I no longer have a cup of tea to my left... but I do have a commitment to fill this blog page.
I wrote out a near complete blog post on Saturday night. My fingers were cracking and I was having fun putting it together. But, I sorta of got distracted by a late night trip to the hospital.
And I figure that that post needs a bit tweaking before I will hit publish in the right upper corner of the screen.
And I can't wait for the tweaking of that post to unfold. I have left you all in the dark LONG enough.
The last weeks have run. I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that it is September. September?
But alas, it is September and I feel like the rest of the year is only going to run that much faster.
On Friday afternoon, I met up with one of the young ladies that I have the privilege of walking life with. It was report card day and after picking up her report card, I met her down the road in Kiwoko for a quick bite to eat. We each ate traditional Ugandan food and chatted through her grades. It was a rather simple discussion, but the fruit of having spent time together over the last months was evident. As I was taking my last bites of steamed bananas, we had identified a very likely reason for her low grades and had somehow agreed on a plan of going forward. Shortly thereafter, we stopped by the local police station. We had bumped into one of the local detectives at the restaurant and he told me I needed to stop by. The reason? Because my driving permits and credit/debit cards that had been stolen from my house months ago.. had been found out in the bush. While most of my cards had been replaced, I was very thankful to find that my Indiana Driver's License, while very dirty, had been among the cards found.
And so with dirty cards....but cards nonetheless in my wallet, I dropped off the young lady and returned back to New Hope. I was just ahead of the rain and made it home to find my friend at my house bringing my laundry off the line. The rain was coming and my clothes and bed linens were nearly dry. Shortly after bringing them in and sitting down in the chairs in my living room, my friend and I sat and shared. I'm thankful for opportunities to pour into and am equally thankful for those who pour into me. Often it happens simultaneously.
I think there is so much I can share. I met up with little Ayeko a few weeks back. He had a pretty important test... the last one before his final surgery would be scheduled. I picked him, his dad, and grandpa up early on a Monday morning. Almost as soon as the car door was shut, his dad let me know he was sick. And he was! Bless His precious heart. I was so thankful that we were able to get the important medical test finished. As soon as he was done with that, we hopped in the car and drove to the hospital. There, blood work confirmed what was suspected. His body had a very high malaria count. The doctor in Kampala wanted to admit him right then and there. But knowing, I needed to get back to New Hope for work the following day and also that there is a good hospital a handful of kilometers away, we had the doctor document his needs and ensured that the first dose of malaria treatment and IV antibiotics were in and then hopped back int he car for the ride out to Kiwoko. It is absolutely amazing what ONE day of medication and a whole lot of prayer can do for a little man.
Prayerfully, his surgery will happen in the near future.
It's been near full force back in the clinic. Malaria seems to be in a quiet stretch right now... AMEN to that! We've been seeing lots of coughs, colds, and body-aches. There have been a few near broken bones and one young girl who SERIOUSLY and quite impressively BROKE her bone. Her teacher brought her into the clinic and I wasn't sure if I was looking at her elbow dislocated or a bone in the wrong place. Painful. And broken. In the end, she needed surgery to repair the badly broken bone. A tough cookie I don't think I would have been that brave... or strong.
One of the things that I have been doing over the last handful of weeks is DEEP cleaning the clinic. There are boxes of things from years past. Old medical books, magazines, medical supplies long past their time, and a variety of medications. Most of the medications and supplies are too old to be used. And it is a process to sort through the stuff. Mixed into a lot of that stuff are treasures. Gauze pads can be resterilized. Things with one purpose can just as easily be used in a different way. For example, I found multiple packs of laparotomy sponges. Yes, at one time, they were graciously donated to the clinic. The only problem is.... laparotomy sponges are used by a surgeon to soak up blood in huge operations. Not so practical in our clinic. BUT.... they are EXCELLENT dusting towels.
All this cleaning has been good. I have enjoyed organizing and sorting through things.
This morning in church, I found myself paralleling the cleaning of the clinic to my own life. This season, God has been opening the door of areas of my heart that I thought had already been sorted... and in some ways, had already been organized. But, what I've realized is that there is still plenty of stuff that needs to be cleared out.... and while it's not exactly what I would have put on my agenda, I'm realizing that there are pockets of treasures. I've been able to sit and pour out my heart to Jesus more so in the last month of my life than I have in a LONG time. Maybe that is why I've been a bit quiet on this blog. My heart and soul have been writing novels to my Jesus. Together we have looked at the things of old... the things I sorta of thought had been discarded ages ago.... and yet am realizing that bits have remained.
And so, I'll keep cleaning that clinic. I'll celebrate the treasures found and keep burning the things no longer usable. And soon enough, the clinic will be that much more organized. There will be that much more space for other things along the way. The cleaning takes time. It's a bit of work. But it is good. The end result is good. And even the process in between is good.
I have several pictures to make this blog a bit more interesting...BUT the internet is acting a fool and I can't seem to get my pictures from my phone to my computer.... let alone uploaded to this blog. My temptation would be to wait... but instead, I'm going to hit send.
I love you all.... am so thankful for you all... and am so blessed to have you along on the journey God has me here. It is a gift to be where He has me. And it is a gift to know you all.
