Happy Birthday Mirjam!

Today is Mirjam's birthday, and it was a really perfect day. The kids all drew pictures for her which she was really excited about and then every hour today I gave her a note for her birthday. It really was a special day full of lots of laughter and just great fellowship. We had clinic this morning, but we closed early so that Mirjam and I could go to town for lunch and spend the day together. First we walked to town, which is a beautiful walk through the villages, then we stopped at a resteraunt in town that neither of us had ever been to and had chicken and chips with a soda. This was a real treat, although the chicken was a little tough. Then we walked around town, hoping to see the ice-cream man. Yes, we do have ice-cream here, although it is not really what we would consider ice-cream. Its more like a in ice melt :) But it is really nice on a hot day. This was really the only thing Mirjam wanted on her birthday, so we were prepared to look pretty hard. It ended up that we never saw him in town, so we headed home a little disappointed. But then when we had walked about half way home, there was the ice-cream man! God is so good. He even answers those silly little prayers that you dont actually want to pray for because it is such a silly little thing and God should have more important prayers to answer. But He continuously reminds us that there is no desire too small for Him to handle, He will bless us always with special little gifts like this. Mirjam joked that this was God's birthday present to her. I agree :) He seemed to make this day special for Mirjam, because the sun was shining, but it wasnt unbearably hot and everything seemed to work out perfectly.
Then on the way home we were walking by a family when they told us a woman was very ill and wished us to see her. We found her having seizures, but not like any seizures I have ever seen. She was making strange sounds or saying strange things while seizing. We had no supplies with us so we had to hurry back to our compound to get a Malaria test and some other supplies, then we hurried back. By the time we had returned she was having true seizures and seemed to be getting worse. We tested her, but the problem was that we could not get the medicine down that she needed, because she needed an IV and we couldnt start one in the middle of the village. So we prayed that there would be some way to get her to the hospital or a health center. It ended up that she did not have Malaria, so she needed testing for Meningitis and any other possible causes to her seizures. But this is in the middle of the villages, not on any road that a car can get to, so there was a problem in finding a way to get her to the hospital. But right after we finished praying one of the family members received a phone call saying they had a car available at the nearest road, so they just had to get her there. They had a motorcycle, so they were able to get her to the road and off to the hospital. God is so faithful, he cares for our smallest wants and our greatest needs. I am constantly humbled by His grace!
So tomorrow I leave for my two week holiday in Uganda. I am riding with Pastor Dennis down to Arua in the Lory. This is about a 6hr drive on very bumpy roads. But I am looking forward to this time off. I really am in need of this break. So hopefully I will return refreshed for the last three weeks of my time here. I will be in Arua, Uganda and for the first few days I will be staying with some other people with AIM then going on to a short-term conference. Then after conference I will spend three days on safari with some AIM friends that are working in Congo. I will tell you all about that when I return, Im hoping to get pictures of lions :) So please bear with me if you dont hear from me for two weeks. Im not sure that I will have internet access, so I will give a long update on my return. I love you all! God Bless!!!