Kamgegi Community Check

The following account was written in Swahili by Willy Futakamba, and I translated and edited it. It was in one of our newsletters quite some time ago, and I came across it again recently when looking for something else in my computer. I was reminded of what a great story it was, and thought I'd feature it here.

This picture of me, Pastor Futakamba, and Shem was taken right around the time this story took place in 2010

My co-translator, Shem Koren, and I (Pastor Willy Futakamba) were at Kamgegi village to do a community check. A group of 16 people were there to listen and give feedback on some chapters of Luke we had translated. When we were reading Luke chapters 13 and 17, everyone listened really quietly. In fact, they were so quiet that we asked them if something was wrong! They said that nothing was wrong; they were simply enjoying listening to the sweet words of our translation.

There was one woman there who had been sitting and listening the whole time as we read and asked questions about the translation.  She hadn’t said a word through it all. After we had read several chapters, we asked her to share her thoughts. She said, “When you read Luke 13:1-5 and Luke 17:1-4, I saw that Jesus is able to forgive even if you have sinned exceedingly much. I myself have many problems and sins, but I had not ever heard that Jesus is able to forgive so much!”

She left the meeting at that point, but returned at the end of the day. She had been crying, and we asked her why. 

In return, she asked us, “What denomination are you?’

To answer this, we asked her another question, “Why do you want to know our denomination?”

She said, “I want to know your denomination so that I might go to that church and once again hear these good words which I heard today in my own language, Zanaki.”

We didn’t tell her about our church background or denominations, but instead urged her to talk with the one local Christian pastor in that village, saying that denomination didn’t matter, all are Christians. We then went with her to this pastor’s house and spoke with him, asking him to help this woman with spiritual matters, so that she might know Jesus and be healed. The pastor knew the woman, who was one of his neighbors, and knew her to be a drunk. We explained to him what she had told us, and then we all prayed together. As we left, the pastor asked if he might keep a copy of the translated Zanaki chapters from Luke, so that he could use them when talking more with the woman about Jesus.

(Me again) And that, my friends, is why I love being part of Bible translation! It's not about producing books; it's about lives being changed when they hear the words inside of the books! Would you pray for this woman, whose name I don't even know? Pray that now, several years after this experience, she would continue to seek Jesus and know his love and forgiveness in her life.

Upon surviving my first Pennsylvania winter

Today the sun was out, the snow was melting, and it was warm enough for all four of us to go outside for a family walk around the block. One of us slept through the experience while wrapped in a fleece blanket, but we other three enjoyed being outdoors with the sun on our pale faces.

I have survived. I have made it through winter. However, I was so busy surviving, that I forgot to take a single picture of our snowy backyard. You can pretend this is it - we have snow, we have trees.

Since I shamelessly lifted this from the internet, I'll give credit where it's due: this is an original oil painting done by Mark Altrogge, and is available for sale at http://markaltroggepaintings.com/original-oil-paintings-store/snow-shadows. (Cool side fact: the artist is also our pastor. He can paint AND preach!)

But anyway, it snowed here. Like, a LOT. It reminded me of lake-effect snow that we'd get in Holland, MI, when I was a student at Hope College. We got our first snow in November, then December was pretty green. We haven't seen our grass since then, though! Like, this isn't the kind of snow where it all melts off after a few days, then snows again, melts again, etc. We have had weeks when our furnace has been running 24/7 just to keep up, because it's really, really, really cold outside! Okay, so maybe we don't have the best insulation and windows, but still, I don't care what your house is made of, it was cold enough that Andrew said it made his nose hurt. I wouldn't know, since I didn't go outside.

Yes, you read that correctly: there were entire weeks when I did not go outside the house. If I didn't have a newborn in the house, I'm sure I wouldn't have stayed in so much. But honestly, if it's like -10 F out there and you work from home, why exactly would you want to go anywhere? Staying indoors with two small children for extended periods reminded me how fun coloring in coloring books can be, gave me opportunity to learn that Daniel Tiger is a great babysitter, and that one can either go crazy or learn to find the fun in little things. I learned how to exercise a toddler by chasing her around the dining room table. (It actually kind of exercised me, too, since I was usually carrying a very chubby baby while doing so.) I learned that when I reached a certain point of desperation, it was time to talk to my parents on Skype or call a friend, because one needs to converse with another adult now and then.

