Quick trip to SA

Just as our individual visitors were leaving to return home we decided to take the opportunity to make a quick 1 week trip to South Africa to get some supplies for the ministry and quickly visit family and supporters.

However, due to plans to have two extensions added to the preschool and concurrent school holiday, Alyssa decided to stay back to supervise the builder and building process in hopes of having it done before school started again in Sep.  This is the first time that she had stayed alone in the bush since her arrival but we all prayed about it and made sure that there were lots of safety measures in place for her (ie. night security, orphanage committee keeping an eye on things etc).  We left trusting the orphanage and Alyssa into God’s hands. 

The time passed faster than we ever could have imagined (especially with four full days of traveling there and back) but while there we were able to acquire some much needed ministry items (including solar power for the preschool/ primary school that we hope to be coming, a low energy fridge that will work on solar power) and touch base with some supporting churches and supporters.  Thanks to Emmaus Baptist Church for their continued prayers and support of the ministry and to the Dutch Reformed Church of Rooihuiskraal for their generous donation of vitamin porridge for our babies and toddlers here. 

On a personal note it was a blessing to get to see Jako’s grandparents again as both of them are getting older and their health is starting to suffer.  It is hard to be so far away from family, especially when the kids are young and growing so fast so it was a real treat to be able to see them and Jako’s mom one more time.  Jakob loved all the attention from Ouma and Jeremiah got lots of cuddles and love as well. 

Medical Scare Blessing

While in South we decided to take Jakob and Jeremiah to the  doctors for a quick check up.  While there the doctor noticed that Jakob had an enlarged spleen and suggested that we get  some lab work done.  Since we were scheduled to leave the next day to head back to Zambia the doctor quickly made plans to   have us have the lab work and  see a pediatrician the next morning.  We could tell from her reaction that this could be  something serious.  After doing some internet research we found that an enlarged spleen could be caused from anything from an infection such as Malaria to something really serious like Leukemia.  With worried hearts but faith in God we got the lab work and waited anxiously for the results.  Imagine our relief when the pediatrician called us in and said that Jakob was fine, he just had a rare condition called Eliptocytosis (basically he has oval shaped red blood cells instead of round ones.  Because of their shape they don’t last as long so the body has to produce them more often).  It’s not serious and will probably not affect him at all growing up or later in life but this quite rare disorder actually PROTECTS him by making him more immune to Malaria.  Praise God!!!  Isn’t that just like Him to take something scary and turn it into something wonderful!  Just another reason for us to love and trust Him. 

We thank God for a good brief trip to South, for favor with travel and gathering ministry provisions, for watching over Alyssa and things back in Mukamba, and for allowing us to see His goodness in the midst of Jakob’s medical scare.