About two months ago I saw a request for volunteers for our church's refugee ministry in the weekly email bulletin. It was for help in the office, administrative things like updating databases, organizing and helping the volunteers stay up to date. They were asking for 1-3 hours per week and I felt a nudge. I have the time. And I should be able to find the energy to put in that small amount of time every week. I emailed the contact and we had a meeting, agreeing on me coming in one morning a week for a few hours. Now mind you...this was all for background stuff and I had never even learned much about our church's refugee ministry. Shortly after I started volunteering, the ministry had a meeting and I was asked to attend. We had thought that the meeting was going to be on administrative type details....how to keep it organized, how to keep everyone in contact and updated, etc. It turned out to be a meeting about an upcoming fundraising meal they wanted to put on and other volunteer details like what current and new families needed, etc. At the end of the meeting, one of the organizers mentioned that there was a family that needed to be taken grocery shopping and asked if anyone could help out. I felt another nudge. I volunteered to take them and we set up a date and time.
What an amazing experience it was. The family did not speak any English so shopping was definitely a learning curve. I took the mom & four children to the grocery store while their dad was in English class. The experience opened my eyes and my heart to a whole group of people who need the love of Christ shown to them.
"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:9-10
After our grocery shopping trip, I volunteered to get the three oldest registered for school since they had already been here a month without it. During this time, my husband thought what I was doing was great but showed no interest in coming along side me in this ministry. But all that changed one night when we watched a documentary on Netflix. It was Jimmy's turn to pick and he decided on one that he thought was going to be about hip hop artists and their gaudy jewelry. It was called "Bling". In a total God moment, the documentary was not about the artists but about the blood diamonds and diamond wars in Sierra Leone. Several hip hop artists traveled to Sierra Leone to see what the diamond wars had done to the people of the country. Jimmy's heart was broken. He was appalled at the poverty and pain of the people of Africa and has been completely on board with me since. He & I started a Swahili language course in order to better communicate with any family we befriend.
This past Friday we brought the kids, a few games and the makings for brownie sundaes over to their house to visit. Even with the language barrier, we had so much fun. We taught the kids how to play Memory and the youngest kept trying to peak at cards. We brought early word flash cards and taught the kids English while they taught us the Swahili word. The family laughed at a lot of our pronunciations but I think they very much appreciated the effort.
Our two kids with the family.
We had a great time and are planning on seeing them at least once a week. We are also planning on meeting a second family this week. I can't wait to see how God moves in all of our lives.
I underwent my second (and final for the next six months HOPEFULLY!) treatment yesterday. It was an even better experience than the first treatment. They were able to tap a vein in two pokes as opposed to the four it took last time. It also went by more quickly as they were able to increase the IV flow more this time since my body handled the Rituxan well last time.
Two weeks ago, after my first treatment,Jimmy & I were both very pleasantly surprised at how light my side effects were. Minimal nausea, no vomiting, only a low grade headache and my worst side effect was the fatigue. So we were heading into this treatment with far less concerns. But on Sunday, the day before the second treatment, my nausea got much worse and I started vomiting. Since I got home from the treatment yesterday, the nausea is constant (I've been toting my puke bucket around with me everywhere), my stomach is revolting in other, unpleasant ways, there is a never ending buzzing headache and a low grade temp. I am also starting to lose big clumps of hair though I think that is to be attributed to the Methotrexate and not the Rituxan as hair loss is not a usual side effect for the Rituxan. I will keep an eye on the hair loss and will make a decision soon if we should go for the big chop.
To focus on the positive, my kids and husband are being so amazingly helpful. Yesterday, Aidan waited on me hand and foot, covering me with a blanket, bringing me my trusty puke bucket, constantly asking if I was doing ok. We also had another meal delivery from church which was just amazing and perfect timing. My devotional yesterday morning was perfect timing, as usual. It said "Your ongoing struggle is not a mistake or punishment. Try to view it, instead, as a rich opportunity: Your uphill journey keeps you aware of your neediness, so you look to Me for help." AMEN!
