In This Life: July 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Chiseka Primary School Program

Last Friday was the last day of school for Chiseka Primary School. Most of our Rainbow children attend Chiseka Primary (two are too young and 12 are in secondary school elsewhere). Jeremy and I took SM and CJ with us to attend the closing program. We brought goodies (a pencil, a pen, and a couple of pieces of candy wrapped in tissue paper) to each of our children who received awards. Awards were given for being well-dressed, well-behaved, and for having high grades (such as A's and B's). Out of 40 Rainbow children 34 of them received A and B honor roll awards. Many received multiple awards. We were so proud of them and honored to be a part of their end of the year celebration!

Red shirt: Fatsani

Blue jacket: Joshua

The head master making opening remarks

Blue shirt: Frank Hoodie: Zacheau (Zacheau was the top student in his class and possibly in the entire school his teacher said!)

Lonnes receiving award from Glory. Glory is Nasson's wife (pastor of Rainbow Church). Nasson and Glory are the house parents for the boys. Glory is also the assistant head master of Chiseka Primary school.

Malita receiving her award

View of the 1700+ children in Standard 1-7 (equiv. to grades 1-7).

There are over 150 children in each class with ONE teacher per class!

Pink hoodie: Faith Center: Wakisa

Hey, I see an Azungu in that crowd! SM sitting with her friends

Jeremy and CJ waiting to hand out awards. It was HOT and SUNNY!

Hamilton

Rashid

Eliza, Mary, Malita

Aida

Alinafe

Zacheau! Top student! We're so proud of him!

Faith and Temwa

We were surprised to see baby Lydia in the crowd. You may remember the story of Baby Lydia who was born last October 22 (Jeremy's birthday). We rushed her mom to the hospital praying she wouldn't have the baby in the back of the Landcruiser. The family asked us to name their baby girl, whom shared the same birthday as Jeremy (which apparently is also a big deal in this culture). Jeremy chose the name Lydia. We left for the States soon after naming her and this is the first time we'd seen her since returning. Lydia was obviously not too excited about seeing azungus! ;)

Pray for the school, the teachers, the students, and how we should help to make the education of our Rainbow children better! May God lead and teach these precious children His truths!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Prayers for Lennison

After a few blog posts from our family now it's time to show you more of the ministry work that's been going on. God is truly at work here! Permaculture training, water well instillation, medical clinics, cleft palate/cleft lip surgical events, and sharing the Gospel through it all! Praise God for His work!

This post is about our sweet baby Lennison. Remember Lennison is one of the children that our family has been providing formula and bottles for since the May ConnectMed visit. Lennison was born with a sever cleft palate and cleft lip. He lives in a village across the street from us. He has gained some weight but not as much as we had hoped.

This past Wednesday Lennison's mom and Lennison appeared on our doorstep. Lennison was running fever! Those are the LAST words we wanted to hear. The Operation Smile cleft palate/lip team will be here on the 2nd of August. He needs to be well, and fat, for consideration for surgery!

We rushed him to ABC Clinic because we knew they'd do an actual blood test (rather than just prescribe a malaria treatment which is what most clinics do). The blood test showed extremely high WBC's. He has been admitted to the hospital receiving IV antibiotics since Wed.

As of today they are still awaiting results of a Sickle Cell test to see if he may have Sickle Cell. He is just as of today fever free but will be reevaluated on Monday morning by the dr.

We don't know what this means for Lennison's surgery. But we do know that God's timing is always perfect. Pray that the doctors figure out what Lennison needs, and that he will be healthy and grow in weight. Pray that if it's God's will he will still be able to receive the first of many surgeries needed to repair his mouth and lip.

We will keep you updated as we know more.

"For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Snaggle Tooth!

My precious angel is growing up way too fast! Two days ago she lost BOTH of her front teeth in the same day! They'd been loose for quite some time. I was able to pull one that afternoon but the other one was very stubborn. She didn't want me to pull it or even try to get it looser. But I made a deal with her....if she pulled it she could get a popsicle right then and then the next day I'd have Daddy make coffee milk shakes. Well, that was it! She was DETERMINED! Sweets are her weakness!!! She pulled and twisted and wiggled for hours! CJ even got in on the game by cheering her on and coaching her! I laughed and laughed. At 10:15pm after hours of working on it that stubborn tooth finally came out! True to my word I gave her a popsicle at 10:15pm. She couldn't believe it! She figured I'd make her wait until the next day. She kept repeating over and over, "I can't believe Mommy is letting me eat a popsicle at 10 o'clock at night". What a wonderful memory!

10pm popsicle!

While I'm writing a SM post I have to mention two other funnies that came from this child over the last couple of days! She's full of these btw:

Yesterday CJ and SM got in trouble for not finishing their chores or for doing them in an unacceptable way. Jeremy was talking with them about why it's important to do their work and to do it to the best of their ability. He said when they grow up, if they get a job and don't do their job well or if they don't do their job at all then they will get fired. SM thought for a second and responded, "I hope I don't get a job cleaning."

Then today during the Permaculture class we were outside watching the participants dig a VERY LARGE one meter hole to plant a banana tree in. The man digging was up to his shoulders deep in the hole. SM came and said, "Mommy what is he doing?" I told her he was digging a hole to grow a banana seed. She thought for a second and said, "That must be a very big seed."