Unprovoked Miracle

Each of our children are unique.  One of the unique things about Tanika is that ‘things’ seem to happen to her without explanation.  It’s been like this since the day she was born.  (Who can explain surviving all odds and living against doctor’s ‘recommendations’, except it was a bonafide miracle?)  Had I been writing this blog back in 1992 there would surely be many posts of these unexplainable instances.   This entry is about one such time.

It happened on a Thursday a few weeks ago.  Tanika came home from school with her left hand/wrist wrapped in an ace bandage.  Of course I asked right away what was amiss.  She said with all the detail of a teenager, “I hurt my wrist.”  Is that so.  I stubbornly waited for more information without asking for it (this may be where she gets her stubborn streak).  She finally caved and began to explain that she was straightening out her arm/hand and rolling her wrist, the way one does when one is feeling fatigued from writing (note she is not left-handed).  Suddenly something kind of ‘popped’, and her wrist started swelling and was paining her (please excuse my incorrect grammar, but it seems so much more efficient to speak as an African would and change the noun to a verb).  She was given ice packs to keep on it and swallowed some Tylenol.  When she came home the swelling was gone but the pain wasn’t.  There really wasn’t much of an explanation as to what had happened.  Really no event that instigated the pain.  We figured it couldn’t be broken and that it just needed time to heal itself.  By Saturday morning things were no better.  In fact, it seemed that she couldn’t turn her lower arm so as to position her thumb to point up.  And her wrist looked a bit twisted.

I avoid local doctors here like I would avoid a beehive.  (The reasons for that would be a topic for another post).  However, we thought maybe an x-ray was called for.  And I wasn’t even too sure about getting that done.  Trae had an x-ray when he broke his collarbone and when a trained osteopath from Belgium (he works in Niger) first looked at it he said it was a bad x-ray, but that it looked like Trae would only need a brace.  That was until he saw Trae in the flesh and saw a piece of his bone sticking out.  That’s when he said – “no, this will need surgery.”  Thus I was not very confident in getting an x-ray.  We called the Belgium doctor but it being a Saturday, couldn’t get him.  So we called one of the ‘better’ hospitals to find out about an x-ray.  It seemed that they too couldn’t be bothered on the weekend.  So at that point, there wasn’t much more we could do.  We decided to wait until Monday to see what route we would pursue.

Sunday we went to church as we always do.  I sat on the front row like I normally do, next to Tobi the drummer.  Tanika was sitting with a friend a couple rows behind me.  During the praise and worship a ‘thought’ popped into my head.  It wasn’t something I had even been thinking about, so I know it wasn’t my thought, it was the Holy Spirit.  It would be really great if Tanika’s wrist was healed during the worship service while she was praising God.  Hmmm.  That was a great thought.  I didn’t say anything to Tanika, but just prayed that God would touch her and left it at that.  We had not had any discussion about this whatsoever.  I didn’t dwell on it or even pray really hard.  I just continued singing.  Within 5 minutes Tanika walked up to me.  She had taken the ace bandage off her arm and was holding it up.  There were tears streaming down her face.  I have to be honest – my first thought was that it was really hurting her and she needed it to be re-bandaged.  The music was pretty loud so she had to get right in my face.  She hugged me when she said ‘my wrist is healed’!!  I asked her what happened.  She said she was just standing there singing and first her wrist got cold, then it go hot.   Then she felt like taking the bandage off and she was able to move it all around.  It was truly a miracle!  She went up on the platform and told Neal what had happened and gave her testimony to the church.  Wow!

I’ve seen lots of cool things while living in Niger these past 10 years.  But how wonderful it is when God does a miracle like this for one of our own children.  “Un-provoked” so to speak.  She said she hadn’t even prayed about it – wasn’t even thinking about it.  God just did it because He wanted to delight in her.  And He wanted her to know His power.  And He wanted her to know that He is Almighty God, and nothing is too big or small for Him to do for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  And you should know that  He is no respector of persons – what He did for her, He will do for you!

Heat adjustment / School’s out

Our bags were packed and we were ready to go by Monday afternoon.  Caira took us to the airport on Tuesday morning.  That was a huge blessing – so we didn’t have to take the metro with all of our bags.  The fact that we checked only 4 bags when we could have checked 6 really went against my grain.  I’m trained to NEVER come back to Niger without all that I’m allowed to bring.  But I did manage to bring back some mozzarella and parmesan cheese, which was about 1/3 of the price we pay here.  Also brought back some cool pasta and gifts for everyone here.

Our flight went really well.  That is until the pretty strong turbulence towards the end that made me lose my cookies.  But it’s so nice to only have one flight – to almost the same time zone.  So there was no jet lag when we got here.  The only adjustment was the heat.  And what an adjustment!  In Paris, I was taking a very hot shower every night to warm up before getting into bed under 3 thick blankets.  In Niger, I take a shower (wish it was cold but the water comes out hot) to try and cool down before getting into bed.  I realized while in Paris that household chores weren’t really bothersome at all because it was so cool.  In fact I looked forward to doing dishes because I would be able to put my hands in hot water, and to folding laundry because of the warm dryer – while wearing a sweatshirt and flannel pants!  I helped Caira make 13 beds and never broke a sweat.  It was almost like a new experience for me.  All work, no sweat.  Cooking was also pleasant.  Never once felt like I was slaving over a hot stove…I enjoyed the heat of the gas fire.  In Niger I have to be careful in my 100+ degree kitchen not to let dripping sweat pour into my cooking.  Just being real!

We have an outdoor thermometer and though I know it’s not actually this hot outside, when the sun passed over it today it read 125.5.  It’s almost 5pm and it’s now 109 in the shade.  But what’s crazy is we have the AC on in our office and it’s still 95 in here.  But when we walk out of this room, we are hit with a blast of heat!  The rain is coming and temps should drop some.  Waiting (not so patiently) for that.

When it’s this hot, I have to remind myself that the vast majority of people in this nation are living without so much as a fan.  So I don’t need to whine.  But being cool (on a relative basis) is not without cost.  Our electric bill last month was almost unbelievable.  We run an AC in the office in the afternoon if we are desperate, and usually most evenings.  We also have AC’s in our bedrooms and use those at night.  Trae carries Tobi into his own room at night when he goes to bed so 1 less AC is used at night.  Other than that we have fluorescent lights, fans, a fridge, a small fridge and a freezer that run pretty regularly.  Our bill?  $850.  That’s not a typo – eight-hundred fifty.  That’s partly due to the weak dollar, and to the increased cost in electricity.  But, we have realized that our effectiveness here is increased when we know that we will get a good night sleep.  So in the big picture, it’s worth it.  That’s what I’m telling myself.

