Until we meet again...

Lots of “happenings” the last couple of weeks, some of which have made it very hard to be here. I can say without hesitation the #1 thing that has occurred was the death of one of our sisters in Christ, Kathy Henderson, from our home church, First Baptist in Cassville. Kathy and Gary were our neighbors for the entire eleven years we lived in Cassville. Kathy had a personality that was larger than life in so many respects. She passed away unexpectedly after a sudden illness and her death seems to have left everyone a little shell shocked. I want to thank my dear friend, Geneva, for this picture. She said it looks like Kathy is waving good-bye...I think she's right.

Being so far from home when something like this happens is difficult. There is such a sense of comfort and family with our church…trying to process this on our own has not been easy. It is hard to comfort and to be comforted through e-mail…

Kathy was deeply loved by so many in our church, including Mandy, Jack and our grandchildren. That brings me to another reason it has been difficult living here the last few weeks. We all thought Kathy was improving and then the kids got word that Kathy had a brain aneurysm rupture. The grandkids were devastated. They called and we spent time talking with each one of them. When Sam, in tears and with such profound grief, said, “Grandma, I wish you were here, I want you to come home. I’m scared, Grandma,”…I think I could almost feel my heart rip.

Being away from my children and my grandchildren like this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do – bar none. There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think about them, wonder what they’re doing, pray for them and miss them more than I ever thought was possible. I don’t think I could love them any more if they came from my own womb. I held each one of them seconds after they were born and continue to hold them in my heart. So to hear each express his or her hurt, confusion and fear and not to be able to put my arms around them, to hold them close, to smooth their hair and rock their tears away…it’s so unbelievably hard.

Selling our business, our home and our things were nothing compared to telling our families good-bye. It’s at these times that I beg God to make it clear to me again why we’re here. And He always does. His answer doesn’t soothe my own hurts or make it any easier to be here…it just reminds me why we are. Kathy’s in heaven…our world is filled with those who will never know her… many of those people live right here in Nicaragua. That’s why we’re here.

Other events the last few weeks…

We’ve hired another guard. After months of debating this issue, a recent attempt of three men trying to simultaneously scale our back wall convinced us that it was probably the best thing to do. We moved Felix to days, changed Freddy’s hours some and have hired a new young man to be our night guard. We now have someone here almost all the time, with the exception of the days off issue. So one night a week and one day a week, we are without a guard but as I told someone else, we’re trusting God to have one of His angels stand guard during those times!

I imagine you have to have some age on you to remember the old TV show called, “F Troop”. It was a goofy show about an army fort in the 1860’s and the group of misfits which secured it. It was pretty much just a venue for silly comedy and slapstick. Jim and I have laughingly called our own “battalion of security guards” F troop. Not because they’re inept but primarily because each of their names begins with the letter “F”. We have Freddy – our daytime gardener/guard combo, Felix and now, Fernando. Although, I do have to say that sometimes they’ve each done or said some pretty goofy things.

For example, when Fernando began working for us, he had a cold. Jim had always given Felix a glass of ice water when he would arrive for work each night so naturally, he did the same thing for Fernando. Fernando recoiled in horror explaining that it was “very dangerous” to drink ice water when you have a cold, that it would give him pneumonia. Whatever. He gave Jim permission to revive the practice once his cold had passed.

Felix is firmly convinced that every centipede we see is poisonous, as are slugs, worms and June bugs. He also believes that our cats are in danger from our puppy and that someday, Xander will kill the cats. I’m thinking Xander is the one in danger here. The cats don’t take any grief from him and if he doesn’t stop biting me every two seconds, I’ll take him out before the cats get a chance!

And then there’s Freddy. Freddy believes that we are always at risk. One of his favorite words to use with us is “peligroso”…dangerous. When he finds out where we’ve been or where we’re going, he tells us that the particular area is “muy peligroso” for us. I think he even has his doubts about our grocery store! But don’t let me give the impression I’m not appreciative for his concern…I most certainly am and we heed many of his warnings, believing he certainly has more knowledge of what’s going on around here than we do. But I also have to balance that out with the reminder that Freddy is the one who requested safety glasses to wear when he used the rotary push mower. OSHA would love this guy!

But lest my own twisted sense of humor should cloud your judgment of our compañeros, let me assure you that I can’t imagine trying to go about our daily life without these guys. I know Freddy and Felix have our best interest at heart and I’m hoping that we will soon have the confidence to be able to add Fernando’s name to that list as well.

