Adventures With Sarah... LIfe As A Family In Uganda

This is such a long time in coming. I think I’ll say that Christmas was amazing as we saw it through the eyes of our little ones. No snow but what a sweet time of being together and being excited about new toys, yummy food, and the lights on the tree. We did begin our tradition of giving to a needy family. Seth had so much fun wrapping the gifts for the children (whom we didn’t know) and then announcing to them excitedly what was in them as he handed them over. Jodie enjoyed the handing out as well. It was very special to see how God led us to a family for whom we had the right amount of presents and who were in a location that didn’t attract a swarm of other children we couldn’t give anything to. Giving food to the mother was a blessing as well. What a privilege to be able to care for our own family and have enough left over to love someone else! That is not the reality for the majority of families over here.

Another way I’ve realized how blessed we are is through recent sickness our kids have had. I think I’m going to map out our Feb/March for you a bit.

Feb.19.. Sarah sings at a concert with some friends she’s been writing songs with… while prepping to leave Jodie grabs the hot iron and severely burns her left hand. This resulted in two weeks of changing the bandages twice every day and no playing outside in the dirt. (As well as severe clinginess to mommy which resulted in very low productivity!)

Feb.25.. Seth begins screaming with stomach pain very suddenly and begging for a ‘bandaid’ on his tummy. Sarah borrows a car from a friend and rushes him to the clinic. He is diagnosed with amoebas and needs 5 days of very nasty meds.

Feb. 26-28 Sarah leaves Mark with both kids (Jodie with a bandaged hand and Seth taking yucky meds) and speaks at a church women’s retreat which she has been involved in planning since November. Everyone fared very well while she was gone. Three cheers for daddy!

March 8.. Seth gets a high fever and diarrhea. Is diagnosed with a bacterial infection which is very common here right now, and has 5 more days of yucky meds.

March 12.. Jodie begins to have fever and diarrhea.. she was cutting a big molar and these are normal symptoms for Jodie cutting teeth (she struggles!) (Bacterial infections aren’t contagious like viruses but you need to come in contact with the bacteria itself through physical touch and then get it in your mouth)

March 16.. Jodie’s tooth starts coming through but she begins to vomit. Mommy takes her to the clinic and she has a bacterial infection as well. The doctor prescribes very yucky syrup that she must take every 6 hours for 7 days (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

March 17.. Jodie can’t keep down any food or fluids and starts to dehydrate. A friend drives Sarah and kids to the clinic while Mark tries to wrap up his work day quickly and come home. Jodie gets anti-vomit injection and spends 3 hours at the clinic just to be sure she would be able to keep down her meds.. her prescription is changed to a once a day antibiotic for three days (hallelujah!)

March 18.. Seth starts vomiting. Sarah thinks ‘there’s no way he has another bacterial thing because he was just on antibiotics, so maybe it’s just a stomach flu’. At 5.30 PM he starts having diarrhea and his fever spikes. Sarah’s pretty sure it’s not a stomach flu by now. Mark gets home as quick as possible, house-girl, Joyce stays with Jodie, and we’re off to the clinic. Seth needs an anti-vomit injection (by the end of the day he’d vomited 12 times) and is on a drip for 4 hours to re-hydrate him. We left the clinic at midnight with more meds for a bacterial infection and his fever under control.

March 19.. Jodie is better and taking her last dose of antibiotics. Seth is still lying on the couch and not even talking much. Has diarrhea all day and no appetite but keeps fluids down. At 7.30 PM he starts vomiting again. So we call some friends to stay with Jodie and rush him to the clinic with a fever of 102F. He gets another anti vomit injection and stays at the clinic till about 11.

But on the way there Mark says he’s not feeling well. By the time we get there he goes straight to the bathroom and then to one of the sick beds at the clinic. Imagine the surprise of the doctor when he tells us we can take Seth home and we say, ‘Could you please check Mark first?’ Apparently Mark had gotten some food poisoning from something he’d eaten that day and was struck with severe diarrhea and vomiting. (Are you laughing now?) A friend of mine was nearby so agreed to ride along with us home to hold Seth because he was too weak to sit in his car seat on his own on these bumpy roads, and I drove while Mark clenched his teeth and clutched a barf bag all the way home. That night Sarah stayed up till 3 making strawberry jam for a sale the next day. Sarah sold jam at the sale until 2 PM and then had practice for leading worship on Sunday. Mark was well enough to watch Seth on Sunday while Sarah and Jodie went to church.

Note-able moments of the month? 1.Showering liquid diarrhea off of Jodie and hearing Seth come to the bathroom saying ‘I have to puke!’. He ended up on the toilet having diarrhea and puking in a bucket at the same time. The laundry was mountainous! 2. The look on the doctor’s face when we told him Mark needed some medical attention. ‘Really?’ he said. 3. On Seth’s fourth day of his third stomach affliction he was beginning to feel better. Late afternoon he said casually, ‘Mom, I need to go diarrhea’. ‘Okay, come on let’s go!’ Sarah said. He began to saunter to the bathroom singing cheerfully, ‘Diarrhea! Diarrhea! Diarrhea!’.

But, my thankfulness comes from the fact that I can take my children to the clinic when they are sick. Many children here die from such illnesses because their parents don’t have the money for or cannot make it to a clinic. God has blessed me in so many ways!