Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Jonathan's 13th Birthday
OK. This blog is for grandparents and cousins.Jonathan is 13! Last Thursday a few days early, to try to catch his buddies before they left town for spring break, he had an overnight party. Fourteen of them joined him for soccer and flashlight tag in the dark and a campfire and a movie.
No. Our house can't handle 15 young men and a soccer match! We went to the Phare and spread mattresses on the floor of the conference room. Jane stayed long enough for the burgers and the cake and all. I spent the night and swatted mosquitoes with the boys.The boys had a great time and it made up for the rather quiet family celebration that we had on Monday with just the three of us!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Rest of the Story
I'm sorry that I didn't blog again until now. You may be wondering what happened with the various events in our lives.
First, Patty is doing much better. Jane spent Friday night at the hospital with her again, but she was released on Saturday. She has been home since, waited on by Dan (walking a bit slowly, of course) and the boys. She was finally able to sit up yesterday, with a headache pain level more on the order of a migraine. This appears to be the result of the spinal tap and not the original condition. Her fever is gone and we suspect that it was just a very nasty virus.
Patty is so bored now from laying around, she is already talking about getting back to teaching the 2nd grade. Don't worry. Dan is a school administrator. He is insisting on 24 hours without pain before he'll even think about it! True love.
Oh, and that team that was stranded because Delta canceled flights, did get off on Sunday night. Delta had arranged with Air France to take them, but that fell through. They ended up leaving on South Africa Airlines at about the same time of night as their original flight, though that put them in New York instead of Atlanta. I haven't yet heard how the US end of the trip went with the blizzard in the Midwest!
On Friday, Jonathan skipped the track and field section of the SIPS multi-school tournament. He wasn't designated for any events, so he invited Brian over for a day of video and computer games. Jane and I thanked the Lord and worked.
Saturday, however, we were off to the soccer field. Jonathan had a full-day in the sun and played well. Though his teams were not as successful as he would have liked.
He also was a member of one of the DA volleyball teams. Soccer had priority for him, so he hadn't been able to participate. Finally in the middle of the day Saturday, he had his chance and his coach graciously let him play. He served well and volleyed consistently and contributed to another team win.
Here is a clip of a serve. Overhand, of course!
Patty is so bored now from laying around, she is already talking about getting back to teaching the 2nd grade. Don't worry. Dan is a school administrator. He is insisting on 24 hours without pain before he'll even think about it! True love.Oh, and that team that was stranded because Delta canceled flights, did get off on Sunday night. Delta had arranged with Air France to take them, but that fell through. They ended up leaving on South Africa Airlines at about the same time of night as their original flight, though that put them in New York instead of Atlanta. I haven't yet heard how the US end of the trip went with the blizzard in the Midwest!
On Friday, Jonathan skipped the track and field section of the SIPS multi-school tournament. He wasn't designated for any events, so he invited Brian over for a day of video and computer games. Jane and I thanked the Lord and worked.
Saturday, however, we were off to the soccer field. Jonathan had a full-day in the sun and played well. Though his teams were not as successful as he would have liked.He also was a member of one of the DA volleyball teams. Soccer had priority for him, so he hadn't been able to participate. Finally in the middle of the day Saturday, he had his chance and his coach graciously let him play. He served well and volleyed consistently and contributed to another team win.
Here is a clip of a serve. Overhand, of course!
He says he hated that shirt. He thinks he may have grabbed mine by accident; it was so big he had to shake his shoulder after each serve!
Jane's week looks to be "interesting." She and Antoinette are planning to treat the talibe of each of the 6 (7?) schools for scabies again. This means painting each boy with the white liquid medicine from top to bottom, once a day for three days. He must not wash the stuff off until the fourth day. So four days for each school. 6 (or 7) schools. 200+ boys. This will be going on for a month. I told her she must take photos. Discrete ones that I can post here!
Friday, March 07, 2008
A Short Clip
Jane spent last night with Patty at the hospital again. She's planning to head straight to the church this morning to work with the talibé boys. Antoinette is gone back to her village for a few days for a funeral. I don't have any new information on Patty this morning yet, but yesterday's report was that the fever had broken and that most likely she had a nasty virus of some sort. The doctor who really took charge and made a difference is a professor in the med school here. He ended up treating all the reasonable possibilities (malaria and bacterial infection) and controlling the pain and fever. They were waiting for more test results being done locally and the serum workup from France, but didn't expect Patty to be out of the hospital for at least another couple days.
We've canceled all the Wheaton team arrangements, as I said. The Pittsburgh team is going home on Air France. Delta arranged that alternative for them. Whew!
We spent yesterday at ISD, the other American school in town. The annual SIPS (Sports Invitational for Private Schools) tournament began its three-day run. Teams from four schools and a home-schooling co-op are competing in soccer, volleyball and track and field events. The first day was soccer on the ISD grass field! And volleyball in their gymnasium. Jonathan played on one of DA's intermediate teams (up to age 15) and one of the junior teams (11-12). Here is a short clip of some of the action.
