It Is Well With My Soul.

(AMY!!!!!) So…finally a word from the Sonrise Director :) Sorry I haven’t been able to write yet. I hope Leah has been keeping you a little in touch with our trip, which has been amazing so far. God is so good! Can I just first say that IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How I have missed this place and my precious babies :) When God called me to Uganda last summer, little did I know how it would forever change my life, but I am so thankful that God has!
Right now I am writing from the hospital bed at Al-Shafa Modern Medical Clinic in Jinja. It is hot here, but we have a lovely fan which has been such a blessing! Mark is lying on the other bed to my right – and I am tearing up as I write and say that he is doing so much better. I haven’t let myself cry and honestly, this is really the first time I’ve let myself think about it. Betty is lying in bed next to me – she is such a God-send, as are all of the Sonrise workers, which I now call dear friends.
Let me head back to last night: well, I could actually head back further than that (again, I’m sorry I haven’t written, as there is so much that has happened and so much to tell, but I’ll work on it today hopefully! – they just told us that we will be here for the next 10-14 hours at least letting Mark finish his 3rd iv drip.) But anyways!!! Sorry! Let me back up again! On Saturday night, Leah started feeling sick early on – around 7ish. So, I told her we wouldn’t let her do baby duty that night cause she needed sleep. Baby Brenda was still in the hospital with Auntie Norah for malaria and a very bad ear infection and cough. So, big Brenda took baby Mark for the night (he can be very active at night and likes to sleep RIGHT up next to someone! Otherwise he feels like he is all alone and he doesn’t like that at all!), Betty took Steven (who also likes to sleep right up next to someone and likes to have them blow air onto him while he sleeps! He is SO CUTE when he sleeps, as he sucks his thumb – my favorite! – and sticks his little bottom in the air when he lays on his stomach), and then I was taking Baby Musa (and I believe I have decided to call him Moses, as he looks so much like a Moses and Musa is just so hard for me to say! I don’t know why, but it is for some reason very difficult :) Leah also has struggled with it and has to think of “Musana” and then try to say “Musa” from that! So, we both decided that we should go ahead and translate Musa to it’s English form which is Moses! And seriously, he just looks like a little baby Moses, pulled from the bulrushes :) (or from the bed in the village bush – either way is fine!)
ANYWAYS!!! Sorry :) If any of you read my blog from this summer with Jessie, then you will feel right at home with my ramblings and crazy writing and terrible spelling! Again, I apologize!
Ok, so Saturday night we took the babies, got in bed after devotions, and a dinner which Brenda cooked especially for us – as Leah has not liked the food very much and hasn’t eaten much of it, which has concerned the ladies. So, Brenda made green beans, mashed potatoes, and vegetables – so delicious. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if I had known what was to come though! Baby Moses, who was with me, was being so good. He has to be fed every 2 hours, doctor’s orders, so that was what my night was looking like. And I had gotten into baby mode better by that night, as the first night I slept right through his crying and Betty and Leah had to wake me up to feed him! Oops :) But he was doing well Saturday night and looked so adorable lying next to me sleeping. I so badly wanted to take pictures of him all night long, but knew the flash would go off and that probably wasn’t a good idea – but I really wanted to!!!!
So, I guess it was around 11pm when I first started feeling sick. Baby woke up, so I fed him, and then as soon as I finished, I rushed to the restroom. I hope I don’t tell you too much or too little, and forgive me if I am I give TMI! That’s what Deanna said when I was talking to her on Sunday! Sorry :) But I had diarrhea really bad. (oh, and as a side-note, I have learned how to spell that word very well, and doubt I will EVER get confused about it again! So, if it’s ever a Cranium word – let me at it!)
But Anyways, I felt horrible that night and it kept getting worse all night. I was getting up constantly and I was praying the whole whole night long. God was so merciful and Baby Moses was an angel that night. I didn’t actually vomit the first time until about 3am. I don’t know how I had any fluids in me at all. And not to toot my own horn, but I felt like Super Woman most of the night – sick as a DOG, AND doing baby duty and letting Leah and everyone sleep all night! – God was also merciful with Mark and Steven as they were great too – Mark didn’t wake up until 5ish maybe. I told big Mark – he thought HE had it bad – can I just be real for a second, and again forgive me for being too explicit, but you probably want a laugh about now, cause I still laugh when thinking about it, but at one point, I was sitting on the toilet, holding Baby Moses, feeding him his bottle, while hanging my head over the bucket next to me!!!! I honestly just laughed at myself!!!! Welcome to Sonrise Baby Home in Jinja, Uganda!!!! It was either laugh or cry and I couldn’t afford the latter!
