children!! A huge PRAISE!!! On Friday, the 28th, our precious baby boy turned 1!! I can't believe he's already a year old!! Then on Sunday afternoon, that same precious baby boy took his first steps!! Oh, how proud that made me feel and excited all at the same time. I Praise God that He continues to be in control of our lives, walking alongside us every step of the way.

We thank you again for embarking on this journey with us. Please keep us in your prayers. Ask the Father to keep the sickness at bay!! And that we wouldn't feel guilty about not being able to be out in the village. Right now, we feel a little discouraged that we seem to always have to stay home because someone in our house is sick. We thank you again for your prayers!! Until next time...

P.S. Sorry there aren't any pictures...will try to post some soon!!

Well a lot has been going on lately, which is a good thing because it means we're all healthy and able to get out!! Praise God for this! The past few weeks we've spent at least 2 nights every week in D-village. Our times there have been great!! Arnett and Mitch are busy building relationships with the men, while I'm busy doing the same with the women. One woman in particular is, Mandy. Mandy has become one of my very good friends in D-village. She's in her mid 40's and has become like a mother to me. She's very patient with me and a great language helper. On one of our trips recently, she and I went out "into the bush" to look for some fruit they eat (sorry don't remember the name and can't think of something similar in the states). While we were out she really shared her heart with me. She is the second wife of her husband. As you can guess, this is not easy!! Her co-wife is constantly telling lies on her and getting her husband angry with her. Mandy shared with me that she wanted to leave her husband. Of course, this set me into a panic, thinking I don't have the language to handle this. I then just started doing the only thing I knew to do...PRAY! I felt God lead me to ask her if she was a believer. She had told Mitch and Arnett on previous trips that she was a believer but she still went to the other world religion worship site and participated in their rituals. Well, when I asked her she point blank told me no. Then she wanted to be sure that we could still be friends cause she wasn't a believer and I was. I quickly assured her, there was no problem! Now, at this point I was thoroughly confused. I had thought she was a believer. She comes every week to our storying time. She even repeats the stories and answers the questions! A rarity for a women in a mixed group setting!! I then asked her some questions about weather or not she believed in Jesus and she replied that she did. Thus, even adding more to my confusion. By this time in our trip we've made it back to the village so we had to end our conversation. This past trip I wasn't able to get her alone to talk more about it. While this discouraged me it also highly encouraged me. I felt God confirming His calling on my life. Saying to me, "I have you here for this!" I was also ecstatic that Mandy trusts me enough to share her heart with me!! Please pray for Mandy. Pray that God would show her that she can't walk two roads. That His road is the truth. Pray for an opportunity to get off alone with her. Pray for my language ability as I talk to her.

Another exciting event that's happened since our last post is we have a new house!! We haven't moved or anything, we've just gotten a "2nd home". The villagers gave us a house to use while we're in D-village. We generally just store our stuff in the house but with rainy season upon us we'll start sleeping in it more and more. The first night we had to stay in it because of the rain wasn't a good night. You see, the house is made of mud with a straw roof. Which means, spiders, scorpions, snakes and even possibly rats could be living in our house. So, that first night I spent the night scared to death of something crawling on me. And the goats and cows were trying to get into the house out of the rain, so that kept me up too!! Soon, we'll get some cots and mosquito nets set up in it, so I won't have to worry so much!! And just in case you're worrying too... I've only seen spiders. No scorpions, snakes, or rats. Even though I'm convinced there's a rat living in the roof!!

Us in front of our new house!

Zeke turned 11 months old on April 28th. He's got 2 new teeth with 2 more coming in right behind them. He's still not walking yet but he's pulling up on everything. He's also really fond of pulling up on the chairs or coffee table and pushing them all over the house!! He really does well in the bush. He loves playing with the kids. He's also a big fan of rice and sauce!! I can't believe he'll soon be a year old.