It's almost April Fools and I'm ready . . .

Shhh . . . don't tell my family!  They have no idea!  And certainly don't tell my friend Kim because she'll find out soon enough!  Today at work . . .

Some days at work just don't get any better than this!  Not only was I paid, but I got bonused!  I've spent this week teaching fourteen 13-15 year-olds how to be water safety aides over at ISD 196.  Today I was asked if I could exchange manikin heads after my class had left.  We had four heads that had split down the back and the replacements had come in.  Naturally, my first question was, "What do you want me to do with the "dead" heads?"  

You know where they are right now, don't you?  Hidden in our dog food bin until April 1st because I have plans!  If you have better plans, use my g-mail account because no one here knows it!  Stay tuned - and don't tell!     

Go, God!

Was is just forty-eight hours ago we were praying for four noma patients on the good ship Mercy?  And already, God has faithfully answered our prayers.  Here's what Ali posted today . . .

First, thank you all so much for praying for our four noma patients. I shared your responses with the nurses on the wards who shared them with the patients, much to everyone's encouragement.

This afternoon, Zoe and I were taking out our trash. As is our custom, we stopped by the tent that serves as the outpatient waiting area on our way back to the ship to see if we knew anyone.  We'd been there a little while when I heard someone greet me. Hearing the quiet bonjour, I looked up and saw one of the patients you prayed for, Alpha. It took me a moment to recognize him, since I've never seen him out of a hospital gown. I've also never heard his voice, since he had a tracheostomy while I was down in D Ward. But there he was, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, greeting me with a twinkle in his eyes.

At my look of surprise, he smiled as well as he could with his new lips, gesturing towards town to tell me that he's staying at the HOPE Center now. I handed Zoe to him, and they sat together for a while in the heat of the afternoon. She rested quietly in his lap as he carefully wiped her drool with her bib and then his own on the blue cloth he carried while the two of them just stared at each other in wonder.

God is on the move; our patients are getting well.

Cry for prayer . . .

Sent out by Ali just four hours ago . . .

There are four adults in the wards right now who are undergoing the extensive, painful process of rebuilding faces that just aren't there anymore - Marietou, Alpha, Fodi and Bala.

Sometimes we see miracles, and sometimes the healing takes much longer. For these four, the battle is not just against a lifetime lived on the fringes but also against infection and malnutrition and wounds that just aren't getting better.

So we're going to turn to the One who knows them, who created them and wept over them when they fell ill all those years ago. We're holding a twenty-four hour prayer vigil starting tomorrow (Tuesday) at eight AM our time (four AM in New York) and running through eight AM on Wednesday. The last time I asked for prayer on this blog, it was for the six hundred pink sheets, and in less than a week, all six hundred patients had someone praying for him or her.

We don't have a week this time; starting tomorrow morning, we're storming the gates of heaven on behalf of these precious four. You don't have to pray all day long, but please stand with us as we plead with the One who holds them in the palm of His hand.





(Top photo with Deb Louden.)

From Ali's African Adventures . . .

The other day at work, I met a woman close to my age. When she was three days old, an oil lamp fell on her while her mama slept, burning her face and arm, fusing her chin to her chest and destroying one of her hands. She has three children, and when I asked her their ages, it took almost five minutes for her to explain that the youngest is nearly two, the middle one is five and that there's another boy, too, older than the rest. She can't remember how old he is. She can't do the math because she was never able to go to school.

This other mama sat up straight in her bed as she told me her story, a flood of details that spilled out through twisted lips and over clumsy tongue. I held her hand in mine, her three bent fingers finding their places in the spaces between mine while I thought of my own firstborn, of the thousands of photos, every detail of her short seven months carefully recorded and catalogued and stored away for future reference. I have an entire book of letters I wrote to her when she was still inside me, letters full of the promise and the hope of her.

All this mama has is a lifetime of pain and one bright spark of hope that, somehow, someday, she'll be able to stop begging and get a job selling clothes in the market.

I memorize the lines of her face, the smooth stump of her hand and the thinness of her legs under the blanket. Many years down my own road, I will remember her. I will tell her story, because it's the best way I know to honour her life. And maybe one day I'll be back here in Guinea and I will buy fabric from her on the side of a dusty street in a crowded market.

At the Y . . .

Sat by a friend at the Y today who actually occasionally checks my blog - I had no idea!  And he told me he had seen the "60 Minutes" episode with Mercy Ships and he got it - he now knows why I want to go to Africa and serve on the good ship Mercy!  Because it is beyond amazing!  To God be the glory!

Mamadou

Mercy Ships volunteer plastics surgeon, Dr. Tertius Venter, had rarely seen a condition like Mamadou’s. According to Dr. Tertius, “Mamadou was born with radial club hands, with only four fingers on each hand. The front sides of his hands are underdeveloped and bend downward on an angle. His elbow joints have also been affected. On his left arm, the joint is working fairly well – but, on the right side, the joint is stiff and cannot bend all of the way.”

Mamadou came to the Mercy Ships patient screening day on his own, not wanting to disappoint his family if he could not have surgery. When he was given a surgery date, he joyfully informed his mother and little sister, who came to stay with him during his two surgeries and recovery. 

 

Mamadou’s follow-up surgery, planned by Dr. Tertius, will take Mamadou’s index finger and reposition it to create a thumb so that Mamadou’s left arm will look and function almost normally. Dr. Tertius decided to leave Mamadou’s right arm as is. The only other alternative in Mamadou’s situation was a straight arm without the ability to bend, which would have kept his right hand out of reach to be helpful.

Mamadou has been a diligent patient, faithfully completing his required exercises. Volunteer doctor Lydia Marx shows Mamadou his latest x-rays that confirm that his healing is on track.

Mamadou has adapted to his situation, fully utilizing the functionality his arms do have. He is a successful sheep owner and lamb producer, even with two bent arms. As Mamadou says, “Just think of what I can accomplish with one fully functioning arm and a hand that can continue to help!”

For Mamadou, the prospect of one normal arm and one still misshapen arm does not dampen his determination to successfully support his family. He and his mother met with a local education official to discuss adult learning options he could pursue while also starting his own business.

 

Mamadou is especially grateful to Mercy Ships for seeing him as a smart young person with great potential for the future. Mamadou thanks Mercy Ships for, “giving me hope and courage to show the world that I, like any normal eldest son, can support my family with the many abilities God did give me.”

Happy First Day of Spring!

Today was obviously the first day of spring.  How obvious you might ask?  Well, in a matter of minutes, while walking the dog at noon, I saw FOUR of my neighbors!  It must be the change in weather.  After all, it was 2*F out!  Trust me - we weren't talking about spring thaw!