So here's the scoop

Feb 24th.

We have been in Africa for exactly one month today.

It has been an interesting time. Not easy, really. Of course we were expecting it to be difficult. Living in a different culture alone is difficult, and we have had many more challenges than that. It has been fun and good, too, don't get me wrong.

We are back in New Hope having spent the end of last week at the Davises in Kampala. Speaking of which, I now have a picture of all 5 of us, so you can see the friends we are talking about.


So many of you are probably wondering what happened to Ellie last week. So on Sunday she had the writhing in pain episode which she recovered from quite quickly. Then as the week began she continued to have some pain and random bleeding. So it was arranged for her to have a doctor appointment in Kampala on Wednesday while another friend from New Hope did some shopping. (Kampala is about 3 hours away, although only about 60 km, which tells you alot about traffic and the state of Ugandan roads.) So she went to that appointment and he basically said she needed to see a specialist. So off she went to another clinic, on the other side of the city, to see an ultrasound technician. With those test results she returned to the clinic, and they informed her of the bad news that she had either an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the uterus like in the ovaries) or Pelvic Infectious Disease. They ruled out the PID quickly. The doctor said to call John from New Hope ASAP and to have him come to prepare for surgery at the International Hospital the next day for a larposcopy and all kinds of other things. (which can be a dangerous procedure) She immediately called me, and I climbed off the roof where I had been working, showered and got on a motorcycle to catch the next taxi to Kampala.

Then she called a friend who reccomended a different ultrasound technician, to get a second opinion. So she rushed across the city again to make it there before the clinic closed, and recieved highly professional and knowledgable care. Turns out the other tech had mis-diagnosed her completely, and what had actually happened was that an ovarian cyst had ruptured, and that the body would heal itself ; all she needed to do was rest.

Needless to say, wednesday was a bit stressful for both of us.

So we laid low a few days at the Davises, John helped with a few more projects around their house, and got an unexpected break from working on the roof. I read some books and relaxed a little; it was very nice.



Today we went to church. I brought my camera with me this time, just in case there were any more engagement announcements like last week. I was hoping to be able to capture that exuberance that I wrote about.
Well, we were doubly blessed. Hah. This week we had not 1, but 2 engagement announcments, and one of the ladies is a friend of ours (the lady who helped us when Ellie first collapsed). I managed to get a little of the pandemonium on video. ( I will say that it was not quite as loud or crazy as last week, but you get the idea.) Even with Pastor Jonnes shouting into the microphone, you could barely hear him. As Tim said, it was like a football game.

Video Link

I cried again. heh. couldn't help it.

The Davises have a very nice big swing that Jon and I are modifying to be more user-friendly. ( i.e., can accomodate large people like me without scraping the ground.)



Uncle Mark and Uncle Dan helped make a see-saw, too.

Video Link

Prayed for you folks at church today. Hope you're all having a nice lunch.

john