And then it was June
These last few weeks have been hard. Now, we all have hard in our lives and some hard is like mind- blowingly painful and some is just the every day kind of stuff that piles up and buries a body under its weight. What is hard for one person might seem like a cakewalk to someone else. This is some of the physical, real life hard we've been dealing with. I might get around to posting some of the emotional/mental hard, but not sure if I can emotionally/mentally deal with it, so wait and see!
We still have mice. Yep. We've killed three (the bag'em and drown'em method) and thought that was the end of it, but we were wrong. Those who are left behind are brazen; running past us while we watch TV, chewing away at things behind kitchen cupboards while we peer at them with a flashlight; and they poop a lot. It's everywhere. It is gross. When mixed with their urine, it is messy and sticky.
**Update: 2 more mice have been caught and killed since I started this post. I repeat, 2 more mice have been caught and killed.**
We have had the stomach flu. Tyson went down first on Thursday night, but he recovered quickly. Then we had Amo over on Saturday night and it was puke and poop-a-geddon. All over the sofa, multiple blankets and a few changes of clothing. It also got on Darin's face (don't ask), which led to him getting sick on Sunday night and feeling miserable until Tuesday. In between Amo and Darin, our washing machine broke, with a load of poo and puke covered clothes inside. While Darin was out buying a new washer, while feeling like crud himself, Tyson and I drained and carried out the old washer, finding lots of mouse turd treasures in the laundry room. Such a treat. I went to a meeting on Tuesday and ended up with such a bad case of the chills that I was shaking and had blue lips. It was sudden and strange, but I drove home and went right to bed. I've had a bit of a headache and some head cold symptoms, but no tummy troubles (yet). Wednesday after school Jori said her tummy hurt and sure enough, she was hanging over a bowl the rest of the night.
So in the wee hours of Thursday morning, Jori is on the sofa and we are in bed and the phone wakes us up just after 1. It's Amo's mom calling to say that Amo is having a seizure. While we are talking the seizure stops so we say we'll call back and check how she is in 10 minutes. Darin calls back and all is well. Then at 1:45, another call, another seizure. This one seems worse, so Darin heads out to act as hospital transport and support. At the hospital the seizure was controlled with meds and Amo's vitals all came back to normal, but she was admitted for observation. The hospital is never a great option for Amo as she doesn't receive proper care when she is there. Some of the nurses expect her to "act her age" and it is hard to get people to understand the severity of her disability and what she can and cannot do. Darin dropped Annah of to catch a bit of sleep at home (there are no beds for moms at the hospital, they sleep on the floor on whatever blankets they bring from home) and he made it back home and came to bed at 6.
Thursday was just a quiet sort of day, but heavy. Jori was on curled up on the couch, Tyson was busy with school work and wood working in the garage, Darin slept late after being gone all night. It was June 1. JUNE!!!! There is so much to get done before leaving South Africa and so much to prepare for heading to America. We visited Amo at the hospital and she was tired, but looking good. Hopefully everything will go well and she will be discharged on Friday, but having her be in the hospital again just reminds us how fragile her little life is. We also know that her family is perfectly able to handle things on their own, but they are like family to us and you want to be around to help your family.
It is now Friday, June 2. Jori is back at school, Tyson is complaining that it is Friday and he shouldn't have to do any school work. Darin and I hope to get some stuff cleared out at the new Distribution Centre (DC). Yeah, I forgot to mention that over the last 2 weeks we've moved out of our old office/distribution space and moved to a better location in Hammanskraal. It is something we are happy about, but moving takes a lot of effort.
Afternoon now and I have been out most of the day. We did some quick work at the DC, and then I chased people around by phone and in my car to get paperwork from them that was due today at 2. Frustrating to say the least. I also made some deliveries of porridge and also a gas stove to one of the centres. The Take Action truck has been out of commission for over a month and our cars have both been getting a lot of extra use. We hope to upgrade our gray car when we get back as we need something higher off the ground. The roads to most of our centres are terrible and after 6 years of hard driving and dirt roads going to Tshepo ya Bana and now around town, the time is coming for an upgrade (we hope!!) After driving around I went back to the DC to leave our car for the driver to use, Darin picked me up and we went to the hospital. Amo was discharged at 3. So we took her and her mom home, then made it back to our place. I did a little computer work, then it was back out to pick up our car and now I am back at the computer.