We arrived back on Tuesday at about 5pm.  Trae had a school banquet to attend at 7.  He made that and had a great time.  The next morning was the last day of school and the final assembly.  We all (Neal & I, Grama & Grampa), went to that.  Tobi preferred sitting with us (between Grama and Grampa to be exact), rather than with his class.  The Student Council gave out various awards and Tanika received one of 2 awards for being ‘most encouraging note writer’.  Sounds just like her!  The Video editing class presented the music video’s they had been working on all semester.  Trae wrote the words and music for his group’s song.  Before his accident, they had recorded the song (he played guitar and sang) and done some of the video.  But the rest of his group had to finish it without him.  It was a pretty cool video.  While it was playing Tobi asked if Tanika had a video.  I told him that she wasn’t in that class, that her class was art.  So he asked if they would be showing her art.  Pretty funny.  Speaking of her art though, she did some pretty amazing drawings this semester – including a really nice self-portrait.  She is the one with the creative bent.  We also have good reason to be proud of Trae and to brag about him a bit.  Sahel Academy belongs to ACSI – The Association of Christian Schools International.  The teachers nominate juniors and seniors for the Distinguished Christian High School Student Award.  Trae is a junior and was selected for outstanding achievement in:  Academics, Leadership, Athletics and Christian Service.  We’re proud of him and it will look great on his college application.

Wednesay night Trae went to the Student Council dinner.  Last night was Sahel Academy graduation.  There were 3 graduates and they came in on camels.  It was pretty cool.  Trae’s class is much bigger than that, and it made me realize that his graduation is going to come sooner than I’d like.  Tobi is with me.  On the way last night he told me that he wished Trae was only in 10th grade.  I asked him why and he said because then he’d stay here longer.  Point taken.  As you can see, the arm in a sling hasn’t slowed him down much.  He’s bummed about not being able to play sports though.

School is out for the summer and we have lots of great ministry stuff planned.  I’m so glad that kids are going to be involved with the things going on.  They don’t get a lot of opportunity for that during school because of their academics/activities.

It’s going to be great!

This is long – I’m trying to finish my story.

We have been in France for some time now and I haven’t even written about it yet.  But I have posted lots of pictures of our time here.  And from those, it certainly doesn’t look like we’re here for medical reasons!

I’m going to try and speed this up.  I’m getting to a good part.  Unbeknownst to me, Tanika went to bed Wednesday night after having a conversation with God – telling Him that she believed she would wake up the next morning without a headache, and that she would be able to see.  Because of her faith.  Thursday morning we woke up and said,  “Mom, I don’t have a headache”.  Now anyone who knows me knows I’m not a morning person.  But that woke me up.  So I handed her my Bible and asked her to read it.  She opened it and began reading.  Up close, without her glasses, just as she could before.  We thanked God and decided that we were ready to go home.  Today!  Not so fast.  Not much moves fast around here.  Dr. Isaac called sometime that morning and I told him what had happened.  He said, “See, I told you it was 60% prayer.”  “No,” I replied, “It was 100% prayer!”  I hope I didn’t offend him — him being a doctor and all.  But they really didn’t do anything.  It was all God.  He later picked us up to go and talk to the Ophthalmologist about the CT scan, and have a few other eye tests done.  Her vision was tested exactly as it had been before.  The doctor said that the CT scan was normal – everything where it needed to be and nothing that shouldn’t be there.  He said he did believe she had inflammation of her optic nerve that could have been caused either by a virus or by stress/strain.  Let me make it clear here that Tanika, along with the rest of us, are expecting the complete restoration of her sight.  So we don’t want to let up just because it’s back to what it was.  But we are thanking God for what He’s already done!

Things weren’t able to be pulled together quick enough that day to move us to a guest house, but we planned on that happening on Friday morning.  Thursday night we went again to our friends house, and also made plans for a pastor friend of ours who had just returned back from Nigeria to pick us up at the guest house on Friday and have lunch together.  Tanika and I had our tea and went to bed.

On the home front…Plans were being made to get Neal and Trae on Thursday night’s flight to Paris….

Here’s a funy side note—When it looked like Tanika and I would be going to Ghana, we realized both her and Trae’s passports were expiring a few days from then – while we’d be in Ghana.  We had new applications filled out and pictures ready, but hadn’t gotten ourselves altogether yet to get them to the American Embassy.  Neal talked to an embassy friend who put us in touch with someone who may be able to help us.  This was a Saturday.  He told us that it would be possible to get an emergency passport on Monday, but at this point it looked like a possibility that we’d leave Saturday night or Sunday.  He told me he really didn’t think it was possible to get the passport on the weekend, but he’d see what he could do.  That process started at about 3pm on Saturday.  By 7pm, Tanika had an emergency passport that looked every bit like a regular one.  We thanked the guy profusely and he just kept telling us that’s what he was here for.  Almost as if we were doing him a favor for letting him do this.  What a guy!  As it happened, we didn’t leave until Monday, so Neal and I decided to meet Trae at the Embassy during his school break that Monday morning so we could get his turned in before we forgot.  It was a quick procedure but I remember saying something to Trae how it’s a good we’re doing this, but it’s not as if he’s going to need his passport anytime soon.  That evening he was hit by a truck.  Wednesday or Thursday Neal realized that we don’t have a passport for Trae in possession.  Back to the embassy he went.  They were able to issue Trae’s emergency passport in a couple of hours.

At first, our insurance said there were no available flights to Paris.  Neal’s Dad was not to be deterred and he went direct to the Air France office and discovered that yes, there were available flights.  So he reserved them.  Back to the insurance to give them that info.  Things were finally set and it was confirmed that they would be flying commercially – economy – to Paris that night.  I wasn’t there for the preparation phase, but I know Neal and he is very good at packing.  In fact I’m sure he did better in a crunch than I would have.  They weren’t expecting to be gone long, so didn’t even check any bags.  Just brought 2 carry-ons.  Neal would be carrying both of those, due to obvious reasons.

Meanwhile, back in Accra…

Friday morning dawns and this is the 2nd day in a row we have our suitcases packed and ready to move to the guest house.  Tanika, however, was not feeling great.  She had a serious case of the trots.  “Tanika”, I told her, “You need to get over this quick!  Dr. Isaac is not going to let us go if you’re not well.  Snap out of it!”  We had been in the hospital too long and I was getting crazy.  She continued to make frequent trips to the bathroom.  She was also the color of the sheets on her bed.  And breakfast held no interest.  Dr. Isaac walked in and asked how we were doing.  “Good”, I said – glancing sideways at Tanika, willing her to pinch her  cheeks a bit and smile.  I finally decided I better mention this little issue to the good doctor.  His reaction was exactly as I expected.  “What?” he said.  “How many times this morning?”  “Seven”, was Tanika’s attempted cheerful reply.  It was here that I began to beg.  I thought about getting on my knees.  I explained that this was just a little bug – nothing.  And that the best things was for us to get to the guest house where we could rest.  After all, they had been bringing our breakfast for some unknown reason every morning between 5:30 and 6.  Who eats then?  And the cleaning of our rooms- that starts at 6am.  Just release us and she can rest.  He let me know what a medical fool he would look like if he discharged her and she had to come back.  He would not be responsible for that.  “I understand.  She’ll be fine.”  He reluctantly agreed and did the discharge.  He was the one driving us to the guest house so we walked down with our bags and waited at the door for him to bring the car up.  Tanika starts vomiting right there at the entrance to the hospital.  I hate to admit it but here’s what I said to her.  “Tanika, hurry up and finish, here comes his car!  We don’t want him to see you like this.”  Too late.  He gets out of his car and it is pretty obvious what is going on.  We still attempted to leave, but not before she had to rush to the lobby toilet twice, and visit 2 trash cans on the way.  Dr. Isaac is looking at me like I’m out of my mind, and I just grabbed a suitcase and headed back into the hospital.  We were so close!  They had already stripped our beds so we were readmitted to a different room.  At least we got a little change of scenery.  They re-inserted the IV, drew blood for tests, gave Tanika an injection to stop all her bodily fluids from forcefully escaping, and began rehydrating her.  I called Pastor Theo and let him know that we didn’t need to be picked up for lunch at the guest house.  But he and his wonderful wife came the hospital to visit, and even brought me some lunch.  Tanika mostly dozed the day away, and I went to Pastor Theo & Monica’s house to get some email done.  By that night, she was feeling much better and we had our dinner and tea together, did some reading and went to bed.