So, after being as sick as I can ever remember, Leah got up at around 5am – don’t even know why, maybe the Lord’s prompting, but she took Baby Moses for the last couple hours until the nannies were up and could help. Lord have MERCY! And Thankfully, He did. After morning, I stopped vomiting, thank the Lord. I was able to get a little sleep once Leah took the baby, and at 7am we all woke up. And it was SUNDAY! YAY! Church! This is when Leah and I kindly said that we would not be attending – and I believe God firmly agreed with our decision. I decided that Sunday would REALLY be a day of rest. We sent Mark, Richard, and Brenda to church with the babies. (and I’ll say Baby Mark and Baby Brenda whenever referring to them, ok! To make it easier – sorry!) All of the older babies went, so Leah and I were left with the nannies (Sophia, Julia, and Loyce) with Baby Mark, Baby Moses, and Steven. Betty had to go take a church group from Canada to church in the village. (Betty, Damali, Mercie, Richard, Ivan – many of the GSF kids help run these organizations when they have mission trips with volunteers come. They are great at it, and they get paid, so it is such a benefit to everyone)
So, Leah and I stayed in bed all morning. We slept some more, and then just laid there. At one point, Leah finally broke down and cried – exhaustion and sickness don’t go well together, and I do take full responsibility. I’ll get to that more later, but I felt so badly. We stayed in bed practically all day. I think we finally got up around 4. I was so, so weak and tired, as my body had nothing at all in it. Steven came and slept beside me in bed during the day – how I love my babies, and he looked just so cute! His little thumb sucking, fat self is just adorable :)
Ivan, Godfrey and Joseph came to say hi and chat for a while. It was killing me to not be out with the babies all day, so I had them come back there to me every so often. Oh, and I HAD been in contact with Mom and Dad throughout the night – such a blessing to have communication and prayer support from halfway around the world. AND parental advice :) How I love you, Mom and Dad and have been so thankful for you this trip – so different from last time, and having you here has been beyond peaceful and reassuring. Thanks. I’ve been praying like never before on this trip of course, but knowing you’re there has been such a blessing. God has been so present and real to me, ad He is making me rely on Him for EVERYTHING lately, which has been so good for me and my soul. He knows me, and what I need more than anything – and sometimes, I just need more of Him. I’m going on another rabbit trail, but I took a walk by myself on Friday night after getting back from getting Baby Moses, and it was such a sweet time with my Savior. I walked back to the old Sonrise house – stumbled on it accidentally actually, but I felt that God just led me straight to it. I sat down in the grass in front of it and just cried and prayed. That place has so many wonderful memories for me, and it focused me on my Jesus like nothing else here could, I believe. God was with me every second this summer, and He’s with me every second this time. Such a sweet time with Jesus, and after I returned to the house, I knew he was in control and leading and guiding my every step. I listened to my ipod and the last song I listened to as I was walking back to the new Sonrise house was, “He Is” by Mark Schultz. A new favorite over the last few months, and a soul-moving song for me. “He IS, He WAS and He ALWAYS WILL BE. He LIVES. He LOVES. Ad He’s ALWAYS WITH ME.” Jesus knows what I need, exactly when I need it – praise His name.
Ok, sorry for the bunny trail :) Just want you to know that through everything, God has been beside us. So, back to Sunday: we lounged and I still felt petty terrible all day, as the diarrhea continued, but was able to get up and move around a little. Damali came with the church group volunteers for about 20 minutes (thankfully it was no longer!) and I had to rush inside to get dressed! It was so good to see her again. I saw her when she picked us up at the airport but not since then, and I was reminded of why I fell in love with Sonrise and everyone in it. She is so wonderful and such a sweet sister in Christ. She loves these babies, and has such a heart for the Lord. Bless her.
So…Leah was feeling much better after the day of rest. The day was still crazy – as every day is at Sonrise and I LOVE IT! At times when it seems overwhelming though, I just have to go grab Junior, Catherine, Ian – any one of my precious babies, and hold their face right in front of mine and smile and cry at the same time. THEY are why I love Sonrise. They ARE Sonrise Baby Home – and I love them so much. I just look at their adorable faces smiling back and me and then kissing me and saying “I love you”, and everything in the world seems right.
