a Good Ache, Cause For Prayers and Praise

Thanks for your sympathy to the last post. Believe me, I am not some super-woman, this is an answer to your prayers! You just didn’t know you were praying for me to be able to laugh through a night as described in the previous post. The next day, Eliza, Jon and I cleaned up and J and A loved the story of it all. :) 

My heart is groaning lately, I have felt the sting of death, watched people in pain and just got off the phone with a mother in anguish over her baby’s pain. As we interact here and the girls and I are studying the Middle East, I feel face-to-face with the reality of millions living and dying without the Gospel. Speaking of prayer and your support, here are some specifics. Thanks for those who have reached out for specific updates. 

A soft-spirited man who works at the Woodmizer lost his 13-year-old daughter a month ago. We had taken this sweet girl to a clinic in Bahir Dar before and Mark and Debbie had been involved with her as well for years before as she had a chronic illness. Her father now wears the black hat of grief and his brown eyes are full of sadness. Please pray for Meteku and his family.

Hayamanot, the boy with dog bites pictured with Jon two posts previous is on the mend and Jon gave him his 3rd rabies vaccine shot today. Only two more left! 

I talked with Frehiwot today, the young mother of the child who we were able to send to Addis Ababa for surgery. The 1.5 month old baby had a successful surgery and the family is thankful and joy-filled but as we talked on the phone, a woman who previously didn’t discuss prayer, begged me to pray for the baby and their 10-hour bumpy bus trip tomorrow as the baby still seems to be in a much pain and isn’t nursing well because of it. I assured her we would be praying and I didn’t know how to describe to her that a village of blog friends would also be praying. 

And, our dog and only family pet is sick, sick. She has been stability for our family and we would miss her much but it looks like she may not make it through the night. 

Our friend Yeshi once told me, “Amy, death is so far from Americans, but for Ethiopians, it is near.” It all makes me yearn for heaven.  

To be clear, because of your generous support of our family, that is how we are able to financially come alongside many of these friends, neighbors and medical cases, so thank you for allowing us the means to help. 

 We love you all and are so thankful for you. (Oh, and also, #functionoverfashion, please be gracious. ;))