I'm sorry that there hasn't been an update recently. We made it home on October 9th. We didn't have any problems during travel, so that was a huge blessing. We did have some fun going through customs coming back into the States, but it wasn't a huge problem. Since we had been on a farm, they had to bleach/disinfect all of our shoes. Took a really long time, but hey, it was one less thing for us to do when we got home, right? Everyone who was on the plane seemed sick, so for the first couple of days of being back home, I was battling a really bad head cold and ear pain. I guess that will happen after being on planes for 16+ hours with a bunch of sick people! After a while it all simmered down to just being a cough, which I'm still dealing with, but I'm feeling better in that sense.
God has really been showing us "who's boss" [He is, in case you're wondering]... He's just been blessing us in huge, huge ways that just leave us breathless, with our jaws on the floor. Here are a few of the ways, so we can praise the Lord together:
-we are living with friends who are taking care of us financially [groceries, rent, etc] until we are able to 'get our feet on the ground.'
-we were blessed with a car that cost us very little to buy, and a few friends put time and money into repairing it with Jake and making it drivable.
-Jake has a job; he is going to return to working at the Dubbe's farm on Wednesday. We are very blessed by this family!
-an anonymous angel sent us a letter in the mail along with quite a large financial gift. Although we don't know who this person is, God knows, and we pray that He will generously bless them for being such a blessing to us.
We serve a really big God!
I had an appointment with a midwife today. Although nothing was 'figured out' as to why I've been feeling so miserable, it was reassuring to know that the baby is growing as he or she should be. My blood pressure and weight were fine. She had me do the 1 hour gestational diabetes test today, and I passed 'with flying colors,' they said. Supposedly it has to be under 140, and I was at 91. Yayy. The baby's heart rate was 140. She wants me to have an ultrasound done sometime this week; although I wouldn't have normally wanted one at this point in the pregnancy, since they [the doctors in Kenya ] didn't 'do' everything she [the midwife] would have liked them to do/check for, she asked me to have another one. She asked if we wanted to know the gender early, and I said no; she laughed and said we 'might have to look away at this ultrasound because it might be blatantly obvious.' So hopefully we won't 'accidentally find out' what we're having, but it's obviously not the end of the world if we do.
As for me being sick... I'm still having a lot of 'pain' and we're not really sure why. I was in tears on Saturday night because it was so terrible. It just does not seem normal! It seems to be intestinal but sometimes it feels like it could be in my stomach. It comes and goes no matter the activity, what I eat or don't eat, etc. It seems to be worse in the evenings, through the night and sometimes in the morning. The midwife wanted me to give some stool samples to be tested in the lab; she said it's possible that there are eggs or parasites or... something... going on inside of me making me sick. So, I... uh... get to... *whispers* collect some poo... and take it to the lab to get tested. If I test negative for all that, then we'll just take it from there and try to figure out what's going on. I'm still really nauseous a lot, but the pain is what bothers me the most. My appetite seems to be better... but maybe it's because we have access to a refrigerator here and it's easier/possible for me to just grab an apple or milk or something. I was looking through a pamphlet that I got today about eating, and my eyes bugged out at what a typical day of meals should look like for a pregnant woman... still not getting anything close to that, but at least I'm able to get down more than 500 calories per day now.
I think that's all on "us" for now... we'll keep you updated as we find things out. Please just continue to pray for us as we re-adjust to being back here [dealing with re-entry culture shock, etc], as Jake starts his job, ad as I try and grow a baby. We really do appreciate all of your prayers, support and encouragement. Thank you.
We think about Kenya often and hope that you will continue to join us in praying for those we left behind, specifically Eric, Juli and Sarah... and the four student leaders, Mike, Vitalis, Philister and Jonny. Please pray for them as they continue to invest into the students that are there, and that the Lord would renew them and give them strength as this is the point in the year when everyone gets very tired and is worn out. Also, please continue to pray for the students. Graduation weekend is quickly approaching [November 28th]!
We'll update as we are able. Praise the Lord for providing for our needs.
