Out of Africa

My mom lives in Africa helping Aids orphans. She wrote an interesting experience and posted it to my dad's blog. Check it out! Here

But When Jesus Comes

Steve has been on the front lines dealing with N1H1 in the ICU and it's just so sad! He works 12 hours a day with that virus and it's victims. He can't tell me much, of course. Eveything is vague.... but he does tell me that his patients are 20, 30, and 40 year old normally healthy men. He says there are few women as sick as his patients and the children he has taken care of are not near as sick as those strong young men. Older people seem to have an unexplainable immunity.

Steve told me about a 40 something dad who adopted a little thing from China just last year. I feel for all his patients, but when there is some little tidbit of information that ties them to an interest of mine they become more real. They lose that faceless body-in-a-bed image in my mind and I begin to pray.

I wanted that man with the little China doll to make it. I prayed for him. I wanted the little one shielded from more pain. My heart goes out to the little family... that little girl who has experienced so much loss in her young life.

It's unfathomable that her new daddy is dead. Dead from a stupid flue. What a heartbreak!

Garhett's song from choir rings through my head.

..... Then he looks into their eyes and wonders how he can explain
In this sin filled world we live in why there’s so much pain

But when Jesus comes in clouds of glory
He’ll take the suffering away
When Jesus comes we’ll live in glory
There’ll be no sin, there’ll be no pain
Forever and a day

At times it’s hard to understand the suffering we go through or the times when your world falls in on you
But just hold on to Jesus, and He’ll hold on to you
And in that time of trial you’ll come through . . .

I don't know the family. I don't know their circumstances or how many children there are. I just pray that God will be with them in their grief and pain and that He will see them through.

Steve's off to work again this morning. He may be taking care of the 21 year old on the brink of death today, maybe...or maybe it is the 30 year old, or the 45 year old ... God go with him and give him strength and be His helper in this time of plague.

Stay well everyone! Stay well!

Successful Adoption Fund Raiser

Last night the church put on a bake sale auction as a fund raiser for Tom and Cindy's adoption of two little ones from Ethiopia. Lots of people really got behind the project. When I saw the stacks of food to be sold I was thinking we might have a hard time selling it ALL, but amazingly people came through and a great time was had by all.

Steve was chosen to be the auctioneer. I'm not exactly sure why they chose him other than no one else would do it. He can't remember people's names. He doesn't know what certain baked goods are called and he is quite funny only because he really doesn't mean to be. For example he started off the night calling cinnamon rolls "cinnamon gravy rolls".... Some in charge were aghast... and evey body laughed. He was very much in earnest about raising money. He started off with a bang and raising the prices sky high. I bought a pie for $105 dollars!

Steve was using me to bid things up... whether or not I was bidding on an item was besides the point. He'd nod in my direction and that was all the clue I had. Sometimes he even pretended that I had bid... but he himself was bidding against his audience. If it weren't for such a good cause I doubt he could have gotten away with that. If it had been a political arena the headlines would have been screaming "Corruption!" Anyway, I had so much loot by the end... I was trying to give it away .

In the end the total was a spectacular $3,600. The Lord blessed!