Not Quite World Records

March.... will go down in the record books in our house....

First trip into the tribe as a family.... (already wrote about that one!) 

First time we ate blueberries and strawberries in the same YEAR here....

After a really fun girls' grocery shopping trip to the big city with my teammate (yes, life is that exciting here) I ended up with FRESH strawberries AND blueberries AND cream... all in the same day. I wanted to make a Flag Cake :) but ended up settling on berry shortcake for dessert... and breakfast... and lunch... :) It was heaven. 

First broken bone playing sports for me.... (soccer injury - snapped my big toe all the way across the joint... yes, 3 weeks later, still painful)

And then... and then.... and then, as if the excitement of fresh berries and tribal visits and broken toes was not enough....

My darling Ezra decided to try to jump over the tent fort in one great flying leap... and landed on his shoulder with lots of screaming and tears. I was a good, compassionate mother and rocked him for about one minute and then said "Shake it off." Five days later, when he was still refusing to use his arm, even with us yelling at him and threatening to spank him, we decided maybe he was still really hurt. Yes, I am quick sometimes.

So when Brant called from the hospital radiology department saying "His collarbone is definitely broken," I cried I felt so guilty. I made an appointment to have his shoulder braced later that afternoon with our American doctor here in town.

First broken bone for Ezra....

But poor kid, never got a second glance from the doctor. About 10 minutes before we left our house for his doctor's appointment, we got a call from Elijah's teacher... he has a fever - of 104 - and is really sick. Could we come get him?

As the school and the clinic are on the same property, I headed right up, dropping Caleb with our teammates. Brant was prepping his flight into the tribe and couldn't get away from the airport. I dropped Ezra in the clinic waiting room and ran to Elijah's class where he was laying on the floor asleep with a pillow and a blanket. Have you ever seen your kid asleep on a classroom floor? Gives you horrible mother guilt... almost as bad as threatening to spank your kid for not using a broken bone. :)

I carried Elijah to the clinic, where his fever registered 105 and he began throwing up uncontrollably. It was horrific to watch. The nurses and doctor totally ignored Ezra and immediately started working on Elijah.

So tests and more high fevers and lots more throwing up and a hospital trip later and Elijah is diagnosed with Typhoid.... a very dangerous bacterial infection of the intestines. You get it from contaminated drinking water or food.... like in a tribe where no one has clean water. We had all been vaccinated against it, but the vaccine isn't 100% effective. I had never had any experience with Typhoid, but the "Where There is No Doctor" book says "Of all the tropical fevers one can get, Typhoid Fever is the worst." And they were right on....

First Typhoid Fever case in our family (and hopefully the last!)....

For those who care, Typhoid basically destroys your white blood cells so your body can't fight infection. They put Eiljah on very strong antibiotics, but because his WBC was so low, it took a long time for the drugs to even kick in and for us to even see a bit of improvement... like 5-6 days. We had to give him meds every 2 hours around the clock for several days to keep his fever down and to keep him from throwing up (yes, even through the night.)

So to say we've been reeling a bit the last few weeks is an understatement. Brant left for the tribe just 3 days into the broken collar bone/Typhoid fever saga and I was totally exhausted. But with tons of people praying, and nowhere we had to go (or could go!) we made the best of our forced stay at home....

There were crafts... (aka "Use up all the random supplies we don't want to fly interior)

There were TONS of books and some doughnut making as a result (from Homer Price's "Doughnuts")

And there was lots of quiet time coloring and painting.... I love this picture.

I know these pictures look like we've had a vacation the last week... I didn't take a picture of all the laying around that happened the other 23 hours of each day and the nonstop watching movies and shoving pills into clamped close mouths and the tears (both the boys' and mine!) ....I was trying to dwell on the positive. :) 

Has been a tough few weeks... but by God's grace and with endless prayers and help from friends, we can do tough. As the doctor (who finally got around to seeing Ezra!) said as she prepped Ezra to be a "soldier" with his brace on, "You have to be a tough soldier when you wear this pack." And he's been a tough guy pulling imaginary guns and swords from his "pack" ever since. 

First boy who's become a soldier...