Whatever attacked Tanika that day, attacked me that night.  I didn’t sleep a wink.  I was too busy making trips to the ceramic throne.  I was very tempted to ask for something, after all I was in a hospital.  But the last thing I wanted to do was become a patient.  So I prayed and imagined us in that guest house.  Morning couldn’t come soon enough that day.  A different doctor walked in and asked Tanika how she was doing.  “Good” she said.  He then said that he would let Dr. Isaac know and he would begin making plans to discharge us.  We were surprised, but beyond thrilled.  This time it was Alex, the paramedic that transported us to the long awaited guest house.  Very nice place – a guest house of the ministry our friends have in Accra – Agape Gospel Mission.

Next step was to make arrangements to get back home.  This was also proving to be quite a challenge.  I’ve already explained what it would take to fly commercially from Africa to somewhere else in Africa.  We would have to fly from Ghana to Ivory Coast to Burkina Faso before reaching Niger.  It’s about 12 hours – if all goes well with the different flights.  And to have all of them do what they’re supposed to do is not a very high probability.  I had been telling all involved from day 1 about SIM AIR – a mission that could fly from Niamey to Accra to pick us up and take us home.  Dr. Isaac was all in favor of that, as he said he told our insurance company that there was no way he would approve for us to fly commercially the way it would need to be done.  He’s an African so he knows what that would mean.  I was sure thanking God for him!  But the final decision was not his to make.  Frugality won out.  In the end, SIM AIR actually ended up being cheaper than a commercial flight.  And it was a 3 hour direct flight.  That was settled, though they couldn’t come and get us until Tuesday.

Over to Paris…Neal and Trae had a good flight to Paris.  It’s only about 5 hours.  They ate on the plane, then slept, then woke up and they were there.  It was 6am Someone was there with one of those plaques with their name on it, and they were taken to the hospital for admission.  And x-ray was taken immediately.  The doctor later came and put a strap on Trae – saying that if it looked like the strap would hold things in place by the x-ray the next morning, surgery would not be necessary.  Sounded good.  The next morning’s x-ray came and it was found that no, the 3 part break was not going to stay in place to heal on its own.  Surgery would in fact be necessary and a metal plate would need to be inserted.  They would have, however, some days to enjoy Paris because the doctor said that due to Trae’s other accident injuries, he would not do surgery until he had been on an anti-biotic for 10 days.  That was still a week away.  And then recovery would be another 3 weeks after that.  In France.  That would bring them home on the Sunday after school was out.  This was a lot for us all to digest.  At this point Tanika and I had been in Ghana for 5 days, Grama and Grampa were with Tobi who seemed to handling everything really well, and Neal and Trae were in France, looking at a month stay.  That would take Trae to the end of the school year.  That was one of the biggest disappointments.  He, as the Student Council President, had been really involved in school all year.  So to have to miss all of the end of the year stuff, including saying goodbye to friends that he’d have no idea when he’d see again, was a major bummer.   We talked to the doctor and explained the above and he agreed that if all went well, he’d release him earlier.  Though I’m not to the end of the story, I can say here that all went well and Trae, Neal and I will be returning to Niger on Tuesday, June 3rd.  Tickets are confirmed.  He will be there for the Senior banquet, put on by the juniors.  That’s Tuesday night.  The student council dinner was supposed to be earlier but I reminded him that he, as president, had every right to change that.  So that will be Wednesday night.  Graduation is Thursday night so he will be able to see his friends.

Tanika and I had a couple of nice days in Accra.  We went to church with our friends on Mother’s day.  I was still struggling with digestive (or something) issues, but was able to make it through the service.  It was in English, and in an air conditioned place.  That was pretty great.  We enjoyed the mild weather, while everyone there was talking about how hot it was.  It’s all perspective!  I continued to keep in touch with everyone through phone, since it was so cheap in Accra.  I have a funny story of one of my attempts to get a phone card, but I’ll have to save that for another time.  I finally decided to take some Cipro for my ‘condition’, and it helped greatly.  We managed to get out of the hospital and were now completely focused on getting home.   Accra is a beautiful city, complete with beaches and shopping malls.  And as much as I love those things and don’t have anything remotely close to them in Niger, I had no desire to do anything like that.  We just wanted to get home.  It was kind of a strange feeling.

Given Trae’s situation, we decided that I would fly to Paris to be with them, and to bring Trae’s books so he could finish his school.  In light of that, I was really counting on leaving Ghana on Tuesday so I could be at home a couple of days and make Thursday night’s flight to Paris.  (There are only 3 flights/week to Paris) I really wanted to be there for the surgery on Saturday.  Really wanted to be there.   I received a phone call on Monday night and that because of the weather, the plane was not going to be able to take off from Niger on Tuesday.  I already had my bags packed again.   Tobi was ready for us to be home, and Grama and Grampa were ready for us to be home.  I was ready for us to be home.  That was a point that I felt really discouraged.  I called Neal to whine to him because now I didn’t know what to do.  This wouldn’t put me home until Wednesday earliest – and how would I manage to be ready to leave again on Thursday.  He assured me that everything would be ok, and that he and Trae were both fine without me there for the surgery.  I guess that was good…  This was one of those points that I really had to encourage myself.  I prayed and asked the Lord what I should do.  I wanted to be there for surgery, but I also wanted to spend some time with Tobi.  God mostly speaks to me through peace, and I felt that the most when I considered staying until Sunday night’s flight.  I would miss the surgery, but I would have 4 days with Tobi and everyone else.  So in the end, that’s what I did.  I was still frustrated that I couldn’t be there with Neal while surgery was going on, and it was nerve wracking waiting for him to call after it was over, but I felt right about the choice I had made.

Tobi really did seem to be doing fine.  I don’t know what we’d do if Grama and Grampa weren’t there for him – he’s just so comfortable with them, and I’m quite sure I will get called ‘Grama’ a lot when we first get home.  He asked a couple of times why I had to go, but that was only after prompting him to talk about how he was feeling about all of this.  When I told him it was ok to feel both happy and sad at the same time he said ‘really?’

