Dessuba! (Good Morning!)

It is a beautiful Saturday morning here in Ghana. Still cool (probably not for long) and not as humid as it has been the last couple of days.

Well, we survived our second call! To be honest, our calls have been very good. Both nights we slept all the way until it was time to get up. The first call night, we slept in a different room to hear the doorbell better, and there was absolutely no ventilation in there! We didn't really sleep that night. But last night we had a great room, and it was cooler anyway. So, pretty good sleep!

I know I'm pretty delinquent about updating this blog, so again, I have a lot to catch up on!

Our call on Monday was mostly uneventful, then Tuesday was surgery day. I excised a lipoma and stitched up a man's face who had been in an accident. Fun stuff! Wednesday was a clinic day, and Zsila and I saw 67 patients! Thursday was another mostly uneventful surgery day - no wait... Thursday was when I excised the lipoma and did the suturing. Tuesday I did a lot of ultrasounds. Friday there was a C-section that I was in on (I'd like to say I assisted, but mostly I just watched). It's the first one I've seen since like September. I was pretty out of practice... so I went home and practiced my knot tying, but I still don't quite have it down perfectly yet. It was a national holiday yesterday for Good Friday, so we only had a few clinic patients.

We had one really awesome thing happen during our call day. In mid-afternoon, the nurse came to our door and said, "There is a child who is unconscious." We immediately ran up to the hospital to find a little girl, about 6 years old, who was almost unresponsive, soaked in sweat, and symptoms that suggested she might be having a stroke or some other problem in her brain. She also had pulmonary edema (fluid around her lungs), low blood pressure, and a very rapid heart rate. The mother didn't know what happened; in the morning she had only complained of stomach ache. The child was literally hours from death. We loaded her with fluid (and then a diuretic) and antibiotics, and breathing treatments. Her heart rate came down, and the fluid resolved from her lungs, but she was still very unresponsive. We had stabilized her as much as we could. Now we had to watch and wait. The mother was not a Christian, but wanted us to do whatever we could for her baby. We prayed for God's will to be done and for healing if that was His will. Zsila explained that God chooses to heal sometimes on earth and sometimes in Heaven. After we prayed, we left the hospital. We returned to check on her before dinner, and she was sitting up and eating! She was still very weak, but sat up and held up both arms waving at us. What a miracle!

Thursday evening we had a "station meeting" at the Dickens. We had praise & worship and a short devotional. Dr. Peter (from Burkina Faso) led us in worship with beautiful songs. I think I wrote it in my other post about what such wonderful people they are. Peter has such a vision for Burkina and their ministry their. Ineke is a beautiful, Godly, and kind woman. I have loved spending time with them and with Astrid. Sadly for me, they left early Friday morning to return to Burkina. Astrid will return to Belgium in about 2 weeks. She was such a blessing to me while she was here!

Last night (Friday), the Dickens joined us for dinner. It was so fun to have them over there. Their children are very precious people. Colt, their 8 year old son, already has such a heart for Jesus and for sharing the Gospel with people. It is really a beautiful thing to see. After dinner, we watched a movie with the Dickens, then did our night rounds at the hospital.

This afternoon, we are going to a village about an hour away to have an Easter Egg Hunt with all the missionary kids in the area.

Oh! I picked up my Easter dress on Wednesday! It is beautiful... purple and red. I'll probably be a little bit hot, but maybe we'll get some Easter rain. I have as yet been unsucessful in my search for mangoes. There are tons around here, but they are little and Yisah says they are not good. I keep waiting and looking for the big ones. Maybe this week!

Okay, I can't think of anything else. I'm going to try to get some pictures posted up here today. Keep praying!