Please God, not Africa!

It's not Erin typing out this blog.  No, no.  It is her visiting brother from cold and wintery Canada here sweating himself to death in hot and humid Tsiko. I'm the one with the purple shirt, just so there's no confusion. Words cannot truly describe this place.  Those who have been here will understand. I could write about the amazing staff and people that work here at the Tsiko Hospital.  They are truly wonderful, caring people that want to give the best care (and friendship) possible.  They are also very gifted and talented medical professionals who all perform at a very high level in a somewhat rustic setting, at least by North American standards. Here Dr. Kueler (white shirt), Dr. Miller (green scrubs) and OR nurse Bethany Klutz pray with the mother of a young baby while doing rounds. I could also write about how the sick and wounded Weston kids are coming back to full health under the watchful care of the medical team here - both North American and To

Last Saturday night my brother, Derek (aka Uncle Deeker) arrived in Lome.  Anna, Dr. Kelly and I went down to Lome to pick him up.  He told me that he'd be the white guy in the black shirt carrying a fishing pole -- in case I didn't recognize him!  So here we are, in the airport parking lot.  Do you see how happy I am??   We stayed overnight in Lome and on Sunday morning hit a couple of grocery stores and then headed back to Tsiko.  Nate and the kids were waiting for his arrival - what a joyous reunion it was! He came with his four pieces of luggage: 2 rubbermaids of loot for us, his own backpack (which was his carry-on), and his "personal item" which was the precious fishing rod. When he arrived and we got through the hugs and greetings, he cracked open those rubbermaids and handed out the loot: Teddy got some little tractors! Kylie and Jack playing with a toy that Nana & Papa sent. High fives for peanut butter, protein powde

IF you hate blood and guts, just go ahead and close up today's blog post.  It gets pretty nasty. Dr. Briggs just arrived back here in Tsiko about a week ago from his year in the USA.  He went into the OR with Ethan to take video footage and photos of the operation.  He kindly shared these with us. So here we go... The drill bit kinda thing is going in his knee to drill out the bone. The doc on the right is holding the bone with pliers. The knee is open! Choosing the rod size. Putting the rod in. The Sign Nail contraption before it goes in. The Sign Nail contraption is in! Here he is being worked on. Poor Todd was working like a beast to get this done AND fighting malaria symptoms too. The incision to get to the bone.  So there ya go. The video footage is pretty interesting and rather frightening, actually.  Orthopaedic surgery is pretty aggressive stuff.  But again, we are so so grateful that these men were a

I’ve mentioned this book before in other blog posts, and today my daily devotional from “Jesus Calling” was this: “I am leading you along the high road, but there are descents as well as ascents.  Your assignment is to follow Me, allowing Me to direct your paths.  Learn to trust me when things go “wrong.” Disruptions to your routine highlight your dependence on me.  Trusting acceptance of trials brings blessings that far outweigh them.  Walk hand in hand with Me through this day.  I have lovingly planned every inch of it. Breathe deep breaths of My Presence and hold tightly to My hand.” Wow.  I so needed to hear that today. So here’s what happened over the last 48 hours: On Wednesday, our Togo Team Meetings started. It was two days of meetings with both the North team (that we’re on) and the South team (the missionaries from Tsiko and surrounding area) and it only happens once a year.   After a fun afternoon of Ultimate Frisbee and a swim, we planned a

You're never going to believe this, so I'm just gonna come out and say it. Yesterday, Nate and Ethan were in a motorcycle accident. They are both alive.  Nate just has some cuts and scrapes.  Ethan broke his femur and had surgery last night to put a rod in. There.  I've said it. There's way more to this story and I want to share it all: more miracles, more time at the hospital, more photos even.  But I just got home from staying the night in the hospital with Eth and I need a shower MORE than I need to blog. Please pray.  We've got some tough days ahead.

I have come to realize that sometimes I type out things and you may not have any idea how to pronounce them.  I know that for me, this drives me crazy.  If I'm reading a book and there's a name or place that I cannot naturally figure out how to pronounce, then I usually work away at it in my head until I can come up with something that I'm comfortable with saying to myself as I read.  If I don't do that, I won't enjoy the book.  I'm just weird that way. So perhaps this post is more for me than for you.  Perhaps tonight I'll sleep better just knowing that you who are reading these blog posts know how to pronounce some of the names and things here in Togo. 1.   Mango : the town where we live.  Please do NOT pronounce it like you'd pronounce the fruit.  Remember this country is a french colony so you need to add a little french-y-ness to all the local words.  Pronounce it M-ahn-go.  Ahhhhhh....that's better. 2. Tsiko : the town where we are stayin

You can probably understand that internet connections in a tiny town in Africa aren't so consistent, so that's my excuse for not regularly blogging these days.  My other doozie of an excuse is that I've been busy.  Tsiko is a pretty fun and exciting place! We've continued our twice-daily visits to the hospital and have gotten to know the staff and some of the patients.  Kylie and I are regulars there so we've gotten to see some pretty interesting stuff.  Some pretty real and raw stuff.  That's another whole blog post about tiny premie babies, crazy amounts of malaria cases that cause death, and hospital care in Africa in general. IF you're sensitive to yucky photos, just scroll quickly through the next couple of photos. The other day I got to "scrub in" (don't I sound so doctor-y??) for a c-section.  AND I didn't barf or pass out.  I watched the whole thing and it was incredible!   Here's me with Dr. Dave and Todd.  Pos

And the story continues…. After the first procedure of removing the pus, the docs proceeded to inform me that she was indeed a rather sick little girl and that it was God’s grace that we came in time.  Not that she would have died on the way, but her ankle joint was septic. “Septic arthritis” they said.  And that we were fortunate to get her to Tsiko before the infection moved from her joint and into her blood stream. They took some of the pus and cultured it, hoping to discover if the infection was strep or staph.  And they started her on some heavy antibiotics!  She was on two or three different kinds, plus pain killers. Todd and Kelly told me to bring her back at 9 pm that night (still Friday) to do the whole procedure again – suck out pus, and then irrigate the joint by putting three needles into her foot, and then basically flushing it with water.  The water goes in one needle hole and comes squirting out the others. Here's Kylie's foot with the wate