Back in Accra, Wednesday morning came and with it our ride to the airport.  Kevin, the SIM pilot was on his way to Accra.  We made our way through the airport and waited for him.  It was great to see him walk in the door.  He explained that we would need to go through immigration, then we’d meet him outside at the plane.  I asked how we’d know the plane.  “It’s the smallest one out there.”  Alrighty then.  Followed his instructions, looked out and saw a tiny plane.  A very tiny plane.  I had never seen SIM’s plane before.  It almost looked like a toy from my vantage point.  I was thrilled with it.  We were going home.  And Kevin and SIM AIR had helped make it possible.  We walked out to the plane and Tanika got in first.  He said I could sit in the front if I wanted.  Of course I wanted – I could pretend to be the co-pilot!  Tanika got buckled in, then Kevin, then I followed him by climbing up the wing and into my seat.  I was suddenly thankful that I had taken the Cipro and my tummy was doing well at this point – this would not have been a very good position to have issues.  I could just imagine…”Ummm, excuse me.  Is there any way you could make an emergency landing?  I need to use the bush.  Now.”  The flight was 3 hours and 20 minutes and it was amazing to see the changes that took place as we flew out of the tropics and into the desert.  Pretty cool.  I had to laugh when I saw Niamey from the air.  Though it’s our capital city there wasn’t much there when compared with other cities we passed over.

We landed and drove right up to the hangar where Grama, Grampa and Tobi were waiting.  It was good to see them!  Tobi was pretty impressed with the plane we rode in.

Tanika went to school the next day and was amazed at how happy everyone was to see her back.  It had been awhile since she’d missed a week of school before we even went to Ghana.  She was so blessed by all the praying that had been done on her behalf.   The teachers were all so gracious in helping her get caught up with all she had missed.

Now I was ready to debrief in Niger, and plan for a trip to France.

God is good and we have the victory.

Another installment

Tanika wasn’t allowed any breakfast due to the upcoming CT scan, so I fasted with her. Unfortunately our ride didn’t come until 10:30. Traffic in Accra is atrocious but we were in an ambulance van and Alex, the paramedic that was on the plane with us, couldn’t resist using the siren to get though it. Tanika ended up having to lay down for the trip. We arrived at the specified location and were ready to get the test done with. What we were told is that they were sorry, but the machine broke down that morning. I must admit I felt like I was reaching my limit. This was, after all, the reason we came to Ghana. Specifically for this test. And we just wanted to go home. But again, I reminded myself that God is good and He was going to work this out for our good. Fortunately, Alex had some clout (as did we, as Americans) and the director came down and told us they were working on it. At one point they got it working for the neck down. We didn’t think Tanika needed to be scanned in any of those areas. They kept working on it. Finally, at around 3pm, the nurse walked out and said “you’re next”. As if we had just arrived and were waiting in line for our turn. I must admit that around 2pm, Alex convinced me to eat something small so I didn’t end up a patient. Tanika, trooper that she is, said she didn’t mind. Or maybe I thought that’s what her growling tummy was saying. She went in for the test and I had a great opportunity to share Tanika’s testimony with Alex. He’s from Peru, trained as a paramedic in Germany, working for this German Company in Ghana. He’s just a kid. 23. But really a nice guy. He actually started the conversation by telling me what a nice person Tanika was. He asked me lots of questions and I was basically able to share the Gospel with him. He smiled and nodded alot. Tanika was done about 40 minutes later and we were on our way. We realized that hospital lunch had long been digested, so Alex suggested we stop at the food court in the mall. In Ghana? A food court? It really was. We got chicken sandwiches and ice cream. That evening, our old/new friends picked us up at the hospital and brought us to their house for dinner. That’s when I was able to send my first email update. It was very encouraging to see for myself the prayers of our partners and friends. It’s hard to describe at a time like this what that really means. Back at the hospital, I read to Tanika from Matthew. All about the miracles Jesus did. And we found a consistent theme with many of them. It was because of the faith of the person in need of the miracle that Jesus healed them. “Your” faith has made you whole. I had really been feeling that Tanika needed to begin to take ownership or responsibility for her miracle. Ask God to really give her a revelation. A ‘know that she know’ moment. She was very aware of all the prayer going forth on her behalf, but now she needed to dig in her heels and believe for herself. We had our tea and went to bed. Back in Niger…. Talked to Neal throughout the day. He took Trae to see the Belgian bone doctor. That doctor looked at Trae and told them that he would need surgery. The xray he looked at the previous night was not a good one. He also said that although he could do the surgery, that he would not recommend us having it done in Niger. He didn’t trust the anesthesiologists or any of the other support staff. Infection risk was extremely high – particularly in this heat. So…we again contacted our insurance. They were not going to believe this! By we, I mean we. Both Neal and I were in touch with them – as they were looking into Ghana as well so they were communicating with Dr. Isaac – our Dr. Isaac. Donna, our missionary friend said the same thing about Ghana as the Belgian doc said about Niger. Support staff not likely up to par. And getting to Ghana on a commercial flight was kind of like getting to Kansas from New York via California. It only took us 3 hours on a direct private flight – but they weren’t considering that for Trae. So that’s what was in the works. Figuring out where Trae would be evacuated to. It was looking like Paris – as that is only a 5 hour commercial flight – direct. He was at home, and we talked several times – in between his busy visitor schedule. I still couldn’t believe that my son had been hit by a truck and I’d yet to see him. I continually reminded myself that God is good and victory is ours. More tomorrow.

Where was I?

Today was a gorgeous day in France, but I’ll save that for later. For now, let me get back to my story. I was in Accra, at the hospital, standing outside Tanika’s doctor filled room listening to Neal tell me that my son had been hit by a truck.

I returned to the room and as calmly as I could, explained to Tanika what had happened. She immediately fought tears and asked if Trae was OK before I could get it all out. The doctors – in their infinite wisdom – all assured us that Trae would be fine and that all would be well. As soon as they left, Tanika and I prayed for Trae and the situation as we knew it. And for ourselves. Then we had some tea and toast and went to sleep.

The next morning, Dr. Isaac, the doctor from the airplane came and brought me a SIM card for my phone, along with phone credit. He was a great guy. We immediately called Neal to find out what was happening there. Neal spent the night in the hospital with Trae. The news was that the doctor would be coming to ‘pop’ the bones into place by pushing Trae’s shoulders back. Yikes! Then they would put it in a brace and it would heal. The gouge in his back where the truck hit him was stitched together, and the left side of his body was bruised. There was also a big chunk missing from his heel—he was wearing flip-flops! But they were to be released to go home that day.

Meanwhile, Tanika and I were taken by ambulance to see the ophthalmologist. The vision test revealed that she could see movement and color. The very nice doctor gave her the lovely dilating drops and looked in here eyes every which way. He said he suspected that her optical nerve was inflamed but couldn’t be sure. He wanted her to have an MRI. Sounds good, except that the MRI machine in Ghana was broken. Well, a CT scan would have to do. So that was scheduled for the next day – nothing in Africa moves too quickly.

