Sickness and Healing

August 30
Here it is the end of August already. Sorry I haven’t written much. Josh and I are going to be the feature article in the fall newsletter for Kuiper College. We had to write our biography so by the time I was done with that I had had enough writing.

Lydia and Grace have a couple new Ugandan friends they play with a lot. They came to our gate one day asking if they could play with our girls. Josh had just been saying how our girls need neighbor friends and was praying about it. The girls play almost four hours at a time together. They play lots of games outside, one day they played in the girls little pool, and sometimes they come in for a video break. They also like carrying Luka. It is nice for me to have the girls playing and Luka entertained. Their names are Spay, Abaila, and Betty. They are 9 to 11 years old. Betty is the only one who doesn’t live with her parents. She lives with her grandma. Her Dad left and Mom is remarried or at least with another man and lives in Amuria. All too common story. Now Grandma has four kids she is struggling to food and take care of. How is it that parents can abandon their own children so quickly? Can’t they see the sin they are living in and the hurt it is causing everyone else? I get so upset about it all. It is wrong and so many children suffer because of it. Betty’s clothes are tattered, her grandma has been sick, and the kids need school fees. I hope God shows me how to help this little girl. The fear is always that they will want more, take advantage, or depend on us. The girls remind us to pray for their friends. Lydia came out of her room the other day with a coin. I asked her what she was doing with it. She told me it was for Betty because she doesn’t have anything. I went and visited Betty’s grandma since she was sick. Her grandma was so happy to see me and so thankful – I guess the one bag of tomatoes I sent went a long ways. I couldn’t communicate much because she only speaks Ateso. They live in a simple hut. I hope to go again with Josh and the girls some day so they know where their friends live and Josh can speak to the grandmother. I am thankful for sweet little girls who have befriended my children.

Luka is crawling! While kinda. It is an army crawl he is not up on his knees but pulls with his arms and pushes with his foot. He gets everywhere! He is quick. He starts in the living rooms, gets to the dinning room, heads down the hallway, goes to the girls bedroom… The girls now know nothing on the floor is safe. He is really cute scooting around. It is amazing how quickly they change and can do things. Josh thought he felt a tooth poking through in Luka’s mouth today too. So maybe teeth are on their way too. (Oh, yeah.)

The other day Josh came home from teaching and Grace came up to him and said she had a secret for him. She told him, “Mommy is with child.” Josh asked if she knew what that meant. She said no. So he told her it meant Mommy was having a baby. Grace said, “Oh not Mommy Grandma.” Don’t you just love when kids make you laugh? Lydia was reading a book to Grace in bed a few days ago. She was doing great then she got to a page that was giving her trouble so she said, “Let’s fast forward that page Grace.” And she turned the page.

Grace has scarlet fever right now. Who would have thought? She started with a rash and a fever on Thursday but we didn’t think too much of it. Friday her fever was up to 101degrees, the rash was all over her body and she wasn’t feeling well. She slept in till 10am that morning. We started trying to find out what it was. We looked in our medical books, checked on-line, and called our missionary friend who is a nurse here. It was a mystery. Saturday was about the same but now the rash under her underwear was really bad and the rash was now itchy. Then we saw that her tongue was white. What in the world did she have? We began to think it was a yeast infection gone bad with Thrush on her tongue. But no one had heard of a rash from yeast going all over the body. I decided to email our pediatrician. Sunday morning we got her email suggesting it maybe Strep. We looked on-line and Strep can turn into Scarlet Fever. Scarlet Fever described what Grace has; sunburn rash that feels like sandpaper, white tongue, temp of 101… Finally we figured it out. The only thing is Grace’s didn’t start as Strep in the throat but in the vaginal area. Now she is on antibiotic. Hopefully in a couple days all this will be over, Grace will be feeling well again, and no one else will get it.

We pray a lot for here when people get sick (especially our kids). There are not any reliable doctors, hospitals, or labs. We have to trust in God. I guess it is a good place to be. God is our healer after all and I have seen Him heal our family several times. On Thursday both Grace and Lydia weren’t feeling well. Grace with Scarlet Fever and Lydia had a terrible stomach ache and headache. At the same time Josh was leading a former LRA kid soldier through the 7 steps to spiritual freedom. We knew this was going to be spiritual battle and had been praying a lot to prepare. We prayed for Josh, David (the former LRA victim), and over our family. We knew satan did not want to give David up and would do anything to stop it. Sure enough our kids got sick. Satan knows were we would be most concerned and distracted. But we have the power of prayer and the power of Jesus Christ in us and over us. What a comfort to know victor is Christ’s. The battle is won and we are on the winning side.

