Hard pressed; not crushed

We woke up this morning at 5:45am to take Little E to the clinic for her second of three tests required by the Embassy. We were surprised to find that Big E spent the night in the hospital with her but we were happy to get to take him with us.  As I walked through the shared living room of our guest house, my iPhone downloaded all the emails I received through the African night from our friends back in the States. This is highly unusual as the Internet is so slow here and only works when the power is on, the modem is working and the traffic isn't blocked.  Typically, it takes about an hour of work to get a connection to download emails. It happened in seconds this morning. God was good to us!

As we jumped in a van with our translator, Bizzy (he's going to get an entire blog entry when I get home), I saw my email had downloaded and a close friend had sent me 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. Those verses begin with the great encouragement of Paul that they were "hard pressed on every side but not crushed."  Amen!  This is our great hope in this life that we cannot be crushed.  We cannot be crushed for we are His adopted orphans. Our pain and hardship this week is nothing compared to the sufferings of our merciful Savior to accomplish our adoption. We are hard pressed but not crushed because He was crucified for us.

We got to the hospital and picked up the E's, the nanny who stays with Little E and a nurse from the hospital.  We have to hire a nurse to bring to the clinic to draw the sample.  When we arrived at the diagnostic clinic to have fluid drawn from Little E's nose tube, we were told that the clinic didn't provide the syringes to draw the fluid but we had to provide our own.  When I return home, I'm going to open a BYOB McDonalds (that's bring your own burgers not beer).  We were sent down the street to a pharmacy where you can buy your own syringes along with self-prescribing all the common prescription drugs we have in the US.  Unfortunately, I missed the day that my professor explained in Intermediate Accounting 2 that a gastric aspirate test on an NG tube must be performed with a 3ml syringe not a 5ml syringe.  One more trip back and I got it right.  Once back at the clinic, I watched as the nurse barely attached the syringe to the tube but got no suction. At this point, I took over like a guy who'd stayed a Holiday Inn Express. I tightened the syringe to the NG tube and drew out some disgusting looking stuff. Then, I squeezed the syringe into the test tube, replaced the cap on the NG tube and handed it to the tech. I walked out so discouraged. My Little E has been trying to survive horrific malnutrition and a series of infections with medical 'experts' who have so little training and tools.  God we need a miracle!  We need the kind of miracle where hungry lions lay still while a man uses their soft fur as a pillow for the night. 

After returning Little E to the hospital, we spent the rest of the morning at the orphanage playing with the kids. See the "Squeezed" entry - it happens every time. We played ball, colored, taught some English and handed out stickers and Pez. God please bring Godly parents to love these orphans. They are just like the kids that live under my roof in Houston. They laugh at the same silly dad tricks, want to do everything again and love to be chased and tickled. They so need a dad to hold them tightly and tell them of our great God who sent His Son to rescue us.

We spent the afternoon trying to investigate a backup plan for next week if we can't get Little E home. It was a futile effort. I pray it was futile because His miracles don't need backup plans.  I'll just add the afternoon of May 21 to the hard pressed column of the week. We've been told by many about the best hospital in Ethiopia and after visiting it and talking with a doctor there it just isn't equipped to handle Little E either. They actually suggested the hospital she nearly died in 3 weeks ago.  Prayed more in the van on the way back to my only Hope.

Today was a tough one. We're tired, hungry, discouraged, homesick, smelly, unsure but we are not crushed. Yes, we are not crushed!  Corporate worship tomorrow will be sweet for us.

Not crushed,
jb