Back to the hospital we went. Tanika and I sat on the bed, wondering what to do with ourselves. In fact I do believe we were beginning to feel sorry for ourselves. And we felt lonely. We looked at each other and started laughing because we were both crying. I grabbed my Bible – she couldn’t read at this point so was subject to whatever I wanted her to hear. We read some verses, and I read to her from a book we had started at home called “Christ the Healer”. Then we put some good worship music on my Ipod and put on our headphones. We began to feel better, and I remembered that I had the phone number of some missionaries in Accra that we met about 10 years ago, and used to live in Nigeria so are friends with Neal’s parents. We met them that one time – 10 years ago, and haven’t seen them since. I wondered if I should call them. Ten years is a long time. Tanika begged me too. We were bored! I called Donna’s cell number and she answered. I was so glad I did. She sounded genuinely happy to hear from us, and said she was hoping we’d call. She made plans to visit us that evening with 3 of her 6 children. It was great to have a visit from them. And it was a big deal for them to get to the hospital, considering traffic in Accra! So that made our day. Then, to top it off, we got a call from my parents. It was good to talk with them. We were feeling better.

Back on the homefront… I made another call to Neal. (I was the official ‘phone caller’ as we discovered that I could make international calls the cheapest from Ghana). They had had countless visitors, including Trae’s English class from school. (Made Tanika and I just a bit jealous, but we were happy for Trae!) Turns out the doctor there never showed up, even after they went searching for him. The hospital told Neal they’d have to stay another night. So they decided to take matters into their own hands. They heard of a Belgian bone doctor in Niamey so they went and showed him the xray. He said it wasn’t a very good xray, but he didn’t know why they kept Trae in the hospital, that he could go home. He would give him a strap. They checked out of the money seeking hospital against medical advice, (Niger medical advice) and went home.

Tanika and I slept in the Accra hospital, and Neal and Trae were back at home. Tanika and I wanted as many details as possible. We were trying to imagine how Trae was, broken bone, bruised with stitches, trying to sleep. And it was very odd to me that this had happened and I hadn’t even seen Trae yet, but everyone else had.

I realized that it is for times like this that you prepare yourself for battle. You don’t wait until the day of the fight to get ready. That’s all done in advance. But then you still have to choose to use your training. I can’t tell you how often I had to ‘pull down’ vain imaginations and replace them with promises from the word of God. I had 2 kids in hospitals in 2 different countries for goodness sake!

Stay tuned.

Where do I start?

It has been exactly 1 month since my last post. And what a month it’s been! We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve counted it all joy, we’ve been frustrated, we’ve been angry, we’ve been scared, we’ve been lonely, we’ve been in pain, we’ve been happy, we’ve been tired, we’ve been amazed, but most of all we’ve been astounded by the faithfulness of our God. He is good and He never fails.

On April 29th I sent out an urgent prayer request concerning our daughter, Tanika. She was suffering with severe headaches and had significant vision loss. This continued to the point that with the advice of several doctors, we felt it necessary for her to have some tests done to find the cause. We contacted our insurance company and their medical team agreed so they began arrangements to evacuate us. Niger has no ability or doctors to do the exams needing to be done. The choice was made for Tanika and I to travel to Accra, Ghana. On Monday, May 5th, a plane flew from Accra to Niamey to pick us up. At this point Tanika had been having headaches for 2 weeks with no relief. She could basically see only movement and color. She had missed a week of school. The plane was accompanied by a flight crew of 4, a doctor and a paramedic. All for Tanika and I. It was quite a trip. She was hooked up to an IV and several other things to monitor her while in flight. It wasn’t first class, but she was lying down. We landed after a less than 3 hour flight and were taken by ambulance directly to the hospital where she was admitted and I was able to stay right with her in the room. Dr. Isaac kindly let me borrow his phone to call Neal and let him know we had arrived and were settled. At first I thought Neal’s excited voice was out of excitement to hear mine. Once he ascertained that we were in place he said these words to me. “Don’t freak out. He’s ok. Trae’s had an accident and he’s in the hospital. He broke his collarbone and is banged up.” At this point I’m just thinking that I’ve just seen him about 4 hours ago. And WHAT hospital? What hospital in Niger would I want my son in? And what happened? And I really am I’m working on not doing that freaking out thing. And wait a minute. I’m the one with the child that was medically evacuated. I can prove it. I’m standing right outside of her hospital room where all the doctors are around her. How could he have had an accident? This is not making sense. But what I said was “What happened”. You will just have to figure out for yourself how that actually sounded. The next thing Neal said was ‘He was hit by a truck’. At this point I began to realize two things. The enemy was seriously trying to discourage us by attacking our kids, and that God’s hand was definitely on them, and us. This became even more clear as I learned the details of the accident. He was on his motorbike getting ready to make a left turn. There was a taxi behind him that saw him and stopped. There was a truck (Neal described it to me as a Uhaul sized truck) behind the taxi that did not see Trae. He began to illegally pass the taxi as Trae was starting to make the turn. The truck hit Trae in the shoulder, ejecting him from the bike. Trae, realizing he was laying in a busy road, actually got up, took off his helmet and crossed to the other side and then realized that things were not right. He laid back down on the ground. Several people saw the accident and thankfully were there to testify to the police exactly what happened. The accident was officially ruled the fault of the truck driver. Trae doesn’t know anyone’s phone numbers in his head as they were all stored on his cell phone. He doesn’t have his cell phone anymore because it was stolen. But he remembered that he had the number of a friend from school written on his hand. Someone he plays soccer with saw him and stopped – and called his friend’s number. He was actually right by her house when he was hit – he was going there to return her ipod. Anyway, he called her and told her to call his Dad and tell him he had been hit by a truck. That’s what Esther did. She called Neal and basically said, “Trae needs you, he’s been hit by a truck”. Ya think? Then she told Neal where Trae was. Tobi was already in bed so Neal called his Mom and said something like “You need to come and stay with Tobi, Trae has been hit by a truck and I have to go and help him.” Grama and Grampa rush to our house and arrive just after Neal has left. Grampa met him at the ‘site’, as well as Pastor Moctar who helped take care of police stuff. Neal took Trae to the hospital where an xray confirmed a broken clavicle.

This all took place about 1 hour after Neal, Trae, and Tobi saw Tanika & I off at the airport.

To be continued…

Grades, The Brady Bunch & Tobi

I still have so much to write about our Benin trip, (believe it or not) but I have to deviate for now so I can record some stuff currently going on at home.  I don’t want to forget some of these things. 

I believe that God really desires to bless me.  I have the audacity to think that this hot season may not be so hot yet, because the Lord knew how much I was dreading it – let me just say it.  I was afraid of our first hot season here in Niamey.  We are now well into April – smack in the middle of hot season.  And though it’s hot, it’s not HOT.  This morning was actually cool.  Maybe in the low 70′s.  Thats very unusual for right now.  I take it as a blessing from God, straight to me.

