T minus 9 days

Today was another crazy day. Actually, it didn't begin that way. There are just so many little things left to do. I picked up another lightweight suitcase and tranferred one 35 lb bag into it. This gave me room for some of the stuff that had still not made it into the luggage!

I went into a sports shop on Friday and told him I wanted soccer balls for orphans in Ethiopia - would he give me a deal? They said they would give me 20% off. So I bought three good ones there - ones that should stand up and last. I didn't actually take them as they had to deflate them for me.

I then went around the corner to another shop and got 5 cheaper, rubber ones. These ones will be good to give to a group of children that we see playing on the streets with wadded up plastic bags. They will not last as long as the other ones, but at least they will be good for a while.

I have had more phone calls with regard to donations, so we are moving along nicely!

Today, after basically finishing our packing (there are always a few more things to organize ), I suddenly remembered that I still had to pack all the children that are being farmed out. So that took up most of the rest of the afternoon - sorting and packing and washing, drying and then packing some more. I have now all the children packed.

I then booked the hotel at the airport for the night we leave here. We fly from here at 5:30 pm on Monday, and then fly out of Vancouver at 8:00 am the following day.

Our children have been so healthy and then last week we began a 'battle' against the germ. First, our son at cadet camp spent 3 days in the sick bay. The blessing in that was that he would get to rest, since he put in 16 hour (minimum) days, as staff. I later found out (yesterday) that he is battling a cough/cold and since he is getting no rest he is really wearing down. He works 6-7 days a week.

Then our 5 year old ended up with a double ear infection. I can usually ward it off with olive oil and garlic, but this time that didn't work. So then I brought on the Lidosporin, an antibiotic ear drop. Even that didn't work!! Unreal! I have never had to do more than those methods for years!! So I took him to the doctor and he got antibiotics. That was Sunday last week. Tonight he was complaining that his ear hurt! Arrghh!!!

Austin has been plagued this week by a very light skin irritation on his stomach and lower stomach. I thought it might have been an allergic reaction, but Benadryl did not take it away, and it is still there. Very odd.

Briton must have caught his toe on something because it ripped his toe nail. This was an owie and I bandaged it all up. That night he was up with pain - allllll niggghtttt. The following night he decided (while he was in bed) to chew on his other toe nail. Boys, I tell you!! The following morning he had a very sore toe. I ended up soaking them both in salted water. They got worse. They got infected. We went to the doctor and he said to continue what I was doing. He did not want to use antibiotics.

Three days later, after another sleepless night, and his two big toes being a shade of light red/pink, I went back to the doctor. He marked his toes with a pen and said to keep an eye that the red did not cross the line. He then gave him a prescription for a strong penicillin. It is a special one that attacks germs that are in the flesh.

It kind of made me nervous, being so close to our travel date and all. For this last week, if I touched his toes at all he screamed blue murder. Poor little guy, when I put his feet in the warm/hot water with salt you would have thought I was murdering him!!

I found a trick to be able to tell if his feet are getting better. They don't look any less red, but I think they are improving. I played This Little Piggy on his toes. I changed the words each time and he got right into it. When I came to his big toes I was able to give them a light squeeze and he didn't fuss. By tonight when I gave them a squeeze I was able to apply quite a bit of pressure and there was no fuss from him at all. Praise God!!!

I was quite worried. How on earth does a little guys toes get so infected so quickly!! And to have all my kids come down with 'something' the week before we go!! Well, I am giving God all the glory for getting them 100 % before Monday!!

Each of them still needs complete healing:

Cooper - his ears
Austin - his rash
Briton - his toes
Colt - his cold/cough/exhaustion

Please pray for them as I want to leave them in good health when we leave them!