Oh, and that HAS been amazing to me: them telling me “I love you.” Goodness, how my heart melts. I go in at night and sing “Amazing Grace” and “Jesus Loves Me” with them and then go kiss them all and say “I love you.” and when I first heard Catherine say “I love you, too” and then kiss me on the cheek, I just cried. Then, As I went around to each one of the older babies (Catherine, Nulu, Ian, Junior, Miko, Trust) and they all said “I love you” and kissed me – my goodness, how special. And Ian has started just calling me Amy, while Catherine and Nulu say “Auntie Amy” and Ali just calls me “Mommy” while Junior and Trust will sometimes say Mommy Amy. So cute! :) Sorry, I’m so sentimental and mushy. They are just so special to me.
ANYWAYS!!! Sorry again! :) I LOVE rabbit trails! So much to tell, though!!! Ok – so here’s where we get to Sunday night. Bear with me here.
We put all the babies down, we had just finished devotions, Stella had slit her fingers open on a can lid from the kitchen – so Amy got to do First Aid while Stella screamed uncontrollably – blood everywhere, and then Mark said during devotions that he didn’t feel very well. I told him to go lie down and let me know if he threw up, had diarrhea, etc. (There are just so many diseases we just don’t think exist anymore in America, and they do scare me). I also feel totally responsible for Leah and Mark on this trip and have been very concerned about them. Yesterday I sat them down and told them that if we need to take a break, we can, let me know how I can help them at Sonrise, because they are just not me. I just jumped right in with both feet this summer and felt completely at home, and I didn’t have jet lag, didn’t mind baby duty, didn’t mind loss of sleep and tiredness, and all the babies know me and are used to me, etc, but I know it can be hard to adjust to these babies as they don’t speak English, which I sometimes forget, so communication can be difficult with them. The babies love them, and Leah and Mark have been WONDERFUL caring for the babies, helping out, holding and playing with them, doing baby duty, travelling to way out there villages to rescue dying babies, etc – not many people would be able to handle all of this as well as they did and all of this on top of jet lag, time change, newness of life, weird food, etc!! all of it! They have been great. The boys just love Mark - Ian and Junior especially :) and Lan is so great with the baby babies, and diaper changes, feedings and everything! They have been so great.
So Sunday night when Mark came in my room, I got pretty concerned. Leah had gotten in the shower and I was going to get in after her. We had divided up baby duty that night, as Baby Brenda had come back home Sunday afternoon with Norah. So, we had four babies that night to look after. (BTW, we’re getting a new nannies soon, Lord-willing –pray for provision and judgment). But God has entrusted these babies into our hands and when a life is placed directly in your hands and care, a new focus takes over and life takes on a whole new meaning. So, four babies, lack of sleep, etc – just feels worth it and totally a privilege. One I wouldn’t trade for the world.
But Mark walked our girls bedroom and blacked out, dropped to the floor, and was about to throw up. Leah was in our bathroom, Norah was showering in the other one, so Mark had no bathroom to go to. Lord, That would be the case wouldn’t it? (God and I did a LOT of talking over the next 7 hours). Brenda and Betty were standing right there, Brenda holding Baby Mark and I yelled at Leah to let us in the bathroom, but Mark couldn’t’ make it. Betty grabbed the baby bath basin and Mark threw up immediately. Mom, you could empathize after your food poisoning last year, but he was (in Mark’s words) crapping all over himself, while throwing up in the basin in the middle of the bedroom. I didn’t even know what to do. I just rubbed Mark’s back and tried not to cry. I couldn’t cry and haven’t until today (Monday). I knew I had to keep in together and stay extremely calm. Betty and Brenda took one look at Mark’s vomit and looked at each other and then me. “Malaria”.
His vomit was orange and they just knew it was malaria. Earlier when he was feeling sick, I just wanted him to ride it out like I did and we’d see how he felt in the morning. But then Betty said, “Let’s take him to the clinic” And I said, “Now?!” and when she said, “Yeah.” I didn’t want to argue. Mark went to change after a couple minutes when he was able to walk again after he finished vomiting, and the girls told me to change to go. I threw on my jeans and a shirt, and went in the bathroom to tell Leah. She was still in the shower, and I couldn’t even speak when I walked in. I knew I couldn’t cry, and all I could do at that point was laugh and pray. I know it sounds really bad to say I was laughing, but I honestly knew I couldn’t cry or I would weep for hours. I knew God was in control, but I was laughing/crying as I walked in the bathroom and I was shaking my head as I told Lan we were leaving for the clinic – they think Mark has malaria. She jerked the curtain back and said “What?!” and practically started crying right there. The she looked at me and said/yelled “Why are you laughing?!” I was honestly so scared and just couldn’t believe that after all of everything lately, God was allowing this to happen. I really had to laugh at God and say, “Really? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?? I can’t handle this.” But God just seemed to say, “Trust Me.” We grabbed the bucket in the bathroom to take for Mark to throw up in, and Richard, Betty, Mark and I got in the car to leave. I sat in the back beside Mark, and didn’t even have anything to say. You would think that I could come up with SOMETHING Spiritual to say at this moment, but all of it escaped me, as I was still completely sick, dizzy and tired myself. I was just praying for God to sustain me, and have mercy on Mark, as I was at a loss. I told God I didn’t know what to do and that He was going to have to do everything – I can’t even explain how out of it I was.