October for us was Support Your Local Vet month. Of course, we have had Xander at the vet’s twice for his puppy shots and worm pills. That was to be expected and those kinds of visits, while not pleasant for the pup, are not too traumatic for any of us. You can see how much he's grown in just a few short weeks. But, two weeks ago, on a Sunday night, we had to find an emergency veterinarian for Susanna’s dog, Pixie. She had been injured by the neighbor dogs (a lab and 3 shepherds) and had a deep puncture wound of some size on her side. It was Fernando’s first night to work alone and we left him with Xander…it’s a wonder, he came back the next night!

We took Xander’s carrier with us and managed to get Pixie inside it. She was pretty stressed but still allowed us to handle her. Susanna was without power so it was hard to determine the extent of Pixie’s injuries. We had to drive all the way down past Huembes market to a 24 hour vet hospital. I’m still amazed that Managua even has such a thing considering how most people treat their animals.

The vet determined that Pixie had probably tussled with the dogs and gotten pushed in to a sharp pointed object. The wound was wide but it was deep. She also had several cuts to her face and one in the corner of her eye. The poor thing. As Jim and Susanna visited with the vet, I sat out in the outer office and waited. It was with great relief to hear she would be okay, although she had to have the wound cleaned and stitched.

This past Tuesday, we had to make another trip there. Both our cats had been gone for about 4 days. This was not normal behavior for them and I was beginning to get very worried. Then Tuesday morning, just as we were getting ready to leave for school, Skits showed up meowing at the back door. We both were so glad to hear him that even though we were running a bit behind our schedule, we decided to take a few minutes and go ahead and feed him. I’m so glad we did.
When we opened the back door, there stood Skits with a terribly swollen and misshapen right front leg. It was so distended from the shoulder that we thought it was broken. If that wasn’t concern enough, he had vomited some nasty green goo. In our minds, there wasn’t any other option but take the cat to the vet. Jim made the call to David to explain the situation and asked him to call Pastora and pass it on.

Now, if Skits were a house cat, the idea of taking him to the vet for this probably wouldn’t have given us much pause for thought…but he’s not. He’s a wild cat who has adopted us and has just allowed us to pet him in the last three months. I had no idea how we were going to manage him but I knew we had to somehow be able to do so. I was surprised at how much affection he was wanting. He couldn’t get close enough and I couldn’t pet him nearly enough. It was as though he needed reassurance that somehow, this was all going to be okay and I was going to take care of that pain.

Once again, we got Xander’s carrier. I wasn’t sure how we were going to get Skits inside but it really wasn’t nearly as bad as what I thought it would be. We quickly explained to Felix what was going on and this time, left him to Xander-sit. We got to our vet’s office about 8:00 and found out that the doctor wouldn’t be in until 9:30 or so. We called Susanna and asked if she could possibly go with us to the emergency vet.

It actually was going to work out okay for her to go. She needed to take Pixie to get her stitches out so we went and picked her up. We then had to go to the north part of town first for Susanna to drop off some things at a lab and then we headed south to the vet’s. I sat in the back seat so that I could reach over the back to the carrier. Skits would raise his head and rub it against my fingers. I was sick that he was hurting so much.

Jim and Susanna took Skits to the back while I waited out front with Pixie. The vet was going to see her after Skits. He determined that Skits’ leg wasn’t broken but was so filled with infection that it would need to be surgically opened up and drained. T.M.I. for this woman. He surmised that he probably got in to a fight with another cat (Snoops???) and that there was a small deep puncture wound above the swelling.

We made the decision to go ahead and have him neutered while there. This would hopefully help to keep down the cat population in our neighborhood plus maybe help tone down his macho male cat attitude. Ultimately, we’re hoping for fewer cat fights. We also told the vet that since he wasn’t ours, we were sure he hadn’t had any kind of shots so we opted to have the basic shots given, as well. The receptionist was in awe that we would do this for a cat that really wasn’t ours. While sitting there waiting, I realized the cat was very much ours. It wasn’t the amount of cordobas we were investing in him…it was the amount of emotion.

We picked Skits back up on Friday morning sans Susanna. He was wild when the assistant brought him out. They had some sort of stick with a wire hoop on the end of it. This was around Skits’ neck and that was how the assistant was able to maneuver him and still stay out of reach of those wicked claws of his. As soon as the young man set him on the table and I called Skits’ name, he immediately relaxed. He scooted on the table to me and I kept petting him and talking to him. Once again, it was as though he couldn’t get enough attention.

The vet was able to show us how to clean the surgical incision and told us to keep him on his antibiotic for three more days. Surprisingly enough, I was able to understand the majority of what he said. It helps immensely that Nicas are so demonstrative with their hands and facial expressions. Every conversation is kind of like a noisy game of charades.

