Maralucia

I tell you, the last two years of my life don't represent my life of the past at all. Who am I anyway? Sometimes I look at what is happening around me, and I just shake my head. As little as less than 3 years ago, this kind of life wasn't even in my imaginations. What God does to bring one to the place where he wants us! Why do we fight it so much? Reminds me of one of these "forwards" that get sent around. "A Piece of Cake". It was a story of a girl that was complaining of all the bad things happening to her. Her mother, making a cake, responded by saying "Do you like my cakes?" "Yes, of course." "Here, have some oil" the mother said. "Yuck!" Then have some flour". "Gross". Have some baking powder". "That's horrible". Her mom told her that's how God works with us. "Individual circumstances may not be pleasant but the whole becomes a delicious cake!

Today has been an eventful day again. (As always, didn't do what I planned, which was make walking space in my medicine storage!). It was a "baby" day today - good and bad. I went down to the clinic; since it was Mamba day, I did plan to stay longer because we often get other sick ones too, or babies that come for milk, etc. The good thing was, I saw two babies that I had been wondering what was happening to them. One started coming a year ago, weighing 2 kilos (4.4 pounds). I couldn't recall her coming back, so thought maybe she had died. But she was there today, over a year old, with excellent weight. I don't see the kids every time they come. Another baby started coming about 3 or 4 months ago, weighing 1.8 kilos (3.9 pounds). She was in today, beautiful weight, almost chubby. Thanks for all that have donated milk for babies!!! Right now I'm blessed! Don't know where all the milk comes from, but I've had a good supply the last while.

The case that was sad was Maralucia. (They say it more like Malusia). She's 5 months old, born October 11, 2009. They don't know who her dad is. A cousin, Ketia, brought her. She said her mom is "crazy" and can't take care of her. She hasn't been around since birth. Maralucia was VERY dehydrated, VERY malnourished, and VERY feverish (103 F). A sick baby! Almost right away Ketia asked if we could take her. That always kind of pulls on my heart. "Can you please take my kid?" Of course, this was the cousin, not the mother. So we started moving, and one of the guys here took them to the judge to explain the situation and he made up a paper giving Canaan the guardianship. The fever was even higher when they came back, but it finally came down in the afternoon, and is still down. THANKFULLY. I was getting a little concerned. She's a good eater - takes her milk well. In fact, in the beginning she was like a little bird - couldn't swallow fast enough and the tongue was out all the time.

So now we have another baby here at Canaan. She weighs less then Caleb right now - same as he did when he came, and is much taller, so obviously thinner. Caleb looks so nice and healthy compared to her, but I trust it won't be long and she'll be putting on some nice weight. I love watching the pounds come on. I'm going to watch her - maybe both, tonight because of her fever, but we'll now have to decide what to do. Guess we'll need to hire someone just to take care of the babies.

So please pray for Maralucia's health. I did a malaria and HIV test and both are negative.

God bless you!!

Elsie

Our two little ones - almost the same weight. Hopefully Maralucia will soon speed ahead, since she's 4 months older.

Caleb

My favourite outfit - "Born to Explore" - my kind of guy

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Time at the beach that I wrote about last time.