And the Adventures Continue...So Keep the Prayers Coming!

So I'm not the best blogger these days.  Sorry about that.  Just keep in mind that when I say I will keep you updated and you don't hear from me it's because I'm SUPER busy not because I don't want to keep you updated...just keep the prayers coming.  I've sat down to write this update several times and gotten no where...my last attempt was Friday night so I'll start there...

I cannot believe it is Friday night...where has the week gone?  Oh right...I have worked, worked, and done some more work.  As the title says...the adventures of sickness have continued.  I'm getting frustrated at this point because it seems no matter what we do at least a few little ones are staying sick.  (Keep reading...things have improved!)  Here's a little update:
#1- I am WELL!  Praise Jesus I'm not stuck in my house with a fever anymore.  It took until about Monday afternoon for me to be feeling myself again but at least now I'm back in the mix of nurses helping out with all the craziness.
#2- Shelton is home from the hospital!  He came home Monday afternoon.  I guess this is a good thing.  He is still not himself and none of his symptoms seem to have improved.  We are still changing dosing on some of his medication and are hopeful this is the clue to getting our adorable Shelton back.  For the moment, I'd love your continued prayers for wisdom for us as well as for healing for Shelton.
#3- The Bercario's (nursery's) diarrhea seems to have subsided.  I can't remember if I even wrote about this...but the entire bercario has been battling diarrhea for weeks...seriously over a month.  A week or so ago I got fed up and decided to treat everyone at the same time...babies, ladies who work there, the cleaners...the whole lot.  A few babes have continued to have issues on and off but on a whole they are finally better!
#4- The Baby House...as of tonight almost everyone is WELL!!!!!  Praise God!!!!  Two little girls went with Tracey (the amazing missionary who runs the Baby House) to the city for blood work yesterday.  At least we know without a doubt they don't have malaria.  One of them is looking better each day and the other made it through the last 24 hours without a fever...so that's an improvement.  I'll take it!  We are still battling a few things...and I'd love your prayers for little Lucia who is just miserable and in pain...but finally it seems the cycle of very high fevers and constant sickness has been broken!  Praise God!

As I've said, we are relatively short-staffed at the moment...and in 4 weeks will lose another nurse (the one who is visiting for 2 months).  I would really appreciate your prayers...for wellness across the center, for wisdom, for guidance, for unity, for the presence of the Lord to overwhelm us all in this time, for discouragement to leave and encouragement to replace it, for a sense of God's sovereign hand over everything we are doing!

And last but certainly not least...we are seriously considering hiring another Mozambican nurse to work some afternoons in the Baby House.  Her name is Fernanda and at the moment she works at Hospital Central on a pediatric respiratory floor.  This is an exciting concept and something that could change the work load for everyone in the long run.  There are so many little tasks that we as Western nurses who are here 24 hours a day end up doing that could just as easily be done by a trained Mozambican nurse.  And this means one of us would not need to be in the Baby House giving out medications every night because Fernanda could do that as well.  As exciting as this is in the long-run, I have shed many a tears over it as well.  Because with our current shortage in medical staff, I'm the only one here who really has the ability to take on training up a new nurse in the Baby House.  This concept has brought my stress level to almost unbearable...but I have prayed, I have asked for wisdom, I have asked for strategies...and I'm coping...barely, but I'm coping.  All of that to say Fernanda will be coming to the center tomorrow to sit down with me and her Hospital Central schedule.  I really do pray that God makes it abundantly clear how He wants her to fit into our schedule, and I am able to articulate that to her.  Please pray for me, Fernanda, Aurora (our current Mozambican nurse who is an absolute dream to work with...but who will be on holidays for the month of April), and all our medical staff as we adjust and cope with yet another change!

Thanks for always praying!  Prayers are what keep me going many days!