We've canceled all the Wheaton team arrangements, as I said. The Pittsburgh team is going home on Air France. Delta arranged that alternative for them. Whew!
We spent yesterday at ISD, the other American school in town. The annual SIPS (Sports Invitational for Private Schools) tournament began its three-day run. Teams from four schools and a home-schooling co-op are competing in soccer, volleyball and track and field events. The first day was soccer on the ISD grass field! And volleyball in their gymnasium. Jonathan played on one of DA's intermediate teams (up to age 15) and one of the junior teams (11-12). Here is a short clip of some of the action.
Nice kick, huh?
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Update on Patty
Well, quickly as I'm on the run to see Jonathan play soccer in the SIPS three-day inter-school...
Patty is still at the hospital, but the doctors have decided the initial diagnosis was incorrect. She doesn't have meningitis. We're quite relieved, of course, but now the question is what is giving her high fever and headaches. It's possible that some self-medication with antibiotics masked the blood work, so they've started a malaria treatment and are redoing some tests. Please pray for her. Jane spent last night with her again, but says they both slept well.
The Wheaton football guys are definitely not coming next week. Maybe we'll be able to reschedule for May, but that's not sure.
The North Way team is scrambling for a way home! I haven't heard news today, but you can imagine the panic among those responsible for the group! Pray for peace of heart and a simple solution!
The Wheaton football guys are definitely not coming next week. Maybe we'll be able to reschedule for May, but that's not sure.
The North Way team is scrambling for a way home! I haven't heard news today, but you can imagine the panic among those responsible for the group! Pray for peace of heart and a simple solution!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Urgent Prayer Requests
Jane is down at the Clinic de Madeleine tonight with our good friend and sister in the Lord, Patty Mulay. She has been diagnosed with meningitis and they have admitted her to that hospital. Jane will spend the night with her and let her husband, Dan, get home to rest after spending the day there. He himself just returned from several months in the US after major back surgery and is still recovering. Please pray for Patty and Dan (and the boys, Ryan and Mark). This is a very serious disease and a scary moment.Meningitis is a recurring problem in Senegal. We are all supposed to get vaccinated regularly, but it is rare in the city and we all seem to neglect it. Foolish, but true.
We seem to be going through a storm of health crisis and problems among our friends. First, 10 days back word came that Kathy Dutts' sister, Kristen, had fallen ill suddenly. It was a bleeding brain aneurysm. She was quickly flown from Morocco up to London. By the end of the week Kathy was there with her, so were their parents, Kristen had had brain surgery to remove the aneurysm and Rodney had come back early from the US to be on the home front. Whew! Please pray for Kristen and her husband Brad and two kids, too.Yesterday's news was two-fold. Our friend, Antoine, who works with MIS in the village of Babaak lost a little child to meningitis this week. It is quite deadly with small children and older people here. There is another subject for prayer: Antoine and his wife in their grief.
The other twist was that Delta Airlines announced that they were canceling all of their flights from Atlanta to Dakar from the 8th to the 16th during the Muslim Summit here. The Wheaton football players mission team was scheduled to arrive Sunday the 9th at 5:15 AM. 30 of them were coming here to help us and then the other 35 headed to other countries were coming to Senegal for a day of debriefing. The first group of 10 were to show up here on the 14th! Now everything looks likely to be canceled. Well, that, too, is a subject of prayer as Gary and Jeff back in Illinois try to decide what to do.
Last weekend Jane and I had the privilege of welcoming and orienting a small team from North Way Community Church, the Carters' home church in Pittsburgh. These folks keep coming back. Their leader this year, Dave Guthrie, at left, has become an old friend. If I remember right, during his first visit we did a Talibe Day and he was our photographer for medical cards.
Anyway, the gruop is out in the villages doing medical clinics with MIS all this week, a needed but exhausting ministry.
Guess what airline they came with! They are scheduled to leave Sunday evening the 9th on Delta.
As Sam used to say, "Hoh, boy!" [Quantum Leap reference :) ]
When it rains, it pours.
Last weekend Jane and I had the privilege of welcoming and orienting a small team from North Way Community Church, the Carters' home church in Pittsburgh. These folks keep coming back. Their leader this year, Dave Guthrie, at left, has become an old friend. If I remember right, during his first visit we did a Talibe Day and he was our photographer for medical cards. Anyway, the gruop is out in the villages doing medical clinics with MIS all this week, a needed but exhausting ministry.
Guess what airline they came with! They are scheduled to leave Sunday evening the 9th on Delta.
As Sam used to say, "Hoh, boy!" [Quantum Leap reference :) ]
When it rains, it pours.