The kids got their report cards last Friday.  They are all doing so well and we are proud of them.  Since they are doing so well, I don’t think they’d mind if I publish their grades.  Please allow me to brag once again.  Trae, a Jr.  had straight A’s – Bible, British Lit, Digital Video, French, Econ, PE, Physics, Precalc w/ Trig.  Comments:  shown creative side, good attitude, delight, exceptionally well, very capable, keeps teacher on his toes.  Tanika, a Freshmen also did exceptionally well with 4 A’s & 4 B’s, bringing her GPA up from 3.2 to 3.7 this quarter.  Comments:  works hard, proficiency increasing, improving, delight in class, gift for writing, takes initiative.  Gotta love those adjectives!  They deserve it.  They both study hard and are motivated to do well.  Tobi loves school, but the academics don’t come easy for him.  His report card is basically a list of objectives with checks that show whether he meets, exceeds, or doesn’t meet said objectives.  He ‘meets’ everything.  He exceeded in 2 things – Music and PE.  Hmmm….Needed assistance in using punctuation and telling time.  His favorite ‘outside subject is PE’, and his favorite ‘inside’ subject is handwriting.  Handwriting?  His teacher says he motivates the class to write because he likes it so much.  He got an ‘E’ – excellent for effort in almost every subject listed.  And very important to me are all the other things that are considered in elementary school-listening, quality of work, takes responsibility, organizes, participates, shares, self-control. respect, establish/maintain friendships, etc.  He received an ‘E’ on every one.  Comments:  good worker, enjoys writing, always does his best, works hard, kind spirit.  These character issues are of great importance to us – things we work on at home.  It’s a blessing to us to see the fruit in his their behavior at school.  I made ice-cream to celebrate.

Last year while in the US (by the way we left here for the US one year ago today), we bought the Brady Bunch.  The whole series.  Didn’t know until then that there had been only 5 seasons.  We thought it would be fun for the kids to get a dose of 70′s culture – American style.  We have been watching several episodes each week.  Trae and Tanika enjoy it because of it’s corny humor.  Funny, I don’t remember anything corny when it was aired prime time!   We have had so much fun watching it with Tobi.  He cracks us up.  Though not at all a TV/movie guy, he is a Brady Bunch junkie.  He’ll correct the kids out loud when they do something they’re not supposed to be doing.  He’ll try to tell Greg – through the TV mind you – that Bobby is spying on him.  He is so animated when he’s watching.  Enthralled is he word that comes to mind.  From the first scene he can tell you what that particular episode is about.  I’ve been trying to explain to him that they are a TV family but don’t really live together.  I don’t think he wants to deal with that reality.  Other than drumming, I don’t think I’ve seen him so invested in something.  It’s almost an obsession.  Almost scary.

Today we watched the final episode of the final season.  I almost thought he was going to go into mourning.  So I decided to check on the internet for something that would show the Brady’s ’then & now’.  The conversation that followed went like this:

Tobi:  I wish they would do 10 seasons.  Are they still alive?

Mom:  I think so.  Except Mr. Brady died about 15 years ago. 

T:  How did he die?

M:  He had a disease.

T:  Is he in heaven?

M:  I don’t know. (I didn’t tell him that the disease he had may have been an indication that he was in fact, not in heaven.) 

T:  So will I see him there?

M:  I hope so.  If he knew Jesus.

T:  What about the rest of the family?  Are they Christians? 

M: I don’t know.  (I’m not being very helpful)

T:  Where do they live?

M:  I don’t know, but they don’t live together.  Some of them probably live in California.

T:  I want to see them on this earth.  Do you think when we go to California we can see them? 

M:  We don’t know where they live.

T:  Maybe we can ask someone that knows and they can take us to their house.

M:  Speechless, and then – I don’t know, but you do understand that they don’t live together?

T:  Well, I want to see them, but I hope I can see them in heaven.

M:  I hope so too.

T:  Did you ever see them pray on TV?  Did they go to church?

M:  I saw them pray 1 time.

T:  Does that mean they’re not Christians?

M:  I don’t know.

T:  Begins to walk away sad.

M:  Tobi, did you know that you can pray for them now?  So if they don’t know Jesus, you can pray that God will send someone to tell them. 

T: I can?

M:  Yep!  (Not sure why that was a surprise to him.)

Then ensued a discussion of praying for those we don’t know and people who don’t know Jesus and what we’re doing in Niger. 

Later on I came across the few shells I collected on the beach in Benin when Tobi and I took a walk together.  We talked about how one of them looked like a sunrise.  I showed it to Tobi and asked if he knew why I collected the shells.  He said ’cause you like the sunrise?’  “Yes”, I told him, “but I also collect them because when I look at them it helps me remember our time there.”  Long pause and then, “Sometimes I don’t like to remember.”   “Why?”  I asked incredulously.  Fighting tears he said, “Because it makes me sad and I want to go back.”  “But would you rather not have the memories?”  Smile returns as he says, “No, I want the memories.”

Whew!  What an emotional day for the kid!  After that we talked to Grama and Grampa in Minnesota where they have recently been dumped on with 20″ of wet snow.  It’s April for goodness sake!  They sent pictures and I must to say they make me grateful for my 100 + degree temps!  Tobi on the other hand said he wants to go to America when there is snow and asked what would happen if we walked in the snow barefoot (he wears shoes to school only because they force him).  I told him that we wouldn’t walk barefoot in the snow.  That there are various footwear requirements for snow-walking.  Then he said, “I want to build a ‘snow clown’.   Is that what they’re called?  What are they called?”  At least he knew ‘snow clown’ didn’t sound just right.  Poor kid. He doesn’t know what to call a snowman but they guy speaks 2 languages, is learning a 3rd, and could probably tell you how to get out of a sand drift.  The life of a 3rd culture kid!

Cheese ramblings

Where has this week gone?  My last post was an update on Sido as I was running out the door for the weekend.  That was a week ago!  Not sure why I haven’t written all week.  I usually only feel like writing when I feel inspired.  But the purpose of my blog is more like a diary – to record my ‘life in the desert’.  So I’ve decided I need to write for posterity sake even if I’m not ‘feeling it’.  It’s certainly not as if nothing of interest has happened.  Interesting things happen daily.   So where is my inspiration?  Has the ‘interesting’ in my life simply become ‘mundane’?  I think most would beg to differ!  Take driving down the busy road of the hottest capital city in the world as you have to stop not for a stoplight, but for the camel caravan crossing the congested city streets.  Fulani or Tuareg people relocating their family to a better location to deal with the lack of water and the impending heat.  Not really sure where they are going to do that…

 Here’s something interesting.  Has anyone been hearing all the news of the weak dollar?  It’s a glaring reality to us.  It seems to be dropping more each day.  When we left for the US last April, our $100 was worth 50,000 cfa.  Sound like a lot.  It is, when compared to the 41,000 CFA it is worth now.  But just a few short years ago, that same $100 was worth 74,000 cfa.  It has almost been cut in half – because of the wimpiness of the dollar right now.  Interestingly (yep, there’s that word again) costs here have continued to climb.  Fuel is now over $6/ gallon.  That means it costs us about $240 (100,000cfa) when we say ‘filler-up’! 

Oh, here’s a good one.  Tobi’s birthday was last Saturday.  We celebrated on Friday since I was leaving for the weekend, and it was easier to bring kids home from school on Friday for a party.  Tobi – being properly trained by his older siblings – declared that he wanted pizza for his bday.  His real favorite food is Spagetti – American or African.  He loves the stuff.  But who can resist the influence of “cool guys have pizza for their birthday”.  So, pizza it was.  That meant I had to buy some cheese.  Cheese in Niger is one of those things that makes me cringe when I buy it, but it’s something I’m not willing to give up.  Not yet anyway.  I bought a 2.5 pound hunk of mozzarella cheese for $34.  Nope.  That wasn’t a mistake.  Not a typo.  34 bucks.  But that sufficiently –  maybe not generously- but sufficiently – covered 4 large pizzas.  (Hope I haven’t lost any supporters over that confession, on account of improper use of funds!)  Here might be a good place to add that even considering the boys having a pizza eating contest, there was still enough pizza left over for another meal.  I won’t go into the financial breakdown of the other pizza toppings but will say that Pizza Hut prices don’t really seem extreme to me.   Let me also add that we are ever-increasingly aware of the fact that God is our source.  And He has never let us down! 

