January 13, 2009

I haven't put any pictures up lately because the internet is too slow. I'll keep working on it.

Many of you read my post about Quinn's and Molly's deaths. Two days after Molly died, we lost another baby, Joshua, to pneumonia. He was HIV+. A week later, another child died of pneumonia. She was back under her family's care, but it was still hard to know we had lost her. Her twin will be returning to CoL. Most of our children have recovered from malaria. We still have a few fighting pnuemonia and bronchitis, but they should return to health quickly. Thank you to everyone who wrote encouraging notes and who prayed for CoL and me during this difficult time. God is good, and He is still blessing us.

Davona and her family are gone on holiday to Mombasa, Kenya, for 8 days. This means I'm in charge! So far the week hasn't held anything too out of the ordinary. We were supposed to get a baby girl yesterday, but she hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully she'll still come this week. Two new volunteers came on Sunday. They are bright bubbly girls from the Mid-West.

I'm fighting a chest cold. I've had a sore throat for 10 days and I've been coughing a bit the last couple. It doesn't help that I haven't slept much the last 2 nights. I've been sleeping at Davona's house because I'm taking care of her adorable little dogs. I haven't slept well, partially because I'm sick, partially because it's a new place, and partially because the dogs woke me up at 2:30am for some unknown reason. And I also have to blame myself a little because I've been staying up until 10pm watching movies. Davona has a TV and I'm taking full advantage of it!! Usually I'm in bed around 8pm, so 10pm is pretty late for me!

I went to the pool last Sabbath afternoon with a good book and read for about 3 hours, taking the occasional dip when I got too hot. I've never gotten burned at the pool, so I only applied sunscreen to my face, as usual. Well, I got burned! Go figure. I turned a very nice shade of red on my stomach, chest, and upper legs. Thankfully I was laying on my back so I didn't get burned there. I had an interesting time trying to explain my burn to the nannies. They don't understand that it's a burn and that it hurts. It doesn't hurt much anymore, and I think I'll be lucky enough to come away with a tan from the experience. But for the record, I don't condone tanning. In the future I will wear sunscreen and limit my time in the sun. If I remember.

I have received 2 Christmas packages in the mail. THANK YOU to those who contributed! It really brightened my month! Rumor has it that there may be another package on the way. I am so blessed to have people supporting me from back home!

To those of you who pray for me regularly, THANK YOU. I really need it and I really appreciate it.

On January 24 I am halfway through with my time in Africa. I'm torn between being excited to return home and being sad about leaving.