Tomorrow night our kids have a sleepover at church. They both invited friends along. We will have Amo overnight as her family is expanding their house. Super exciting for them, but lots of work and mess and drafty spaces until it is finished, so we get some more time with Mozie Pozie! Family Frenzy after church on Sunday and then it all starts over again on Monday morning.
So we are over here, tired, sore, but still standing.
We still have mice. Yep. We've killed three (the bag'em and drown'em method) and thought that was the end of it, but we were wrong. Those who are left behind are brazen; running past us while we watch TV, chewing away at things behind kitchen cupboards while we peer at them with a flashlight; and they poop a lot. It's everywhere. It is gross. When mixed with their urine, it is messy and sticky.
**Update: 2 more mice have been caught and killed since I started this post. I repeat, 2 more mice have been caught and killed.**
We have had the stomach flu. Tyson went down first on Thursday night, but he recovered quickly. Then we had Amo over on Saturday night and it was puke and poop-a-geddon. All over the sofa, multiple blankets and a few changes of clothing. It also got on Darin's face (don't ask), which led to him getting sick on Sunday night and feeling miserable until Tuesday. In between Amo and Darin, our washing machine broke, with a load of poo and puke covered clothes inside. While Darin was out buying a new washer, while feeling like crud himself, Tyson and I drained and carried out the old washer, finding lots of mouse turd treasures in the laundry room. Such a treat. I went to a meeting on Tuesday and ended up with such a bad case of the chills that I was shaking and had blue lips. It was sudden and strange, but I drove home and went right to bed. I've had a bit of a headache and some head cold symptoms, but no tummy troubles (yet). Wednesday after school Jori said her tummy hurt and sure enough, she was hanging over a bowl the rest of the night.
So in the wee hours of Thursday morning, Jori is on the sofa and we are in bed and the phone wakes us up just after 1. It's Amo's mom calling to say that Amo is having a seizure. While we are talking the seizure stops so we say we'll call back and check how she is in 10 minutes. Darin calls back and all is well. Then at 1:45, another call, another seizure. This one seems worse, so Darin heads out to act as hospital transport and support. At the hospital the seizure was controlled with meds and Amo's vitals all came back to normal, but she was admitted for observation. The hospital is never a great option for Amo as she doesn't receive proper care when she is there. Some of the nurses expect her to "act her age" and it is hard to get people to understand the severity of her disability and what she can and cannot do. Darin dropped Annah of to catch a bit of sleep at home (there are no beds for moms at the hospital, they sleep on the floor on whatever blankets they bring from home) and he made it back home and came to bed at 6.
Thursday was just a quiet sort of day, but heavy. Jori was on curled up on the couch, Tyson was busy with school work and wood working in the garage, Darin slept late after being gone all night. It was June 1. JUNE!!!! There is so much to get done before leaving South Africa and so much to prepare for heading to America. We visited Amo at the hospital and she was tired, but looking good. Hopefully everything will go well and she will be discharged on Friday, but having her be in the hospital again just reminds us how fragile her little life is. We also know that her family is perfectly able to handle things on their own, but they are like family to us and you want to be around to help your family.
It is now Friday, June 2. Jori is back at school, Tyson is complaining that it is Friday and he shouldn't have to do any school work. Darin and I hope to get some stuff cleared out at the new Distribution Centre (DC). Yeah, I forgot to mention that over the last 2 weeks we've moved out of our old office/distribution space and moved to a better location in Hammanskraal. It is something we are happy about, but moving takes a lot of effort.
Afternoon now and I have been out most of the day. We did some quick work at the DC, and then I chased people around by phone and in my car to get paperwork from them that was due today at 2. Frustrating to say the least. I also made some deliveries of porridge and also a gas stove to one of the centres. The Take Action truck has been out of commission for over a month and our cars have both been getting a lot of extra use. We hope to upgrade our gray car when we get back as we need something higher off the ground. The roads to most of our centres are terrible and after 6 years of hard driving and dirt roads going to Tshepo ya Bana and now around town, the time is coming for an upgrade (we hope!!) After driving around I went back to the DC to leave our car for the driver to use, Darin picked me up and we went to the hospital. Amo was discharged at 3. So we took her and her mom home, then made it back to our place. I did a little computer work, then it was back out to pick up our car and now I am back at the computer.
Tomorrow night our kids have a sleepover at church. They both invited friends along. We will have Amo overnight as her family is expanding their house. Super exciting for them, but lots of work and mess and drafty spaces until it is finished, so we get some more time with Mozie Pozie! Family Frenzy after church on Sunday and then it all starts over again on Monday morning.
So we are over here, tired, sore, but still standing.
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