 What else.  Oh yes, I mentioned I was gone for the weekend.  One of the SIM missionaries  (Cathy) organized a women’s retreat for whoever could come.  I decided it would be a good opportunity to get to know more of the foreign community here in Niamey so I signed up.  Cathy’s sister does women’s ministry in her church and the church bought her a ticket to come.  Another church provided all kinds of gifts and goodies for us.  It really was a blessing.  The theme was unwrapping the gifts of grace.  They brought lots of fun gifts and blessed all who attended.  I achieved my goal of getting to know a few people better, so will now know who more people are if I run into them when I’m buying cheese. 

Each Sunday evening there is an English speaking service that is held at the school the kids attend.  My very uneducated guess is that maybe 100 people attend regularly.  We don’t go very often, as in our own churches we have opportunity to attend service 4 nights out of the week.  (We don’t go to all of them though).  Anyway, we do attend the English service if any of our kids are involved.  That was the case this past Sunday night.  The school was running the service that night, giving testimony of the ministry trips they have taken this semester.  The school choir sang and Trae and Tanika are both in that.  I was quite impressed.  They have a great music teacher – who incidentally gives Tanika piano lessons.  A side note…Tanika is pretty natural when it comes to music.  But true to her unconventional form, she finds it very difficult to sing the melody.  Any time she sings, she automatically will sing a harmony part.  So she is working on learning to hear the melody.  She is having beginner lessons and we’re both very thankful that I’m not her teacher.  I want her to go by the book.  Play the notes written.  Her teacher does as well, but she’s a lot nicer about how she goes about telling her.  According to her teacher, Tanika is a ‘beautiful girl that just oozes music’.  Ooze away girl!  (Tanika, I know you’re reading this, and you’re smiling right now!)  Back to the service.  Tanika is also on the worship team and it was their turn and her first time to be involved in the leading of the worship.  It’s a group of 5 girls I think, and she did well.   And she had a good time.  Trae was asked to give one of the 3 testimonies from the ministry trip he was on.  He and Tanika were both on the same trip.  They went to a village about 3 hours away.  They built some school classrooms (thatched lean-to’s) and did children’s ministry.  That was his thing.  He came up to give testimony about what they did.  He is very confident but also very casual when he speaks in front of a group.  He started by saying “Can we sing a song?” as he led the group in a chorus of Jesus Loves the Little Children.  Then he said, “I guess you know now what I did in Tera,” as he proceeded to give his testimony. 

 Bible school this week was good.  I started the section ‘training your children’.  Pretty foreign to people here.  I started out with the words God, family, job/ministry, and self written on cards.  I asked different ones to come to the front and order them correctly.  5 people did it and no one got it right.  Needless to say I didn’t get as far in my notes this week as I thought I would!  Sido is doing well.  Last weekend some of his relatives came to the church to tell him they were waiting for his answer (to the temptation of money).  He told them he thought they understood that when he didn’t come they figured out his answer.  Then they tried to shame him into leaving.  Oh, and when I say they came to the church I just mean that they stood outside the door of the compound.  They wouldn’t go inside.  He’s living there now – even on weekends.  But it helps him stay conncected with the pastor.  The relatives in Australia that want him to leave the church haven’t had any contact with him in 8 years.  Keep praying for him. 

I think my rambling has gone on quite enough for one post.  I’m going to go eat some cheese!

Filing Cabinet Memories

People are often under a wrong assumption about me. For some reason, I am able to give the impression that I’m organized. I’m not sure why. The fact is, I love organization. It just takes me a long time and hard work to achieve it. At any rate, this weekend, I began the long put off task of our filing cabinets. They have been in disarray for quite a long time. And when there is no specific place to put specific papers, they just stack up in very unspecific ways. One reason I put it off is because I knew it was more than a one day project. I also put it off because when going through things, I know I’m not capable of making quick decisions. I have to look at each item, read it, reminisce etc. For instance, I came across a malaria test I had taken that was positive. Have no earthly idea why I saved that – it certainly wasn’t a heavenly idea! Anyway, Saturday afternoon was the day. Well, at least the beginning.

Neal and Trae were playing softball, Tanika was hanging out in her room with a friend, and Tobi was with Grama and Grampa. So I began. I didn’t get very far until I ran into my medical records from Tanika’s birth. As I was reading them, I came across something I hadn’t seen before. Right now I can’t even remember the name for it, but apparently I had some acute infection. Since I didn’t know what it was, I took my first break and did a bit of research on the internet. It was severe infection of the placenta and amniotic fluid. It occurs in 1% of pregnancies, but is higher in premature deliveries. I believe it was the infection that caused Tanika’s premature delivery, and it was also passed on to Tanika at birth. It’s one of the reasons that she had such a hard time. That, and the fact that she was 1lb 7oz. and had lungs the size of teabags! That took me back, and reminded me, yet again, of God’s faithfulness.

I discovered something in my research that confirmed what I think I’ve known. When first pregnant with Tobi, it had been recommended by a Dr. in the US that due to my ‘history’, I start on a low dose antibiotic for the duration of the pregnancy. I told this to the Australian missionary Dr. here in Niger who was overseeing my pregnancy. He said no, that we will only use an antibiotic if an infection occurs. At the time, I really ‘felt strongly’ like I should go ahead and take the antibiotic anyway (it’s available here over the counter so would have been easy to obtain), but decided not to go against what the on-site Dr. said. Thus, I didn’t take it. The pregnancy was troubled, but we made it to South Africa. I went to my first Dr. appt the day after we arrived. The very first question the Doc asked me after reading my medical records was, “What antibiotic are you taking?” Of course he assumed I was taking one. I explained what happened and he said I needed to start one immediately. One week later I was hospitalized, and 2 times more after that before Tobi was finally delivered by C-section – because I was in labor with an infection. The infection affected both him and I, and I ended up in ICU. I’ve learned something about listening to God in all this. We were blindsided by Tanika’s prematurity, but with Tobi, we knew the possibilities. So we knew how to pray. We were believing for full term, of course. There are many theological positions one can and does take. Things that may or may not be clear. But there is one belief in which I will never waver and no one can convince me of otherwise. God is good. I know God can use negative situations to bring glory to Himself, but I also believe that oftentimes those things could have been prevented if we would have been listening when the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Case in point: my ‘feeling strongly’ that I should take the antibiotic from the beginning as recommended. That was the Holy Spirit speaking. I didn’t look into why at the time, but my research on Saturday makes it clear. Once this bacterial infection occurs in pregnancy, especially in premature delivery, it is very likely that it can recur in subsequent pregnancies. Therefore a standard prescription is given for those in my ‘condition’. However, God’s goodness prevails over my lack of hearing or ignorance, and we have Tobi to show for it.

