Oh, the DRAMA!

I guess I have a wicked sense of humor. I have posted the pictures of our day yesterday, in reverse order. I got to thinking how weird the pictures would look without description. he he he (evil laugh!) I am so tired, I think I'll go lay down. Later, I'll come back and edit the post to include what they're all about.

Edited with the following~

There's a first for everything. Last night (or very early this morning, rather) was our first trip to the emergency room! Ainsley woke up crying a moaning, constant type of cry. We could not get her to stop crying and tell us what was wrong. Or tell us anything. She just kept up her strange cry. This was sooo unusual for our communicative little girl that after a good amount of time passed, we decided to go to the hospital. The other small factor in our decision was that she has her first case of thrush as well, and we started doubting my diagnosis--she hadn't been to a doctor for it. So, off we went.

She stopped crying in the car and even said a few words by the time we got to the hospital parking lot. We wondered if we were majorly over-reacting and should just go home. But of course that small doubt in my mind was saying, what if... We went in.

Here's Ainsley in Triage.

It was just about this time that we realized we were there for nothing other than peace of mind. Luckily, we went to an excellent children's hospital where there was no wait. We had registration, triage, doctor visit, prescription, and discharge in less than one hour.

Earlier in the night, we had been happy cuddlers.

That evening, we had a good time at a Christmas bazaar put on at one of the local private high schools. There were some nice things there, including cute clothes for the young 'uns. I almost didn't go over to the booth because I didn't want to tempt myself to love clothes at those prices. But I went. And found this shirt they were selling for only $10 that went with Ainsley's cheetah pants. Woo Hoo! Isn't she cute?? It gets better: we won a doorprize and got a whole outfit from this vendor. Those pics will come later...

Finally, earlier in the day, I had such an amazing experience for which I'm so grateful to God. So, you might know of my experience with Blood:Water Mission. It's a great organization aiming to bring clean water to Africa. BWM made a large donation to help the clinic in Lwala get started.

The band Jars of Clay, which founded Blood:Water Mission, are going on a Christmas concert tour in which they're going to show some sort of film made of snippets of interviews of people who have come up with different ways of supporting the cause. Unbelievably, they chose me as one of the interviewees.

Here are the filmmakers. Tim in the above photo and Chip below. They were so nice, professional and really great encouragers, which helped a lot. It was hard answering deeply personal questions just looking into a camera.

Below is Matt Ward, who is the grassroots coordinator of Blood:Water Mission.

Below is a shot of the set up in my entryway.

The high ceilings were not good for the sound quality, so we had to throw blankets on the ground all around. Luckily, the shot did not include that part!

If you want more of an idea of why I am so humbled and incredulous that they came to film me, let me tell you that they are interviewing just a few people including Darrell Wendell of The Earth Expedition who is literally walking around the world in seven years to raise awareness and funds for the cause. Another interviewee is Fred Ochieng, one of the two brothers who started the clinic in Lwala, Kenya.

At the end, they got a bit of me playing outside with Ainsley. I wanted to include this picture, though, to show my friend Jill coming out of her house next door. I tried to get her to be part of the shoot, but she would have none of it. Thanks, Jill, for watching Ainsley so long for me!

One more wider view of the whole scene.

So, yeah, it was quite a day of amazing grace.