So Josh met with David. David’s story is unbelievable. It is unthinkable what evil does to people. And his is only one story out of many. I don’t know all the details but here is a summary. David was abducted by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) with his parents when he was a nine years old. A few days later they killed his parents. David and the other boys were marched to Somalia where most of the boys were sold as slaves in exchange for weapons and bullets. David was then taken to Sudan to be trained as a soldier. By force he participated in killing, abducting, human sacrifice, and was forced to take a wife. David was caught escaping once and then was shot at and abused for it. After five years he did finally escape. He was in the Congo and turned himself into soldiers there. The soldiers then abused him. Finally, someone helped him back to Soroti. He is now 15 years old. David struggles with a lot of fear, is tormented by evil spirits, and has no family or place to go. Thankfully a pastor here has taken him in and really helped him. Josh also met with him to help him become free from the bondage he is in. He was able to denounce the evil he was exposed to, forgive all those who hurt him, and be released from the fear that gripped him. There is freedom in Christ. Pray for David. No child should have ever had to go through all he did. We simply cannot imagine. Pray for so many others who need healing like David did and others who are still held captive by the LRA. Just this weekend we met Helen. She is 19 and just escaped in June. She even recognized David. We pray God continues to use us to help somehow.

July 09 (190 photos), by Mandy Shaarda

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Lydia is 6 years old!

August 9, 2009

So Lydia is now 6 years old! July 31 was the big day but we got to celebrate all week. On Monday we had the team over for cake and presents. Lydia gets so excited about her birthday. I think she started the count down a few months ago. She was so thrilled when the time finally came. Her mother on the other hand is always sad to see another year gone by…oh, all the good memories. We put decorations up for the big day and made a rainbow number six cake. Of course the highlight for Lydia was the presents. She was very happy. On Tuesday we had a princess birthday party with Lydia’s friends here in Soroti. What fun! We made crowns, played birthday bingo and musical chairs, frosted cupcakes, and opened more presents. Wow, what a good birthday.

Then we headed to Jinja for a couple fun days. It was beautiful out and both days the girls swam for about 5 hours. It was so nice. Finally on the 31st, Lydia’s birthday, we were in Kampala and went to her favorite restaurant with a trampoline. They even sang to her and gave her a birthday ice cream. Lydia told everyone all week that it was her birthday. She even had a group of other missionaries sing happy birthday to her in market. Being the social bug she is she loved everyone sharing in her joy.

It was a great week and Lydia is worth celebrating! She is a gift from God. Her love and joy are contagious. God is using her to love many people. God be with Lydia and fill her with more of you each day of her life.

We are back to being our little team again (Sliedrechs, Bokmas, Karen, and us). Our summer visitors all left last week. The business is over. That is good and bad. We will miss all of them yet it will be good to slow down and fall back into a routine again. We are adjusting. It is unbelievable that Sliedrechs leave in two short weeks for four months and then we will only have two and a half months and we go. Time, it seems to fly by lately.

We had a wonderful week away. We spent two days in Jinja at one of our favorite resorts. It is always such a blessing to be away as a family enjoying the fun and beauty of the pool and gardens. We had fun with Sliedrechs and the summer visitors swimming and eating out together. Then we were in Kampala for a few days. We went to two craft markets. I bought a whole bunch of paper beads and necklaces. They are so many and they are so beautiful. I hope to use them when we are home visiting churches. The ladies got manicures and pedicures (well I didn’t I got my haircut) while the guys watched the kids jump on the tramp and drank milkshakes. Guess everyone was happy. Our kids went to see their first movie at the theater. We saw Up. Lydia thought it was pretty special. Grace was a bit scared. At night we ordered pizza. Can it get any better? Life is good. On Sunday we went to the international church and headed to Entebbe (where the airport is). We spent the afternoon at the zoo. We had such a nice time there. Then it was time to let our guests fly home.

Our family stayed in Kampala a few more days. We got the van fixed again, got Lydia’s immigration done for another year, and Luka got immunized. Now we are home. I have been sick with intestinal problems since then. Actually the whole family does but mine is by far the worst. Luka doesn’t have it thankfully but he has an on going cold and cough. Hopefully, soon we will all be feeling better.

I forgot to tell you what Grace said after the fall at Sipi Falls. We arrived at Sisiyi Falls where we camped and she got out of the van and announced, “Don’t worry guys there are no vines here!” I thought it was really cute. Yesterday the blind came to see Josh. Grace came in the house and said, “Dad, the old people with canes are here.” Funny girl.

