Finding Faith in the Battle

We've had some problems with internet and our old computer no longer being able to connect to Google Chrome. As technology marches on in the Western World, we're stuck back here in Africa! Oh well. Same song, different verse I guess. Anyway, I'm trying to catch up now. I had a whirlwind trip to Nairobi Kenya where I met up with a couple from our highschool we hadn't seen since 2004, had a killer Chai Latte, and stuffed my brain with too much information in meetings. But it was good, and everyone survived the week here in Malawi. Chad's a great dad, and he did great balancing teaching 4 classes and managing dinner and bedtime and 1 load of laundry (!), but I don't think it's something he wants to do very often! I got home on Saturday at noon, and we left Sunday morning for Zambia. Several good friends of ours are at the 40/40 training camp 4 hours from here, so we wanted to stop in and visit with them. Do you remember my stories of 40/40 from our orientation ...

We have now been in Africa for 3 years. I know that’s a long time, though the time has flown by. But really, what is 3 years in the scope of my whole life? Hardly anything. But it has come to my attention just how significant it is in the lives of my children. Perhaps I should have realized that earlier, but somehow this has become normal life for us all, so I forget just how removed they are from what is normal in the US! Let me illustrate: *Anya (age 10) was reminicing about America, and she said dreamily, "I had totally forgotten that you can turn the TV on and actually see something. That will be awesome!" (our TV is for movies only) *Ethan (age 7!) stared at me in awe at the description of listening to music play out of the dashboard of a car, because he didn’t know what a radio was. The next day, he came in and excitedly reported that our friends have “one of those radio things that plays music in a car”. We obviously do not! *While paying our electricity bill at the ga...

Well, Ethan's been taking the new medication for two weeks now. We're on Easter Break now, so we've held it for the last 2 days (and since I've said his name in exasperation about 20 times so far this morning, we're beginning to think that might be a mistake!). The meds, much as I hate to admit it, are working amazingly. His handwriting, described as "horrific" by the educational psychologist, has dramatically improved. The first day he spent 3 hours reading a book "for fun" and did his homework by himself while I went grocery shopping. For anyone who has a child like Ethan...that's really miracle-material! He complained of a headache the first day, and a stomach ache the second, but since then he has been complaint free. He's not been at all "zombie-like" so I asked him how he felt on the medicine--he said, "I really like it--it helps me behave better." The only trouble we've had is with the insomnia, which I'...

The EEG went very well on Tuesday. Ethan wasn't wild about laying still and not moving a muscle (I almost reminded the technician it was an EEG for ADHD!) but he was a champ. They flashed lights in his face, made him hyperventilate, and generally tried to provoke a seizure. Ethan's only complaint was that I forgot the camera and couldn't document him looking like an alien with 23 wires coming out of his head! He insisted on leaving a glob of the sticky-paste on his forehead to show his friends back at the guesthouse! From the hospital we went to McDonald's and then putt-putt golfing, yes WITH the glob of goo still on the forehead. Only it should be called putt-putt hockey when Ethan plays it...what fun is there in waiting for the ball to stop before hitting it again? And it's much easier to push the ball in the hole than to hit it! 10 holes took all of 5 minutes. In the belief that all doctors are, deep down, good people (no offense, any of you busy docs out there!)...

I had the big face-to-face review with the psychologist yesterday. It was interesting, to say the least. I have to say, I don't think she got a good read on Ethan...he had trouble understanding her, I think she didn't always understand him. For example, she asked him to tell her what an island was. His answer? "A place where animals and sometimes people live, and fish make them." She was convinced he wasn't' "all there" with an answer like that. When I asked him later, he said, "You know, mom. Fish make them by eating the coral and as it gets digested it comes out as soft sand that makes beaches and islands." Gotta love Planet Earth!!!! But what are you going to do? Say too much, and you're just the over-involved mother. You know how psychs love to go there!!! Anyway, she feels it's not straight-forward ADHD and she saw no evidence of 'hyperactivity'...proof that terror of her kept him rooted in his seat. Unless what we see-...

Miriam, random updates from our life : 1. After Anya came back from Daniela’s, Alisa came over and spent the night. I feel like I am Anya’s social coordinator. Isaac misses you and says he is ready for you to come back. I said that you were in South Africa and to that he said, “Want Mom” repeatedly. I think it was his attempt at a protest for being left home. Omara has been out-eating Isaac and Anya, maybe put together. She almost finished a stake on her own. So I have either been planning Anya’s social calendar, explaining the difficulties of long distance relationship to a three-year-old, or cutting beef in to cubes small enough that a bird could swallow them since you been gone. 2. The kids have been sleeping pretty good since you left. I am only getting up about once or twice a night and they are going back to sleep well. I feel like I have had a little rest. 3. That rat that chased you showed up again. This time it was dead. The smell was coming from the dryer and I was afraid it ...

Ethan had his 3-hour eval today, and he came out looking pretty roughed-up. I could hear most of the visit, and this psychologist didn't say anything inappropriate, but she was more of a stern teacher than a Mrs Doubtfire! He shed a few tears, begged to go home, but he eventually did everything she asked him to. But when she explained to me that we'd have to schedule a 3rd appointment to go over his results, things got weird. I don't even know how to describe it, other than she seem over-dramatic. Like she'd just spent 3 hours with a certifiably crazy kid and he was going to need some major help. All they did was math and reading and logic-type testing, so I don't know what she could have possibly see than required such drama! But she said the person he needs to see for medication management has at least a 4-month waiting period and no one else will do and I'll "understand why when we go over the results on Thursday." Several times I tried to get a lit...