We now have Skits at home, confined to the carrier for 5 days. He hates being in it but he’s so good to let me clean his incision and dress it twice a day. I am definitely not nurse material! Oh…and Snoops came back the same day. He had a few nicked places of his own but seemed to be in pretty good shape overall. I think after we get Skits all healed up and out of the carrier for good, we’re going to try to get Snoops in the carrier and haul him in to the vet and have him neutered, as well. For people who had determined not to have pets again, it seems to me that we’re investing a lot of money in to these furry vagabonds!

I have had an odd looking place come up on my face the last few months. It’s about a half an inch across and is itchy, scaly and reddish. Sounds attractive, doesn’t it? Now I know I just let myself wide open to all kinds of remarks here but I’m trusting you all to be kind! I finally was able to get in to a dermatologist this past week and found out that what I have is a place that is a pre-cancer spot. I go this next week to have it removed. Am I looking forward to this? Nope. Am I being a baby about it? Yep…as much as I can be and still retain some dignity. Do I have to have this done? Yes…but I don’t have to like it!

What else? Hungry families… In the last two weeks, we have had the opportunity to help some families with some food. One of the families we’ve helped before – Manuel Luis, the janitor at our school. He’s the man with 4 children in the school plus two older daughters who live with them, one is 17 and has a baby and one is 15. We help the family periodically, and had even bought beans and rice for them just a few days prior, but then we got word that Genesis, one of the twins in first grade, had become very weak and fainted in church.

They took her to the hospital and she was diagnosed with malnutrition and anemia. The doctor told the family that she needed to have lots more fruits and vegetables and that she needed a nutritional supplement. There was no way they could afford it. We made the decision to help this family further. Typically, we handle this through a third party but due to other circumstances this time, we weren’t able to do so.

Thursday after school, we took two boxes of fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, oatmeal, a large can of dry milk and a can of Sustagen to the house. Three of my students were there and they were so excited that we came to visit. The mother became very teary when she saw the food being brought in to the house. As we hear so often, she had been praying that God would help them. That’s always such an affirmation to hear. I pray all the time that we hear clearly from the Lord in these kinds of situations. It’s so easy to react in our flesh and one of my fears is that I’ll run ahead of God.

We stayed for about thirty minutes and then had to leave but it was such a good visit. We prayed for the family and then got ready to head home. The kids held on tight and the mother kept talking but we slowly made our way to the car. The mother kept thanking us. I told her that we were able to bless others because God had blessed us and that someday, she would be in a position to help someone else who needed it. She seemed to like that idea. It was a good note to leave on.

The other family we helped that same week was a family we had made a home visit to when the team was here. They had lost their 24 year old daughter to kidney failure just three weeks prior to the team visit. She was a wife and the mother of two little girls. The grandparents are now taking care of the little girls while the dad is trying to find some kind of work. They had lost their corn crop due to the drought and neither the dad nor the husband of the deceased woman have any kind of steady income. They typically clean up fields and property for folks but times are hard and that kind of work is the first to go.

This family is experiencing some pretty desperate times. There are several more grown children with their families and they all live in close proximity to one another. God had brought them to my mind and had kept them there for several days. We decided we should buy some beans and rice for the family. We gave the items to Pastor Manuel to deliver and he affirmed that they were in need. Isn’t it amazing how God takes care of things like that?

We also were able to help Danelia, Arturo and the kids this week with some food. I have more to share about Kenneth but that will be in separate blog. I’ll just share about yesterday for right now. We’ve been keeping Kenneth in Sustagen since PriceSmart had been out of PediaSure for so long. They’ve just recently gotten in back in but the price has gone up to almost $30 a can. The Sustagen is much cheaper and the nutritional value is very similar. Since he is tolerating it okay, we’re continuing with that. Yesterday, we were able to get the family a fair amount of groceries. As usual, the family is extremely grateful. Again, this was a family whose shelves were empty of food.

I wonder how many people face situations just like that. Kids that are hungry and shelves that are empty. It never fails that when I talk to someone in the States about hungry children here, they are quick to remind me that there are hungry children there, as well. Sadly, I know they’re right. I also know that our government provides many programs to help those families. Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury here. And, hopefully, the body of Christ is doing what they are called to do in those situations, whether there or here.

Casting Crowns had a great song out a few years back called If We Are The Body…it certainly made me think about what we are all called to do. The chorus says:

If we are the body

Why aren't His arms reaching

Why aren't His hands healing

Why aren't His words teaching

And if we are the body

Why aren't His feet going

Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way