And now spring is just around the corner, and I'm pretty excited to take these kiddos to the park! Running around the playground is a little more exciting than the dining room table.

Blog makeover

No, you haven't started losing your memory, I really did change what this blog looks like! After quite a few years of the original design, it seemed a little past due for a makeover. Originally it was both my and Andrew's blog, but now that I'm the sole proprietor, I think I'm allowed to make it coral instead of sporting those manly blue, green, and brown stripes.

Actually, the real impetus was that I found it hard to read without my glasses. No joke - that textured brown background with small white font was hard for me to read when things were a bit fuzzy, so after being annoyed by this for about three years, I finally did something about it. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember these things when I actually have the time and motivation to do something about them!

So, should you find yourself in the fuzzy-eyed camp along with me, I hope things are clearer for you now, too. See, you really didn't lose your memory, just your eyesight! :-)

Pigtails

Zarya wanted to have a ponytail today like Mama, instead of her usual curls. I happily complied, although of course putting them in was more complicated than anticipated. Who knew how slippery fine little toddler hair could be? But we succeeded and she was very pleased with the result for a little while. But it didn't take too long for that cheesy smile to morph into this...

He's awake!

Jerod is now nine weeks old, and he's finally awake often enough to get his eyes open in a few pictures. The kid enjoys sleeping, what can I say. But here he is, cooing and gooing and gaaing. He's really close to laughing, as you can see in the second picture!

Indoor fun

There are about eight inches of snow outside right now, and we've got an infant with influenza at our house. Needless to say, we're not going anywhere or doing anything this week. In an effort to prevent total cabin fever, I hope to do one interesting thing each day with Zarya.

Today's activity was washing dishes. Since Zarya is obsessed with cleanliness and loves water, this seemed like a good project for her. I figured her play kitchen dishes were probably in need of some cleansing, too, with all the germs around here.

The only bad thing about this little activity is that she wanted to do it twice again this afternoon... Maybe I should start training her on the real dishes so she really can wash them all day!

The Flu

It's been an interesting week here. I did not start the week thinking we'd be spending a good chunk of it in the hospital, that's for sure!

It all began with Jerod being cranky on Tuesday. He's a really happy, easy-going baby almost all the time, so I was surprised by him being fussy all day long. But, I figured that every not-quite-two-months-old baby is allowed to cry a little bit every now and then, so didn't think too much of it. But when he developed a fever that evening and didn't sleep well that night, I called his pediatrician's office the next morning and made him an appointment.

At the doctor's office on Wednesday morning, he saw the practice's physician's assistant (PA). The PA didn't find anything wrong with him other than his fever and decreased gut noises, so sent us home advising gas drops, gently massaging his tummy to help if he had gas making him fussy, maybe turning on some music or the TV to see if white noise would soothe him, and to use Tylenol to help his fever. She said to be in touch if his fever went up or if he got other symptoms of some sort, since he seemed to be fighting off some sort of virus.

In retrospect, if she had done a flu test and diagnosed him at that time so that he could start his Tamiflu medication at that point, he probably would have never gone to the hospital and the rest of this blog post would not exist. However, she didn't, and I didn't think of suggesting it, either, since I thought one had to have a cough and congestion or maybe vomiting if one had the flu.

Jerod had another cranky day on Wednesday, and the first half of his night that night was rather fussy and sleepless, but then he fell asleep for seven hours straight. I was really excited and figured he was sleeping off his little illness. He didn't have much appetite on Thursday and slept his day away. It was that afternoon when I realized he was in bad shape - not eating much, not moving, and looking pale. I called the pediatrician (there are like five of them in practice together, so I won't bother referring to them by name, just "the pediatrician," although it was a different doctor every day), and she said to go to the ER, since it was after-hours.

