Light at the End of the Tunnel

Yup, there it is-the light at the end of the tunnel!  Thanksgiving :)  Abdi and I have planned a trip to Nairobi to be with our Bethany teammates over Thanksgiving and it looks like we'll be able to keep our plans intact.  Abdi's father's health has improved during his time with us, both generally, in terms of eating well and exercising, and medically with his diabetes and high blood pressure.  We took him to a clinic with a diabetes specialist who did some tests and confirmed his blood sugar and pressure were both off the charts high (20.5 and 180/120 for you medically inclined folk).  He's taking medication for both now, and follow up tests show huge improvement-his blood sugar is down to 9.6 and pressure to 130/80.

Health concerns turned out to be one of the easiest things to handle this week.  There are ongoing fights between different family members and there's tension just under the surface all the time.  A few days ago, the bickering and vague accusations got to be too much and Abdi confronted the situation.  He let each family member share their side of the story of really why they don't get along, but the results weren't a happy hug-fest where everyone said sorry and made up.  So there's still this elephant in the room that everyone knows about but can't seem to find the courage to fess up to and move on with life.  Those conversations were exhausting, sometimes hurtful, and so sad but the glimmer of hope is that Abdi was clearly able to say that there is no wrong too big for God to forgive and for Christians the basis for forgiveness is Christ.  Without Christ there is no way back to right relationship with God, and it's really hard to forgive one another without him as well.  We pray these truths went deep and that as they reflect, God would convict them of sin and put a longing for his forgiveness in their hearts.

It's been a tough week for us, lots of time and energy spent cleaning up messes from sick dad or the kids, trying to make ends meet with the cash we have and wants/needs of the family, going to and from doctors visits, and buying food and other necessities.

Shamsa looking for the letter A

I spent some time looking through Shamsa's school papers and realized she is really struggling.  She's 7 years old, in the equivalent of kindergarden but she's been there for 3 years and will not progress to First grade when the new school year starts.  I took out the tiles from our scrabble game and tried to see how much she could actually do from her classwork, but she couldn't recognize letters let alone spell a word.  According to the curriculum, she should know the alphabet and be able to read short words at least, but it's clear she's no where near that level.  Abdi and I did some alphabet activities with her this week, trying to help her but she really needs a good school for that.  We'll look into a different school than the one she's attending, hopefully there's a better option!

Shamsa helping bake Abdi's birthday cake

Monday was Abdi's birthday!  It was a full day of doctors visits and such, but I managed to make a cake with lemon frosting (he likes fruity flavored desserts) and had the kids make birthday cards and a sign to hang on the wall saying happy birthday.  Abdi spent longer than expected at the doctor's with his dad, so by the time he got home and we sang happy birthday when he came through the door, he was so tired I'm sure it was hard to appreciate!  But nonetheless, he blew out some candles, ate cake and opened a couple gifts.  Birthdays aren't a big deal in Somali culture, in fact the only birthday party family ever threw for Abdi he wasn't in town for!  He was in Mombasa for some reason and his family lived in Lamu, but the 15th birthday is the 'becoming a man' birthday so they had a party anyway!  Haha!  It was nice to have his parents and sister here to celebrate with us this time.

Shamsa and Sharifa playing with Scrabble tiles

This week we've wiped snotty noses, sewn ripped shirts, mopped up pee, stepped on both cooked pasta and ugali (sick!), de-clogged the shower drain multiple times with some soda chemical thingy that gets super hot, painted fingernails, danced to bollywood music, fixed our water pump multiple times, ran out of water multiple times, said "No!" to a two year old and made her cry for an hour, tried to wash perfume out of said two year old's clothes after she sprayed A LOT of it all over herself, ate food we'd rather not eat, got lost in translation (ok that's just me, not Abdi), laughed, cried and fell into bed exhausted every night.  Is this what it's like to be parents?!  Yikes!!!  And yet, so many good moments in between the craziness.

Uncle Abdi playing with Sharifa

The family should be on the bus home on Sunday, and we intend to travel to Nairobi on Monday.  It's Friday...we can make it!!!  :)

Shamsa dancing to an Indian movie