Also in my organizing, I came across a journal Trae started writing when we went to South Africa (not voluntarily mind you, I made him do it as part of his school). There were some precious entries and prayers for Tobi in it. Here are my two favorite. Trae was 8 when he wrote these.

March 9th, 2000

Yesterday something great happened. Mom had a baby. It was a boy. He is very cute. His whole name is Tobi Goodmanson Childs. Trae

March 25th, 2000

Dear God,

Please hear our prayer. Heal “Toby, (mis-spelled his name) and any infections. Lord…Bless him. So that he can breath on his own, breath oxygen, and he will have blood. And thank you for giveing us Toby. And everybody says Amen.

PS. We saw Toy Story 2 and I’m hoping for a friend.

Tobi was pretty touched by all the writing his big brother did about him. I couldn’t find Tanika’s journal and she reminded me that hers was burned in the fire in our house in November of 2000. I was really bummed about that, because actually, she is the writer in the family.

Before I got much further, another file required my attention….My sister, Tammy, went to heaven February 27th, 2002. I’ve talked about her frequently since then, always without getting emotional. For some reason, this time, as I was reading through letters I had written to her while I was a student at ORU and she was in Germany, I started crying. Really boo-hooing. Sitting there by myself. In the letters I was telling her about Neal. I read the poem my mom had written about her, I saw the pictures we had taken the last time we were together. I read the card from her funeral where she was 39 years old and left behind her 4 children, Melissa, Jamie, Cassie, and Jesse. Then I remembered watching the video of her funeral service. I remember how I felt when I saw my younger brother and sister walk down the aisle of the church together to view her and thinking that I should be there – I’m the big sister now. All of this because of a filing cabinet! But that’s not all. While sitting there, Pastor Moctar came over. Knocked, and walked in….to observe me sitting by myself amidst piles of folders and papers and pictures, blubbering. Poor man, he didn’t know what to say or do. I began to explain, and he ‘got’ to see the letters and pictures I was looking at. He was very gracious and kept on saying, “I’m sorry, it’s okay”. Yes, I assured him it was okay. I just miss my sister. And though I don’t understand it all, I’m still convinced of God’s goodness.

I have finally finished filing my memories, and the office is restored to order. For now.

Can I brag?

I’ve just started this thing and I’ve already changed my look! I had a few comments that the other page was hard to read – font to light, and green too bright. Although I liked the picture of the grass and trees (it reminds me of my favorite spot on the road on our drive to Diffa – that’s what it looks like during rainy season). I looked into changing font color and size, but it appeared to me that one has to be a computer geek to figure out how to make the change. So I did what I am always telling my kids not to do – went the easy way and just changed the presentation. I think it’s more readable.

All of my kids are in school this year. Oh, they’ve ‘done’ school all of their school age lives. They just weren’t ‘in’ school. Though their attending school didn’t have anything to do with our decision to move to Niamey, I will freely admit that it was a major perk. I am thrilled to be done with formally educating my kids. I am not the only one leaping for joy over it. They all love school. All in their own ways.

Trae is the big man on campus, and I’m not just saying that because he’s big and he’s my son. He really is Mr. Popular. I should also mention though, that ‘campus’ consists of about 100 students, grades K-12. University will be quite a shock to him! He’s president of the Student Council and is doing a great job with that. He’s involved in every activity possible, because that’s just how he is. He’s a handsome, broad shouldered, all around nice guy. And there are FAR too many girls in his class. They all either currently have a crush on him, or have in the past. All of them. This is his 2nd year at Sahel Academy. The feminine attention caused a few bumps for him last year, but he seems to be taking things in stride this year. We of course are always on the lookout for signs of, well, anything we don’t like! On top of all the activity, his grades are good, with straight A’s except for that annoying B+ in Pre-calc. His teacher said he should have had an A though, that he just gets careless. Thinking about those girls maybe? There are required community service hours and he has already done enough for all of next year and probably college as well. One of the things he really enjoys is going to the orphange weekly and playing with the children there. He plays guitar and after basics he learned from Neal, he has excelled – getting tips/lessons from any visitor he can. He loves God, can preach a pretty good message, and does great in front of crowds. Wow. This guy sounds really good on paper! I can assure you, he is just as good in person. God has blessed him with lots of gifts and talents and we pray for continued wisdom in guiding him in the path God has for him. At the same time we’re thinking about his future, I’m avoiding/denying that in just 1 1/2 years he will move on…

Tanika. Where to begin. The word that comes to mind is ‘unconventional’. That’s what she has been since the day she was born. Conventional is to be born after 40 weeks. She was born at 24. Conventional is to not survive if born at 24 weeks. She’s alive and well. Conventional is to die from a growth on your heart. Her growth disappeared. Conventional is to need an oxygen tank all your life if you survive the above. She ‘ran’ her first jog-a-thon at age 4. No tank necessary. Conventional is to cry/scream when you’re 2 years old and you fall on your face and there’s blood everywhere. She cried because she couldn’t continue playing. Don’t bother with the blood. Conventional is to do long subtraction from right to left. She tried to do it left to right – after doing it the correct way for a year. Conventional is to be afraid of new things/situations. She leaps into them. Conventional is to be afraid to share the Gospel with someone. She does it and cries when they won’t make a decision for Christ. Conventional is to speak one language fluently. She’s more comfortable communicating in her ’2nd’ language. I could go on. I realize that God is the one responsible for the true miracle of her life, but I believe He gave her the personality she has so she could do what she does.

Homeschooling such an unconventional thinker has always been challenging. She almost never did things the ‘normal’ way. I am thankful for the experience. I must admit, I was always confused when visiting teams from the US always commented on Tanika’s maturity. I understood when they talked about what a wonderful person she was. But maturity? That particular adjective never came to mind when I thought of her. I questioned the last group as to what they saw. I now understand. Part of my problem was that I didn’t have anyone to compare her with – a test group so to speak. I was seeing her based on my own expectations. Others see her using the average American 15 year old as a comparison. The difference they saw? She thinks about deep things. Not about her next trip to the mall or the latest fashion. Even she doesn’t realize it, but her world view is much broader than the average American. She can relate to a culture that’s not her own, and accepts it without judgement. I could even go so far as to say that she fits into that culture. When she is in the U.S. she does lots of observing and not a lot of participating. She doesn’t completely understand the way 15 yr. old girls think in America. That’s not to say she’s not interested in style (she has one all her own) and makeup etc. It just doesn’t consume a whole lot of her time. In fact sometimes I insist she allow it to consume more of her time than it does. She’s a unique young lady, and quite beautiful too. Many people have made comments to me somewhat like the following. “I was really looking at Tanika and she is very pretty.” She’s adjusting well to school – though it has been an adjustment. She’s not as all out consumed with activities like her big brother, but she confesses to like school better than homeschool. She’s made some friends, interestingly the ones she is closest to are foreigners. I guess she relates better to them. She spends lots of time on homework, and her unconventional self has to work on remembering her head when she leaves a room. Although I know God has incredible plans for her life, that plan is still a mystery to me.

This is getting much too long. I’m going to save Tobi for another day.