The only time I was really worried during the whole bit was on the drive to the ER and when we first got there. Jerod hadn't even awakened when I was putting him into his car seat, something he normally protests a bit. He was silent the whole trip there, and in the waiting room he opened his eyes only once, and they weren't focusing on anything, just staring and glazed. When the ER nurses weighed him and took his vitals, they cooed over how quiet and well-behaved he was. I didn't find it one bit coo-able, however, that my tiny baby didn't seem to notice that he was stripped naked on an examining table with a thermometer up his bum.

The ER doctor, to whom I would not give any points for on bedside manner, ordered a flu test, which came back positive. He consulted with the pediatrician over the phone and they admitted us. I had not thought we'd be spending the night in the hospital, but was happy when we finally (five long and mostly boring hours of waiting after being checked into the ER... but as my sister in St Louis texted me, at least the Indiana, PA, ER is a pretty tame one compared to St Louis'!) got checked into the pediatric ward. The nurses there cooed over him, too, because this time when stripped down and weighed and having his vitals done, he gave one nurse a big smile. "Come here and look at this newborn - he has the flu and just smiled at me!" she called to the other nurses on the floor, three of whom came and oohed and aahed over all of his hair and his chubby cheeks.

Jerod sleeping in his hospital crib - it looked like a prison cell or cage, but he seemed to find it comfortable

Jerod got some Tamiflu, Tylenol, and lots of care that night. Nurses came in every two hours to check him, which made for very little sleep for me. I didn't mind, though, since I knew they were monitoring his condition to make sure he didn't develop fluid in his lungs or any other complication. The next day, Friday, the pediatrician saw him and advised we stay another night, at least. Jerod slept all day.

In other news, my non-medical lowlight of Friday was realizing I'd left my phone at home when I'd run home to collect some essentials and see Zarya. My highlight, however, was a friend thoughtfully going to pick it up and bring it to me, along with some snacks!

I'd like to make an aside comment here that the day nurse was a wonderful woman who truly had the calling of taking care of sick children and their anxious parents. I thank God for assigning her to be our nurse for the day, because she was quite the blessing and encouragement. Thank you, Jean; you lived out your faith all day, and I knew you were a believer before we even started talking about it.

Friday night I was worried when Jerod's fever escalated the highest it had been yet by a full two degrees - 103.7. But then he was awake, making happy noises, kicking his legs, and looking like he felt a whole lot better all day. The pediatrician sat down with me for a full twenty minutes that morning to talk about how he was doing and what to expect over the coming days if his flu progressed normally, so that I'd know what abnormal might look like if he took a downward turn. She acted like he was her only patient and item on her to-do list for the whole day.

It was late Saturday afternoon when the doctor gave us permission to go home, much to our delight. It had been such a stress to not be knowing if we were going or staying until 4:30! It really made planning impossible, and for those of you who know me and Andrew, not being able to plan is a great challenge for us to overcome. I was trying to be at home and at the hospital, an arrangement that left Jerod crying for food when I wasn't there when he was hungry Saturday afternoon, and Zarya wondering where on earth Mama was all the time (although Baba took great care of her). After we were given all of our instructions and prescription, and made it out the door, it was nearly 6:00. I arrived at the pharmacy two minutes before it closed and was greatly relieved to not have to run around town searching for one open on a Saturday evening. A friend brought over a hot meal minutes after we got home, and sitting down together at the table to eat a meal was really, really nice.

Jerod seems happy to be home, and we all slept at least somewhat decently and were very happy to wake up and have a Sunday together at home! His fever has been fairly low all day. Thanks to two other friends, we have groceries in our fridge and another meal ready to eat, as well as several people making it very clear to me that I am welcome to send Zarya their way if I need a break at some point. We are really blessed with good friends here! And if that weren't enough, we have also been "blessed" with a lot of snow - four inches or so on Friday night, and another big pile expected tonight...