Luka is now sitting up on his own. He sure is a sweetheart.

Tragedy to Beauty

July 22
Let me first give you the kids update. Luka is now 6 months old! He brings us so much joy with his continual smiles. People still talk about how happy and content he is. He rolls ALL over now. Like from one side of the room to the other – quickly. He can use a sippy cup too. And he is almost ready to sit up by himself – so close. His hair has lightened or lessened on the sides and there is even a hint of red in his hair. (Lydia had that also.) He has the cutest little curl in his hair too. Luka is starting to say new sounds too. Every week seems to be something new.

Lydia continues to do well in school. Last night she read to us and even knew the word “proud”. She also tells us a lot that she wants to be a mom when she grows up. Then Grace said she wants to be a grandma. They are still praying for people around the world. We are now praying for kids on the street or as Grace prayed for the “road kids”. Today at lunch she asked if we knew what curious meant she told us it meant pregnant.

Wow, summer is a busy time here. We have been really enjoying getting to know all the short term people on our team. Our newest visitors are Becky Carlson and David and Heather Breen. Becky is hoping to join our team next year after training and support raising. We have really enjoyed having her here. She is easy going and so helpful with the kids. David and Heather just got married a month ago so we really admire them for coming. We know David’s family and David use to be friends with our brother Chris, so it is neat to have someone we know here. David and Heather are asking God what He wants them to do. So maybe they will be back!?! They are a joy to have out here. I think we have all grown really close as a team lately. We have had birthday parties, campfires, game nights, lots of eating together, and even when camping together. It will be hard to let so many of them go in a short time.

We had a great get-away last weekend. Our whole team drove to Mt. Elgon (near Mbale) to hike by the waterfalls and go camping. Since it was our first camping experience in Africa I thought it would be best to take a lot of people – safety in number or more to laugh with if it went bad. We piled in two vans and drove to Sipi Falls first. We went to hike by the second of three falls. It is always great to be up in the mountains where it is cool and beautiful. It only took about 10 minutes to get behind the falls where there is a small cave and a great view. Everyone was enjoying until…the accident happened. I wont go into detail but Tim was helping another team mate get a vine to swing on when he slipped with the vine then fell about 8 to 10 feet down onto rock with Moses on his back. I cannot describe to you the horror of that moment. Almost everyone saw it happen but me. All I heard was screams. I didn’t know what I would look down and see. I kind of panicked. I made sure the kids where ok and stayed put then went to help Angie with Moses. Everyone on our team when into action! Sarah ran for any help she could find, Stephanie watched the girls, Heather held Luka, all the guys went to Tim, Rachel (a LPN) started treating what she could… I remember Tim moaning and saying something maybe about Moses. It was an awful scene. I guess Moses was unconscious for a minute. He had an instant goose egg on his head so we were really worried about him since the injury was to the head. He just cried and cried. Tim was in a lot of pain and in shock. They managed to get him to lay down and started cleaning his wounds. His shirt was torn and cell phone (which was on his hip) was smashed. I was so worried. I remember just calling on God’s name. Africa is not the place you want to get hurt. Where do you go for good help? We needed God!

(I told you I was going to keep this short, but writing about it is like processing it for me.)

We began to make a plan. Get them to the hospital – now! Moses’ eye was beginning to swell shut and we were feeling the urgency to go. By some miracle Tim walked out from behind the falls and with great pain got into the van to go with Angie, Moses, and Josh to the hospital in Mbale. Tim was so upset by it all and worried about Moses. As they went the rest of us gathered around the picnic table to pray. There is so much peace in prayer. When we call on God’s name there is comfort and power. He always answers. We ended by calming our heart in song and worshiping our God in praise. I am so thankful for our team! Everyone helped, everyone cared, and together we went to God. I love them.

It was a long afternoon. Although numb the group decided to continue as planned to hike to the third falls. It was what Tim wanted them to do. Karen and I stayed back with the kids (at the lodge). Good thing too because it poured and got very muddy very quickly. All afternoon I got updates from the hospital from Josh or Angie. I also called home and told my sister, mom, and in-laws to start praying. What a blessing to have others cover you in prayer when you are unable to. The kids did great for the circumstances. Even Avalien who usually doesn’t let her parents out of her sight did great. God answered so many prayers even down to the little things.

