Feb. 19 - Valentines Date

Feb. 19, 2008
Last Friday night, the day after Valentine’s Day, I planned to show my wife more appreciation than I had shown her in a long time. I spent the afternoon making dessert - Finnish Apple Tart. I had the drinks ready (tropical punch and 7up). Lydia even fell right to sleep - which never happens…Oh yeah, it was going to be a good night. I started to fill the bathtub for phase two (it takes a long time to fill the bath tub) when I discovered that the water heater had been turned off so we could use the generator earlier in the day, as a result, there was no hot water. No problem, still had to do phase one so I flipped on the water heater and began to set up the porch. We had porch lights, music, drinks, dessert. We had just settled down and were enjoying dessert when I heard Grace calling from bed.
I arrived to the bedroom just in time to see Grace vomit all over her pillow, pillow case, sheet, mattress cover, bug net, bed frame, wall, toys, and floor. I called for Mandy so Grace turned to look my direction and vomited on that side of the pillow too. Mandy arrived to take Mandy. I took the whole bed apart, sheets, frame, mattress, and washed it all. Before I could get the floor and wall cleaned up, Grace walked into the dining room and vomited all over her second pajamas and the dining room floor. Back to the bath tub for her. I cleaned up most of the dining room mess using a broom and dust pan (quantity). Then got out the bucket, rag, and brush to finish the bedroom mess before cleaning the dining room floor. So, 45 minutes and a whole lot of sweat after paragraph one ended, I finally had the mess contained to one laundry tub full of nasty looking things. Mandy told me I should be glad I have a Shaarda nose. Oh yeah, anyone in the mood for romance?
Things got pretty tense Saturday as Grace’s fever reached 104. Thankfully, by Sunday she was doing a little better, although very crabby. Today she acts better than she has since Friday, but has been passing blood with her stool. The doctor gave us two medicines for her so hopefully she will be completely healthy soon.
Things here have been very heavy and frustrating lately. Our good friend has been through some very tough times and it has affected our family greatly. The girls’ Bible study did get going Wednesday, but not without some confusion. I was supposed to lead Timothy Institute training, but it was cancelled due to things outside of our control. The Bible College students are supposed to go to Karamoja for outreach in two days; now it seems like even that might not happen due to confusion about the timing of their return. It just seems like every way we try to move forward, there is opposition, resistance, and set backs. These problems are beyond what I would say is normal; I truly think there is spiritual opposition. I try to take this as encouragement, since it means we are doing things worth opposing; however, in the midst of it I find it very heavy, frustrating, and sad. I have found myself reduced to prayer now more than ever. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord” is much more than a cliché at this time.