The End of the Year Trainwreck

So Thursday was the end of the school-year.  Maybe you weren't expecting that.  We didn't really communicate that here on the blog - maybe because it kind of snuck up on us.  I think there's also the truth that we've been a little overwhelmed.  A little more than a month ago, we welcomed Baby Frazier #3 into the world which brought nights of sleeping like a baby (not good) and loads of laundry and visitors and...  Heather recovered slowly due to some sort of infection, then Faith got sick.  Joel and I were plugging along just fine - but busy.

A few days ago, it looked like Joel had a bug-bite on his chin, but a couple of days later it exploded into this huge raw blistering sore - it looked a little like pictures of the early stages of a brown recluse bite that I've seen.  We asked around and, surprisingly, there are no spiders or insects in Kenya with a bite like that.

Monday was my Birthday and we didn't have class.  I was very grateful because I didn't feel very good.  I had this intermittent fever and a really sore throat.  I felt a little better and kept teaching Tuesday and Wednesday, but Wednesday night I felt really bad.  Dr. Entwistle who lives next door and works at Kijabe Hospital came over just then to take a look at Joel's chin: Impetigo.  He heard I hadn't been feeling well either and took a look down my throat with our little wind-up flashlight.  After some uuughs, wows and grimaces he said it looked like I had strep.  He said he'd leave a prescription at the hospital chemist in the morning.  That night I couldn't sleep.  My fever was really high, I was having weird thoughts, and sweating buckets and in the morning I knew there was no way I was going to school.

Faith had a wonderful year at Titchie!

Heather walked Faith up to her last day of Kindergarten and then went down to the hospital to wait for my prescription... sometimes a morning-long process and never fun but Heather went cheerfully.  It seemed like she suddenly had a lot of energy.

I dragged myself out of bed and hobbled to the bathroom.  I glanced in the mirror and saw my right lymph node bulging out the side of my neck like a second trachea.  I was miserable.  I climbed back in bed and stayed there until evening.  The most frustrating part was, I didn't feel good enough to read or write and I couldn't fall asleep, so I had a lot of time to sit and think and pray.  It ended up being a great time of reflection on the year.  The one which I didn't quite finish.

My reflections had a recurring theme:  God has really provided for us.  We've had some rough stretches and some trials, certainly, but we've grown a lot and seen the faithfulness of God through them.  The last few weeks have been a good example.  I was sick for the last week of school and I don't think I had the physical energy to fight off sickness or to finish well.  There was no way I was finishing the tasks of the year without everything somehow falling in my favor and time after time, things did.

Aaron's been hard to put to sleep and I somehow have the knack.  Heather fed him and tried putting him down for quite a while, but he just fussed.  "I can't do this," she said.  I dragged myself out of bed and tried putting him to sleep.  It took a while and he was practically gone so I crawled back into bed, freezing.  He was quiet for a minute, maybe.

Then, he started screaming.  I thought, "I can't do this," and, "Jesus, help him fall asleep."  Heather (who had no idea how badly I felt at that point) asked me if I was going to help him.  I mumbled something to the effect of, "I think he'll fall back asleep."  I was just stalling; his crying sounded nothing like a baby about to fall asleep and I didn't think he would.  I felt like I was just about to pass out.  Then he just stopped crying and fell asleep.

I think sometimes we say prayers like that and God says, "No."  Maybe most of the time, actually.  But I think we can usually look back later and see exactly why he said it: a lesson learned, a truth reinforced, humility gained...  but it is comforting to know that those other times when we actually are spent he really is in control of our circumstances and blesses us with little things. 1 Peter 5:6-10

The whole week was full of those small, convenient blessings!  Now another conveniently-timed blessing:  Break!  Over the next few weeks, we'll be able to recover.  And the reason there's been very little on the blog in the last month is not for lack of news!  We'll try to catch up on that too.