So, after the hike and a late lunch we piled (on top of each other) into one van and drove to Sisiyia Fall where we camped for the night. Grace got out of the van and said, "don't worry there aren't any vines here" - Amen! Amazingly, Josh, Angie, Tim and Moses also joined us there! Praise God! It was only by the work of God – a miracle! After a long day at several hospitals (questionable hospitals) the x-rays showed Moses’ head to be fine and no broken bones on Tim. Moses was back to himself and Tim with very sore with torn cartilage by the ribs but at least walking and with us. We were all so thankful and simply amazed at the miracle we just witnessed. God is good!

We had a great time camping. It was breath taking beautiful. The team named it the garden of Eden. The kids loved sleeping in tents and had a fun little stream the played in and floated “boats” down for hours. It was perfect. We had a wonderful bar-b-q dinner, we witnessed a gorgeous sunset, watched the falls, and enjoyed each others company around a campfire. Could it be any better? What a weekend it was. From tragedy to beauty. Only God can do that. I love my Savior!

Pictures!

We had a great weekend camping by Sisiyi Falls with our team! I just had to share some of the many beautiful pictures. Also, Luka is now 6 months so I posted some of our precious baby boy. I will write about it all soon. Enjoy!

June 09 (150 photos), by Mandy Shaarda

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
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Celebration and Sick

July 7, 2009

Happy belated forth of July everyone! We celebrated here on the 3rd of July since some people were busy on the 4th and our team is now half Canadian so we went in between the 1st (Canada’s Independence Day) and the 4th. We had a fun time playing volleyball, horse shoes, and bocce ball. We grilled and had a wonderful potluck picnic. Afterwards we had a campfire and smores (for anyone who could eat anymore).

We have also been sick around here. Lydia started it last week when she said her stomach hurt. A few days later she throw-up and had a fever. After that came the diarrhea. I always feel so bad when my kids are sick. Lydia is a real trooper when she is sick. She is easy going even when she is sick. We put Lydia on medicine for Giardia and she was better in a day. Then it was Grace’s turn. She went through the same thing so we thought it was probably a bug going around. Grace did well too and took many nice naps. After that it was my turn. I had a crampy, gasy stomach for over five days and thought something would come of it. I started to feel sicker each day, then got a fever, and a major case of Giardia. I was sicker than I have ever been in Africa. I don’t know if you know much about Giardia but it is an intestinal bug that causes A LOT of gas and of course diarrhea (don’t you love how missionaries talk so casually about diarrhea). Because I am nursing I couldn’t take the medicine. I had to let it run it’s course or get rid of it self. I was in so much pain. My stomach literally sounded like a pot boiling on the stove. It felt like it too. I would compare it to labor but I know that was worse. All I could do is let it “boil” then take another trip to the bathroom. Poor Josh was on full parent and nurse duty. He did everything for 24 hours (or more). He is such a great Dad by the way. And he can cook really well. I didn’t have to worry about them at all. After along night, I was thankful that God heard our prayers. I felt quite a bit better and the next day almost all better. Praise God! I felt like my stomach had gone to war and was really tired. Thankfully my husband allowed my to sleep a lot and get well. My tummy still rumbles at time so we will keep an eye on that but otherwise I am SO much better.

Now we hope we are finished with this sickness. Luka seemed to have a touch of it but is doing well. He does have a cold that bothers him at night which bothers us. While I was sick I asked Josh if possibly it could be our new water filter. Because you cannot pass Giardia and it usually comes from water. He got out the instruction sheet about it and surprise, surprise it was not meant for cleaning water but for filtering clean water. Can you believe it a $700 water filter that doesn’t clean water?! Only in America. Thankfully we didn’t buy the filter but Josh did work on it a whole day installing it. What a let down. Well now the water filter is packed up and put away. We just hope we didn’t get anyone else sick.
So pray for all of us. It seems a lot of us on the team have been struggling with being sick – diarrhea, malaria, pain, infections, colds… I believe we are being attacked. Our team is doing well so satan is distracting and discouraging us with sickness. Thanks for your prayers for all of us. We know God is with us and is our healer. We can trust in Him.

Avalien turned four today. Grace was crying about it last night because everyone would be older than her. While we were saying our night time prayer and she interrupted and said, “pray for my problems too Mom”. She was all upset about it. There are a lot of birthdays lately and Lydia’s is next so we will see how Grace handles that one. Grace was fine for the party though and we had fun celebrating with Avalien.

The other day a storm started and Lydia was afraid. Grace gently told her, “God is with us Lydia”. Isn’t it so good when you hear young faith come out of your children? Praise God He is growing in them.