Betty called Damali when we got in the car and she was going to go to the hospital with us. That made me feel so good, I almost wept right there too. We actually picked her and Miriam (a friend) up in town and headed to the International hospital Jinja Branch. When we got there, we found out it wasn’t a 24 hour clinic so they sent us to Al-Shafa – the clinic where we take all the babies. Mark was really feeling bad again by now and blacking out again, and breathing very hard. I had talked with mom several times by now, and you can only imagine how she and dad felt. We got to the clinic and got out – Mark stumbling and almost falling. He was so weak. We got him registered and were taken into a back room with the nurse. Damali was with us the whole time and her complete calmness helped. Betty and Damali were so calm and collected that it was God’s mercy they were here. I trust them completely, which is the only way I could trust them with Mark. But then, there wasn’t much else I could do. I have ever felt so helpless I don’t think. So completely helpless. We went back to the lab where they were going to draw blood for testing for malaria and typhoid. While talking to Mom on the way to the clinic, she had said to keep my eyes open and watch for where every needle, and syringe, and iv came from – make sure they were sterilized .I hadn’t even thought about this in my pathetic state, but it almost scared me more. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to be home to take him to a hospital with mom and dad and fee safe, but that was not where God had us. A foreign hospital, foreign language, weird diseases and sicknesses – so, so completely helpless- totally in the Lord’s hands. Back in the lab, they got the needles, which Mark hates, and they all came out of new packages, thank the Lord. I didn’t even want them to stick him, but again, I was powerless. And he was so, so sick. They drew blood, and them took him down to a private back room with two beds and a chair. He was stumbling into the room and sat on the bed. He threw up on the floor as soon as we sat down. I was so faint that I just said Jesus, and sat on the bed, afraid that I was going to not make it. Damali had brought an apple and some water and juices, so I opened a bottle immediately and Betty went and washed off the apple for me, which I ate immediately. That helped me a ton. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it for Mark. After he threw up in the room, the nurses laid him on the bed and finally got him hooked up to an iv. I honestly didn’t care at that point what they put in him – I just wanted SOMETHING to help him. I had just prayed that whatever they did to Mark would be guided by angels. There was nothing else I could do – and when He takes us to that state, well, let's just say He grew my faith.
Mark really thought he was going to die – he was more worried than he let on to me. And probably the same for me. But I really had such confidence in Damali and Betty’s judgment and God using them. I had to trust what they thought was best for Mark. They live here and have seen this so much, and their composure during al of this calmed me so much. Betty and Damali the whole time just kept saying, “He’ll be fine.” The nurses were the same way.
AND, above all, we had prayer cover. It was such a comfort to get texts and calls of people saying they were praying, even ones I had no clue were praying for us – God heard you and used those prayers. Thank you. I am so eternally thankful for the prayers of His people. I can sit now and write this, looking back at everything that happened last night – knowing that HE was in control and His people believed. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you everyone who contributed during this time with Mark. I can not tell you how much it meant to know we had prayer warriors everywhere interceding on our behalf. God is so good. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Once they put in the iv, Mark improved drastically. I was so, so thankful. Betty and Richard went back to the house to get extra clothes, contact stuff for me, sheets, etc for the stay at the hospital for the night. Betty and I slept together in one bed, and Mark in the other. There is a fan in the room, which was SUCH a blessing :). We slept with the light on all night, but we DID sleep, thank the Lord! In the morning, Damali and Miriam came back to check on us and they wet and got breakfast for us – “mzungu” breakfast: coffee, and BLT sandwiches! And we had more mango and apple juice. Mine was very delicious – Mark didn’t feel up to eating much, but he has since eaten a granola bar, juice, etc and we’re trying to get more in him.
Right now, Mark is having his 3rd drip iv put in and we are waiting until he finishes that to go back to Sonrise. They put the Quinine in the second drip, and he seemed to respond very well to that, so we are praying that he doesn’t have any reactions to this third drip. I still don’t feel well at all, but am praying that I will recover soon. My stomach is still very upset and I am very weak, but am praying that through my weakness, may HE be strong. HE raises us up.

All in all….It is well with my soul.
God bless you all. Love you.